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Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Leahy Secures And Announces $11 Million To Support The Food Systems Research Center At UVM
BURLINGTON, Vt. (FRIDAY, June 18, 2021) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Friday joined University of Vermont (UVM) leaders to announce federal funding for the Food Systems Research Center. Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $11 million in 2021 to support the Center's work researching all facets of the regional food system, from production agriculture to food security. Leahy said: "When the pandemic struck, Vermonters turned to their local farms for food security… Continue Reading
06.15.21
Advocating For Vermont Dairy Farmers, Leahy Asks Agriculture Secretary Vilsack When USDA Will Release Funds Allocated For Pandemic Relief To Dairy Farmers
** NEWS ALERT ** NEWS EDITORS: ** VIDEO LINK BELOW ** This morning (TUESDAY), Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about delivering urgently needed relief to Vermont's dairy farmers. Leahy asked Vilsack at a hearing by the Appropriations Committee's Agriculture Subcommittee to review the President's budget request. Dairy producers in Vermont and throughout the Northeast continue to face market volatility a… Continue Reading
06.15.21
Statement Of Chairman Leahy On The GAO Decision On The Pause Of Border Barrier Construction Obligations
Today's announcement by the GAO is a welcome one. As the ruling made clear, a review of the environmental havoc wrought by former President Trump's vanity wall, and taking the time to actually consult with the various stake holders, including landowners whose land was being seized, is legal and permitted by law. President Trump's approach to the wall at the Southern Border was at best a bumper sticker approach to a serious policy issue, and it should be reviewed to ensure that American taxpaye… Continue Reading
06.14.21
Statement Of Senator Leahy Unofficial Preliminary Transcript Vermont Marks A COVID Vaccination Milestone
Madam president, we had interesting news in Vermont this morning. Our governor, Governor Scott, announced that we've reached 80% immunity - vaccinations - so the state will in effect reopen. Now, I mention this because right from the beginning, and I've worked closely with our governor, we tried to show no partisanship in this. I'm a Democrat. He's a Republican. We are both first and foremost Vermonters. And restrictions were put in place. Efforts were made to vaccinate. I know my wife, Marcell… Continue Reading
06.11.21
Risch, Leahy, Colleagues: Biden Should Support Nicaraguan People’s Efforts To Restore Democratic Governance In Nicaragua
(FRIDAY, June 11, 2021) - U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), President Pro Tempore of the Senate, yesterday led Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Majority Whip, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), ranking member of the subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in sending a letter to President Biden encouraging the administration to hold the Ortega-Murillo regime … Continue Reading
06.10.21
Leahy And Boozman Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Make Summer Meal Programs More Flexible
(THURSDAY, June 10, 2021) -- A bipartisan group of senators led by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Boozman (R-AR) are proposing to apply lessons learned from the pandemic to existing child nutrition programs to make them more efficient, flexible and better equipped to reach children in need during the summer months. Leahy and Boozman Thursday introduced the Hunger-Free Summer for Kids Act to add flexibility to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Summer Food Service Progra… Continue Reading
06.09.21
NEWS EDITORS: Video Clips On VT Topics In Today’s Approps Hg W/EPA Adm. Regan: Leahy Discusses 1) Biden Reversing Trump Policy By Asking For LAKE CHAMPLAIN $; 2) BURLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL PCB Pollution
In today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on EPA's budget for Fiscal Year 2022, Chairman Patrick Leahy discussed two current topics important to Vermont. Leahy raised two current EPA issues affecting Vermont in today's hearing with EPA's new Administrator, Michael Regan. VIDEO CLIPS of Leahy's exchanges with Administrator Regan about Lake Champlain funding and about the closure of Burlington High School because of the discovery of high levels of PCBs are available at the LINKS BELOW. … Continue Reading
06.09.21
Leahy Praises Passage Of Bipartisan U.S. Innovation And Competition Act And Funding For Domestic Semiconductor Production
(WEDNESDAY, June 9, 2021) -- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is hailing Senate passage Tuesday night of a bipartisan bill to fund the CHIPS Act, passed as part of last summer's annual defense policy bill, and to authorize a wide-range of federal investments in research and development in order to make the United States more competitive in the global economy of the 21st Century. Leahy, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said: "In a bipartisan vote, the Senate advanced important legislation … Continue Reading
06.08.21
Vermont Delegation Sends Letter Urging Biden Administration to Immediately Work with Canada to Safely Open the Northern Border
Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, and Representative Peter Welch sent a letter to the Biden administration late Monday urging him to work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow additional travel between the United States and Canada. With increased vaccination rates in both the United States and Canada, and updated CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans, the delegation urged the Biden administration to work with Canada to add additional essential traveler classes and to continu… Continue Reading
06.05.21
Statement On The Situation In Tigray, Ethiopia
I vividly recall the shocking images back in 1984 of a million emaciated Ethiopian men, women and children, many of them from Tigray, who had fled the country in the midst of a massive famine caused by prolonged drought, widespread food shortages, and discriminatory government policies. Eventually the rains returned and the refugees went home, but the country has been plagued by periods of conflict and food insecurity ever since. Today, the people of Tigray are being subjected to human rights… Continue Reading
06.04.21
As VP Travels To Mexico And Central America, Leading Senate Democrats Boost Diplomatic Efforts To Address Causes Of Irregular Migration, Foster Stability In Central America
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today led a group of 18 of his Senate colleagues in voicing their support for Vice President Kamala Harris' leadership of the Biden administration's diplomatic efforts to address and mitigate the underlying factors driving Central American migration to the United States. Sent in advance of Vice President Harris' upcoming visit to Mexico and Guatemala, the senators' letter reiterates their call for the develop… Continue Reading
05.27.21
Statement On The Introduction Of The Biden Budget And The End Of The Budget Control Act
The Budget Control Act of 2011 expires this year, and that is a good thing. This law led to a decade of underfunding our domestic priorities, from which it will take years to recover. Right now, in communities across the country, our infrastructure is crumbling, millions of Americans cannot access federal programs for which they qualify, and we are falling behind in investing in science, research, and development on the global economic stage. All of this because the Budget Control Act set ar… Continue Reading
05.27.21
Statement On Senate Passage Of The United States Innovation And Competition Act Of 2021
Today, in a bipartisan vote, the Senate advanced important legislation to increase our nation's competitiveness with China. The United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) of 2021 is significant legislation, and an example of what process and debate can yield in the United States Senate. This legislative package is the end result of the bipartisan work of from multiple Senate Committees and reflects the urgency of addressing the challenges faced by domestic manufacturers and American r… Continue Reading
05.27.21
Statement On Passage Of CHIPS Funding As Part Of The U.S. Innovation And Competition Act
Mr. President, as the Senate prepares to vote on the US Innovation and Competition Act, I wanted to take moment to highlight the support this bill provides to the US Semiconductor Industry. I want to commend the leadership that Senators Warner, Cornyn and Schumer have shown in highlighting the need for our country to ensure that we maintain leading edge manufacture capabilities in the United States. I strongly support the over $50 billion provided in this bill for the Department of Commerce to… Continue Reading
05.27.21
Memorial Day Message Of Senator Patrick Leahy
For all of us, Memorial Day is the 'kick off' of summer. Especially after the struggles we all have faced during the last year, this is a particularly welcome and highly anticipated day to gather with family and friends, have cookouts, shake off a long winter and Mud Season, and get on with our summer activities. The root of the word memorial is memory. My hope is that we all will also pause to remember that the true spirit of this day is to remember that we are able to come together, as fam… Continue Reading
05.25.21
Leahy And Pascrell Renew Senate And House Push For Crime Gun Tracing Modernization Act To Bring ATF Into The 21st Century
(TUESDAY, May 25, 2021) -- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Representative Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ-09) Tuesday reintroduced the Crime Gun Tracing Modernization Act of 2021, their bill to modernize the capabilities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to trace crime guns. After a firearm associated with a crime is discovered somewhere in the United States, federal, state or local law enforcement officials contact ATF, which then must recreate the chain of custody o… Continue Reading
05.25.21
Leahy, With Schumer And Others, Leads Bicameral Push For Farm Business Viability Support
(TUESDAY, May 25, 2021) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the most senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others in the Senate, and Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) in the House, are leading a bicameral group of lawmakers in urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to invest in business technical assistance for small and midsized farm and food b… Continue Reading
05.20.21
Statement On The Inhofe/Shelby Amendment To S. 1260
This amendment would mandate dollar-for-dollar parity between defense and non-defense programs, unless we had sixty votes to overcome a point of order. It is not limited to discretionary spending on the FY 2022 appropriations bills, it applies to ALL federal spending. Providing a dollar to the Defense department for every dollar of non-defense spending is simply arbitrary, and would lead to absurd results. Under this amendment, if we pass an infrastructure bill through reconciliation provi… Continue Reading
05.20.21
Klobuchar, Moran, Leahy Introduce Legislation To Lift Cuba Trade Embargo
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) reintroduced major bipartisan legislation to lift the Cuba trade embargo. The Freedom to Export to Cuba Act would eliminate the legal barriers to Americans doing business in Cuba and pave the way for new economic opportunities by boosting U.S. exports and allowing Cubans greater access to American goods. The legislation repeals key provisions of previous laws that block Americans from doing business in Cuba, but doe… Continue Reading
05.19.21
Statement On The Shelby, Inhofe Amendment
Providing a dollar to the Defense department for every dollar of non-defense spending is simply arbitrary, and would lead to absurd results. Under this amendment, if we pass an infrastructure bill through reconciliation providing a $2 trillion dollars to fix our roads and bridges and build out broadband, we would then have to provide $2 trillion dollars for defense, nearly tripling that budget. I welcome a debate about the appropriate levels for defense and non-defense spending in Fiscal Year… Continue Reading
