Press Releases

HONOLULU – In a visit to Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Headquarters today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono highlighted the important role federal funding played in helping Hawaii law enforcement clear a backlog of 1,500 untested rape kits statewide. In 2016, the Office of the Hawaii Attorney General successfully applied for, received, and utilized...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and twenty-one of their U.S. Senate colleagues reintroduced the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act to ensure thousands of Navy veterans, known as “Blue Water” Navy veterans, would become eligible to receive...

HONOLULU, HI – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that three Hawaii organizations have received over $4.76 million in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps and other national service programs. Funding from CNCS will go to Kupu, Teach...

HANOI, VIETNAM – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement following the release of the redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report: “Despite the Attorney General’s attempt to spin the Mueller Report in Donald Trump’s favor, it’s clear the Special Counsel’s...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) welcomed the decision reached by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of the Interior (Interior IG) to open an investigation regarding allegations against Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. Both Senators Hirono and Wyden sent letters...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and fifteen of their Senate colleagues reintroduced the Access to Birth Control Act, which would require pharmacies and pharmacists to provide women with birth control and emergency contraceptives without undue delay. “Women’s reproductive...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and eight of their U.S. Senate colleagues introduced legislation to close the digital gap facing communities across the country. The Digital Equity Act of 2019 would establish two federal grant programs that would support projects at the state and local...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Congressman Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) reintroduced the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act, which would strengthen the Social Security program by restoring fairness in contributions while increasing...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) spoke out against anti-choice legislation that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks, with very limited exceptions.  The bill, S. 160, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), is a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) reintroduced a package of veterans’ bills that would improve access to health care services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as prohibit the deportation of veterans who are not violent...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall to request she investigate “the suppression of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and 20 of their Senate colleagues reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. “Passing a constitutional amendment that guarantees full equality on the basis of sex is long overdue,”...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono issued the following statement on disaster supplemental appropriations legislation:  “Instead of passing an inclusive disaster supplemental, Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are picking winners and losers and pitting citizens against each other by playing politics with disaster...

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...