Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the change in management at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo. Earlier this month as the COVID-19 outbreak worsened at the veterans home, Schatz called for immediate federal intervention to contain the spread and help save lives. As a result, the Department of Veterans Affairs mobilized a team to assess and support the veterans home and found a number of serious infection control issues...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) is renewing his call to Hawai‘i Governor David Ige to take additional steps to protect Hawai‘i residents living in long-term care facilities. Schatz first urged the Governor to step up efforts to protect nursing home residents and staff in May. “We have now seen outbreaks of the virus at multiple nursing homes and care facilities, including the tragedy at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home. The situation at the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Family Crisis Cash Assistance Act. The legislation will create a new permanent program to help families struggling through a natural disaster or economic crisis with immediate cash assistance. As the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear, direct cash provides families with immediate relief and gives them the flexibility and choice to use on rent, food, or other expenses. “During a...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), along with U.S. Representatives Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) today slammed Facebook for its failure to protect its users from widespread misinformation on its platform. The lawmakers demanded answers on the inconsistent enforcement of Facebook’s content moderation policies which provide deference to right-wing content and fail to prevent the dissemination of politically-biased, divisive...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced new legislation aimed at rescuing the struggling local news industry. Local news organizations play a vital role in American democracy, reporting on stories that matter to communities and serving as a watchdog for municipal governments. However, an industry-wide transition to digital media and the pandemic-induced recession has led to a rapid decline of the...

WASHINGTON – With schools in Hawai‘i set to reopen for in-person instruction, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today urged Hawai‘i Department of Education Superintendent Christina Kishimoto, the State Board of Education, and the Hawai‘i Association of Independent Schools to take additional steps to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and staff at schools across the state. With more recent studies indicating that the coronavirus can spread through airborne...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today took to the Senate floor to call on Senate Republicans to honor U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish that she not be replaced until a new president is installed, instead of rushing through a judicial nominee that will undermine the Affordable Care Act and rip away health care from millions of Americans. “The President has made clear that whomever he nominates to the Supreme Court will be in favor of striking down the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on a new report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that details serious infection control issues that contributed to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo. The VA mobilized a team earlier this month to assess and support the veterans home after Schatz called for immediate assistance as COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to rise at the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a brilliant jurist. In devoting her life to advancing equality and justice for all, she made our country a better place and blazed a trail for women in civic life. She leaves behind a powerful and enduring legacy that we must fight to protect. May she...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and 30 of his senate colleagues today called on President Trump to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to enact legislation that provides the emergency assistance and protections renters need to stay in their homes. Millions of children and youth are at risk of being evicted from their homes due to the Trump administration’s refusal to support critical rental assistance and relief measures to protect their health and...

WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced it has approved an additional $70,293,866 grant to Hawai‘i to provide those unemployed due to COVID-19 with an additional $300 per week on top of their regular unemployment benefit. The new funding follows nearly $200 million in federal funding announced last month and $53.4 million announced last week. “While this new funding will provide some immediate help, it’s not enough for...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced a bipartisan bill that would extend two key statutory deadlines for the 2020 Census by four months and require the Census Bureau to continue field operations through October 31, 2020. Delays in census operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a severe undercount of the population, specifically in Native, minority, and rural communities across the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) called on Avalon Health Care to review and improve its infection control policies and practices as all three of its facilities in Hawai‘i have experienced COVID-19 outbreaks. The Utah-based company operates three facilities in Hawai‘i: Avalon Care Center and Hale Nani Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Honolulu, and the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo. In a letter to Avalon’s CEO, Schatz wrote,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has mobilized a team of infection control experts, nurses, and other health care professionals to provide immediate support and help contain a COVID-19 outbreak at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo. The move comes just days after Schatz made an urgent request to the VA following rising COVID-19 cases and deaths at the Hilo...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of 19 senators in calling on the Census Bureau to provide more details on how they plan to use data from the 2020 Census to apportion congressional representation. This comes after multiple attempts by President Trump to interfere with the count for political purposes, as well as the limitations on conducting the census in full during the coronavirus pandemic. “With the president’s unconstitutional...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Chair of the Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, released the following statement on a new report titled Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System from the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC).  “The findings in this report should be a wake-up call: climate financial risks are real. They will destabilize our...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that Hawai‘i will receive $26,992,923 in new federal funding to support grants under the Native Hawaiian Education Program (NHEP). This federal funding, secured by Senator Schatz through his work on the Senate Appropriations Committee, was awarded to 23 Native Hawaiian educational programs across the state.  “This new federal funding will ensure that Native Hawaiian...

HONOLULU – The Federal Emergency Management Agency today announced it has approved an additional $53,368,466 grant to Hawai‘i to provide those unemployed due to COVID-19 with an additional $300 per week on top of their regular unemployment benefit. The new funding follows nearly $200 million in funding announced last month. “While this new funding will provide some immediate help, it’s not enough for Hawai‘i families who are struggling to make ends meet,” said...

HONOLULU – As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise at the Yukio Okutsu Veterans State Home in Hilo, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) called for direct federal assistance with the outbreak. “We need to contain this outbreak immediately, and we need federal help,” said Senator Schatz. “I’m calling on the VA to immediately step in and deploy infection control experts and other health care professionals to the Big Island to get this under...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the COVID-19 outbreak at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo. In May, Schatz called on Governor David Ige to step up efforts to prevent such outbreaks at nursing homes. “The outbreak we are seeing at Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home is heartbreaking. My staff and I are working with state and local officials to make sure they utilize all the federal help that’s...