Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced the National Interagency Seed and Restoration Center Establishment Act, legislation that would create and fund a National Interagency Seed and Restoration Center within the...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) led their colleagues in introducing the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024, which would grant U.S. citizenship to international adoptees who were legally adopted in the U.S. as children but lack citizenship status...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) led eleven of her colleagues in speaking on the Senate floor in support of the Right to Contraception Act—legislation she leads with Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—and calling out Republicans for blocking the bill. This legislation would guarantee the right for...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committees, will join a bipartisan Senate delegation traveling to Normandy, France to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion by Allied forces during World War II. “I am honored to attend the 80th anniversary of D-Day and pay...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement ahead of the Senate vote tomorrow on their bill, the Right to Contraception Act. The bill would guarantee the right for people to obtain and use contraceptives and for health providers to prescribe...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Representative Judy Chu (D-CA), and Representatives Mark Takano (D-CA), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), and Doris Matsui (D-CA) led 14 other CAPAC members in sending a letter to President Biden expressing their support for the posthumous nomination...

HONOLULU, HI – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a roundtable with Native Hawaiian veterans to discuss their priorities, ways to ensure continued access to care, and the need for more peer support from other veterans. At the roundtable, she announced the introduction of the Parity for...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined 13 of her Senate colleagues in introducing new legislation to bring transparency to decisions on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, also called the “shadow docket.” The Shadow Docket Sunlight Act, led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) announced that the U.S. Forest Service is awarding more than $5.6 million to help plan for and prevent wildfires in Hawaii. The funding, made available through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program, will be allocated to nine projects across the state to help at-risk communities plan...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined seven of her colleagues in calling on Congress to provide robust funding for energy efficiency and climate resilience investments across the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) released the following statement on the third anniversary of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act being signed into law by President Biden. The legislation, introduced by Senator Hirono and Representative Grace Meng (D-NY), addresses the rise in hate-based violence against the Asian American,...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led 41 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS), as well as Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV),...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined 43 of her colleagues in calling on Congress to fund the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NeighborWorks America) in the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Bill. As a congressionally chartered...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide increased funding–at least $32 million–for the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHS) in FY 2025 to ensure these highly-trained frontline workers are always ready and...

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution introduced by U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) to mark May as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. The resolution recognizes the significant contributions that Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities have made to...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA) introduced the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, bicameral legislation to guarantee the right of public sector employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively in states that currently do not afford these basic...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Carper (D-DE), and U.S. Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and over 130 colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Daniel...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Jack Reed (D-RI) joined 17 of their colleagues in urging the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies to fully fund Unemployment Insurance (UI) administration based on President Joe Biden’s request in...

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan resolution introduced by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and four colleagues, that would designate May 18, 2024 as “National Kids to Parks Day.” The resolution encourages young people and their families to get outdoors and promotes healthy...

Lawmakers: “We do not support a system that detains people in inhumane conditions that result in long-term medical issues, psychological trauma, and sometimes death. We urge that these facilities be shut down, in a step towards building an immigration system that welcomes and respects migrants.” WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI)...