Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), as well as 30 of their Senate colleagues, parents, and child care educators and advocates, to reintroduce the Child Care for Working Families Act. The bill seeks to expand access to high-quality, affordable early childhood...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), took to the Senate floor to oppose S. 311, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The legislation would allow abortion providers to be sued for not providing the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that the University of Hawaii will receive $1 million in support from the National Science Foundation for a new project aimed at improving the pipeline of low-income students into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Designed to meet Hawaii’s...

HONOLULU – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, issued the following statement following Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency: “At today’s announcement, Donald Trump lied about walls, borders, crime, and legal immigration to justify his...

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Today during a U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) highlighted the importance of continued disaster relief for Hawaii businesses, homeowners, and others who were impacted by last year’s natural disasters, and requested U.S. Small Business...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, successfully secured important Hawaii priorities in the Natural Resources Management Act that passed the Senate today on a 92-8 vote. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.   “Passing the Natural...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.), along with 23 Senate colleages, re-introduced legislation to improve protections for national monuments as part of an effort to counter the unprecedented attacks on public lands by the Trump administration. The America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) wrote to the executives of the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian North America, and TransUnion requesting information about what steps have been taken to protect the creditworthiness of federal employees and contractors impacted by the government shutdown. Senator...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and 10 of her Senate colleagues in unveiling a bicameral Green New Deal resolution that calls for aggressive action to combat climate change by creating high-paying jobs, prioritizing environmental health and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) took to the Senate floor to urge the swift passage of S.47, the Natural Resources Management Act. The sweeping bipartisan public lands package includes, among other critical Hawaii priorities, a permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, legislation to expand...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and 16 of their colleagues, to unveil new legislation aimed at improving school infrastructure in the United States. The bill, the Rebuild America’s Schools Act, would provide $100 billion in federal grants and school...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– On what would have been his 100th Birthday, Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Representative Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced bicameral legislation to award Fred Korematsu the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his fight against the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined 32 BJ SEIU union members and several of her colleagues, including Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), to urge the passage of legislation that would secure back pay for federal contractor employees...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a bipartisan letter to Margaret M. Weichert, Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska.), and several of their colleagues wrote to the Trump Administration urging OPM to provide back pay for federal workers as...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono released the following statement after the announcement that a deal has been reached to end the Trump shutdown:  “Today’s announcement is a welcome, albeit temporary, end to this unnecessary, unconscionable Trump shutdown. “Over the past 35 days, Donald Trump took hundreds...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that Hawaii will receive nearly $1 million in continued support under the federal Preschool Development Grant program. This funding will support ongoing efforts to promote and improve the quality of early learning opportunities for children by better connecting and aligning...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and 21 of their colleagues introduced legislation to secure back pay for the federal contractor employees impacted by the government shutdown. The bill—the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act—would provide back pay up to $600 per...

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senator Mazie K. Hirono was reappointed to serve as the Ranking Member on the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, which oversees the vast majority of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps programs. “Our Navy and Marine Corps are at the center of confronting many of our country’s most pressing strategic...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) joined hundreds of furloughed federal employees who are members of more than 20 labor unions at a rally to call on President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to end the government shutdown.   From Senator Hirono’s remarks at the rally:   “We...

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) led 13 senators in urging Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to reexamine her Department’s “arbitrary detention and deportation” of many long-term U.S. residents from Southeast Asia, including those who fled war and...