Press Releases

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the passing of singer and entertainer Danny Kaleikini. “I join Hawai‘i in mourning the loss of a legend across the islands and beyond our shores. Danny was an extraordinarily talented, charismatic, joyful, and fearless performer who energized any stage he stepped on and warmed any heart he touched. He was the kind of person who made everyone who he interacted with feel special. He was a...

WASHINGTON – Last night, President Joe Biden signed the Native American Language Resource Center Act into law. The bipartisan legislation, authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, will bolster Native American language schools and programs with coordinated, experienced support. “As we have seen in Hawai‘i, Native speaker-led language programs have proven that culturally based instruction is key to revitalizing and maintaining...

WASHINGTON – Last month, President Joe Biden signed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The new law includes a provision authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) that will provide more transparency and accountability on the sale of military equipment to local police departments across the country. “In order to demilitarize the police, the public must know which police departments are getting military equipment and what kinds of weapons they...

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden signed the Norman Y. Mineta Japanese American Confinement Education Act into law. The bill, authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representative Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), will reauthorize funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) program to preserve internment camps across the country. The new law, which was included in the government funding bill last month, will also create a new $10 million federal grant program...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today was sworn in to a new term in the U.S. Senate. Schatz won reelection to a second full term last November, garnering more than 71 percent of the vote – the largest margin of victory by any Senate candidate in 2022. Schatz has served for a decade in the Senate, first joining in 2012 before winning a special election in 2014. He then won his first full term in 2016. “It has been the honor of my life to represent the...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Native American Language Resource Center Act. The bipartisan legislation, authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, will bolster Native American language schools and programs with coordinated, experienced support. The bill now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law. “As we have seen in Hawai‘i, Native speaker-led language...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) secured the inclusion of provisions to the FY23 government funding bill that will temporarily extend access to expanded telehealth services. The provisions, which are from the Schatz-authored Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, allow Medicare beneficiaries in all areas of the country to utilize telehealth services in their homes and allow more types of health care...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate passed the annual government funding bill which will increase federal funding for critical programs that benefit Hawai‘i. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), worked with his colleagues on the committee to successfully secure new and increased federal funding for Hawai‘i’s priorities. “We continue to see big increases in federal funding for Hawai‘i. This appropriations bill will give our state...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, secured $530 million in new congressional directed spending, also known as earmarks, in this year’s government funding bill. At $530 million, Schatz’s earmark total this year more than doubles last fiscal year’s amount. “We are bringing home more than a half a billion dollars in new earmark funding,” said Senator Schatz. “These earmarks will give local...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that he has secured $63.8 million in new funding for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Schatz worked with congressional leaders to steer nearly $64 million to the rail project in Honolulu. The new money, which will be used to cover inflationary cost increases, is in addition to the remaining federal funding that...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today secured the inclusion of a new $85 million grant program based on his bipartisan ‘Yes In My Backyard’ legislation in the fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill. The bill establishes a new federal program to reward state and local governments that reform land-use policies and other local barriers that constrain the supply of affordable housing. “We need to legalize housing, and abandon the exclusionary zoning...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the annual appropriations bill includes $1 billion to defuel and permanently close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. “This is new federal funding to drain and permanently shut down Red Hill. We still have more work to do to make sure Red Hill is closed as quickly and safely as possible, and now we have even more resources to help in that effort,” said Senator Schatz, a senior member of the...

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 for a congressionally-initiated independent investigation into how the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy have responded to PFAS-based contamination events at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, including the recent leak of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). The delegation...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) will receive $17.3 million in new federal funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce to expand high-speed internet access in Native Hawaiian communities. “This funding will increase broadband internet access in Native Hawaiian communities across the state, helping families and small businesses get the high-speed internet they need and supporting the expansion of important...

WASHINGTON – Last night, the U.S. Senate passed the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act, bipartisan legislation authored by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that will help protect coral reefs and advance coral reef stewardship. The legislation was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law. “Our coral reefs have been pushed to the brink of extinction, and we need to...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate today passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included several provisions authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i). Schatz’s provisions included measures to protect coral reefs, improve the nation’s volcanic warning system, and stop the cruel practice of killing sharks for their fins. The NDAA bill now heads to president’s desk to be signed into law. The NDAA bill includes the bipartisan Restoring...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today called on the Department of Defense to step up its efforts to assist people experiencing health issues as a result of water contamination from the Red Hill fuel leak. “Protecting the health and safety of service members and their families is the sacred obligation of the Department of Defense, and the water contamination of the community water system at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam was a breach of trust. DoD must use all...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today led a bipartisan group of senators in urging Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to work with American and global leaders to prevent deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and help fight climate change. Citing Lula’s public commitments to protect the Amazon, the senators expressed their interest in working with him and the National Congress of Brazil to restore protections against illegal...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced the Right to Private Conduct Act, a bill to protect the rights to privacy and liberty granted by the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas. The legislation would prevent any person acting under color of law from inhibiting an individual’s right to engage in private, non-commercial, consensual sexual conduct between...

WASHINGTON – The Senate Democratic Caucus today voted to elevate U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) to Deputy Conference Secretary, a new position within the Senate Democratic leadership team. Schatz was nominated for the new role by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). In addition to the new leadership position, Schatz will retain his role as Chief Deputy Whip. “I’m honored to serve in this new leadership role,” said Senator Schatz. “We have more...