Press Releases
With the NRA Blocking Meaningful Gun Reform, Senate Dems Call for Vote and Passage of #WetthePeople Legislation to Break NRA's Grip on Elections, Senate Republicans
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following Senate Republicans blockade of commonsense legislation to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists and expand background checks and House Republican leadership's refusal to even schedule a vote on such bills, Senators Charles Schumer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley today called for a vote and passage of the We The People Act, to break the grip of special interests, such as the NRA, on elections and Congressional Republicans. This push by Sen… Continue Reading
06.23.16
Whitehouse Introduces Bill to Improve Care for Patients with Advanced Illnesses
Washington, DC - At a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse unveiled a bill to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries with advanced illnesses like Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and heart disease. Approximately 90 million Americans are living with advanced illness, and that number is expected to more than double in the next 25 years. Whitehouse's Removing Barriers to Person-Centered Care Act would promote better coordination between health care provi… Continue Reading
06.22.16
Whitehouse Attends Signing of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act
The White House - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined President Barack Obama for the signing of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act), to protect families from chemicals in everyday products and provide businesses with greater regulatory certainty. The new law overhauls the long-broken Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which failed to protect the public from dangerous chemicals like asbestos. The Lautenberg Act mandates review of all c… Continue Reading
06.21.16
Bipartisan Senators Comment on Deficiencies in Monitoring Eligibility of Controlled Substance Prescribers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), commented on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today that assesses the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) ability to screen and monitor individuals and businesses licensed to manufacture, handle and prescribe controlled subst… Continue Reading
06.16.16
Whitehouse Expresses Solidarity with LGBTQ Community
Providence, RI - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today expressed support for Rhode Island's LGBTQ community in advance of the upcoming Rhode Island Pride festival, which he has participated in nearly every year since being elected to the Senate. "This year's Pride festival has special significance as our nation continues to mourn the loss of so many innocent lives in Orlando," said Whitehouse. "I'm looking forward to marching alongside my friends in Rhode Island's LGBTQ community on Saturday. All … Continue Reading
06.16.16
Cantwell Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Coal Companies’ Risky Business Practices
Washington, D.C. - Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced the Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act. The bill would protect taxpayers from liabilities caused by coal companies' risky financial practices. Current law requires coal companies to ensure that they can cover the cost of reclamation - that is, rehabilitating land after coal mining operations on it have stopped. But the law allows the Interior Departmen… Continue Reading
06.16.16
Whitehouse Calls for Strong Addiction and Recovery Bill
Washington, DC - Today, the Senate moved to begin bicameral negotiations to reconcile House and Senate bills to address the national opioid addiction crisis. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who authored the Senate-passed bill, welcomed the Senate's action, and offered a motion to instruct Senate conferees to press for key Senate provisions in their negotiations. The motion was adopted by the Senate 72-24. "The opioid crisis continues to afflict Americans in every walk of life and in commu… Continue Reading
06.14.16
Senators Issue Report on U.S. Chamber of Commerce Lobbying
Washington, D.C. - Tonight, a group of Senators led by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and joined by Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Edward Markey (D-MA) released findings of an investigation into the lobbying activities of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-the purported voice of America's business community and the largest lobbying force in the country. In their report, the Senators examine… Continue Reading
06.14.16
Reed, Whitehouse Applaud Proposed Student Borrower Defense Regulations
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Education has announced proposed regulations to protect post-secondary student borrowers from predatory practices, help the victims of such practices gain relief, and increase transparency in student lending. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, who called on the Department to issue a strong "borrower defense to repayment" rule in April, cheered the new proposed regulations. "This proposal is a positive step toward improving transparency, protect… Continue Reading
06.14.16
Whitehouse Salutes Environmental Legacy of Late Rhode Island Senator John Chafee
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today took to the floor of the United States Senate to pay tribute to the environmental legacy of John Chafee, the late Republican senator from Rhode Island. In Whitehouse's 140th weekly speech on climate change, delivered thirty years after Chafee held historic Senate hearings on global warming, he commended the late Senator's bipartisan work and foresight on the issue. In June 1986, as Republican Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Sub… Continue Reading
06.13.16
Langevin Remembers, Honors Mel Benson
WARWICK, R.I. - Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) expressed his deep sadness at the passing yesterday of longtime public servant Melvoid J. Benson, one of the first African American women to serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly. Langevin spoke to Benson just days earlier to inform her that a bill he introduced to name the North Kingstown Post Office at 7715 Post Road in her honor was on the President's desk, awaiting his signature. A companion bill was introduced under the leadership of Sena… Continue Reading
06.10.16
Whitehouse, Schatz Slam Effort to Denounce Carbon Fee
Washington, D.C. - The House of Representatives is poised to vote on a resolution today expressing opposition to a federal carbon fee-a policy many economists, including prominent conservative ones, believe to be the best way to limit the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), authors of American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act, panned the non-binding resolution as irresponsible and further evidence of the Republican Party's ties … Continue Reading
06.09.16
Senators Whitehouse and Markey Introduce Legislation to Unleash Offshore Wind Energy Off the Shores of America
Washington, DC - As Europe now supports roughly 60,000 jobs in the offshore wind sector, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) yesterday introduced legislation that would spur the growth of offshore wind energy in the United States. The Offshore Wind Incentives for New Development (WIND) Act would extend the 30 percent Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind through 2025. Last year's omnibus bill extended the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for … Continue Reading
06.08.16
Whitehouse Releases Statement on Passage of Toxic Chemical Reform Bill
Washington, DC - The Senate last night passed legislation to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation's primary toxic chemical protection law. Having passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support, the bill now goes to President Obama to be signed into law. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who helped to broker an agreement on TSCA reform in the Senate, released the following statement on… Continue Reading
05.21.16
Whitehouse Statement on Signing of National Estuary Program Reauthorization
Washington, DC - President Barack Obama has signed into law the first reauthorization of the National Estuary Program (NEP) since it expired in 2010, allowing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 28 individual NEPs to continue to support conservation and improvement at estuaries around the United States. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who championed the bipartisan legislation in the Senate, released the following statement on the signing: "The National Estuaries Program helps… Continue Reading
05.20.16
Whitehouse Promotes Partnerships to Advance Care for Veterans
Providence, RI - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse announced legislation to give clear authority to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter partnerships with academic medical institutions to share clinical resources, conduct research, and improve health care for veterans. He also applauded the Senate's passage of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill this week. The report accompanying the bill includes a provision, added at Whitehouse's request, encou… Continue Reading
05.19.16
Whitehouse, Graham, Blumenthal Announce Botnet Prevention Act
Washington, DC - Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have announced the Botnet Prevention Act of 2016, which would provide law enforcement and the courts expanded power to disrupt botnets-networks of infected computers used to commit cybercrime-and hold accountable those who create and use them. "Cybercriminals can wield these armies of zombie computers to carry out all manner of criminal activity-from pillaging private data, to shutting down… Continue Reading
05.18.16
Senate Approves Bill to Implement Fisheries Treaties
Washington, DC - The Senate has passed the Ensuring Access to Fisheries Act to implement the policies of treaties allowing for better cooperation in managing fisheries resources. With passage of this bill, the Senate has now completed implementing legislation for all of the treaties that the Senate passed in 2014 with the support of the Senate Oceans Caucus to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing - or pirate fishing. The Co-Chairs of the Senate Oceans Caucus, Senators Lisa… Continue Reading
05.18.16
Bipartisan Advanced Nuclear Energy Bill Clears Senate EPW Committee
Washington, D.C. - Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee voted 17 to 3 to clear the bipartisan Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA), which would create a new licensing framework for advanced reactors at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The bill's sponsors, Senators James Inhofe (R-OK), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), applauded the Committee's vote. "I'm proud to join Senators Booker, Whitehouse and Crapo … Continue Reading
05.10.16
RI to Receive Over $1 Million to Support the Arts & Expand Cultural Education Opportunities
PROVIDENCE - In an effort to support community arts programs and enhance the state's creative and cultural assets, Rhode Island's Congressional delegation today announced the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA), the City of Providence, FirstWorks, Community Musicworks, WaterFire, RiverzEdge, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, and Island Moving Company will share $1,084,500 in federal grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). These federal grants will help s… Continue Reading
