Press Releases

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...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and 17 of their U.S. Senate colleagues, sent a letter to Ms. Phyllis K. Fong, the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to request an investigation into potential instances of suppression and alteration of scientific reports,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) reintroduced bicameral legislation to provide more resources, training, and technical assistance to address discrimination in education throughout the United States. The Patsy T. Mink and Louise M. Slaughter Gender Equity in Education Act...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this month, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced legislation that would provide Medicare beneficiaries access to vaccines at no additional cost. S. 1872, the Protecting Seniors through Immunizations Act of 2019, would improve access to all...

BATH, MAINE – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, delivered the principal address at the christening ceremony of the USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine today. The 509-foot ship is the Navy’s 68th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, in recognition of National Oceans Month, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representative Ed Case (D-Hawaii) introduced legislation that would support practices to preserve, sustain, and restore coral reef ecosystems. The Coral Reef Sustainability Through Innovation Act of 2019 addresses threats facing our...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Cory Gardner (R-Col.) introduced S. 1857, the Federal Energy and Water Management Performance Act of 2019, which would formally authorize the Federal Energy Management...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and 11 of their U.S. Senate colleagues introduced S. 1083, the H.R. 40 Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, which establishes a commission to consider proposals for reparations for African-American descendants of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and 28 of their U.S. Senate colleagues reintroduced legislation that would remove the sole decision-making authority over whether serious crimes are prosecuted from the military chain of command and give it to independent, trained military...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii celebrated the success of the Sixth Annual Taste of Hawaii on Capitol Hill, which drew over 60 Hawaii businesses and 2,000 attendees. Each participant received a fresh orchid lei and learned about an array of Hawaii businesses representing the diversity of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Last week, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Representative Don Young (R-Alaska), and ten of their colleagues sent a letter to Mark Koumans, the former Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and Chad Wolf, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary at the Office of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined members of Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation and the Hawaii State Society to celebrate and honor King Kamehameha I at the 50th Annual Kamehameha Day Lei Draping in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol. In her remarks, Senator Hirono reflected on this...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded over $3.8 million in federal funding to projects that support ongoing coastal and marine research, extension, and educational outreach in Hawaii. NOAA awarded funding through two separate programs...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and 40 of their U.S. Senate colleagues introduced legislation that would prevent the U.S. from withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. The International Climate Accountability Act would also require the President...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) highlighted the efforts of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) and Hawaiian Electric to deploy renewable energy plus storage facilities across the state at a Senate Energy and Natural Reurces Committee hearing on energy storage today. Senator Hirono also spoke about her visit to the...

HONOLULU – Last week, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), along with twenty of her U.S. Senate colleagues, introduced a resolution to commemorate the life and legacy of Representative Patsy Takemoto Mink, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 terms. November 3, 2019 will mark the 55th anniversary of Rep. Mink’s election...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), along with 22 of her U.S. Senate colleagues, introduced a resolution recognizing the significance of Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month and the contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. “APA Heritage Month is an opportunity to...

HONOLULU – Following a meeting with Dr. Jim Reilly, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced that USGS has committed to keeping the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) on Hawaii Island. “The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is an integral part of the Hawaii Island community, as we saw when HVO...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) fought successfully to include critical priorities for Hawaii in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill, which sets policy and funding levels for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy, passed the Senate Armed...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) successfully secured a number of provisions in the Bipartisan Disaster Supplemental Bill to assist individuals and communities in Hawaii impacted by natural disasters in 2018. The $19.1 billion measure passed the Senate on an 85-8 vote. “Last year’s natural disasters...