Press Releases

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...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) and 31 of their colleagues to introduce the Clean Economy Act, legislation that requires the United States to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050.  “The...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced her support of S. 3218, the Protecting Community Television Act, legislation that would protect the funding of community television stations, which educate and inform viewers across Hawaii. In Hawaii, community television stations Na Leo, Hoike, Akaku, and Olelo broadcast across...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a speech on the floor of the United States Senate today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced she would vote to convict and remove President Donald Trump on both Articles of Impeachment – Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress. From Senator Hirono’s Remarks: “Donald Trump was already a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and 36 of their colleagues sent a letter to President Trump demanding he retract comments he made about being open to cutting earned benefits like Medicare or Social Security to pay for his tax giveaway to corporations and the richest...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and more than 150 Congressional Democrats called on the Trump Administration to extend the deadline for public comment on a proposed weakening of environmental regulations.  The letter urges the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to extend the comment...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the third anniversary of the announcement of President Trump’s Muslim Ban, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono joined a rally with Congressional Democrats, faith leaders, and civil rights advocates urging swift passage of S. 1123, the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act. If...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced she will support bipartisan, bicameral legislation to increase the number of residency slots available through Medicare to help address the growing physician shortage in Hawaii and across the country.   The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019 (S. 348) would...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committees, issued the following statement after the naming of a new aircraft carrier after Petty Officer Doris Miller, whose bravery and patriotism during the attack on Pearl Harbor...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after voting in favor of the New NAFTA in the Senate: “Too often, free trade agreements have favored corporate interests over protections for workers and the environment. When Donald Trump unveiled his replacement for the North American Free Trade...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The United States Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, legislation introduced by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). The bill creates a foundation to respond to debris, a prize for innovation, enhances...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced the bipartisan Inspiring Nationally Vibrant Economies Sustaining Tribes Act (INVEST Act), legislation to promote new investments in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities through the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)...