Press Releases
Senators Whitehouse, Schumer, and Casey Introduce Bill to Protect Children from Lead
Washington, DC - With an estimated 23 million homes nationwide containing lead-paint-related hazards and millions more with dangerous lead pipes, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation today to help Americans cover the cost of removing lead from their homes. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can have debilitating effects on people of all ages. In particular, it can severely compromise the behavioral and cognitive develo… Continue Reading
02.24.16
Whitehouse, Schumer, and Casey Introduce Bill to Protect Children from Lead
Washington, DC - With an estimated 23 million homes nationwide containing lead-paint-related hazards and millions more with dangerous lead pipes, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation today to help Americans cover the cost of removing lead from their homes. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can have debilitating effects on people of all ages. In particular, it can severely compromise the behavioral and cognitive develo… Continue Reading
02.20.16
Whitehouse Statement on $9.68 Million in Funding to Protect Rhode Islanders from Foreclosure
Providence, RI - Rhode Island received $9.68 million from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund program to help protect homeowners from foreclosure and assist communities still recovering from the housing crisis. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who voted in favor of the legislation that authorized this funding and helped convince the Treasury Department to assist homeowners and communities in states like Rhode Island, released the following statement on the award: "While our … Continue Reading
02.12.16
Whitehouse to Attend the Munich Security Conference with John McCain
Washington, DC - This weekend, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) will lead a bipartisan delegation of Members of Congress at the annual Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. Whitehouse and McCain have traveled together regularly in recent years, including to previous Munich Security Conferences. While at the conference, Whitehouse is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion entitled "Climate Security After Paris: Is the Heat Still On?" The di… Continue Reading
02.11.16
New Bill Would Bar Executives from Collecting Deferred Compensation from Taxpayer Funds
Washington, DC - Today U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced legislation to keep companies that receive future government bailouts from using taxpayer dollars to pay deferred compensation to corporate executives. The No Windfalls for Bailed Out Executives Act (S. 2546) would require deferred compensation plans to include so-called "claw-back" provisions preventing such pay-outs in the event of a federal bailout. "American tax… Continue Reading
02.11.16
Judiciary Committee Passes Hatch-Whitehouse Bill to Improve Enforcement and Monitoring of Prescription Drugs
Washington, D.C. - This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation to help ensure that prescription drugs get to the patients who need them and not onto the streets where they can be abused. The bipartisan Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, authored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), would clarify the standards companies must meet when protecting prescription drugs from being diverted toward improper uses and help protect patie… Continue Reading
02.11.16
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Clears Judiciary Committee
Washington, DC - The Senate Judiciary Committee passed today the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act-far-reaching legislation to combat the ongoing national crisis of addiction to opioid drugs. The bill, authored by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and cosponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and 27 others, gives states better tools to prevent drug abuse, treat addiction, and reduce overdose deaths. "Addiction is a disease that… Continue Reading
02.11.16
Thousands of Rhode Island Seniors Save Over $60 Million from Health Care Law’s “Doughnut Hole” Fix Since 2010
Washington, DC - It's big. Thousands of Rhode Island seniors have saved over $60.3 million since 2010 on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act, according to federal data released this week. In 2015, 15,785 Rhode Islanders on Medicare saved $14.4 million on their prescriptions, for an average savings of $912 per patient. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, thousands of Rhode Island seniors fell into the coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole," and were forc… Continue Reading
02.11.16
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Clears Judiciary Committee
Washington, DC - The Senate Judiciary Committee passed today the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act-far-reaching legislation to combat the ongoing national crisis of addiction to opioid drugs. The bill, authored by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and cosponsored by 29 others, gives states better tools to prevent drug abuse, treat addiction, and reduce overdose deaths. "Addiction is a disease that afflicts far too many Americans. In Rhode Island, I've… Continue Reading
02.09.16
Whitehouse Statement on Supreme Court Stay of Carbon Rule
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's stay of the Environmental Protection Agency's rule implementing the Clean Power Plan to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants: "I deeply deplore what I believe will ultimately come to be seen as an infamous political action by the five Republican appointees on the Supreme Court."… Continue Reading
02.09.16
Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Performance of Health IT Systems Passes Senate Committee
Washington, DC - Bipartisan legislation to help consumers assess how well health information technology (IT) systems perform has cleared the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Today, the Committee passed a health care information technology bill that includes key reforms from Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bill Cassidy's (R-LA) Transparent Ratings on Usability and Security to Transform Information Technology (TRUST IT) Act. The TRUST IT Act provisions woul… Continue Reading
02.09.16
Sen. Whitehouse Statement on President’s Budget
Washington, DC - President Obama today delivered his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2017 to Congress. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the statement below on the President's proposal: "President Obama's budget includes a number of priorities I've been fighting for in the Senate, most notably putting a price on the significant health and environmental costs of carbon pollution, through the per-barrel fee on oil companies. And it continu… Continue Reading
02.03.16
Whitehouse introduces bill to curb money laundering through shell corporations
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today introduced the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 2489), legislation to require states to keep track of the actual owners of the corporations and limited liability companies formed therein. This information would be available to law enforcement agencies and could help to investigate and prosecute criminals who use anonymous shell corporations to hide assets. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) cosponsored … Continue Reading
02.03.16
Udall, Gillibrand, Whitehouse, Merkley, Warner, Heinrich Unveil Bill to Take Partisanship Out of Congressional Redistricting, Restore Choice to Voters
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) introduced the Fairness and Independence in Redistricting (FAIR) Act to take partisanship out of the often divisive congressional redistricting process by requiring states to establish independent, bipartisan redistricting commissions. In most states, state legislatures - working with their governor - draw federal… Continue Reading
02.02.16
Senate Sides with Big Oil to Keep Public in the Dark on Political Spending
Washington, DC - With the Senate considering far-reaching energy reform legislation, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse offered an amendment to shed light on unlimited, secret political spending by fossil fuel special interests. Whitehouse's amendment would have required companies that receive $1 million or more in revenue from fossil fuel-related activities to disclose spending intended to influence our political process and energy policy decisions. The amendment failed by a vote of 43-52. "As … Continue Reading
02.02.16
Sens. Reed & Whitehouse Press President Obama to Help Bring Down Soaring Cost of Prescription Drugs
Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse pressed for action from President Obama to help bring down the soaring cost of prescription drugs for people in Rhode Island and across the country. In a letter sent today, Reed, Whitehouse, and a group of lawmakers called on the President to include in his 2017 budget proposal measures to help address prescription drug prices and cut health care costs. "Prescription drug prices are soaring in the United States, driving up … Continue Reading
01.28.16
Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Nuclear Energy Legislation
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Senate today approved overwhelmingly legislation, introduced by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) that would increase collaboration among private industry, universities, and national laboratories to facilitate the development of advanced nuclear technologies. The vote of 87 to 4 to approve the amendment makes it a part of a larger energy policy reform bill before the Senate. The Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA), S. … Continue Reading
01.28.16
Schatz, Whitehouse, Colleagues Urge EPA to Take Further Action on Climate Change and cut Methane Emissions
WASHINGTON - In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and 19 other senators are urging the agency to expand its regulation of methane emissions. As a part of the president's Climate Action Plan, the EPA has begun to address industrial sources of methane, but not all sources of the gas are currently included in the final rule. The senators wrote, "Your agency has been clear that in order… Continue Reading
01.28.16
Judiciary Committee Approves Bill to Protect American Businesses’ Trade Secrets
Washington, DC - The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the bipartisan Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chris Coons (D-DE), to create a new federal right of action for trade secret theft. The measure would also empower litigants to seek civil seizure of stolen trade secrets and other property in exceptional cases. The version adopted by the Committee reflects a number of changes made by the bill's authors at the request of Sen. Sheldon Whitehous… Continue Reading
01.28.16
Whitehouse Introduces Bill to Fight Health Care-Associated Infections
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced legislation to combat health care-associated infections (HAIs), which afflict hundreds of thousands of Americans every year and cost billions of dollars to treat, according to estimates by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The bill also promotes stewardship of antibiotics to help preserve their effectiveness and improve outcomes for patients. "Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from … Continue Reading
