Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement after Senate Republicans voted to block the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act which expresses support for women’s reproductive rights in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. “It’s absurd that Republicans couldn’t bring themselves to even express support for protecting access to reproductive care for women across America. Time and again, at every turn, Republicans have chosen to decimate reproductive...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) today led a bipartisan group of 12 senators in urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take steps to rectify Hawai‘i’s exclusion from the North Atlantic Treaty as military threats in the Indo-Pacific grow. In a letter to Secretary Blinken, the senators raised concerns about the omission of Hawai‘i under Article 6 of the Treaty, meaning an armed attack on Hawai‘i...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, on behalf of the County of Maui, will receive $5 million in federal funding to purchase hybrid electric buses and replace older diesel models. By adopting zero-emissions buses, Maui will help the state advance its goal of achieving a fully electric bus fleet. The new funding comes from the infrastructure law Congress passed in 2021. “This new funding will help bring cleaner, more...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, ruling that former President Donald Trump is partially immune from prosecution. In sending the case back down to the lower court, the decision is poised to delay the pivotal criminal trial on charges against Trump of attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. “Despite today’s ruling from the MAGA Court, no one is above the law, including former...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawai‘i) and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on President Joe Biden’s new supplemental appropriations request, which includes funding for disaster recovery on Maui and across the country. “Almost a year since the devastating fires on Maui, the people of Lahaina still need help. Their lives are nowhere near back to normal, and it will take sustained...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, overruling the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council precedent set four decades ago. “The corrupt MAGA Court’s disastrous decision to kneecap federal agencies from doing their jobs means Americans will have weaker protections on everything from the climate to health care to food safety. The Constitution is clear: Congress makes...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. “Air pollution doesn’t recognize borders—that’s exactly why Congress gave EPA the authority to regulate it. This ruling delays critical action to support the health of our communities and our planet.” ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), lead author of the bipartisan Restore Honor to Service Members Act, released the following statement after President Joe Biden announced he has pardoned former service members who were wrongly convicted because of their sexual orientation. “The president’s action today will give thousands of brave veterans a chance to correct their military records—to remove an unwarranted discharge that was given to them for no other reason other than being...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development, today announced Hawai‘i has been awarded more than $6.6 million in new federal grant funding to help build more housing. The funding comes from a new grant program based on Schatz’s bipartisan ‘Yes In My Backyard’ legislation and was first funded in the fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill. The new Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced that the Hawai?i Department of Transportation (HDOT)  and the City and County of Honolulu will receive a total of more than $42.5 million in new federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to support a improvements to roads, sidewalks, and infrastructure in Hilo and Honolulu. “This new federal funding will help make streets in Hilo and Honolulu safer for everyone – drivers, passengers, cyclists, and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vice chairman of the Committee, today announced the release of S.1723, Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act from Committee. The legislation, authored by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), would establish a federal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government's...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), along with the Senate Democratic Caucus, voted to protect people’s right to use contraception as Republicans escalate attacks on reproductive freedoms. With a vote of 51-39, Republicans blocked the bill from advancing for consideration. Ahead of the vote, Schatz spoke on the Senate floor about the need to enshrine reproductive freedoms into federal statute as Republicans target contraception and IVF in the wake of the Supreme Court’s...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after President Joe Biden announced that he has made additional disaster assistance available to the State of Hawai‘i following the Maui fires. Biden’s authorization increases the federal cost share for federal assistance to 100 percent for an additional 90-day period. “This extension means tremendous savings for the state. By covering the full cost of...

HILO – After securing millions in federal funding in recent years, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, yesterday visited Keauhou Bird Conservation Center and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on Hawai‘i Island. Schatz toured both sites and saw firsthand how the federal dollars were being utilized. “Due to shrinking habitats, disease-carrying mosquitoes, and expanding predator populations, Hawai‘i’s native birds have been at risk of extinction for...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) helped secure provisions in the biennial water resources bill that will support critical flood management and environmental restoration projects across Hawai‘i. The Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which unanimously passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last week, authorizes flood control, navigation, and ecosystem protection projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “As climate change...

WASHINGTON – In a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), the co-author of the STOP Pain Act which was signed into law in 2016, requested an update from the National Institutes of Health on the progress the agency has made on chronic pain research. In questions to Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Schatz asked, “Dr. Volkow, my STOP Pain Act was enacted eight years ago and since then, NIH has funded hundreds...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representatives Jill Tokuda (D-Hawai‘i) and Ed Case (D-Hawai‘i) today introduced new bicameral legislation that would help strengthen and protect health care for seniors in Hawai‘i. The Protecting Access To Care in Hawai‘i (PATCH) Act would provide fair Medicare reimbursements to Hawai‘i providers, helping retain and recruit more doctors and protect access to health care for seniors across the state. “As...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced legislation that would expand transportation access for veterans with disabilities. S.4372, the Deliver for Veterans Act, would expand a Veterans Affairs (VA) grant program to cover shipping costs for disabled veterans who require modified vehicles for transportation. “Disabled veterans deserve access to every benefit they have earned – regardless of where they live,” said Senator Schatz. “Our...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution cosponsored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) recognizing May as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. “While AANHPI culture is an integral part of everyday life in Hawai‘i, this month is a chance to lift up and celebrate the incredible contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders across our state and our country.” ###

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today objected to an effort by Senate Republicans to politicize the census and add an unconstitutional question on citizenship. “I have lost count of the number of times that Republicans have tried and failed to add citizenship questions to the census,” said Senator Schatz. “We have to see this for what it is: an attempt to reduce the count in immigrant communities. This was never about enforcing the law. It is a pretext to scare people,...