Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawai‘i has been awarded $320,535 for its telehealth pilot project. JABSOM’s telehealth project connects patients with health care providers through video visits and provides remote treatment for a range of conditions, including mental health, opioid dependency, chronic conditions, and maternal health. “JABSOM has put together...

WASHINGTON – After the COVID-19 pandemic impacted prisons across the country, infecting hundreds of thousands of people and causing thousands of deaths, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today reintroduced legislation that would accelerate the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) approval process for compassionate release during a public health emergency. Authorized under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which also eliminated parole for federal prisoners, compassionate release gives...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), John Thune (R-S.D.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Unsubscribe Act. The bipartisan bill would require companies to be more transparent about their subscription-based business model and make it easier for consumers to cancel their subscriptions once their free or reduced price trial period has ended. “The subscription-based business model is exploding, and it’s largely because of...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will allocate an additional $14.2 million under the American Rescue Plan to provide emergency housing vouchers for over 700 people and families who are experiencing homelessness; at risk of experiencing homelessness; have recently experienced homelessness; or are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or...

  WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), highlighting several priorities for the Commission’s ongoing evaluation of climate change disclosure regulations. “The market needs to know how exposed individual issuers are to climate risks, and how they plan to manage their exposure. That information needs to be decision-useful to investors:...

  WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate passed the United States Innovation and Competition Act, major bipartisan legislation that enhances American global competitiveness. The bill includes a provision cosponsored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), which would ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States and protect sharks from finning, the brutal practice of slicing fins off of live sharks and throwing the remainder of the animal back into ocean to drown,...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate passed the United States Innovation and Competition Act, major bipartisan legislation that enhances American global competitiveness and strengthens America’s foreign policy commitment to allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific and around the world. The legislation includes six provisions authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) that will elevate Oceania’s role in the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and ensure...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today led a group of 20 senators in calling on the leaders of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to share data to identify communities without high-speed internet access and work together to improve broadband connectivity. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more apparent that affordable and reliable broadband is...

  HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representative Ed Case (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on President Biden’s budget proposal, which includes $19.7 million for the East-West Center. The proposal reflects the funding level Schatz and Case secured last year and is the first time a presidential budget request for the Center has been increased since President Obama’s 2010 proposal. “We’ve worked hard to not just...

  HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected the University of Hawai‘i to lead the agency’s new Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (CIMAR), which includes a five-year commitment of up $210 million.  “UH is a recognized leader on climate and marine science in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Senator Schatz, a member of the Senate...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.) reintroduced The Disaster Learning and Life Saving Act. The bipartisan legislation will create a new permanent and independent board to study the underlying causes of disaster related fatalities and property damage nationwide. The National Disaster Safety Board (NDSB) will make recommendations to all levels of government on how to improve the resiliency of communities across the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Congressman Sean Casten (D-Ill.) introduced the Climate Change Financial Risk Act of 2021. The legislation will direct the Federal Reserve (“Fed”) to conduct stress tests on large financial institutions to measure their resilience to climate-related financial risks. “Risk is risk—we should not be treating some risks different from others just because they’re hard to quantify. Our federal...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) reintroduced the Rights for the TSA Workforce Act, legislation that would grant Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel — which includes Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) and Air Marshals — the same worker rights and protections that are granted to most federal workers. “Every day, TSA employees work to keep the American public and our country safe. They deserve the same rights and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz today released the following statement after Governor David Ige updated restrictions on sporting events, now allowing surf competitions and regattas to resume. Earlier this month, Schatz called on Governor Ige to lift these restrictions, citing Hawai‘i’s progress on vaccinations and its low case counts, as well as the importance of safely lifting restrictions and returning to a more normal life. “Surfing and outrigger canoe paddling...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) reintroduced the Census Improving Data and Enhanced Accuracy (Census IDEA) Act, legislation that would protect the accuracy of future censuses and ensure any proposed changes to the count are properly studied, researched, and tested. “Under the last administration, we saw that presidential appointees were eager to politicize the Census with an unconstitutional question on citizenship. While we were able to stop that attempt, we...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and U.S. Representatives Ami Bera, M.D. (D-Calif.) and Don Young (R-Alaska) introduced the Honoring Our Commitment to Elevate America’s Neighbor Islands and Allies Act, or Honoring OCEANIA Act. The bipartisan bill would elevate all of Oceania in U.S. foreign policymaking to help deliver a robust diplomatic and development commitment to support the long-term growth, governance, and resilience needs...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on a new Executive Order from President Joe Biden that will take steps to mitigate the risks climate change poses to our financial system, economy, and federal budget. Schatz has led calls for action on climate risk and has authored legislation directing the Federal Reserve to conduct climate stress tests on large financial institutions. “Risk is risk, and we do not have the luxury of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-Ill.) introduced legislation to repeal the national debt ceiling, an arbitrary limit set by Congress on the amount of funding that the United States Treasury may borrow. “Paying our debts should be an automatic act, not a politicized weapon used for leverage,” said Senator Schatz. “It’s clear that the debt ceiling...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) reintroduced the Ensuring Access to General Surgery Act, bipartisan legislation that would produce high quality data on where general surgeons are in short supply around the country. “We have a doctor shortage crisis in Hawai‘i, and it’s having a real impact on families living in hard-to-reach areas across the state,” Senator Schatz said. “Our bill will help us better...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz today released the following statement after Governor David Ige updated restrictions on sporting events, now allowing families to cheer on their children in person, while adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Earlier this month, Schatz called on Governor Ige to lift these restrictions, including permitting surf competitions and regattas to resume, citing Hawai‘i’s progress on vaccinations and its low case...