Press Room
Press Releases
Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Daines, Leahy Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Prevent Big Health Insurance Companies from Price Fixing, Collusion
U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday introduced legislation to ensure that health insurance companies are held accountable for pricing drugs. Their bill, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act amends McCarran-Ferguson, which exempted insurance companies from federal antitrust laws. "For far too long, health insurance companies have gotten away with taking advantage of consumers and charging them outrageous prices for their health care," Daines said. "It… Continue Reading
02.05.19
Leahy And Other Leading Judiciary Committee Senators Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation To Counter Rising Prescription Drug Prices
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), joined by other leading Judiciary Committee senators, on Tuesday reintroduced legislation to combat anticompetitive practices used by some brand-name pharmaceutical and biologic companies to block entry of lower-cost generic drugs. The Creating and Restoring Equal Access To Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act would deter pharmaceutical companies from blocking cheaper generic alternatives from entering the marketplace. The bill is sponsored by Leahy and cosponsored … Continue Reading
02.05.19
Senate Floor Statement Of Senator Patrick leahy On Introduction Of The CREATES Act
Over the past few years, the national headlines have been dominated by stories about the high cost of pharmaceuticals. We have seen jaw-dropping examples of companies raising the cost of their products overnight, pricing too many families out of the prescription drugs they need to survive. Just last week, House and Senate Committees charged with oversight of the pharmaceutical industry heard heartbreaking testimony from family members of those dependent on insulin who have been forced to ratio… Continue Reading
02.05.19
Leahy Joins Feinstein And Other Democratic Senators To Introduce Legislation To Prevent Separation Of Immigrant Families
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) joined Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and 40 other Democratic senators to introduce legislation to keep immigrant families together by preventing the Department of Homeland Security from taking children from their parents at the border. The Keep Families Together Act was developed in consultation with child welfare experts to ensure the federal government is acting in the best interest of children. The bill allows immigrant children… Continue Reading
01.30.19
Statement Of Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy At The First Meeting Of The Homeland Security Appropriations Conference
We are all glad that the senseless 35 day shutdown has come to an end, and that the Appropriations Committee can get to work and try to come up with something that makes sense for the American people. I believe we can reach a bipartisan agreement that funds the government and secures our country and our borders. But our choices about how to allocate American taxpayer dollars must be grounded in reality. We need to address problems with solutions rooted in facts, not merely rooted in campaign… Continue Reading
01.29.19
Leahy Cosponsors Bipartisan Legislation to Crack Down on Anticompetitive Pay-for-Delay Deals
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) joined bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to bring down the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs. The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would limit anticompetitive pay-for-delay deals that prevent or delay the introduction of affordable follow-on versions of branded pharmaceuticals. The bill extends the reach of their prior legislation - the Preserve Access to Affordabl… Continue Reading
01.25.19
Reaction To President Trump Proposing A Three-Week Continuing Resolution And Finally Agreeing To Demands To Reopen The Government
For 35 days, President Trump has robbed hundreds of thousands of American families of their paychecks, forcing dedicated public servants to turn to foodbanks and unemployment benefits to feed and support their families. For 35 days, President Trump denied millions of taxpaying Americans access to public services. For 35 days, President Trump has inflicted pain on the American people and compromised our national security. And for what? All of this pain and suffering to end where we began. On Dec… Continue Reading
01.25.19
Reaction To Reports Of The FAA Delaying Flights Due To The Trump Shutdown
The rolling consequences of the Trump Shutdown will only become more severe the longer this madness is allowed to go on by President Trump and Republican Leadership. Hundreds of thousands of public servants and their families have been robbed of a month's pay only for the president to suggest these hardworking Americans "work along" with their local grocery stores to feed their families. Millions of Americans have been denied government services that they pay their taxes to receive. Now the Trum… Continue Reading
01.24.19
On The Senate’s Votes Today On The Trump And Democratic Bills On The Trump Shutdown: Senate Address Of Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patrick
It has been more than a month since the Trump Shutdown began - 34 days to be precise. I hear from people every day about the pain and suffering this shutdown has caused. Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of public servants will miss their second paycheck since the shutdown began, and many of these people have been on the job the entire time. They are angry and they are confused about why their paychecks are being held hostage by the President in what he appears to view as a political game. M… Continue Reading
01.24.19
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Leahy Releases Summary Of The McConnell/Trump "Compromise" Ahead Of Thursday's Votes
President Trump and Leader McConnell have held the government of the American people and hundreds of thousands of public servants and their families hostage for 34 days, demanding American taxpayers fund the President's ineffective wall and advance his extreme, anti-immigrant policies. The President cannot bargain with what he broke, and Republicans cannot make a deal among themselves and call it a "compromise." The Wall: The bill would provide $5.7 billion for President Trump's border wall. … Continue Reading
01.23.19
Senate Floor Address Of Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On Day 33 Of The Trump Shutdown
For a month now, much of the federal government has been closed for business while the President of the United States rants and raves about his personal obsession, the centerpiece of his extreme, anti-immigration agenda - a wall on our Southern border. For a month now, hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants have gone without a paycheck, even while many of them remained on the job. Many can no longer pay their bills. They are worried about how they will put food on the table. Ma… Continue Reading
01.23.19
'Pay Our Interns' Group Gives Leahy 'Congressional Intern Champion Award' For His Legislation Facilitating Paid Internships In The U.S. Senate
An organization of former interns that advocates for paying interns in congressional and federal offices has recognized Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for achieving the long-sought goal of facilitating paid internships in the Senate. "Pay Our Interns" founders Carlos Mark Vera and Guillermo Creamer Jr. met with Leahy in his office to give him their Congressional Intern Champion Award. Leahy, the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently secured the first-ever funding dedicated… Continue Reading
01.22.19
Scott And Leahy Announce New Leahy-Authored Grant Opportunity For Communities Impacted By Decline In Forestry Industry
Governor Phil Scott (R) and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) on Tuesday encouraged Vermont communities struggling to overcome the decline in the forestry industry to consider utilizing a new $7 million grant program to spur new economic opportunities. The NBRC (Northern Border Regional Commission) is seeking grant proposals through its newly launched Regional Forest Economy Partnership from governmental units and non-profit organizations across the four-state region from New York to Maine, includin… Continue Reading
01.19.19
REAX Of Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) To The President's Saturday Address On His Proposed Border Wall
Today President Trump again resorted to blatant and provable falsehoods and to stoking fear of immigrants before outlining what he claims is a compromise. But this is no compromise. If anything, it is the result of 'negotiations' with his inner circle, not with the Congress, which has Constitutional authority over these decisions. Offering temporary protections for vulnerable immigrants, protections that he chose to strip in the first place, in exchange for a permanent, $5.7 billion dollar do… Continue Reading
01.18.19
Leahy, Sanders And Welch Join In Introducing 'Blue Card' Bill To Reform Broken Immigration Policies That Beset Dairy Farms And Farmworkers
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.) have joined in introducing legislation to shield farmworkers from deportation and to open for them a path toward earned legal status and eventual citizenship. The bill was introduced Wednesday in both the Senate and the House. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, is the chief Senate sponsor, and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) is the chief Ho… Continue Reading
01.17.19
Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On Day 26 Of The Trump Shutdown
For 26 days, President Trump has held funding for our federal government hostage - using it as leverage to force Congress to provide $5.7 billion to build his ill-conceived, expensive, and ineffective wall on the southern border. For months during the campaign, he riled up his base with chants of "Build The Wall! Build The Wall!" He invented a crisis at the southern border and then told his supporters that only HE could solve it. And he said over and over again, that Mexico would pay for it… Continue Reading
01.15.19
Delegation Statement On Kiah Morris
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) issued the following statement on Tuesday. "Racism and white supremacy have no place in Vermont. Kiah Morris was an excellent representative for the people of Bennington on so many issues, and our state is worse off without her in office. We must root out racism in Vermont and ensure that no elected official, candidate or person fears for their safety because of the color of their skin or their point of view."… Continue Reading
01.15.19
Comment Of Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Senator Patrick Leahy On The U.S. District Court’s Ruling That Commerce Secretary Ross Violated Statute By Adding Census Question On Citizenship
I applaud the District Court decision, which affirms that Secretary Ross violated procedure in a politically motivated attempt to add an untested citizenship question, doing so extremely late in the census cycle. Secretary Ross also misled Congress - and misled me - claiming that the Justice Department was "the one" who initiated the request, when it began with the Secretary himself. The addition of this question would increase costs for an already over budget decennial census. Further, the q… Continue Reading
01.14.19
Floor Statement Of Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On The 24th Day Of The Trump Shutdown
We have entered the 24th day of the Trump Shutdown. For twenty-four days, hundreds of thousands of federal workers have lived with the uncertainty of when they will get their next paycheck. And for twenty-four days, nine federal departments and dozens of agencies have been closed for business-withholding vital services to millions of Americans who paid taxes to support those services. It has now become the longest government shutdown in history. We are the most powerful country in the world… Continue Reading
01.11.19
Updated Impacts Of The Trump Shutdown
Updated Impacts Of The Trump Shutdown Prepared By Vice Chairman Leahy's Senate Appropriations Committee Staff More Than 450,000 Are Working Without Pay, Many Of Whom Are Veterans, Including: More than 41,000 Federal Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers Including: 2,614 ATF agents; 16,742 Bureau of Prisons correctional officers; 13,709 FBI agents; 3,600 deputy U.S. Marshals; and 4,399 DEA agents. 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs officers; 42,000 Coast Guard… Continue Reading
