Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Brian Schatz announced the nomination of well-respected, career prosecutor Jill Otake to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Ms. Otake was among those recommended by Senators Hirono and Schatz, and a merit-based Federal Judicial Selection Commission in 2015. “Ms....

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono released the following statement following her vote against the Republican tax bill: “The Republican tax bill is a scam. After months of empty promises to the middle class, the President has been caught in another big fat lie. This bill will not help the middle class. It is nothing more than a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono welcomed Singaporean airliner Scoot’s first flight to Daniel K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport from Singapore via Osaka, Japan. The new air service comes after years of advocacy by Senator Hirono to successfully add Singapore and Japan to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)...

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – On the anniversary of the widely-condemned Korematsu Supreme Court decision that led to the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) intend to introduce the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2017 (S. 2250) to prevent...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the bipartisan Knowledgeable Innovators and Worthy Investors (KIWI) Act, which would extend trade and investor visas to New Zealand citizens to increase international business between the United States and New Zealand. The legislation comes as the United...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono issued the following statement after a vote on the continuing resolution: “By now, we should have an agreement to pass the DREAM Act, reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, fund Community Health Centers, stabilize the Affordable Care Act, and prevent across the board cuts to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono introduced the Admiral Lloyd R. “Joe” Vasey Pacific War Commemorative Display Establishment Act, which would establish a memorial at Pearl Harbor honoring the service of World War II veterans who served in the Pacific Theater. The bill is the Senate companion to legislation introduced in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and 26 other Senators urged Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to delay the vote to roll back the nation’s net neutrality rules. In a letter, the Senators expressed concerns over reports that bots filed hundreds of thousands of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement: “Today, I am calling on my colleague Al Franken to step aside. I’ve struggled with this decision because he’s been a good Senator and I consider him a friend. But that cannot excuse his behavior and his mistreatment of women. “TIME...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced that the Makana North Shore Urgent Care will receive a nearly $1.1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan to complete construction and help with operating costs of a new urgent care clinic to serve Kauai’s north shore community. “Rural communities across Hawaii continue to...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono voted against H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a bill to provide major tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. The legislation, released just hours before the vote, was passed in the dead of night on a 51-49 vote. After the vote, Senator Hirono released the following...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today introduced an amendment to the Republican tax plan that would hold Senate Republicans accountable for their pledge that their tax plan will not result in any cuts to Medicare. Under the Senate’s...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ahead of expected late night votes on the Senate Republican tax plan, Senator Mazie K. Hirono spoke out against the bill’s devastating impact on Hawaii families and critical state infrastructure. Senator Hirono highlighted the Senate bill’s focus on providing substantial tax relief to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, voted in support of bipartisan legislation to continue funding for veterans’ health care programs, and improve the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Choice Program. The bill included several of Senator Hirono’s...

HILO, HAWAII – Senator Mazie K. Hirono joined Superintendent of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Cindy Orlando to dedicate a new exhibit recounting the internment of Japanese Americans at the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) during World War II. More than 100 Japanese Americans were imprisoned at KMC – the largest incarceration site in Hawaii...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and their Democratic women colleagues urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to pass the Dream Act before the Senate recesses in December. In the letter, the Senators emphasized the impact of President Trump’s decision to rescind the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with a bipartisan group of Senators and advocates, today called on the Senate to pass the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act, which would establish an impartial, fair, and accountable military justice system to address the crisis of sexual assault. Since...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, successfully secured provisions that will strengthen Hawaii’s security and economy in the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the Senate today. Senator Hirono also served as a member of the NDAA...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senator Mazie K. Hirono today introduced the Military Domestic Violence Reporting Enhancement Act, legislation to close a dangerous loophole in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) that enables convicted abusers to purchase firearms. Federal civilian law mandates that those convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Orrin G. Hatch’s (R-Utah) State Veterans Home Adult Day Health Care Improvement Act, a bill to ensure that severely disabled veterans are able to receive adult day health care services at no cost to them by defining the program as a reimbursable treatment option...