Press Releases
Whitehouse, Baldwin Introduce Amendment to Prevent Tax Windfalls for Trump Administration Billionaires
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced an amendment to Senate Republicans' tax proposal that would help to prevent President Donald Trump's enormously wealthy cabinet nominees from ducking millions of dollars in taxes. The amendment would limit a tax provision that allows executive branch and judicial appointees to defer paying taxes on profits from assets they sell to comply with ethics rules. The amendment is based on Whitehouse's No Windfalls for Government Servic… Continue Reading
11.30.17
Whitehouse Introduces Buffett Rule Amendment to Tax Proposal
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced an amendment to Senate Republicans' tax proposal that would institute the Buffett Rule to prevent America's top earners from paying lower tax rates than middle-class families. The amendment, based on Whitehouse's Paying a Fair Share Act, would ensure that multi-million-dollar earners pay at least a 30 percent effective federal tax rate. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the legislation would provide nearly $50 billion in… Continue Reading
11.30.17
Whitehouse, Cartwright Introduce Bill to Protect Natural Resources from Climate Change
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA) introduced a bill today to protect the country's wildlife and natural resources from climate change. Building on existing federal, state, and local efforts, Whitehouse and Cartwright's Safeguarding America's Future and Environment (SAFE) Act would establish an integrated national approach to ongoing and expected effects of extreme weather and climate change. "Responsible management of natural resources… Continue Reading
11.28.17
Whitehouse to Budget Republicans: TrumpTax Would Devastate Economy, Explode National Debt to Benefit Big Donors
Washington, DC - This afternoon, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered a forceful statement in opposition to the Senate Budget Committee's vote to advance a budget resolution that paves the way for major tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, while raising taxes on many middle-class families. "Instead of doing our job as the Budget Committee and recommending policies to address the $20 trillion national debt, today's exercise was to rubber-stamp partisan legislation that … Continue Reading
11.17.17
Whitehouse & Reed Warn Trump Tax Plan Sells Out Seniors & Redirects Tax Dollars to Corporate Interests & Ultra Wealthy
CRANSTON, RI -- Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse held a press conference in Cranston with senior advocates from LeadingAge RI to warn that the Republican tax plan will victimize seniors, retirees on fixed incomes, and people with high medical bills. And Senate Republicans' latest scheme to pay for corporate tax giveaways is to repeal the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will drive up health care costs, spike premiums, and increase the number of … Continue Reading
11.16.17
Whitehouse Bill to Protect Servicemembers and Veterans from Foreclosure Headed to President’s Desk
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-RI) bill to extend vital foreclosure protection to servicemembers and their families cleared Congress today as part of the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill and now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law. Whitehouse's legislation extends through 2019 the one-year grace period protecting servicemembers leaving active duty from foreclosure. "When men and women of our armed forces return home, they ought to have a chance to … Continue Reading
11.16.17
Whitehouse, Kaine Introduce Bill to Help Forgive Student Loans for Public Service Workers
Washington, DC - Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a bill today to fix a glitch in a federal loan forgiveness program that can leave teachers, soldiers, social workers, and other public servants with massive loan balances they thought would be forgiven after years of payments. Whitehouse and Kaine's legislation would relieve a significant financial burden for middle-class families who sought to use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) program, whic… Continue Reading
11.16.17
Whitehouse Statement on Allegations Made Against Senator Franken
Washington, D.C. - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse today issued the following statement in response to the recent allegations made against Senator Al Franken: "Allegations of sexual assault or harassment by any member of Congress, like those against Senator Franken, must be taken seriously and investigated fully by the Ethics Committee."… Continue Reading
11.16.17
Whitehouse, Collins, Carper Request GAO Review of Air Quality Monitoring Networks
Washington, DC - Today, a bipartisan trio of Senators from states that cope with cross-state air pollution requested a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) operation of the nation's air quality monitoring networks. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Tom Carper (D-DE) asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for a top-to-bottom review of the EPA's air quality monitoring work, including a look at whether the networks yield enough good-quality da… Continue Reading
11.14.17
Whitehouse Statement on Inclusion of Individual Mandate Repeal in Tax Bill
Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement on Senate Republicans' decision to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in their tax reform bill: "Here we go again. After months of pushing an irresponsible, partisan plan to tear down the Affordable Care Act and strip health insurance from millions of Americans, Republicans are now sneaking a provision… Continue Reading
11.14.17
Whitehouse Calls for Investigation Into Immigration Arrests at Hospitals, Schools, and Churches
Washington, D.C. - Following reports that a young girl with cerebral palsy was detained on her way to receive surgery, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) led a group of sixteen Senators in calling for an investigation into ongoing violations of federal policies regarding immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and religious institutions. The Senators' letter to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elai… Continue Reading
11.13.17
Whitehouse Statement on Bonn Climate Conference
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, returned today from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. Whitehouse joined a group of American Senators to Bonn to deliver the message that U.S. support for the Paris Agreement is strong despite President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Agreement. Whitehouse released the following statement on t… Continue Reading
11.12.17
SENATE DELEGATION CONCLUDES MISSION TO UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE
BONN, GERMANY -- A United States Senate delegation has concluded its mission to the annual United Nations climate conference in the wake of President Trump's intentions to withdraw America from the historic Paris Climate Agreement, an accord now agreed to by every other country in the world to fight global climate change through a mix of carbon emissions reductions, clean energy innovations, adaptation measures, and resiliency enhancements. The group will travel next to Berlin for meetings with… Continue Reading
11.10.17
Whitehouse Statement on Senate Republican Tax Bill
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the following statement on Senate Republicans' new tax proposal: "This version of TrumpTax is as bad as the last. Instead of working with Democrats on bipartisan solutions, Senate Republicans have concocted a massive tax bill behind closed doors and with no public hearings. Like the House bill, Senate Republicans' proposal would deliver enormous giveaways to the very wealthiest, paid for by hiking taxes on millions of middle-class fa… Continue Reading
11.09.17
Whitehouse Demands Coal Baron’s Marching Orders for EPA
Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called on Bob Murray, Chairman of Murray Energy, to provide a copy of the three-page "action plan" he gave to President Donald Trump. Murray first identified the existence of the plan in the Frontline documentary "War on the EPA," which aired last month. The plan was the topic of questioning at yesterday's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be Deputy Administrator of the Environm… Continue Reading
11.09.17
Senators to GAO: Examine Pruitt’s Science Advisory Board Double Standard
Washington, DC - Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led a group of 10 Senators in asking Congress's watchdog agency to expand its ongoing investigation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt's efforts to silence leading independent scientists from participating on key advisory boards. Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Sherrod Brown (D-… Continue Reading
11.09.17
Whitehouse Cosponsors Assault Weapons Ban
Washington, D.C. - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has joined Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and 21 Democratic senators to introduce the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The legislation renews provisions of a federal ban on assault weapons that was enacted in 1994 and expired in 2004. "Dialing down the numbers of dangerous assault weapons in the United States… Continue Reading
11.09.17
Senators Press Social Security Administration for Details of Coordination with Trump Voter Fraud Commission
Washington, DC - Today, members of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees pressed the Social Security Administration (SSA) for details of its coordination with the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The Commission has sought sensitive voter roll data on the majority of the voting public and conducted highly partisan hearings based on discredited allegations of voter fraud, yet has refused to provide Congress even the most basic overview of its operations. In a letter … Continue Reading
11.08.17
Whitehouse Calls for Release of Murray’s ‘Action Plan’
Washington, DC - Today, at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse pressed the nominee for Deputy Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Andrew Wheeler, for a list of coal magnate Robert Murray's policy priorities, which Murray presented to President Trump upon entering office. Murray bragged of giving the three-page "action plan" to Trump in the Frontline document "War on the EPA," which aired last month. "Coal baron Bob Murra… Continue Reading
11.08.17
Whitehouse, Bennet Call on FERC to Use Social Cost of Carbon in Review of Pipelines
Washington, DC - Today, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse course and apply a common measure of the societal costs of carbon pollution in its review of a major gas pipeline project in the Southeast. Whitehouse and Bennet offer a point-by-point rebuttal of a recent draft analysis by the Commission, showing why the social cost of carbon is an indispensable part of any pipeline review. In August, a thre… Continue Reading
