Press Releases

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...

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...