Press Releases
Whitehouse Statement on Trumpcare Vote
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement on the U.S. House of Representatives' vote today to pass the American Health Care Act, House Republicans' bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act: "All you need to know about this bill is that Republicans tried to exempt themselves from it before they got caught. That's because they know it's a raw deal. This legislation sets us on a path t… Continue Reading
05.02.17
EDA Awards $600K to Develop Innovative Business Cluster in Providence
Providence, RI - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline today announced a $600,000 federal grant from the Economic Development Agency (EDA) to help transform a vacant Providence property into a modern space for an innovative business cluster. According to estimates by the City of Providence, which was awarded the competitive grant, the business cluster project is expected to help create 360 jobs and generate $25 million in private invest… Continue Reading
05.02.17
Whitehouse Presses Justice Department on Ethics Documents
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter to the Justice Department asking for information on the Department's conflict of interest determinations for new Trump political hires, including ethics agreements, disclosures, and waivers. After the Department did not respond to an initial request for the information in February, Whitehouse calls on Acting Assistant Attorney General Samuel Ramer to provide the ethics documentation quickl… Continue Reading
05.01.17
Whitehouse Statement on Omnibus Spending Bill
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement on the omnibus spending bill announced today, which will keep the federal government funded through September: "A bipartisan Congress moved beyond the President's unhelpful rhetoric and reached an important compromise on federal spending. The $2 billion boost for the National Institutes of Health will support Rhode Island researchers working on cutting-edge health scien… Continue Reading
04.28.17
Whitehouse Statement on Offshore Drilling Executive Order
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Oceans Caucus, released the following statement on the executive order on offshore oil and gas drilling, which President Trump signed today: "The only thing this order accomplishes is making a spectacle of putting dirty fossil fuel interests over the fishing, tourism, and other job-creating industries that rely on our oceans. There has never been commerci… Continue Reading
04.28.17
Whitehouse Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Bolster RI’s Growing Renewable Fuels Industry
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and 13 other senators in introducing bipartisan legislation to reform the biodiesel tax credit to benefit American producers and extend the new policy for three years. The previous biodiesel credit expired in 2016. "Biodiesel producers are reducing our carbon footprint and creating jobs in Rhode Island by transforming waste into clean, productive fuel," said Whitehous… Continue Reading
04.27.17
Whitehouse Responds to Pruitt Withdrawal from Oklahoma GOP Fundraiser Following Hatch Act Complaint
Washington, DC - Today, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt indicated he would no longer headline an Oklahoma Republican Party fundraiser after a complaint filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, which called for an investigation into apparent Hatch Act violations by Pruitt. Whitehouse released the following statement on Pruitt's reversal: "This is the least he can do. But the Office of Special Counsel still must do a thorough invest… Continue Reading
04.27.17
Whitehouse Statement on Trump Tax Proposal
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today released the following statement on President Donald Trump's recent tax proposal: "The Trump tax plan is short on details, but this much is clear: it would deliver enormous tax cuts to the people who need them least, saddle future generations with major debt, and encourage companies to move jobs and assets overseas. That's bad, for Rhode Islanders and America." To respond to President Trump's proposal, Senator Whitehouse has introduced the P… Continue Reading
04.26.17
‘Buffett Rule’ Introduced in Congress
Washington, DC - On the same day that President Donald Trump unveiled a tax overhaul proposal that would slash taxes for some of the wealthiest Americans and dramatically increase the national debt, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced legislation to prevent America's top earners from paying lower tax rates than middle-class families. The Paying a Fair Share Act would ensure that multi-million-dollar earners pay at least a 30 percent effective fede… Continue Reading
04.25.17
Whitehouse Statement on Opioid Crisis Meeting
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), author of the comprehensive addiction and recovery law that passed last year, visited the White House today to meet with President Trump's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Whitehouse released the following statement on the meeting: "For years, I have heard from Rhode Islanders battling addiction to opioid drugs. They shared with me how stubbornly this illness took hold an… Continue Reading
04.25.17
Whitehouse Files Hatch Act Complaint Over Pruitt Participation in Oklahoma GOP Fundraiser
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, filed a complaint today with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel concerning a potential violation on the part Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt of the Hatch Act, the federal law limiting political activities of federal employees. The complaint stems from an invitation to a May 5 Oklahoma Republican Party fundraiser distributed this week, where Pruitt is set to… Continue Reading
04.21.17
RI Receives $2.1 Million in Federal Funds to Stem Opioid Crisis
Providence, RI - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline today announced $2,167,000 in federal funding for Rhode Island's Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) to stem the opioid epidemic claiming the lives of dozens of Rhode Islanders every month. The federal funding is the result of $485 million in grants nationwide that was authorized by Congress last year in the 21st Century Cures Act and… Continue Reading
04.21.17
Members of Congress Raise Ethics Concerns about Deputy White House Counsel
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Conn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today sent a letter to Stefan Passantino, Deputy White House Counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO), questioning his previous financial connections to Carl Icahn, as well as other Trump Administration officials, and the resulting … Continue Reading
04.20.17
Senators Question Steve Bannon, White House Ethics Official on Violations of Trump Ethics Pledge
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), today raised questions about reported communications between Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to President Trump, and his former employer, Breitbart News. In letters addressed to Mr. Bannon and Stefan Passantino, the designated agency ethics official for the White House, the senators asked for clarification on recent reports det… Continue Reading
04.20.17
Senators Call on Trump to Disclose Ethics Waivers and White House Visitor Logs
Washington, D.C. - Amidst reports of lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants from a range of industries shaping federal policy and coming and going from the Trump administration with ease, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Tom Carper (D-DE), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) are calling on President Donald Trump to reveal who has been allowed to side step his administration's ethics pledge and why, and who is visi… Continue Reading
04.14.17
Senators Question Timing of EPA Action Following Industry Meeting
Washington, D.C. - Senators are calling on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to reveal what he discussed with members of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA)-an oil and gas industry-funded group that Pruitt once led-just days before Pruitt unilaterally withdrew an EPA information request that oil and gas companies have called burdensome. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote to Pru… Continue Reading
04.14.17
Whitehouse, Murray, Wyden Call on GAO to Study State Tax Credit Vouchers for Private Schools
Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review tax credit vouchers that states use to subsidize private school tuition. The request comes as the Trump Administration, led by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, is championing a $20 billion federal school privatization program potentially modeled on state tax credit voucher programs. Recent reports have called into question the ef… Continue Reading
04.10.17
Whitehouse, Reed, Langevin, Avedisian Highlight Coastal Infrastructure Needs
Warwick, RI - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, Congressman Jim Langevin, and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian today joined statewide planning and public safety officials at Conimicut Point Park in Warwick to call for increased federal investment in Rhode Island's coastal infrastructure. In the event of a 100-year storm, projections by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council show the sole access road to Warwick Neck would be underwater, effectively turning the neighborh… Continue Reading
04.07.17
Reed, Whitehouse & Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Allow Commonsense Regulation of Fracking
WASHINGTON, DC - This week, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse joined nine of their Democratic colleagues in reintroducing the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act in an effort to increase environmental protections for communities located near where natural gas drilling takes place. "Fracking" is shorthand for high-pressure, high-volume horizontal fracturing, and involves a process that injects a mixture of large quantities of pressurized fluid, gas, sand,… Continue Reading
04.07.17
Whitehouse Statement on Military Strikes in Syria
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement on President Trump's authorization of military strikes in Syria Thursday night: "We have witnessed yet another atrocious act by the Assad regime against its own people, and we are called to conscience. Last night's military action in Syria met my standards for responding to atrocity: a limited action; with a clear objective; that is not the beginning of American 'boots on the ground' military operations." … Continue Reading
