Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and 17 other Senators to call for funding to support local journalists and media in future COVID-19 relief packages.  The letter, sent to Senate leadership, cautions of the already widespread devastation of the coronavirus pandemic on...

ASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that community health centers across Hawaii will receive over $10 million in additional funding to respond to, prevent, diagnose, and treat COVID-19. The funds are available as part of the CARES Act, the third coronavirus relief package Congress recently passed. Community...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter calling on Facebook to stop the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic on WhatsApp. The Senators sent their letter after widespread reports of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Representatives Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) wrote to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza to request their coordinated assistance...

Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) unveiled new legislation to ensure that everyone in our country – especially vulnerable communities – can access health care and other critical resources during the coronavirus...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that Hawaii will receive more than $107 million in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. These funds are distributed out of the third coronavirus relief package Congress passed last week. The grants support urban and rural...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that Hawaii has received more than $12 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants to address the critical housing needs of Hawaii residents during the coronavirus pandemic. These funds come from the third coronavirus relief package Congress passed...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after President Trump granted a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of Hawaii. This declaration will trigger the release of additional federal funds to help Hawaii recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Combating the coronavirus pandemic will require...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced today that Hawaii will receive $5.5 million in funding under the Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program to support state and county law officials as they combat the coronavirus outbreak. Congress passed an increase in JAG grant funding as part of the third coronavirus...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following reports of coronavirus-related scams targeting seniors, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), along with 31 of their colleagues called upon Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons to boost consumer protection for seniors and take more measures to better...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) led 24 of their Senate colleagues in calling for increased funding in Fiscal Year 2021 for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program (PHEP) and the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), which enable hospitals and public health departments to prepare to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the United States confronts a growing blood shortage brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and a group of their colleagues expressed concern about the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discriminatory...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) successfully secured debt relief for Hawaii small businesses in the third coronavirus recovery package. The package includes provisions from the Small Business Debt Relief Act, which Senator Hirono introduced last week with Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) to temporarily...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) voted in favor of H.R. 748 – the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This wide-ranging legislation will inject $2 trillion into boosting funding to our medical system, providing economic support to workers, small businesses, and state and local...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced today that she successfully secured a major expansion of unemployment assistance in the third emergency coronavirus stimulus package. The package, which is the product of intense bipartisan negotiations, includes Senator Hirono’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Act –...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar, (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced the Disaster and Emergency Pricing Abuse Prevention Act, a bill that would prevent price gouging on essential services or goods during catastrophes. The bill would prohibit the sale of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to introduce legislation that would expedite the full use of the Defense Production Act to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation would require President Trump to immediately begin a series of measures to secure urgently needed medical supplies,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined her Senate colleagues on a letter led by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Bob Casey (D-Penn.), urging the Administration to help ensure that domestic violence victims and survivors receive the resources they need during the COVID-19 pandemic....

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enactment, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) called on the Trump Administration to abandon its efforts to repeal the law. Last week, Senator Hirono joined Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and 18 of their colleagues in urging President Trump to forgo his...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement on Mitch McConnell’s coronavirus bill: “Governors across the country are having to step up in the absence of meaningful action from the Trump Administration in combating the coronavirus. This is especially difficult because states do not...