WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined her Democratic colleagues on the Small Business Committee to introduce the COVID-19 RELIEF for Small Businesses Act, a comprehensive proposal to provide relief for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal enhances existing tools available to the Small...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, announced today that the Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved an economic disaster declaration for the state of Hawaii due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this disaster declaration, Hawaii businesses...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that Tax Day would move from April 15 to July 15 for businesses and taxpayers:
“As Americans continue to confront the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the last thing they need to worry about is the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, and her colleagues introduced the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee with oversight jurisdiction over...
Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after voting in favor of the Families First Coronavirus Act that passed the U.S. Senate 90-8:
“While this legislation provides free coronavirus testing, expands paid leave, enhances unemployment benefits, and increases food assistance, we will need to do much more to...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 16 of her Senate colleagues wrote to Vice President Pence and Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Giroir, the Trump Administration’s new COVID-19 head of diagnostic efforts, demanding an explanation of the Administration’s unmitigated failure to produce sufficient test...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 26 of her colleagues called on President Trump to issue an executive order to direct all federal agencies to maximize telework capabilities.
This call comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) promotes social distancing and suggests minimizing large...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined 19 of her Senate colleagues to urge the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to extend the April 15, 2020 filing deadline for federal individual income taxes so that taxpayers will have additional flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of...
WASHINGTON, DC – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) led 23 Senate Democrats in urging the Trump Administration to create a special enrollment period to allow uninsured Americans to purchase health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
Over 80 million Americans are either uninsured or...
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.), and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) introduced the Coronavirus Worker Relief Act. The new...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced S. 3428, the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act – legislation that requires federal agencies to expand teleworking after years of attacks by the Trump Administration. Expanding telework options for federal...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) secured a commitment from Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt to provide six-month updates on the progress of rebuilding the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) on Hawaii Island during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
From...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced S.3395, the bipartisan Korean War Divided Families Reunification Act, legislation directing the U.S. Secretary of State to prioritize helping divided Korean American families reunite with family members in North Korea.
Since the signing...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after the successful introduction of bipartisan, bicameral legislation to provide $8.3 billion in funding to confront the public health emergency posed by the spread of the novel coronavirus:
“Confronting a growing coronavirus outbreak in the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) pressed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to justify why the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 zeroes out funding for the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii (HDR-H) – a critical program that would help protect Hawaii from the threat of a ballistic missile attack from North Korea....
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, pressed Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Geurts about the need to modernize public shipyards like Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard during a hearing about the Navy’s shipbuilding programs. The Senator noted...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources sent a letter asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Department of the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Fiscal Year 2021 Budget, Senator Mazie K. Hirono secured commitments from Vicki Christiansen, Chief of the USFS, to work together on critical priorities for Hawaii’s forests.
These commitments...
HONOLULU – Yesterday, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, visited Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY) to meet with workers and military leaders, and to...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced the nomination of 32 Hawaii students to U.S. military service academies for the Class of 2024. The academies are now considering the students’ applications for final selections.
“I am proud to nominate these young people who have demonstrated their academic excellence and...