Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, a bill that would provide federal employees with an 8.7 percent pay increase in calendar year 2024. Schatz and Connolly previously introduced similar legislation in the 115th, 116th, and 117th Congresses. For more than a decade, federal employees have endured government shutdowns, pay freezes, hiring freezes, and lost...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D- Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today released the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission announced it was taking up proposed rules to implement the Safe Connections Act, a new law authored by Schatz that will help survivors of domestic violence and other crimes cut ties with their abusers and separate from shared wireless service plans, which can be exploited to...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that Hawai‘i K-12 schools will receive a projected $73 million in new federal funding for the 2023-2024 school year. The new funding will be used to hire more educators, and support teacher professional development, new technology, and other academic programs at public schools serving students in low-income areas. These funds will be given directly to Title I schools – where a disproportionate number of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today announced the names of 38 students he nominated to attend the nation’s four military service academies.“It is an honor to nominate these students to our nation’s military service academies,” said Senator Schatz. “These nominees truly represent the very best of Hawai‘i, and I commend them for their commitment to serving our country.”The United States Air Force Academy, United States...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) called on the U.S. Navy to ensure that homes and home appliances at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam are protected from contamination stemming from the Red Hill fuel leak. “While I am pleased to see that the Navy has undergone efforts to provide for the safety of families who were exposed, it is imperative that the Navy continues to explore and execute on authorities available to it and its partners to ensure the long-term...

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...