In the News

Hawaii’s congressional delegation reacted swiftly to today’s release of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old court precedent legalizing abortion. The delegation, all Democrats, decried the ruling and condemned the court’s conservative majority for restricting women’s rights. >> Sen. Brian Schatz: “The Republican-controlled Supreme Court has ripped away abortion rights from millions of American women....

U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chair Brian Schatz held a hearing Wednesday on the next steps following the U.S. Interior Department’s report on Indian boarding schools. The report released in May confirmed that forced assimilation of Indigenous children was U.S. policy at over 400 known federal schools dating back to 1819. This includes seven schools in Hawaiʻi: Hilo Boarding School, Industrial and Reformatory Schools, Industrial and Reformatory Schools for Girls,...

When the U.S. federal government began its Indian Boarding School Initiative in the mid-19th century, the goal was clear: to erase Indigenous cultures through a process of forced assimilation. Now, the head of the Department of the Interior hopes to address the generations-long fallout from those policies.On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland advocated for a Truth and Healing Commission to examine past U.S. government efforts to eradicate the languages, identities and cultural practices...

A congressional hearing on the abuses at the federal Indian boarding school system drew emotional testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill ― a call for more to be done to unearth the abuses against native children. The unprecedented hearing comes after a U.S. Department of the Interior investigation listed hundreds of boarding schools across America where native children, including Native Hawaiians, were abused and stripped of their culture. Native Hawaiians are seeking to spread awareness...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday outlined the next steps her department has planned to address the legacy of abuses at government-run schools for Indigenous children and legislation to examine the matter.  Haaland, the first Indigenous Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, testified Wednesday afternoon before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about the first volume of Interior’s investigative report into the schools. At these institutions, Indigenous children...

The U.S. Senate passed a measure on Thursday that would expand Veterans Administration health care for veterans with health conditions related to burn pit and Agent Orange exposure. U.S. Sen Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, helped to negotiate the bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act. Both she and Hawaii colleague Sen. Brian Schatz voted in favor of the measure, which passed on a 84-14...

Sen. Brian Schatz doesn’t want the Senate to get left behind after a year of House action aimed at improving staff retention. The Hawaii Democrat, who has championed the cause in the past, sent a letter to Senate Legislative Branch appropriators pushing for a 20 percent bump to the allowance that senators use to pay their staffers. It could be a long shot, since Republicans seem reluctant to hike office budgets again after providing a modest increase last year of 5...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, praised President Joe Biden’s action Monday to declare a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels produced by four Southeast Asian countries currently under investigation by the commerce department for allegedly violating anti-dumping rules imposed on imports from China. The president is also invoking the Defense Production Act to increase manufacturing of solar panels, insulation and other clean energy technology. “This move will unfreeze supply...

More than $1.7 million in additional federal funding will be awarded to Hawaii to help protect native forest birds, waterbirds, seabirds, and yellow-faced bees, according to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. Schatz said the additional funds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would go to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to support conservation projects on Hawaii island, Kauai, Maui and Oahu. “Our native bird and bee populations are in danger due to shrinking habitats,...

As the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 plot prepares to kick off its first public hearing, a bipartisan group of senators huddled Wednesday in the Capitol to negotiate new laws to prevent future candidates from stealing elections. Two sources familiar with the group’s work said it is close to a deal, having settled on a series of new provisions and working through options on one major unresolved issue. “We’ve made a lot of major...

Native Hawaiian leaders told U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this week that more funding and program access is needed from Washington to better fulfill the government’s federal trust responsibility. Schatz, who chairs the Indian Affairs Committee, wrapped up the second of two field hearings Thursday at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. The first hearing was held Wednesday at UH Manoa’s East-West Center. On Wednesday, Schatz said it was the...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz took testimony Thursday from seven Native Hawaiian community leaders in East Hawaii, at Hale ‘Olelo, the College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat and chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a hearing called “Upholding The Federal Trust Responsibility: Funding and Program Access For Innovation In The Native Hawaiian Community.” According to a statement from Schatz, as chairman, he’s...

A bipartisan group of legislators in the House and Senate struck a deal on data privacy legislation Friday, proposing a bill that would allow users to opt out of targeted advertisements and to sue Internet companies that improperly sell their data. The legislation, though, faces a steep uphill climb to become law. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are still hoping to recruit more supporters, namely Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.),...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, held a hearing with Native Hawaiian leaders on Wednesday to hear their concerns with the federal government. The hearing was divided into two sessions. The first one focused on Native Hawaiian housing and economy with representatives of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. William Aila Jr., chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, chanted...

In the wake of unprecedented federal funding for the Native Hawaiian Community, Senator Brian Schatz scheduled two congressional committee hearings in the islands. Schatz is a chairman in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which held a field hearing in Honolulu on Wednesday. Another one is set for Hilo on Thursday. The federal government has a trust responsibility to Native Hawaiians, just like it does with American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and that trust responsibility must be met. And...

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D- Hawai‘i) announced that Hawai‘i will receive $14.092 million in funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Servic, and U.S. Geological Survey to protect threatened and endangered local forest birds from extinction. The funding will help recover species including the ‘akikiki and ‘akeke‘e on Kaua‘i and the kiwikiu and ‘akohekohe on Maui. “Avian malaria from invasive mosquitoes has devastated our...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, called on U.S. commerce secretary Gina Raimondo Wednesday to be more engaged and open in helping to resolve a tariff investigation that threatens to derail the domestic solar energy industry. In a tense exchange with Raimando during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing, Schatz repeatedly emphasized the urgency of the situation and the need for Raimando to be more personally engaged. “I want to know that you are alarmed and I want to know that you...

A measure authored by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to improve data collection and analysis of online crimes in the U.S. was signed into law today, according to his office. President Joe Biden signed the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act, which passed the U.S. Senate in December and the U.S. House of Representatives in March. “By collecting data on how often, when, and where cyberattacks are happening, our bipartisan bill will better protect people in Hawaii from online crimes like those against our...

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of 10senators in introducing a resolution to support the designation of April 2022 as “Preserving Local News Month.” The resolution recognizes local news as a public good that serves an essential function in the democracy of the United States. “People across the country rely on local news to stay informed, fight disinformation, and strengthen their communities. As the industry faces newsroom closures and budget cuts,...