Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee passed the Making Available Information Now to Strengthen Trust and Resilience and Enhance Enterprise Technology (MAIN STREET) Cybersecurity Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Techhnology, Innovation, and the Internet, and James Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and called on him to clarify new directives outlined in a pair of internal memos that would overturn well-established EPA procedures and undermine EPA’s mission to protect the health of the American people and the environment. In the memos that detail EPA’s new policymaking procedures and...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) were joined by nine of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to demand answers on how the EPA plans to comply with President Trump’s executive order on the Clean Water Rule.  The order calls on the EPA to weaken the Clean Water Rule significantly, a move that would undermine the Clean Water Act, and directly contradict...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) announced today that he will be opposing the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court. "We need to know if Judge Gorsuch will serve as an independent check on the executive and legislative branches. We need to know if Judge Gorsuch will interpret the law fairly or reliably favor the powerful. And we need to know if he will uphold the right to privacy, the basis for a woman's right to choose....

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, James Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced the...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06), Blake Farenthold (R-TX-27) and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) jointly reintroduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to open up government data to improve services and support new discoveries in the private sector.The Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act requires that public data be accessible at Data.gov so individuals, organizations and other government offices can...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), co-chair of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, released the following statement after President Donald Trump signed an executive order reversing policies aimed at fighting climate change. “President Trump's latest executive order reverses the historic progress we've made on climate for short-term gains that will go straight into the pockets of oil, gas, and coal companies. This is another attempt by this administration to...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the failure of TrumpCare.“This victory is proof that TrumpCare was never on the level. Instead of trying to pass a health care bill, Republicans tried to ram through a tax cut for the wealthy, paid for by 24 million Americans who would lose their health care in the process. As Americans breathe a sigh of relief that Republicans walked back from the edge of this reckless cliff, we can only...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), co-chair of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, released the following statement on reports that the State Department plans to approve the Keystone XL pipeline on Monday.“The Keystone XL pipeline is not in our national interest. While countries like China and Germany continue to make progress in their transition away from the dirty energy of the past, this action will roll back the progress we have made. Encouraging the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s budget proposal. “The president’s budget proposal is simply that – a proposal.  It’s not going to happen. If enacted, President Trump’s proposed budget cuts would have a terrible impact on Hawai‘i, but Congress holds the purse strings, not the president.  We will not cede...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson’s ruling today granting Hawai‘i’s request to block President Donald Trump’s revised Muslim ban. “Judge Watson properly concluded that President Trump’s second executive order continues to target Muslims, and is, in fact, a Muslim ban.  I commend the State of Hawai‘i for taking swift action against this...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) took to the Senate floor to oppose Trumpcare, legislation that would replace the Affordable Care Act with a plan that would offer less care, impose an age tax, and cut Medicaid while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. “Trumpcare is one of the worst pieces of legislation I’ve seen in decades,” said Senator Schatz.  “There’s no doubt that there’s plenty of room for improvement in existing...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and his colleagues on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs today demanded answers from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson on a report that the Trump Administration has considered slashing the department's fiscal 2018 budget by more than $6 billion. The lawmakers stressed that cuts of this magnitude would be devastating for children and families nationwide, and would contradict Carson’s...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) issued the following statement on the passing of Judge James Burns. "We have lost a leader whose deep humility was matched only by his clear sense of justice. We will remember his contributions to the courts, to excellence at the University of Hawai‘i especially in mentoring young attorneys, and for his island style approach to life. I will personally remember the pride he took in supporting our own Barack Obama from the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), co-chair of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, released the following statement in response to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s comments denying facts about climate change. “If there was ever any doubt that Scott Pruitt is a climate denier, this settles it. Anyone who denies over a century’s worth of established science and basic facts is unqualified to be the administrator of...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member of the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee, released the following statement in response to legislation backed by Republicans in the Senate that would undermine the Federal Communications Commissions’ (FCC) authority to protect consumers’ data privacy and security. “If this CRA is passed, neither the FCC nor the FTC will have clear authority when it...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, along with Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John McCain (R-Ariz), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today introduced legislation to improve the VA Choice Program and extend access to timely care for more of America’s veterans in their own communities. The Veterans Choice Program...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on President Trump’s new executive order that bans refugees and immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations. “This administration continues to use immigrants and refugees – those fleeing from violence –  as scapegoats for global terrorism.  This ‘updated’ Muslim ban is still a Muslim ban. It may be more carefully constructed, but it is still racist and...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee, released the following statement after a Washington Post report revealed that the Trump Administration plans to make deep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “I am shocked by reports of a proposal to cut the agency that forecasts our weather and manages our fisheries by almost a billion dollars—close to twenty...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “The Department of Justice has a unique position in our constitutional democracy that relies on trust and respect for the law. Given the challenges that the Department faces with its investigation into Russia’s ties to the campaign and to this administration, it is essential that we have an Attorney General who has the full faith and confidence of...