Press Releases
Senators Press Barr on Politicization of Justice Department Administration of Immigration Courts
Washington, DC - In a letter sent today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led a group of senators in pressing Attorney General William Barr for information and documents related to the brazen politicization and maladministration of American immigration courts under President Donald Trump. Against the backdrop of extreme and cruel rhetoric trained on immigrants by President Trump, the Trump Justice Department has quietly undermined immigration courts' ability to deliver impartial justice in a n… Continue Reading
02.13.20
Whitehouse and Cardin Urge Federal Action to Protect Local Water Systems from Climate Change
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are calling for urgent federal action to protect water systems from climate change impacts in response to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today. The report, "Water Infrastructure and Climate Change Impacts," documents the need for the federal government to work with states and local utilities to strengthen the resilience of water infrastructure to climate impacts. The report makes practica… Continue Reading
02.10.20
Whitehouse Statement Ahead of Trump Budget Release
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today issued the following statement ahead of the release of President Trump's FY2021 budget proposal: "Everyone knows the latest Trump budget is dead on arrival in Congress. It's merely a political stunt to gratify extremists in his party. What we need is budget reform in Congress to address all the drivers of our massive deficits and help us to a bipartisan budget that honors the priorities o… Continue Reading
02.05.20
Whitehouse Statement on Final Impeachment Votes
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement on today's votes in the Senate on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Whitehouse voted to convict on both articles. "The facts are clear, the conduct impeachable, and the obstruction unprecedented - and yet the White House and its allies in the Senate have stymied the Constitution's process for removing a corrupt president. Martin Luther King Jr. once said: It is . . . midnight withi… Continue Reading
02.04.20
Whitehouse Statement on State of the Union
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tonight released the following statement: "The legacy of President Trump's term will include his quest to torpedo protections for people with pre-existing conditions, worsened wealth inequality, corruption on an unprecedented scale, and willful blindness to the climate crisis. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle must stand against the President's efforts to divide us and instead work together to make progress on the issues Am… Continue Reading
02.04.20
EPW Democrats Wear “Warming Stripes” Pin Ahead of President Trump’s State of the Union Address
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, ahead of President Trump's third State of the Union Address to Congress, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) are sending the message that Americans undoubtedly will not hear from President Trump in his address to Congress. Senators Carper, Whitehouse, Van Hollen are wearing a pin representing the "Warming Stripes" design developed by climate … Continue Reading
02.04.20
Whitehouse Calls on Senate Never to Repeat Trump Impeachment Trial
Washington, DC - Today, ahead of a final vote in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump expected Wednesday, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered remarks on the Senate floor regarding the impeachment process. Whitehouse focused his remarks on the troubling conduct of the Trump defense team. He called on the Senate to ensure that future impeachment proceedings adhere to the Constitution and rules of the body, and that the Trump impeachment trial not serve as precedent moving… Continue Reading
02.03.20
Whitehouse, Brown, Schatz and Dems Press GSEs on Preparation for Climate Risks
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) led Senate Democrats in pressing Fannie Mae CEO Hugh Frater and Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman for information on the steps that each of the GSEs are taking to assess and prepare for the effects of climate change on their business and on American communities, homeowners, and renters. "It is critical tha… Continue Reading
01.31.20
Coastal Medical President & CEO Dr. Al Kurose to Join Whitehouse for State of the Union
Washington, D.C. - Coastal Medical President and CEO Dr. Alan Kurose will head to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening as U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's guest for the State of the Union address. President Donald Trump will deliver the final State of the Union address of his term, which he has spent trying to damage and dismantle the Affordable Care Act through the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In the case of Texas v. United States, which is currently pending before the Fifth… Continue Reading
01.29.20
Whitehouse Asks Whether ‘Missing Witness’ Rule Lets Senators Draw an Inference against White House from Blocking of Key Witnesses
Washington, DC - During the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the Senate today, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked House managers whether the "missing witness" rule-allowing jurors in court cases to draw an inference when a party blocks a witness from testifying against them-ought to apply to the White House blocking key witnesses and documents from being presented in trial. "The 'missing-witness' rule-which dates back to 1893 Supreme Court case Graves v. United States-al… Continue Reading
01.29.20
Reed, Whitehouse Join Senate Democrats’ Call for Trump to Retract Comments, Commit to Protecting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and their Democratic colleagues in demanding President Trump retract the statements he made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the President said he'd be open to cutting earned benefits like Medicare or Social Security to pay for his tax scam, which has been a handout to corporations at the expense of workers. Despite Republican claims that the bill was a tax… Continue Reading
01.22.20
Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Hirono Call Out Special Interest Push to Tear Down CFPB in Supreme Court Brief
Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in a major Supreme Court challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The senators highlight the damage that unbridled corporate power can do to Americans' health, safety, and welfare, and document the sweeping campaign by corporate interests to capture and control regulatory agencies - and now the cou… Continue Reading
01.16.20
Whitehouse Statement on Opening of Impeachment Trial
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today issued the following statement regarding the opening of an impeachment trial in the Senate: "Today is a solemn day, as the Senate prepares to carry out the serious duty that the Founding Fathers charged us with. Every senator has just sworn an oath to 'do impartial justice.' That oath can only be upheld if the Senate allows the witnesses and evidence necessary to get to the truth about the acts charged in the impeachment." ###… Continue Reading
01.10.20
Whitehouse, Schatz, Heinrich Press Major Institutional Investors about Marathon Petroleum’s Anti-Climate Lobbying
Washington, D.C. - In letters sent today, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Martin Heinrich (D-MN) pressed the four largest shareholders in oil refiner Marathon Petroleum-Blackrock, JPMorgan Chase, State Street, and Vanguard-about Marathon's relentless lobbying against climate action, particularly its efforts to unwind fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. The senators ask what the firms know about Marathon's anti-climate lobbying efforts, and for the firms to us… Continue Reading
01.10.20
Save Our Seas 2.0 Act Passes Senate Unanimously
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Senate has voted unanimously to pass the Save Our Seas (SOS) 2.0 Act, legislation introduced by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to address the plastic debris crisis threatening coastal economies and harming marine life. SOS 2.0 builds on the success of the Save Our Seas Act, introduced by Senators Whitehouse and Sullivan, and signed into law by President Trump in October 2018. "Today's vote is an important ste… Continue Reading
01.09.20
Whitehouse, Cassidy, Carper Seek to Double Funding for National Estuary Program
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Tom Carper (D-DE) today introduced legislation to reauthorize the National Estuary Program (NEP) at nearly double its previous annual funding levels. The NEP was first established in 1987 by the late Senator John Chafee (R-RI) to protect and restore estuarine habitats threatened by pollution and overdevelopment. "Estuaries like Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay are home to fisheries and wildlife, and are major … Continue Reading
01.09.20
Whitehouse, Brown, Dem Senators Introduce Comprehensive Legislation to Address Youth Tobacco Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Senate Democrats introduced the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020, comprehensive legislation to stop tobacco companies from targeting youth with marketing schemes, and to curb the rise in the use of tobacco and e-cigarette products among youth. Brown is leading the legislation, and the legislation is sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT),… Continue Reading
01.09.20
Whitehouse Slams Trump CEQ’s NEPA Rollback
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement on the Trump Council on Environmental Quality's proposal to gut the National Environmental Policy Act. "In her confirmation hearing, Chairman Neumayr agreed that climate change is real, that it's a major issue for coastal states like Rhode Island, and that some of our most important financial institutions are warning about the dire threats it… Continue Reading
01.07.20
Whitehouse Opposes United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today voted against the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the Senate Finance Committee, citing the agreement's lack of urgency to address climate change and concerns about lost jobs in Rhode Island. Whitehouse issued the following statement after the vote: "NAFTA has utterly failed Rhode Island, with more than half of our manufacturing jobs gone since the agreement went into effect. While NAFTA 2.0 includes some welcom… Continue Reading
01.05.20
Providence Gets $375K Federal Grant for Woonasquatucket Adventure Park Phase II
PROVIDENCE, RI - In an effort to strengthen local conservation and recreation efforts, Rhode Island's Congressional delegation today announced that Providence's riverfront is getting a $375,000 infusion of federal funding for a series of long-planned improvements for Phase II of the Woonasquatucket Adventure Park. Located along the Woonasquatucket River Greenway, the Woonasquatucket Adventure Park, which officially opened to the public this fall, includes picnic areas, a bicycle pump track, a … Continue Reading
