Press Releases
Whitehouse, Sullivan Testify on Marine Debris Crisis, SOS 2.0 Act
WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) testified yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS) regarding U.S. efforts to combat the global marine debris crisis and the Save Our Seas (SOS) 2.0 Act, legislation introduced by Sullivan, Whitehouse and Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) that passed the Senate in January and is under consideration by the House. Click here to watch Senator Wh… Continue Reading
07.22.20
RI Delegation Announces Distribution of $71.3 Million in CARES Act Funds to Five Local Hospitals
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, today announced that $71.3 million in funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has been distributed to five Rhode Island hospitals to offset the costs of caring for coronavirus patients. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "We set this funding aside in the CARES Act to help local hospitals a… Continue Reading
07.20.20
Reed, Whitehouse Press Trump Administration To Reverse Move Undermining COVID-19 Hospital Data Collection
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 43 of their Democratic Senate colleagues in writing to Vice President Mike Pence and Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, urging the Trump Administration to reverse recent changes requiring hospitals to report data to a new system set up by the Department of Health and Human Services instead of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which is run… Continue Reading
07.20.20
Whitehouse Calls for Swift Passage of New COVID-19 Relief Bill to Aid RI
Providence, RI - As the U.S. Senate reconvenes today, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is renewing his call for another COVID-19 relief package to meet urgent needs in Rhode Island. Whitehouse's priorities include providing an influx of aid to states and municipalities, emergency education funding, additional support for small businesses, investments to reduce racial inequities, and hazard pay to frontline workers. "Leader McConnell sat on the House relief bill for two months while the v… Continue Reading
07.15.20
Whitehouse Statement on Trump 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 rule gutting the National Environmental Policy Act. "Score another win for polluters at the hands of their lackey, President Trump. This change means that reviews of big federal projects will ignore massive problems like climate change, even as some of our most important financial institutions … Continue Reading
07.14.20
GAO Finds Changes in Social Cost of Carbon Dramatically Lower Estimates of Climate Costs
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE Washington, DC - President Trump's changes to the federal government's core measure of the costs of climate change, the social cost of carbon, mean "current federal estimates [of climate effects] . . . are about 7 times lower than the prior federal estimates," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds in a report released today by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and six Senate colleagues. Despite a recommendation from the National Academies of Science, the Tr… Continue Reading
07.10.20
Whitehouse Celebrates 25 Years of Federal Service by Paula Bradley
Providence, RI - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse celebrated a quarter century of federal service by his office's Senior Field Representative, Paula Bradley, who turns 85 years old today. Bradley, who served in the same role for Congressman Patrick Kennedy's office prior to joining Whitehouse's staff, helps to guide Rhode Islanders in accessing federal and state programs geared toward seniors. Her work brings her to every corner of the state to meet with Rhode Island seniors and senior center s… Continue Reading
07.08.20
RI Delegation Announces $128K to Expand Telehealth at Thundermist Health Center During Pandemic
Providence, RI - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline today announced that Thundermist Health Center has been awarded $128,347 from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) COVID-19 Telehealth Program to establish robust telehealth services during the ongoing pandemic. "Telehealth has become a necessity during this pandemic and we must invest in ensuring this technology is effective and accessible for all who need it. This federal… Continue Reading
07.03.20
Following SDNY Scandal, Whitehouse Calls on Barr to Preserve Documents, Disclose Contact Logs related to Environmental Group Hacking Investigation
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has called on Attorney General Bill Barr to disclose contact logs and preserve communications related to an investigation in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) into a hack-for-hire scheme directed at environmental groups. The investigation, reported on last month, involves phishing emails targeting groups that had been campaigning against oil giant Exxon Mobil. Under Acting U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's leadership, the SDNY had been pr… Continue Reading
07.02.20
Whitehouse Calls for DOJ Inspector General Investigation of Trump Automaker Antitrust Inquiry
Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called on the Justice Department Inspector General to investigate the aborted federal antitrust investigation of four automakers' agreement with the state of California over auto fuel emissions standards. Citing last week's hearing in the House Judiciary Committee featuring whistleblower testimony from a former top Antitrust Division official, Whitehouse points to a range of troubling conduct by Attorney General Bill Barr's Justice Depar… Continue Reading
07.02.20
Reed & Whitehouse Cosponsor Bill to Make Juneteenth a Federal Holiday
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) cosponsored the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. This legislation would designate Juneteenth as a permanent holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would also establish a Juneteenth Federal Holiday Commission to encourage ceremonies and activities in celebration of the holiday throughout the nation. Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of the news of emancipation and … Continue Reading
07.02.20
Harvard Journal on Legislation Publishes Whitehouse Article on Dark Money Capture of U.S. Courts
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released an article published in the latest edition of the Harvard Journal on Legislation that details corporate interests' capture of our federal judiciary and proposes a range of legislative solutions to counter it. In Dark Money and U.S. Courts: The Problem and Solutions, Whitehouse traces the history of corporations' campaign to wrest control of the courts by funneling anonymous "dark money" through a comp… Continue Reading
07.01.20
Congressional Delegation Announces $8,433,558 to Enhance Rhode Island Emergency Preparedness
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, announced that the state will receive $8,433,558 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to improve public safety and bolster Rhode Island's emergency preparedness efforts. These federal funds are targeted to help Rhode Island government agencies and organizations prepare for, respond to, and recover from regional and national emergencies, disasters, and… Continue Reading
07.01.20
Whitehouse Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Increase Access to Telehealth Services for Substance Use Disorder Treatment
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) have introduced the bipartisan Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services (TREATS) Act to support the expansion of telehealth services for substance use disorder treatment. The bill would build upon previous federal action to waive regulatory restrictions for accessing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the temporary waivers provide a necessary reprieve for patients so they can continu… Continue Reading
06.29.20
Whitehouse Slams SCOTUS 5-4 Decision in CFPB Case
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement today on the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision eroding the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Whitehouse led a friend-of-the-court brief in the case calling out the special interest campaign to achieve today's outcome. "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lives on, though it shall no longer have an independent single Director. Seila Law… Continue Reading
06.29.20
Whitehouse Presses Oil Corporations on Lobbying for Coronavirus Giveaway Worth Billions to Industry
Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent letters to Marathon Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Conoco Philips, Denbury Resources, and the Koch Companies requesting information on the corporations' lobbying for a major corporate giveaway in COVID-19 relief legislation. The loophole has allowed the companies to claim tax benefits worth hundreds of millions of dollars based on losses that had nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined, oil companies have claimed nearly $2 billi… Continue Reading
06.17.20
Following SCOTUS Ruling, Reed & Whitehouse Seek to Bring Equality Act to a Vote
WASHINGTON, DC - While the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision this week extending employment protections to gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans in the workplace, Congress still needs to take additional steps to ensure equal protection under the law in other key areas. Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined with 44 colleagues in urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring the Equality Act to the Senate floor for a vote. The Se… Continue Reading
06.16.20
Whitehouse Joins Bipartisan Call for Permanent Expansion of Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has joined U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and a bipartisan group of 29 senators in calling for the expansion of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic to be made permanent. Previous COVID-related legislation allowed Medicare beneficiaries to utilize telehealth services, and freed up more types of health care providers to provide telehealth for the first time. Those measures are set to expir… Continue Reading
06.16.20
RI Wins Landmark $65 Million Federal Grant to Overhaul Route 146
Providence, RI - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline today announced that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has been awarded a landmark $65 million federal grant to overhaul Route 146. The Infrastructure for Rebuilding America Grant, also known as an INFRA Grant, will fund the replacement of multiple bridges along the Route 146 corridor, the reconfiguration of the interchange at Sayles Hill Road, and the repaving of… Continue Reading
06.12.20
Reed & Whitehouse Call on Trump Admin to Simplify PPP Loan Forgiveness
WASHINGTON, DC - In an effort to make it easier for Rhode Island small businesses to apply for federal loan forgiveness, U.S. Senators Jack reed and Sheldon Whitehouse today joined all 45 of their Democratic and Independent Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza calling for urgently needed improvements to streamline and simplify the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness applicat… Continue Reading
