Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and 18 of their colleagues reintroduced the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Enhancement Act. The bill would increase the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit and make it available for more working and middle class families while allowing for parents who...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Earlier this week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and 26 of their Senate colleagues introduced the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act, which codifies the longstanding practice of U.S. presidents divesting their financial interests and placing them in a blind trust. The bill would prevent...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono pressed Interior Secretary Nominee David Bernhardt to incorporate feedback from Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation and Big Island stakeholders before making any decision to relocate the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) to Oahu. Volcanic activity in 2018 damaged HVO’s facility at the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) secured a commitment from David Bernhardt, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department, to provide monthly updates on the status of dock repairs at the USS Arizona Memorial during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Oakland v. BP, arguing that major oil companies...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced the Women and Climate Change Act of 2019, which would affirm the United States’ commitment to empowering women through economic development planning and international climate change policies. It will also...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, pressed Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert Wilkie to approve the pending lease for the Advanced Leeward Outpatient Healthcare Access (ALOHA) Project during a Committee hearing today. The ALOHA Project would almost double the VA Pacific...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced her nomination list of 40 students to four of the U.S. military service academies for the Class of 2023. The academies are now considering the students’ applications for final selections.There are five military service academies. Senator Hirono is proud to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after the release of Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report.  “Robert Mueller did not exonerate Donald Trump on obstruction of justice. Instead, Attorney General Bill Barr made his own determination consistent with his...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report to the Attorney General:  “Today, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation and delivered his report to the Attorney General. His investigation has...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would provide certain civilian federal employees financial relief if they are relocated for work. The Relocation Expense Parity Act would ensure that all...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Hawaii Congressional Delegation is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to continue working to provide much needed relief to Hawaii farmers and agricultural producers who were adversely affected by multiple natural disasters last year, including record-breaking rain events, associated flooding, and a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) wrote to Administrator David Pekoske to express their concern about reports that over 1,000 TSA employees...

WASHINGTON, D.C.–In a letter to the U.S. Department of Education (Department), Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and twelve of her Senate Democratic colleagues wrote to Secretary Betsy DeVos urging her to take immediate action to assist students affected by the collapse of Argosy University. Argosy Hawaii, which enrolled roughly 800 students...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), along with seven of their Senate Democratic colleagues, introduced the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act, or EACH Woman Act. The bill would repeal the Hyde Amendment, lifting the current ban that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter to National Park Service (NPS) Acting Director Dan Smith, the Hawaii Congressional Delegation requested frequent updates detailing progress made on the reopening of the floating dock at the USS Arizona Memorial that unexpectedly closed in May 2018. The floating dock is the only way for visitors to access the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a speech on the Senate floor today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in urging swift passage of a resolution urging the Department of Justice to defend the Affordable Care Act’s pre-existing condition protections in the ongoing Texas v. United States case. Senate...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), introduced the bipartisan Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act. The legislation, which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve oversight and evaluation of its...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) led nine other senators in urging the bipartisan leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives to pass disaster supplemental legislation that includes much needed relief for states like Hawaii and California, Tribal Nations, and U.S....

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono continued her longstanding advocacy to restore Medicaid eligibility for Freely Associated States (FAS) citizens living in the United States with the governors of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to examine...