Priorities

Bringing Oregon values to Washington D.C.

As a Congresswoman, Oregon’s Labor Commissioner, State Representative, and Lane County community leader, Val has made a difference for working families and communities of the 4th Congressional District. And from her time as Oregon House Democratic Majority Leader, she knows how to turn our progressive values into results.

As our Member of Congress, Val is tackling the most important challenges facing our future.

Working Families

Val believes people who work hard should be able to find a good-paying union job, buy a home and start a family right here in Oregon. In the Legislature, she fought for paid sick leave, increasing Oregon’s minimum wage, and for the largest increase in public education funding in Oregon history. In Congress, Val fought for a permanent pay increase for federal wildland firefighters, passed new workplace protections for aviation workers and is working to expand Registered Apprenticeships to get more people into good-paying jobs. She also supports:

• Universal preschool and capping the cost of childcare
• Comprehensive paid family and medical leave for all workers
• Increasing penalties for employers who steal wages, deny workers the pay and benefits they’re owed, or discriminate against or exploit them
• Forcing Big Pharma to reduce prescription drug prices
• Cracking down on price fixing by big grocery store chains
• Increasing the rate of overtime pay
• Passing the PRO Act to make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain

Cost of Living

Val is fighting to lower everyday costs – from healthcare and groceries, to child care and youth sports – and stop big corporations from taking advantage of working people. She will continue to work with anyone, regardless of party, to bring prices down by:

• Restoring the Affordable Care Act’s Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, which Republicans allowed to expire, while continuing to push for universal health care
• Standing up to Big Pharma to bring down drug costs
• Making it easier to go after grocery conglomerates that unfairly raise prices
• Increasing access to quality, affordable childcare
• Taking on oil companies to lower energy costs for families and businesses while we transition to a clean energy economy
• Restoring clean energy tax credits and incentives that were repealed by Republicans in Congress
• Working to expand and protect Social Security and Medicare

Defending Democracy and Voting Rights

Val believes democracy only works when people can exercise their right to vote, trust that the people they elect are serving the public rather than themselves, and know that wealthy corporations and special interests won’t get special treatment. Val will continue to fight to:

• Protect Oregon’s vote-by-mail system
• Undo the damage of Supreme Court decisions that have weakened the Voting Rights Act
• Overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision that unleashed dark money in our elections
• Close loopholes that allow elected officials to use their position and access to enrich themselves
• Pass federal reforms that end partisan gerrymandering nationwide

Health Care

The Affordable Care Act made significant improvements, but our healthcare system remains unaffordable for most Americans, with sky-high deductibles and out-of-control prescription costs. Val’s healthcare priorities include:

• Passing universal health care legislation to ensure that every American has access to affordable, quality care when they need it
• Requiring big drug companies to offer prescription drugs to Americans at a fair price
• Restoring Affordable Care Act Enhanced Premium Tax Credits that Republicans let expire, raising costs for more than 21,000 people in Southwest Oregon
• Preventing health insurers from buying medical practices through their subsidiaries
• Passing a federal law modeled after Oregon’s law to protect local health care providers from for-profit corporate medicine
• Safeguarding abortion access and reproductive healthcare for all Americans

Housing and Homelessness

Oregon’s housing crisis has many faces, from homeless encampments in our cities, to families trying to reestablish their lives after being displaced by wildfires, to the less visible but no less urgent reality of people living in a vehicle or on the couches of friends and families. Val is committed to building more affordable housing, bringing more federal resources back to our communities to get people into housing, and helping those without housing find a permanent place to live. She also worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, the most significant housing package in decades, to bring down housing costs. Val supports:

• Major investments in new affordable and workforce housing to increase our local housing supply
• Creating a new tax credit for renters to help live in high-cost areas
• Expanding down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and public servants like teachers, police officers and firefighters
• Increasing the number of Housing Choice Vouchers so no one is forced into homelessness

Reproductive Health

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, reproductive freedoms and access to abortion remain at risk. We need leaders in Congress who will prioritize reproductive health – like Val Hoyle. Val has fearlessly defended a woman’s right to choose, and will continue to fight back in Congress against anti-abortion extremists who want to take away our rights. She trusts women to make their own healthcare decisions.

That’s why in the State Legislature Val fought to pass comprehensive women’s health legislation that would require insurance companies to cover contraception, abortion, and postpartum care. In Congress, Val will always work to protect reproductive freedoms by:

• Standing up to any attempts to criminalize or limit a woman’s right to bodily autonomy
• Advocating for equal access to comprehensive sex education, fertility options, abortion and birth control
• Standing with doctors and medical professionals who provide reproductive healthcare

Our Environment

Oregon's coasts, rivers and forests are some of the most beautiful and bountiful in the world. Val believes that climate change is an immediate threat: drought and wildfires risk the health of our forests and the safety of our communities.

In the Legislature, Val helped expand Oregon’s Clean Fuels program to reduce carbon emissions, worked to move Oregon off of coal power and increased renewable energy standards for utilities.

In Congress, Val serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries. There, she works to protect Oregon’s public lands, waters and native species and fights for more resources for our coastal and rural communities. Val’s working to protect Oregon’s natural resources and address the climate crisis by:

• Pushing for billions in new federal investments to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires and protect our forests
• Supporting a constitutional amendment guaranteeing everyone the right to a safe climate
• Creating new federal protections for Southwest Oregon’s rivers, watersheds and habitats
• Working to pass legislation that helps clean up Oregon’s waterways
• Fighting for a just transition to a renewable energy future that provides good jobs for Oregonians and protects families from high energy costs
• Ending our reliance on fossil fuels and pushing for federal investments in clean energy

Education

As the first in her family to graduate from college and someone who struggled with dyslexia in school, Val knows first-hand the power of public education to open doors.

As Labor Commissioner, Val championed and expanded paid apprenticeship programs in partnership with labor unions, employers and community colleges. In the Legislature, she was one of the loudest voices in favor of K-12 and higher education funding. In Congress, she helped lead the effort to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Act to protect $80 million in annual funding for Oregon schools and roads. Val will continue to fight to:

• Protect funding for public schools, including Title I and IDEA, funds for low income and special education students
• Increase federal investment in rural, Tribal and frontier schools so students have opportunities no matter where they live
• Expand the use of Registered Apprenticeship programs
• Make community college free for all
• Double the Pell Grant and reverse Republican cuts that increased student debt and made it harder to get out of the burden of student debt
• Protect funding for and invest in Job Corps and Civilian Conservation Corps that train more young people for good-paying jobs

Supporting Small Businesses

Val spent 25 years in the private sector working in the bicycle industry. She knows firsthand what it’s like to sign the front – and back – of a paycheck. As Labor Commissioner, Val improved her agency’s responsiveness and outreach to the business community. She knows that small businesses don’t have an army of lawyers and accountants to help them understand the law. In Congress, Val continues to advocate for our small businesses to make sure they have the tools they need to be successful, including by:

• Cracking down on anticompetitive practices that make it harder for small businesses to compete
• Passing legislation to refund small businesses for the costs of illegal tariffs
• Strengthening the Small Business Administration’s Office of Rural Affairs
• Making it easier for small businesses, including Native-owned businesses, to access financing and the support they need to grow