In the News

President Joe Biden has signed into law two bills supporting Native American language education that were authored by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii. The first bill signed Thursday by Biden is the Native American Language Resource Center Act, which will establish native language resource centers across the country with the capacity to create grants and offer other forms of support to organizations that perpetuate native languages. The second bill — the Durbin Feeling Native American...

A new law signed by President Joe Biden and co-authored Hawaii US Sen. Brian Schatz puts money into preservation efforts of Japanese internment camps across the US. The Norman Y. Mineta Japanese American Confinement Education Act re-establishes funding to the Japanese American Confinement Sites Program (JACS) to promote education and awareness of one of the darkest periods for Japanese American citizens in history. One of those sites that will receive more money for conservation include the...

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) was sworn in to a new term today by Vice President Kamala Harris. Schatz won reelection to a second full term in November, garnering more than 71% of the vote – the largest margin of victory by any Senate candidate in 2022. Schatz has served for a decade in the Senate, first joining in 2012 before winning a special election in 2014. He then won his first full term in 2016. “It has been the honor of my life to represent the great state of Hawai‘i...

Hawaii U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono on Thursday announced that they had collectively secured nearly $1 billion in federal funding for a wide range of Hawaii projects. Schatz said the more than $500 million he secured in so-called earmarks will increase federal funding to shut down Red Hill and “strengthen housing,” health care and education, among other programs and projects. Hirono separately announced that she had secured nearly $450 million in earmarks for nonprofits...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure Thursday that would bolster Native American language schools and programs with coordinated support. The bipartisan Native American Language Resource Center Act, authored by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, now heads to President Joe Biden for final approval. “As we have seen in Hawaii, native speaker-led language programs have proven that culturally based instruction is key to revitalizing and maintaining indigenous knowledge and...

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino announced today that the County of Maui will receive $15.3 million in congressionally directed spending thanks to the determination of US Senator Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.   Congress is expected to pass the 2023 Appropriations Bill this week. With President Biden’ signature, the following County projects will receive federal funding: Hālau of...

On the list of unfinished business of the departing Democratic-controlled Congress is reforming an often-overlooked keystone of U.S. democracy — the census. Democratic lawmakers were among the most prominent critics of the years of census interference by former President Donald Trump's administration. The meddling laid bare many of the vulnerabilities facing the national tally. Those numbers are used to determine each state's share of congressional seats and Electoral College votes, redraw...

Congressional leaders released a bipartisan government funding bill early Tuesday that includes a rewrite of federal election laws aimed at preventing another Jan. 6-style attack and choking off avenues for future candidates to steal elections. They expect to pass the bill in the coming days to avoid a government shutdown slated to begin this weekend. It is the product of lengthy negotiations between the two parties and has President Joe Biden's support. The Senate voted 70 to 25...

Red Hill continues to be an issue with many residents impacted by multiple recent leaks of jet fuel and aqueous film forming foam. Located above an aquifer, these leaks have raised concerns for local leaders and residents as the Navy attempts to fix the problem. Sen. Brian Schatz announced today, Dec. 20, that he was able to secure $1 billion in funding in the annual appropriations bill to permanently shut down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. “This is new federal funding to drain...

Honolulu’s rail project will be receiving nearly $64 million in additional funding from the federal government. Sen. Brian Schatz, who chairs the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, announced the latest injection of funds Tuesday morning. The $63.8 million funding will help the Honolulu Rail Transit Project offset the cost of inflation, according to Schatz’s office. The money is also separate from the hundreds of millions...

The internet has become a ubiquitous feature for anyone who needs information or wants to find a job or needs to access educational tools… the list can go on for pages. However, internet access, particularly high-speed internet, is not available for everyone, leading to a disparity in access to information on things necessary to be a part of today’s digital world. Sen. Brian Schatz announced today, Dec. 19, that $17,284,762 has been released to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands to...

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, sent a letter to the Department of Defense Thursday, saying the agency must provide health care resources to individuals affected by chronic conditions related to drinking fuel-tainted water, including those who are not beneficiaries of the Military Health System, according to a news release. On Nov. 20, 2021, the Navy spilled fuel at Red Hill, which entered Oahu’s groundwater and impacted 93,000 people using the Navy’s water system. The letter was...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in introducing a new measure that would protect the right of individual adults to engage in private, non-commercial, consensual sexual conduct. The companion version of the Right to Private Conduct Act was introduced in the House by Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif. “Our bill makes one thing clear: What goes on between consenting adults in their private lives is their business, not the...

A live grenade with the power to blow up the U.S. economy is rolling into Washington in slow motion: sometime next year, lawmakers must once again extend the federal government’s borrowing authority or else risk a catastrophic default on its debt. Lifting the so-called “debt ceiling,” once a quietly accomplished bipartisan task, has now become a routine drama of brinkmanship in which congressional Republicans leverage the threat of economic ruin to make demands on policy. But...

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz continues to rise through the ranks of Democratic leadership in Washington. This week Schatz was voted in as deputy conference secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus, a new position within the party’s leadership structure headed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Schatz will also remain the party’s chief deputy whip, a position that entails counting votes. The new role comes just one month after Schatz won re-election to his second full term in...

With climate change threatening the health of coral reefs around the world, Hawaii’s congressional delegation on Wednesday scored apparent victories on behalf of America’s coral reefs in two separate measures that were included in the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense bill expected to pass before the end of the session. The final defense bill included the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act, which was authored by U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Marco Rubio,...

Congress has included key provisions in its annual defense policy bill for 2023 that will ensure that the U.S. Navy continues efforts to drain and decommission its bulk fuel storage tanks at Red Hill. The National Defense Authorization Act sets the policy priorities for the U.S. military each year and is one of the rare pieces of legislation that almost always gets approved despite partisan divisions. Congress has yet to vote on the legislation, but it is expected to pass before the end of the...

Nearly $5.6 million in federal funding is designed to provide the first phase of high-speed internet access to “unserved and underserved” communities such as Native Hawaiian homesteads, Lanai and Molokai to create an “internet for all,” Gov. David Ige announced Wednesday. “Every family deserves access to high-speed internet,” Ige said. The funding comes from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program that was created by the Infrastructure Investment...

Both of Hawaii’s U.S. senators celebrated the passage Tuesday of the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects marriage equality in federal law. The bill passed the Senate 61-36 with Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, both Democrats, voting in favor of the legislation. Twelve Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in approving the legislation, which now heads to the House for final approval before heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. “BREAKING: We just...

A bipartisan bill that will make it easier for researchers to study the health benefits of marijuana is set to become law after winning approval in the U.S. Senate this week. The Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, which was sponsored by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, received overwhelming support in both chambers of Congress. According to lawmakers, it will help streamline the process and reduce barriers that...