Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Wyden says he’ll use most powerful Senate committee to undo Republican cuts

Oregon’s senior U.S. senator and Democrats holding a new majority in Congress in January will immediately try to undo work requirements and cuts to Medicaid passed by Congressional Republicans in 2025 that are set to take effect Jan. 1.

When the new Congress begins in January, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, will ascend for the second time in a decade to chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the powerful committee tasked with tax, trade, revenue and healthcare policy.

At a news conference Monday morning, Wyden said Democrats will also immediately move to pass legislation to reinstall now-expired Affordable Care Act tax credits for Americans who have seen their healthcare premiums skyrocket.

“Over the last couple of years, Republicans have used their majorities to take food and healthcare away from vulnerable people and handed the proceeds to the very people at the top and the corporate interests,” he said. “They completely abandoned Congress’s oversight responsibilities, and I can tell you those days are over.”

Because President Donald Trump will still be in office, Democrats in the House and Senate will either need to convince him to sign their legislation or get support from about a dozen Senate Republicans and as many as three dozen House Republicans to reach the two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.

To pay for subsidies that would lower healthcare costs and expand access, Wyden says he will again propose his Billionaires Income Tax that would apply to taxpayers with more than $1 billion in assets or more than $100 million in income for three consecutive years.

He also said he’d use the Finance committee to investigate Trump’s attempts to get himself and his family members blanket immunity from tax audits in perpetuity and to subpoena information from banks and the U.S. Treasury related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Wyden has been investigating major U.S. banks’ complicity in Epstein’s crimes for four years, but since 2025 he has been unable to get the majority vote needed from Finance members to issue a subpoena for all Epstein-related Treasury records.

Wyden has served on the committee since 2014, and was last chair from 2021 through 2024. He’s currently his party’s ranking member on the committee, which has since 2025 been chaired by Idaho’s senior Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican.

Going beyond undoing Republican cuts, Wyden said he would continue to advocate for Medicare for All and is co-sponsoring legislation that would expand the federal health insurance program currently only available to Americans 65 and older.

“Now, I can tell you that there’s some of my colleagues who are more for a public option than Medicare for All. It’ll be my job, if I’m the point person for the Democrats on the Finance Committee, to bring both sides together to get the boldest system that we possibly can, the boldest system that has the most expansive coverage and the most aggressive cost containment,” he said.

Wyden insisted that work requirements Republicans passed in their 2025 tax and spending cut megalaw would be reversed “as quickly as possible.”

Those requirements — that Medicaid enrollees between ages 19 and 64 prove through monthly paperwork that they are employed, attending school or volunteering at least 80 hours a month — are set to go into effect Jan. 1, and are also being challenged in court by Oregon’s and three other state attorneys general.

Wyden in January will be the second most senior member of the U.S. Senate, having served since 1996. He is second to the senior-most Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington, who has served since 1993.

Wyden said the two would immediately collaborate to end tariffs, particularly on Canadian goods, that have hurt the Northwest’s economy. He would not comment on whether he supports any leadership changes in the Senate, including for current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York.

“There’ll be a time to talk about politics and appointments and the like down the road, but I’m not getting into that, and I never have,” he said.