Press Releases

WASHINGTON D.C. – This week, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 4285, the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2019 to extend many critical veterans programs, including two measures authored by Senator Mazie K. Hirono. Without Congressional action, these programs would have expired on September 30, 2019. “I thank my...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the House of Representatives is opening a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. “I commend Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats for opening a formal impeachment inquiry that will lay out for the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 22 Senate Democrats wrote to Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, expressing concerns over the Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) decision to reduce or even suspend the collection of honeybee data across the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 13 Senate Democrats wrote to Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, urging him to rescind the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP). “Over the past two...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 26 Senate Democrats introduced the Protect American Values Act – legislation that would prohibit the Trump Administration from using federal funding to implement its so-called “public charge” rule. Scheduled to go into effect on October 15, 2019, the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement in response to the publication of new reporting from the New York Times regarding the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “Brett Kavanaugh should never have been confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced she is currently accepting applications from Hawaii students seeking a military service academy nomination. Each year, Senator Hirono nominates Hawaii students to the Air Force Academy, U.S. Military Academy, Naval Academy, and the Merchant Marine Academy. Qualified students seeking a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 13 Senate Democrats wrote to U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General Peggy Gustafson demanding answers following recent reports of improper behavior at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), including one that Commerce Department officials threatened to fire...

Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) – the Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower – visited U.S. Indo-Pacific Command headquarters and toured Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. During their visit, Senators Hirono and Perdue met with Admiral Philip Davidson,...

HONOLULU – In response to a bipartisan, bicameral effort led by Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would remove unnecessary barriers placed on citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS) seeking to secure REAL ID Act-compliant...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement after the Trump administration announced that it would raid military funds in Hawaii to pay for President Trump’s border wall: “It is now clear to all of us that Donald Trump and his complicit allies in Congress will sacrifice projects crucial for...

HONOLULU – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, announced that Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer approved the creation of a...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono today welcomed the National Park Service’s (NPS) announcement that it will re-open the USS Arizona Memorial on September 1. “Today’s announcement is welcome news for the millions of people – including thousands of World War II veterans – who travel to Hawaii to visit the...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced a final rule aimed at dismantling protections for migrant children under the Flores Settlement Agreement: “This is an administration that apparently sits around trying to come up with at least one cruel thing they...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) released the following statement after the Trump administration issued a final rule that dramatically changes our country's immigration system and harms immigrant families. The rule redefines who can be barred from entering the United States or become a legal permanent resident based on...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and 39 of their U.S. Senate Democratic colleagues sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin to urge against unilaterally cutting capital gains taxes for the wealthiest Americans by an additional $100 billion...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and thirteen of their U.S. Senate colleagues sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler urging him to reconsider the decision not to ban chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide linked to brain damage in children and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it was terminating the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP):“To serve his pathological need to treat immigrants as cruelly as possible, and to undo any program ever created by Barack Obama, Donald Trump is...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it was terminating the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP): “To serve his pathological need to treat immigrants as cruelly as possible, and to undo any program ever created by Barack Obama,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would promote the conservation of coral reefs in the United States. The Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2019 would reauthorize and modernize the Coral Reef...