Oregonians know Ron as a senator who listens and innovates. For example, Ron has secured landmark health care and economic wins for our workers and retirees. Always citing the need to "throw open the doors of government for Oregonians," he holds an open-to-all town hall meeting in each of Oregon's 36 counties each year. Thus far he has held more than 970 meetings, as well as several virtual town hall meetings sponsored by the nonpartisan Town Hall Project. Wyden's dedication to hearing all sides of an issue and looking for common sense, nonpartisan solutions has won him trust on both sides of the aisle and put him at the heart of so many of the Senate's most important debates. In 2011, the Almanac of American Politics described Wyden as having "displayed a genius for coming up with sensible-sounding ideas no one else had thought of and making the counter-intuitive political alliances that prove helpful in passing bills." The Washington Post's Ezra Klein wrote: "The country has problems. And Ron Wyden has comprehensive, bipartisan proposals for fixing them."
As a senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Wyden has continued to push for a national energy policy that focuses on domestic production, renewability, carbon reduction and protections for energy consumers.
Senator Wyden was the first Senator to request a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) investigation of Enron, uncovering the smoking gun memos that proved their schemes to inflate West Coast energy prices. His investigations of oil company activities exposed efforts to constrain domestic supply and drive up prices for consumers. His oversight of the Minerals Management Service uncovered severe ethical lapses and led to new rules and an overhaul of the agency.
In 2006, Wyden began working to create a tax-free benefit for bicycle commuting which became law in 2008 and has continued to push for innovative policies to increase automotive fuel mileage while preserving consumer choice.