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Senators are pushing credit card companies to accelerate efforts to make payment methods more secure. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on data breaches Tuesday, senators questioned the efforts of MasterCard and Visa to incorporate chip technology into their credit cards. MasterCard and Visa plan for these “chip card” systems...

Sen. Mazie Hirono joined the Democratic women of the Senate this week in calling toraise the minimum wage, “highlighting the fact that nearly two-thirds of workers who earn the minimum wage or less are women,” according to Hirono’s office. "Right now, a woman who works full-time in a minimum wage job to support...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama’s pitch to women in his State of the Union address Tuesday night was, without question, an opening shot in the 2014 contests. At a time when Republicans have struggled to build support among women, Obama's pledge to do away with the workplace policies of the “Mad Men” era caught the...

Hawaii's congressional delegation today stood firmly behind President Barack Obama's call in his State of the Union address to try to reduce the income gap between the rich and the poor. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said: "Tonight, we heard a real commitment from President Obama to reversing income inequality. Helping those who are stretched thin is even...

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it plans "to further notify the public" of available in-ground grave sites at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl after veterans groups said they were never told about an unprecedented number of open burial spots. "We are puzzled and disturbed that these casketed gravesites were not...

Sen. Mazie Hirono is an original co-sponsor of a bill introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) called the Investing IN States To Achieve Tuition Equity (IN-STATE) for DREAMers Act of 2014. Under the bill, according to Hirono’s office, the University of Hawaii...

Congress has sent President Barack Obama a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill that includes hundreds of millions for Hawaii. The Senate today voted 72-26 for the measure, which cleared the House a little more than 24 hours earlier on a similarly lopsided vote. Obama's signature on the bill was expected in time to prevent any interruption...

WASHINGTON -- A joint effort was launched in the House and Senate Thursday to encourage states to grant in-state tuition or financial aid at public colleges to young undocumented immigrants. The funding would offer considerable help for many hoping for an affordable chance at higher education. Undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as...

Molokai Middle School (MMS) students showcased their school with pride to an unlikely visitor last month. Sen. Mazie Hirono took a one-hour tour led by the MMS Student Council. Hirono’s initial interest in the school’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and Garden Bed programs got her attention and prompted her...

The $1 trillion federal omnibus bill includes more than $744 million for Hawaii for military, education, health care, transportation and the environment. The bi-partisan bill would fund the U.S. government through October, the rest of fiscal year 2014. That’s assuming the U.S. Congress agrees on things, of...

Mazie Hirono only missed one vote in 2013, Colleen Hanabusa reached across the aisle a lot to co-sponsor legislation and Tulsi Gabbard and Brian Schatz each had a bill enacted. All four also worked with each other to push legislation jointly. Those are some of the highlights from the 2013 Report Cards for All...

Senator Mazie Hirono has “first” all over her resume. A Democrat representing Hawaii, she is the first Asian-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first female senator to represent her state, and the first Buddhist in the Senate. She’s also the first U.S. senator to have been born in Japan. Hirono immigrated to...

All this week, Majority Leader Harry Reid declared over and over on the Senate floor that there's a downside to the recovering economy. "It's true," he said. "The rich are getting a lot richer, and the poor are getting poorer." That observation may not be surprising, coming from a Democrat. Less expected, perhaps, is a similar lament made the same...

U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz are co-sponsors of an amendment to protect military retirees from changes to cost of living adjustments. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the amendment yesterday as part of legislation renewing long-term unemployment benefits. According to Hirono’s...

President Barack Obama recently said that "what drives me … as an American is to make sure that every striving, hardworking, optimistic kid in America has the same incredible chance that this country gave me." Right now, we are facing a period of profound economic challenges, many of which have been building for decades. Families and...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement on Dec. 17 to mark the one-year anniversary of Sen. Daniel Inouye’s passing. To honor the late senator, Hirono introduced legislation that would redesignate the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies as the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security...

Late December often prompts reflection about the year that has passed, and resolutions for the year to come. For Hawaii's representatives in Congress, there were some big 2013 disappointments. Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform or extend long-term unemployment benefits that are set to expire for nearly 1.2 million people. They...

Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz along with Mark Begich (D-Alaska) have introduced an amendment that would exempt Hawaii and Alaska from a proposed increase in air travel fees included in the budget deal. The exemption, according to Schatz’s office, “would protect...

WASHINGTON–On Tuesday night, the Senate turned from its bickering and dysfunction to a Secret Santa exchange to spread some holiday cheer on Capitol Hill. For the third year in a row, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., organized the official Senate Secret Santa exchange, where 23 Republicans and 42 Democrats swapped small gifts. “Anything that...

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono  joined other federal lawmakers who marked the anniversary of the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye today by introducing a bill to rename a Honolulu defense institute in his honor. The Senate passed it unanimously. Renaming the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies for the senator recognizes his support for the institute...