Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation that would expand telehealth services through Medicare, improve health outcomes, make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors, and help cut costs for...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) applauded the Senate passage of the Deepfake Report Act, bipartisan legislation that would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct an annual study of deepfakes and other types of similar content. Deepfakes are hyper-realistic, digital manipulations of real content that depict events that did not actually occur. “Fake content can damage our national security and undermine...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) called on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to end his efforts that would threaten funding for programs that help millions of Americans in rural communities access telephone and internet services. “Especially in rural areas, USF programs have been key to redefining access to services and ensuring that the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and John Thune (R-S.D.) reintroduced the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act. The bipartisan legislation would ensure more people receive relevant emergency alerts on their mobile phones, televisions, and radios, explore new ways of alerting the public through online video and audio streaming services, track and study false alerts when they occur, and improve the way states plan for emergency...

WASHINGTON  – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced the Stopping Executive Overreach on Military Appropriations Act (SEOMA) in response to President Trump’s raid of military construction funds in order to build his wasteful wall on the southern U.S. border. The bill would rescind President Trump’s egregious abuse of executive power and prevent future...

WASHINGTON – Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved the State of Hawai‘i’s request for federal aid to contain the Kahana Ridge fire on Maui. FEMA's Fire Management Assistance Grant Program (FMAGP) offers federal funding for the mitigation, management, and control of fires deemed likely to constitute a major disaster. “This new emergency federal funding will strengthen efforts to contain the Kahana Ridge fire and keep families safe. We’re...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters to the CEOs of Visa, MasterCard, and Stripe to express deep concerns over Facebook’s Libra Association and to urge potential member companies to proceed with caution until Facebook is able to provide real answers. PayPal left the Libra Association on Friday.  “We are...

HONOLULU – Hawai‘i is set to receive nearly $10 million in federal funding to support Native Hawaiian programs. The U.S. Department of Education will award Hawai‘i nearly $7 million to fund Native Hawaiian education programs, while the Department of Health and Human Services will provide nearly $3 million for Native Hawaiian community development and child care programs. “This new federal funding means local schools and programs have more resources to support their work...

WASHINGTON – The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved $4.1 million in federal funding to support management and research projects for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Appropriations Committee, worked with committee leadership to secure new federal funding for the monument, one of the world’s largest marine protected areas. “We were successful at securing new federal funding to help us...

WASHINGTON – The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved $16.7 million in federal funding for the East-West Center. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Appropriations Committee, worked with committee leadership in a bipartisan manner to maintain federal funding levels for the East-West Center, which directly supports the U.S. rebalance to the Asia Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue with countries in the region.“The East-West...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Army Corps’ decision to acknowledge community concerns and consider improvements to the project.“We are pleased that the Army Corps is showing some flexibility, and that they are listening to community concerns. We still have a long way to go. This will require that we rebuild trust and listen to each other, but this is nevertheless good news for all involved. This will help us to...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for action to quell the fires and stop illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The resolution, co-sponsored by U.S. Senators John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), recognizes the critical role the Amazon plays in the Earth’s climate system and calls on the Brazilian government to strengthen environmental enforcement and end illegal...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on President Donald Trump.“The president is breaking statutory and constitutional law every day, and he is abusing his inherent power as president with regularity, enthusiasm, and most troublingly, impunity. He and his legal team argue that a sitting president’s authorities are so vast that they literally transcend the law. They argue that the Congress has a remedy for this...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) led a group of 13 senators in writing a pair of letters to corporate signatories to the New York Declaration on Forests, calling for the major companies and financial firms to wield their influence to combat the ongoing fires and runaway deforestation in the Amazon. In the face of destructive policies by Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro, it is time for corporations to live up to their...

HONOLULU – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Federal Transit Administration’s approval of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit’s Recovery Plan.“This is not the end of the process, but this is an important milestone that recognizes the work that the state and the city have done in getting this project to be more accountable and keep costs under control. I will continue to work with our federal partners to make...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), the top Democrat on the Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after the Trump administration announced it would defund two military projects in Hawai‘i to pay for a wall on the southern border.“By defunding a key security project at Kaneohe Bay, one the Marine Corps told Congress was a high priority, this president has made it clear that the safety...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, led a group of Democratic appropriators in calling on the Department of Defense to provide Congress with details of its decision to raid military...

 HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, Chair of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on fires in the Amazon rain forest.“The Amazon is literally on fire. And instead of confronting this crisis, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has pointed the finger at nongovernmental organizations charged with protecting the rain forest and called his own government’s...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) helped lead a group of senators in calling on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan to address serious concerns regarding the conditions at the southern border that the Trump administration’s policies have exacerbated. The senators demanded the Administration immediately answer and remedy several issues that...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced new legislation to help communities plan for and recover from major disasters. The Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019 would strengthen the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s disaster recovery grants for states, local governments, and tribes. It would also improve coordination at the federal level by establishing an office within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...