Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing, today released an interactive map to help Hawai‘i residents track where and how federal funding he helped secure is being spent. Since joining the Senate, Schatz has delivered more than $16 billion in federal funding to Hawai‘i, including more than $240 million in earmarks this year, placing him at number seven in bringing home the most...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the climate provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act. “I am pleased to report that this will be, by far, the biggest climate action in human history. Nearly $370 billion in tax incentives, grants, and other investments in clean energy, clean transportation, energy storage, home electrification, climate-smart agriculture, and clean manufacturing makes this a real climate bill. The...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that Moloka‘i Airport and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport will receive nearly $34 million in combined funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to improve their runways and taxiways. “This new federal funding will improve our airports on Moloka‘i and O‘ahu, helping us rebuild runways to make them safer and last longer,” said Senator Schatz, Chair of the Senate...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D- Hawai‘i) today announced that Hawai‘i will receive $1,262,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to repair Awalau Road from damages caused by last year’s mudslides. “This new federal funding will repair Awalau Road from the damage it suffered in last year’s mudslides and make the road more resilient to flooding, helping families on Maui to safely and easily get around,” said Senator Schatz,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement after President Joe Biden announced he would take action to address the climate crisis. “We are experiencing the climate crisis in real time. Heatwaves and wildfires around the world are killing people, driving families from their homes, and breaking critical infrastructure. Sea levels are rising. Droughts are shattering records. Extreme weather events are becoming more severe and more...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of 12 senators in calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to support online protections for Americans with disabilities. The senators asked DOJ to restart a rulemaking process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to establish new rules ensuring that the ADA applies to the Internet. “The United States has invested billions of dollars to develop technology and provide connectivity to all parts of the...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport will receive $10 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to upgrade its runways and improve its terminal lighting and draining systems. The funding is part of the at least $2.8 billion Hawai‘i has begun to receive from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law by President Biden last November.  “This new federal funding...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that that the five Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems and Papa Ola Lokahi, which coordinates health care programs and services for Native Hawaiians, will receive $19.5 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This funding will support Native Hawaiian health care services, disease prevention, and health education. “Native Hawaiian families across our state use these health centers to get the care they need...

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to two U.S. Army soldiers from Hawai‘i, Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro (posthumous) and Specialist Five Dennis M. Fujii. They were selected for the Medal of Honor as the U.S. military continues to review the records of soldiers previously overlooked for awards due to bigotry. “Few service members in our nation’s history have shown the courage Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro and Specialist Five Fujii did while...

HILO – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Department of Defense’s plan to defuel and shut down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. “Defueling and shutting down Red Hill cannot be delayed. If the Department of Defense wants to mobilize to accomplish something quickly and safely, it can. DoD must make it a priority to move fast and permanently shut down Red Hill as soon as possible.” ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. “The Republican-controlled Supreme Court has ripped away abortion rights from millions of American women. While this ruling won’t impact Hawai‘i, which legalized abortion in 1970, we must fight back to protect reproductive rights for women across the country. A woman’s fundamental right to make decisions...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced it has allocated $22.3 million in Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant funding to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), who serves as both the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Housing, secured the funding – the highest level ever appropriated by Congress. “We...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) submitted a comment letter on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) mandatory climate disclosure rule, highlighting several areas for improvement and key elements that the SEC should preserve in its final rule. In addition to Schatz, Whitehouse, and Warren the comment letter was signed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today voted to pass the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, bipartisan legislation authored by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to deliver all eras of toxic-exposed veterans their earned health care and benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the first time in the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D- Hawai‘i) today announced that the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources will receive $1,723,698 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect native forest birds, waterbirds, seabirds, and yellow-faced bees. The funding will support conservation projects on Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi, Maui, and O‘ahu. “Our native bird and bee populations are in danger due to shrinking habitats, disease-carrying...

HILO – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a field hearing titled “Upholding The Federal Trust Responsibility: Funding & Program Access For Innovation In The Native Hawaiian Community.” Chairman Schatz opened the hearing by highlighting the unique perspectives the University of Hawai‘i and the Hilo community bring to the federal conversation about how best to support Native...

HONOLULU – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a field hearing titled “Upholding The Federal Trust Responsibility: Funding & Program Access For Innovation In The Native Hawaiian Community.” Since assuming the committee chairmanship, Schatz has delivered the biggest federal investment in American history for Native Hawaiians – more than $270 million in direct funding for housing, education, health...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawai‘i) and Kai Kahele (D-Hawai‘i) today called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase its school meal reimbursement rate for Hawai‘i as the agency completes its years-long study to update its severely outdated cost estimates. “We request that you exercise your authority to provide a temporary increase in the national...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D- Hawai‘i) today announced that Hawai‘i will receive $14,092,200 in funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey to protect threatened and endangered local forest birds from extinction. The funding will help recover species including the ʻakikiki and ‘akeke‘e on Kaua‘i and the kiwikiu and ‘ākohekohe on Maui. “Avian malaria from invasive...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) today called on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct more research into the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelics. “NIH and FDA are critical to ensuring a comprehensive, rigorous, and deliberative science-based approach to the study of psychedelics, including the potential development of medication and therapeutics derived from these...