Press Releases
Senate Passes Far-Reaching Bill to Tackle Addiction Crisis
Washington, D.C. - With the rate of death from opioid-related overdose having quadrupled since 2000 and communities around the country fighting to control opioid and heroin abuse, the Senate has passed wide-ranging legislation to combat the ongoing national crisis. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, 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 40 others, will help states prevent drug ab… Continue Reading
03.10.16
Whitehouse Cheers U.S.-Canada Methane Accord
Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) heralded the announcement today of a joint agreement between the United States and Canada to reduce methane emissions from the American and Canadian oil and gas industries by at least 40 percent below 2012 levels by 2025 and to protect the Artic. To achieve the emission targets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to regulate existing sources of methane from the oil and gas sector. Whitehouse released the following stateme… Continue Reading
03.09.16
Far-Reaching Addiction Bill Clears Final Procedural Hurdle in Senate
Washington, DC - Key legislation to combat the addiction crisis unfolding throughout the country cleared a final procedural hurdle in the Senate today, setting up a vote on passage tomorrow. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), author of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, applauded the vote of 93-3 in favor of ending debate on the bill. "I'm very glad we could advance this important legislation. This vote brings us closer to passing far-reaching legislation to give the scores of comm… Continue Reading
03.08.16
Rhode Island Delegation Announces $891,243 to Help Protect Rhode Island Coastline
Washington, D.C. - Today, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline announced $891,243 in federal funding for a partnership between Rhode Island and four other New England states to study the effects of coastal storms and develop tools and solutions to help communities respond to these events. The partnership will include researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI) and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). "We n… Continue Reading
03.07.16
Whitehouse, Reed, Cicilline, Magaziner, and U.S. Treasury Highlight New Program to Expand Retirement Savings
Woonsocket, RI - Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed today joined Congressman David Cicilline, Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, and representatives of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley to highlight myRA, a new tool that can help thousands of Rhode Islanders begin to save for retirement. "Despite the success and popularity of Social Security, most people will need additional savings to enjoy financial freedom in their golden years,"… Continue Reading
03.02.16
Reed & Whitehouse Announce $750,000 to Help RI Manufacturers
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse today announced $750,000 in federal funding to continue supporting the Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). Based in Providence, Polaris MEP is a statewide non-profit organization that provides manufacturing business improvement programs to help the state's manufacturing industry become more competitive and innovative. Polaris is a business unit of the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation and has worked fo… Continue Reading
02.29.16
Cicilline and Whitehouse: U.S. Department of Education Should Use Providence’s After-School Success as National Model
Providence, RI - Today, alongside one of the leading after-school programs in the country and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, Congressman David Cicilline and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse highlighted Rhode Island's success in fostering partnerships between schools and after-school programs and called on the U.S. Department of Education to use that success as a model when implementing the nation's new K-12 education law. Cicilline and Whitehouse outlined their message to the federal education agency… Continue Reading
02.24.16
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
