Press Releases

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)...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, along with Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) introduced the Extinction Prevention Act. This bill would provide funds to protect a wide variety of threatened and endangered species throughout the nation, including Pacific Island plants, North...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, issued the following statement on the U.S. airstrikes that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. “General Soleimani was a reprehensible figure responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, successfully enacted improvements to federal contracting and research programs that will benefit Hawaii small businesses into law. Passed in the Senate as part of the FY2020 National...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the United States Senate advanced an eight-bill appropriations package that includes important priorities for Hawaii secured by Senator Mazie K. Hirono. The legislation, which funds and renews a range of domestic and international programs from the national Flood Insurance Program to energy production tax credits...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono paid tribute to the victims of the shooting at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard today during remarks on the floor of the United States Senate today. Today marks the two weeks since the tragic events of December 4, 2019. From Senator Hirono’s Remarks: “Mr. President, two weeks ago today, the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono successfully advocated for $21 million in federal funding for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) to build a new field station in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the year end spending package making its way through Congress. The field station is instrumental for HVO to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate passed legislation authored by Senator Hirono that would require all windows in military housing 42 inches or lower off the floor to be equipped with a fall protection device. Named after seven-year-old Hawaii resident Evan English, the updated provision was included in the Conference Report of the FY2020...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier today, the U.S. Senate passed legislation authored by Senator Hirono that would significantly reduce the lengthy hiring process for qualified childcare providers on military installations by expanding direct hire authority. This provision was included in the Conference Report of the FY2020 National Defense...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wrote to Seema Verma, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), requesting that CMS extend the Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment deadline for 2020 by two hours to accommodate residents of Hawaii and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, successfully secured important provisions for Hawaii in the Conference Report for the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Senator Hirono served as a member of the Conference Committee, which reconciled...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono issued the following statement following the shooting incident at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. “While the investigation into this incident continues, my thoughts and aloha are with the victims of the terrible tragedy at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and with their families. I join all of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced legislation that lays out a 10-year investment in federal housing and homelessness programs that the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates would effectively end homelessness and housing poverty in the United...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Hirono secured a commitment from Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to provide regular updates about the status of efforts to reopen a federal Residential Reentry Center (RRC) in Hawaii during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today. In response to questioning by Senator Hirono,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee cleared two Hirono-backed bills that would provide permanent full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and create a new fund to address the growing deferred maintenance backlog in the National Parks system. These bills can now be considered by the full...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after voting against the nomination of Chad Wolf to serve as Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans. Following his confirmation, Mr. Wolf will serve as the acting Secretary of Homeland Security.  “I strongly oppose the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced the Veterans Members Business Loan Act (S. 2834), which would expand commercial lending for veteran business owners and entrepreneurs through local credit unions. Specifically, the bill would exempt credit unions' business loans...