Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz today announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded $68.4 million in federal funding to the University of Hawai?i Sea Grant College Program, which will work in partnership with a dozen groups spanning government, nonprofits, academia, and local stewards. The new award is through the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and will be used to help improve climate and disaster...

WASHINGTON – The Senate Appropriations Committee today passed the Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The legislation, led by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chair of the subcommittee, will provide $98.737 billion in total discretionary funding. “This bill makes important investments to strengthen our nation’s transportation infrastructure and address the housing crisis affecting so many people across the country,” said...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a senior member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today met with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar to discuss the potential benefits and emerging safety concerns from artificial intelligence (AI). Later in the day, Schatz participated in a discussion at the Center for AI Safety DC launch reception to discuss his work on AI legislation. Today’s discussions followed a new...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on President Joe Biden. “For over 50 years, Joe Biden has been a selfless patriot and dedicated public servant who’s given everything to the country he so dearly loves. As a senator, vice president, and now president, he has spent most of his life working to make people’s lives better and the world safer. Today, yet again, he has put the country before himself, making the best choice for the American people...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to a joint session of Congress next week. “Nine months after the atrocities of October 7 and the ensuing conflict, negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages are ongoing – and that should be the focus. Instead, Prime Minister Netanyahu is set to deliver what is clearly a partisan address to Congress just months ahead of our...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) today led a bipartisan group of 12 senators in urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take steps to rectify Hawai‘i’s exclusion from the North Atlantic Treaty as military threats in the Indo-Pacific grow. In a letter to Secretary Blinken, the senators raised concerns about the omission of Hawai‘i under Article 6 of the Treaty, meaning an armed attack on Hawai‘i...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement after Senate Republicans voted to block the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act which expresses support for women’s reproductive rights in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. “It’s absurd that Republicans couldn’t bring themselves to even express support for protecting access to reproductive care for women across America. Time and again, at every turn, Republicans have chosen to decimate reproductive...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, on behalf of the County of Maui, will receive $5 million in federal funding to purchase hybrid electric buses and replace older diesel models. By adopting zero-emissions buses, Maui will help the state advance its goal of achieving a fully electric bus fleet. The new funding comes from the infrastructure law Congress passed in 2021. “This new funding will help bring cleaner, more...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, ruling that former President Donald Trump is partially immune from prosecution. In sending the case back down to the lower court, the decision is poised to delay the pivotal criminal trial on charges against Trump of attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. “Despite today’s ruling from the MAGA Court, no one is above the law, including former...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawai‘i) and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on President Joe Biden’s new supplemental appropriations request, which includes funding for disaster recovery on Maui and across the country. “Almost a year since the devastating fires on Maui, the people of Lahaina still need help. Their lives are nowhere near back to normal, and it will take sustained...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, overruling the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council precedent set four decades ago. “The corrupt MAGA Court’s disastrous decision to kneecap federal agencies from doing their jobs means Americans will have weaker protections on everything from the climate to health care to food safety. The Constitution is clear: Congress makes...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. “Air pollution doesn’t recognize borders—that’s exactly why Congress gave EPA the authority to regulate it. This ruling delays critical action to support the health of our communities and our planet.” ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), lead author of the bipartisan Restore Honor to Service Members Act, released the following statement after President Joe Biden announced he has pardoned former service members who were wrongly convicted because of their sexual orientation. “The president’s action today will give thousands of brave veterans a chance to correct their military records—to remove an unwarranted discharge that was given to them for no other reason other than being...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development, today announced Hawai‘i has been awarded more than $6.6 million in new federal grant funding to help build more housing. The funding comes from a new grant program based on Schatz’s bipartisan ‘Yes In My Backyard’ legislation and was first funded in the fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill. The new Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Hawai?i Department of Transportation (HDOT)  and the City and County of Honolulu will receive a total of more than $42.5 million in new federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to support a improvements to roads, sidewalks, and infrastructure in Hilo and Honolulu. “This new federal funding will help make streets in Hilo and Honolulu safer for everyone – drivers, passengers, cyclists, and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vice chairman of the Committee, today announced the release of S.1723, Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act from Committee. The legislation, authored by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), would establish a federal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government's...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), along with the Senate Democratic Caucus, voted to protect people’s right to use contraception as Republicans escalate attacks on reproductive freedoms. With a vote of 51-39, Republicans blocked the bill from advancing for consideration. Ahead of the vote, Schatz spoke on the Senate floor about the need to enshrine reproductive freedoms into federal statute as Republicans target contraception and IVF in the wake of the Supreme Court’s...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after President Joe Biden announced that he has made additional disaster assistance available to the State of Hawai‘i following the Maui fires. Biden’s authorization increases the federal cost share for federal assistance to 100 percent for an additional 90-day period. “This extension means tremendous savings for the state. By covering the full cost of...

HILO – After securing millions in federal funding in recent years, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, yesterday visited Keauhou Bird Conservation Center and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on Hawai‘i Island. Schatz toured both sites and saw firsthand how the federal dollars were being utilized. “Due to shrinking habitats, disease-carrying mosquitoes, and expanding predator populations, Hawai‘i’s native birds have been at risk of extinction for...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) helped secure provisions in the biennial water resources bill that will support critical flood management and environmental restoration projects across Hawai‘i. The Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which unanimously passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last week, authorizes flood control, navigation, and ecosystem protection projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “As climate change...