Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that Hawaiian Telcom will receive $18.1 million over 10 years to expand high-speed broadband access to 3,936 underserved locations across the most rural areas of Hawai‘i.“Broadband access opens doors,” said Senator Schatz, lead Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet. “This investment will help people in Hawai‘i’s most rural...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that Hawai‘i will receive $66.9 million in new federal disaster relief funding. The new Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding will help state and local governments rebuild impacted communities, especially in low- and moderate-income areas, and provide resources to help businesses recover. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee,...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) introduced two bills to expand access to education for Americans with criminals records, whether they are in prison or applying to go back to school with a criminal record.   “People with a criminal record should have the chance to learn or go back to school,” said Senator Schatz. “These bills target the barriers that make it harder for people to pursue a better life through higher education.”The...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced the Tobacco to 21 Act, bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under the age of 21.“The research is clear: raising the minimum smoking age to 21 would save lives,” said Senator Schatz. “Hawai‘i became the first state to raise the age limit, and since then, 11 other...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today introduced the Compacts of Free Association Veterans Review Act. This legislation would create a three-year pilot program to provide hospital care and medical services to veterans living in the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia—all countries that have entered into the Compact of Free Association with the United States. The program...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) introduced the Federal Employees Paid Leave Act, new legislation that would provide federal employees with 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or a sick loved one.“It’s 2019. Everyone’s juggling work and family, but the policies haven’t changed with the times,” said Senator Schatz. “Our bill will provide federal workers with 12 weeks of paid leave, making sure no federal employee has to...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) introduced the Requiring Every American Defense Installation to Nullify Environmental Stresses for Security (READINESS) Act of 2019, legislation that would protect military bases from extreme weather events by requiring them to prepare for potential disasters and other risks posed by severe changes in environmental conditions.“Our military cannot afford to...

Washington, D.C. – As members of Congress engage in a newly energized conversation about reducing carbon pollution, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) today reintroduced legislation to place a price on the emissions driving climate change and putting Americans’ health and the global economy at risk.  The American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act would reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the Restoring Education and Learning (REAL) Act, a bill that would restore Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals. The bipartisan legislation would cut the cycle of recidivism, save taxpayer money, and improve safety.“When we give people in prison an opportunity to earn an education, our communities are safer, taxpayers save money, and we can end the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) introduced the College Equity Act, a bill that would give colleges and universities funding to address disparities in higher education recruitment, admissions, and support.“There are schools where veterans, people of color, and people with disabilities are able to thrive, and others where they struggle. The difference often comes down to schools knowing the challenges that exist for students and doing something to help,”...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College system and restore democracy by allowing the direct election of presidents through popular vote alone.“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple,” said Senator Schatz. “No one’s vote should count for more...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today established a new Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. The committee—comprised of ten Democratic senators— will be tasked with investigating, holding hearings, and issuing findings on the economic and national security consequences of climate change and how acting on the climate crisis presents significant opportunities for jobs, public health, and the economy. More specifically, the committee will work with...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will award 14 community health centers in Hawai‘i federal funding totaling $28,750,365.“Community health centers offer an affordable and accessible outlet for thousands of people across our state to receive care they might not otherwise be able to,” said Senator Schatz. “This funding will...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of 15 senators in calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to follow the law and protect the confidentiality of responses collected through the census. The letter to Attorney General William Barr follows reports about DOJ officials discussing the possibility of violating the confidentiality of information collected during the decennial census.“With the start of peak census operations only 11 months away, we urge...

WASHINGTON –Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, introduced the Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act of 2019. The bipartisan legislation would strengthen consumer protections by prohibiting commercial users of facial recognition technology (FR) from collecting and re-sharing data for identifying or tracking consumers without their consent.“Our faces are our...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and U.S. Representative Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) introduced new legislation today that would protect public scientific research and reports from the influence of political and special interests, a longstanding concern that has taken on newfound urgency under President Trump.“These are challenging and unprecedented times for science. And while it’s not the first time it has been under attack, this time feels worse. That’s...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, led a group of Democratic appropriators calling on the Department of Defense to provide Congress with a list of military projects it intends to defund to pay...

WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today, along with 12 of his Senate colleagues, urged the Department of Education to take immediate action to help students in the aftermath of its February 27 decision to terminate Argosy University’s eligibility for federal Title IV financial aid and amid reports of Argosy’s imminent closure. The senators called on the Department to immediately work with accreditors and states to establish options for students to continue...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i) and U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) led a group of 42 members of Congress in reintroducing the Debt-Free College Act, legislation that will reverse the growing student debt crisis in the United States. The bill restores a path to affordable college by providing states incentives through matching grants to increase investments in public higher education and provide students with debt-free college.If signed into law, the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced legislation to create a new progressive tax on financial transactions that would generate billions in revenue, while addressing economic inequality and reducing high risk and volatility in the market.“Over the last decade, Wall Street has made record profits from high-risk trades that have made the market dangerously...