Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, issued the following statement after voting against advancing the nomination of General John Hyten to serve as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff out of the Armed Services Committee. “Over the past three weeks,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –This week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the GI Bill Access to Career Credentials Act, which would allow the GI Bill to cover the cost of approved preparatory courses for professional and career license and certification exams. U.S. Representatives Gregorio Sablan (D-CNMI-AL) and Jim...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and ten of her U.S. Senate colleagues introduced legislation that would promote native plant use, research, and protection. The Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration, and Promotion Act would encourage federal land management agencies to hire botanists,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced legislation that would provide business owners financial assistance to renovate their businesses...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced S.Res.284, a resolution calling on the U.S. Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UNCLOS, which has been ratified by 167 nations and the European Union, lays out the rights and responsibilities of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.), and Congressman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) introduced bicameral, bipartisan legislation, the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act (“IDEA Act”) of 2019. The IDEA Act is designed to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) reintroduced the Covering our FAS Allies Act, which would reinstate Medicaid coverage, also known as Med-QUEST in Hawaii, for citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS) living in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA). As a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) led a Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) hearing to investigate the deteriorating conditions at the United States’ southern border, as well as reports of abuse and cruelty in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) highlighted the importance of restoring equal access to Medicaid for citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS) living in the United States during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the United States’ critical national security interests and partnerships...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Kennedy (R-La.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), unanimously passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and will now head to the U.S. Senate floor. The CASE...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and nine of their U.S. Senate colleagues introduced legislation to spur economic development and create jobs during the transition into a clean economy. As new and innovative opportunities in the clean energy, infrastructure, and technology sectors continue...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), both members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, reintroduced the Veterans Small Business Export Promotion Act. The bill would amend the Small Business Act to waive up-front guarantee fees for veterans and their spouses participating in the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and twenty-one of her U.S. Senate colleagues sent a letter to Dr. James Reilly, the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to express their concern over recent reports that USGS will only utilize climate models that project the effects of climate change through 2040....

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) highlighted ongoing efforts in Hawaii to adopt sustainable energy sources and reaffirmed her support for S. 1593, the Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019, which would provide...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced $100,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to support the Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) creation of the Maui Business Connect program. “The more new businesses get started and...

HONOLULU – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono encouraged eligible veterans to apply for the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program today during a meeting with the Milla Family – the first family to benefit from the program in Hawaii. Senator Hirono successfully lobbied the Obama Administration to establish the FWVP program in...

HONOLULU, HAWAII – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono emphasized the importance of coral reef research during a visit to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology’s facility on Coconut Island. During her visit, Senator Hirono met with scientists studying coral restoration, assisted coral evolution, and threats to coral reef ecosystem –...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) released a new report detailing the impact on workers’ rights since the Supreme Court’s decision to weaken public-sector unions in the Janus v. AFSCME case, which was decided one year ago today. The report also...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J) issued the following joint statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration’s justification for adding a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Earlier this year, Senators Hirono, Menendez, and Booker...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Congressman Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and Congresswoman Frederica...