Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) have introduced bipartisan legislation to expand access to rural telehealth services. The bill would allow non-rural hospitals serving rural areas to qualify for support from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF).The “Reaching Underserved Rural Areas to Lead on Telehealth Act (RURAL),” S. 1377, would update existing law to allow non-rural members of...

WASHINGTON – This evening, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of Senate Democrats in holding the Senate floor to urge Senate Republicans to abandon their closed door approach in drafting Trumpcare and show the American people their bill. “The Republicans are going about this in a way that is so procedurally disgusting that it is an embarrassment to our democracy. They are hiding this bill because people will be outraged when they find out what’s in...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and U.S. Representatives Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) released a report detailing the impact of President Trump’s budget on America’s veterans.   While Trump requested an overall increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), his proposed budget shifts funding away from critical programs that veterans rely on – including programs that...

WASHINGTON – Today, as Americans celebrate LGBT Pride Month, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) reintroduced the Restore Honor to Service Members Act. The legislation will correct the military records of service members discharged solely due to their sexual orientation to reflect their honorable service and reinstate the benefits they earned. “With this bill, Congress has the opportunity to honor...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling against President Donald Trump’s revised Muslim ban. “The Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold Judge Watson’s ruling against President Trump’s Muslim ban is another win for the rule of law,” said Senator Schatz. “The courts continue to affirm what we already know: the Muslim ban is un-American, unconstitutional, and...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to cancel his appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I am deeply troubled that Attorney General Sessions has canceled his scheduled appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee this coming week to discuss the Department of Justice budget. Apparently, Attorney General...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) wrote to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos yesterday to highlight misleading science materials sent by the Heartland Institute, a group with a long record of climate denial, to more than 300,000 public school science teachers in Hawai‘i and across the country. Heartland’s 11-minute DVD and 135-page book, which are made to look like...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Brian Schatz urged federal appropriators in a bipartisan letter to increase federal funding for the Impact Aid Program in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget. “Impact Aid funds a range of programs, including efforts to retain highly qualified teachers, adequate technology, facilities renovation, and maintenance of transportation fleets. For many districts, this funding represents the very lifeblood that allows their school system to...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), co-chair of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.“We are appalled and disappointed, but we are not deterred. Entering a formal withdrawal would take nearly four years to complete which means climate change is on the ballot for every election until we reverse this immoral action.“The future is with clean energy....

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to prioritize an investigation into the reported cyberattacks on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).Following increased media coverage of the FCC’s net neutrality proceeding, the Commission reported that it was the victim of distributed denial-of-service-attacks (DDos),...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, denounced President Donald Trump’s budget proposal and immediately labeled it “dead on arrival.”  The Trump Administration’s plan would make severe cuts to critical programs that help struggling families get by in order to fund tax breaks for the rich. “President Trump’s budget proposal is not just radical, it’s...

WASHINGTON – Following the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to begin the process to repeal the strong net neutrality rules that have been in place since 2015, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), lead Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, released the following statement. “While Chairman Pai seems to have made his decision to get rid of these rules before starting the proceedings in earnest, he has an...

WASHINGTON – Following one of the largest global cyberattacks in history, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i),  Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) introduced the Protecting our Ability To Counter Hacking (PATCH) Act, bipartisan legislation that adds transparency and accountability to the U.S. government process for retaining or disclosing vulnerabilities in technology products, services,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono’s (D-Hawai‘i) recent announcement. “I join all of Hawai‘i in wishing Senator Hirono a rapid recovery. Mazie's courage and fortitude are matched only by her love for our State and people. I look forward to continuing to work together with Mazie on the issues that reflect our Hawai‘i values and priorities.”  ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) accepted the Peter Benchley Ocean Award for excellence in policy at a ceremony last night. The award recognized the senator’s work to expand the Papah?naumoku?kea Marine National Monument, which is the largest permanent conservation area in the world.“In Hawai‘i, the ocean is a treasure,” Senator Schatz said in his acceptance speech. “It is the source of good things—the waves we ride, the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote to President Donald Trump to urge him to nominate leaders for more than 100 senior State Department positions that are currently unfilled but that are critical to an effective U.S. foreign policy. “We need a fully staffed and funded State Department to protect U.S....

Washington – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, today asked Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Ajit Pai, to explain in more detail the nature of a reported cyberattack on May 8, including how it impacted the public’s ability to comment on a proposal to roll back net neutrality protections. In their letter, the senators asked Chairman Pai if the FCC was prepared to defend against such distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act in a strictly partisan vote. “House Republicans rammed through a bill that would strip at least 24 million Americans of their health care and raise the costs for those with pre-existing conditions. It’s shameful and immoral. But it can stop here. The Senate has the opportunity to walk away from Trumpcare and instead...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2017, bipartisan legislation that would expand telehealth services in Medicare, improve care outcomes, make it easier for patients to connect with their health care providers, and help cut costs for...

WASHINGTON – Last night, congressional appropriators released a bipartisan spending deal that will increase federal funding for critical programs that benefit Hawai‘i for fiscal year 2017.  U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, successfully advanced Hawai‘i’s priorities during committee consideration, which are now reflected in the final deal. “Despite the proposed cuts and threats of a government shutdown...