Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) led a group of 17 senators in demanding more answers from Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross about where the proposal of a citizenship question for the upcoming 2020 Census originated and what factors played into its inclusion. A June report by NPR found emails and internal memos from the Commerce Department that show that Secretary Ross and Kansas Secretary of State and head of...

HONOLULU – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that the National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $2,125,903 to the University of Hawai‘i for the Children’s Healthy Living Center of Excellence (CHL), which is a leader on children’s obesity prevention programs and policies for U.S. jurisdictions in the Pacific region. Working in underserved Pacific populations, CHL will use the funding to train educators, practitioners and researchers...

HONOLULU – On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the 2018 farm bill, which included a provision authored by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that would create a new grant program to support locally grown food.  “This new federal money will give people the resources to start a garden or build a business that promotes locally grown food,” said Senator Schatz. “The farm bill also invests in Native Hawaiian education and...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) spoke on the Senate floor to update the public on the ongoing eruptions on Hawai‘i Island. In his remarks, Senator Schatz outlined the state, local, and federal relief efforts and described the support from residents across the across the state. “Across the state, we are helping each other out so that people are being fed, finding shelter, and getting the things they need. Lots of good things are happening, but...

WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed two appropriations bills with increased funding for the Impact Aid Program. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure $40 million in the Defense appropriations bill. The funding, which was increased by $10 million from last year, will provide the Hawai‘i Department of Education with more than $3.5 million. In addition to the funds in the Defense...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today issued the following statement after the Senate voted to confirm Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr. to serve as the United States Ambassador to South Korea.“I have known Harry Harris for many years in his service to the U.S. Navy. I trust his judgment and remain confident that he always has the best interest of the United States and Hawai‘i in his heart when he is interacting with our partners and allies in the Asia...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $500,000 in grant funding to the Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Disaster Recovery National Dislocated Worker Grant will employ approximately 200 dislocated workers to help with the clean-up efforts in areas on Kauai and Oahu that were impacted by severe flooding. “This funding is much needed,” Senator Schatz said. “It...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s approval of the State of Hawai‘i’s request for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Kauai and Oahu residents whose homes have been lost or damaged due to historic flooding. FEMA’s individual assistance programs will help affected residents access critical federal funding and resources to recover. “FEMA...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Janus v. AFSCME.“This is a huge blow to workers and their families across the country, and for anyone fighting to make sure that public employees are fairly treated and compensated. Union membership has always led to higher wages, better benefits, and a path to the middle class. With this ruling, state and local governments have a green light to try and...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (ALERT) Act, legislation authored by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). The ALERT Act, which was introduced following the false emergency alert that went out across Hawai‘i on January 13, will improve the emergency alert system and give the federal government the primary responsibility of alerting the public of a...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Korematsu v. United States, the 1944 decision that ruled the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans to be constitutional. “It is beyond ironic that the Supreme Court has used its decision to uphold the president’s Muslim ban as an opportunity to right the wrongs of Korematsu. It should not take 75 years for us to see with moral...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. “What is legal is not always just. A narrow ruling on whether or not the President of the United States is in possession of the statutory authority to implement this policy avoids the basic question of whether or not it’s the right thing to do. “The Supreme Court made the wrong...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a bicameral group of over 120 current and former members of Congress on an amicus brief to support a lawsuit filed by the State of New York to stop the addition of a divisive untested citizenship question to the 2020 Census.The amicus brief, filed on Friday, argues that Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment make clear that the census is intended to count all people residing in the United States, both...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that Child & Family Service Kauai will receive $1,395,077 in federal funding for Head Start and Early Head Start programs that offer quality health care and prepare young children for school.“No single program has taught us more about how important early childhood development programs are to a child’s education and success than Head Start,”...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s approval of the State of Hawai‘i’s request for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Hawai‘i Island residents whose homes have been lost or damaged due to the ongoing Kilauea Volcano eruptions. FEMA’s individual assistance programs will help affected residents access critical federal funding and resources...

WASHINGTON – Today, Hawai‘i’s Congressional Delegation urged President Donald Trump to act swiftly on Governor David Ige’s request for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Hawai‘i Island residents whose homes have been lost or damaged due to the ongoing Kilauea Volcano eruptions. FEMA’s individual assistance programs will help affected residents access critical federal funding and resources to recover. “Based on...

WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Commerce, Science, and Justice Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2019. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) worked to include $1 million to preserve Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, more than $36 million to improve tsunami warnings, and nearly $30 million to protect coral reefs in Hawai‘i and across the country. “We were successful at including more federal funding to help us manage...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to share more information about the reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the FCC’s website while it was open for comments on net neutrality last year.The letter comes over a year after reports of a DDoS attack on the FCC’s website, which prompted an initial letter from Senators Wyden and Schatz that questioned...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and 30 colleagues today introduced legislation to keep immigrant families together by preventing the Department of Homeland Security from taking children from their parents at the border. The Keep Families Together Act was developed in consultation with child welfare experts to ensure the federal government is acting in the best interest of children. The bill is supported by the American Academy of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced S. 2980, the Integrated Missile Defense Act of 2018. The bill – which builds upon the success of last year’s bipartisan Advancing America’s Missile Defense Act of 2017 – seeks to further strengthen and integrate our nation’s missile defenses. “When it comes to North Korea, we can hope for the best while still planning for the worst,” Senator Schatz...