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Press Releases
Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Comment Of Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patrick Leahy On The Trump Administration's Attempt To Eliminate Support For The Special Olympics
"I've long been inspired by the Special Olympics athletes that I meet in Vermont. Their achievements go far beyond the medals that they win and have immense positive impacts on our schools, in our homes, and in our communities. These athletes and this program embody the best of America, and it is shameful that the Trump administration is attempting to abandon them. "The Special Olympics honor achievement, inclusion, education and community. It's sad, and it's shocking, to see President Trump… Continue Reading
03.27.19
Senate Floor Address Of Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On The Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Bill
On January 16th, over two months ago, the House passed a supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 268, that addressed the needs of all communities impacted by disasters. The House-passed disaster bill provided assistance to help people impacted by Hurricanes Florence and Michael, the Hawaii volcanoes, and the California wildfires. It provided aid to the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam who were struck last year by typhoons, and the people of American Samoa who… Continue Reading
03.27.19
Comment of Appropriations Vice Chair Leahy On Secretary Ross Declining To Testify Before The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee On Commerce, Justice And Science
[The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science on Tuesday announced an annual hearing to review the budget for the Department of Commerce. Giving no public explanation, Secretary Ross declined the Subcommittee's invitation to appear at the hearing, as Department Secretaries traditionally do. Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy on Wednesday commented:] "Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was supposed to appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommitt… Continue Reading
03.26.19
Landmark Conference On U.S.-Vietnam Relations Sharpens Focus On The Key Roles Of Three Leahy Initiatives
Senator Patrick Leahy's leadership on several breakthrough initiatives was highlighted throughout a landmark day-long conference on Tuesday, hosted by the U.S. Institute Of Peace, that took stock of the remarkable reconciliation that the United States and Vietnam have painstakingly built since the end of the Vietnam War. Titled "Overcoming War Legacies: The Road To Reconciliation And Future Cooperation Between The United States And Vietnam," the conference brought together 200 policymakers, lea… Continue Reading
03.26.19
Leahy, Schumer Blast Trump Administration For Abysmal Response To Puerto Rico Recovery And Demand Timeline For Correcting Its Uncoordinated, Long-Delayed Response
In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director, and Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney; Acting FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor; and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted the Trump administration for continuing to undermine the immediate and long-term recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and demanded a response by April 5, 2019 outl… Continue Reading
03.25.19
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On Senator Udall Announcing He Will Not Run For Reelection
Tom Udall has been a steadfast partner on the Appropriations Committee, a workhorse senator, and a dear friend. In the key role of Ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, he has worked with me as we fought together to turn back the devastating cuts to environmental programs proposed by the Trump Administration, to protect the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and to enhance cultural programs around the country. I'm confident that Senator Udall will spend the n… Continue Reading
03.24.19
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Mueller Report Summary
I forcefully urge Attorney General Barr - in the interests of the integrity of the Justice Department, in the interests of the American people, in the interest of the rule of law - to publicly release the full Mueller report. Any attempt to hide swaths of the Mueller report from public scrutiny will only fuel suspicions that President Trump's Justice Department, which represents the United States, is playing the role of President Trump's defense team. We all deserve better. I want to express m… Continue Reading
03.21.19
Wyden, Paul, Leahy, Daines Question DOJ Over Government Surveillance of Americans’ Location Information
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mt., today asked the Department of Justice a series of questions about when and how the government can collect information about Americans' location, in a bipartisan letter to Attorney General William Barr. The senators asked Attorney General Barr how the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States, that the government must get a warrant to obtain location information about Americans in… Continue Reading
03.15.19
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) About The Terror Attack Against Muslims In New Zealand
Marcelle and I are shocked by the barbaric act of terror against innocent Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand - a mass murder that took the life of 49 human beings. Our hearts ache with the families of the victims and the communities that have been rocked by this attack. Let us be clear about one thing: This wanton violence was explicitly motivated by Islamophobic and xenophobic vitriol that has spread like a cancer in the age of social media. I am saddened to see that, despite progress in … Continue Reading
03.14.19
Remarks On Saudi Prisoners Of Conscience
I want to thank The Freedom Initiative and Human Rights Watch for helping organize this important event. Their research and advocacy is greatly valued here, by both Democrats and Republicans. I appreciate all of you being here. The premeditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi exposed to the world what many have known for a very long time about the Government of Saudi Arabia. That crime was so barbaric, so depraved, and so brutal, that it was what we would have expected of Saddam Hussein . . . and… Continue Reading
03.14.19
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Repression In Saudi Arabia
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it has been more than five months since journalist and American resident Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. More than five months since the Saudi government initially denied it had anything to do with Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance and told the world - in a calculated and quickly disproven lie - that he left the consulate unharmed. As the Saudi government's complicity became clear, its explanations became even more convol… Continue Reading
03.14.19
Senate Floor Address Of Appropriations Vice Chair Patrick Leahy, In Support Of The Joint Res. Of Disapproval Of Pres. Trump’s Declaration Of A National Emergency
When President Trump declared a national emergency, citing a "crisis" at the southern border, he did so for only one reason: to do an end-run around Congress and the Appropriations Committee, and use taxpayer money to build a wall on the southern border that Congress has refused to fund. For three years, he failed to convince Congress that his wall was a good idea. For three years, he requested that Congress fund his cynical campaign promise to build a "big beautiful" wall on the southern bor… Continue Reading
03.13.19
During Sunshine Week, Leahy Again Joins In Introducing Bill With Grassley And Klobuchar To Allow Cameras In Federal Courts
On Wednesday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) joined Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in reintroducing bipartisan legislation to expand the public's window into the workings of our justice system by allowing television cameras in federal courtrooms. The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act empowers judges to permit media coverage of trial and appellate cases while ensuring that appropriate due process and privacy safeguards for witnesses and jurors remain intact. The senato… Continue Reading
03.13.19
Bellows Free Academy Fairfax
On March 13, 2019, Senator Leahy continued his series of online chats with Vermont students - this time, with the Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax's AP U.S. Government class, taught by Mr. Joe Emery. Senator Leahy enjoyed answering the students' questions about his close working relationship with the Vermont delegation, and other issues such as internet privacy and college affordability. He also told the students about his experiences visiting Vietnam. Senator Leahy discussed how meeting young vi… Continue Reading
03.13.19
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Justice In Guatemala
Mr. LEAHY. For the past dozen years, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, with financial support from the United States and other countries, has worked in collaboration with Guatemala's Public Ministry. That partnership has enabled courageous Guatemalan prosecutors to investigate and bring to trial cases they never could have pursued without the international "shield" and assistance provided by CICIG. It has also enabled courageous Constitutional Court magistrates to d… Continue Reading
03.12.19
Available For Immediate Use: Annual SUNSHINE WEEK Keynote Address Of Senator Patrick Leahy
Sunshine Week is an opportunity for us to reflect upon the foundational principle that a democracy hidden from the people is no democracy at all. Our government's legitimacy is derived entirely from the consent of the governed. But how can the governed consent to that which is concealed from them? This week we recommit ourselves to the idea that the path toward a more perfect union requires us to lay bare and scrutinize our imperfections. From the beginning of my tenure in the Senate, 45 yea… Continue Reading
03.12.19
Grassley, Leahy Press Trump Administration on EB-5 Regulations
U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are again calling on the Trump administration to finalize regulations reforming the EB-5 investor visa program, which has long been riddled with fraud and abuse. Grassley and Leahy have previously called for the administration to approve regulations addressing the program's flaws absent congressional action. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for final approval a… Continue Reading
03.11.19
Senator Patrick Leahy's Sunshine Week Keynote Address At The National Archives
Thank you for that generous introduction, David. And thank you for the profoundly important work that you and your team do here at NARA. NARA is our nation's historian, and therefore, our nation's mirror as we look to challenges ahead. As we strive to live up to our Founders' ideals, NARA ensures we have the knowledge to learn from our mistakes and build upon our successes. Such "advancement and diffusion of knowledge," James Madison observed, "is the only guardian of true liberty." Sunshine… Continue Reading
03.11.19
Statement Of Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On President Trump's Budget Proposal
For the third year in a row, President Trump has sent a budget proposal that is dead on arrival and divorced from reality. It is not worth the paper it is printed on, and it will be rejected by Congress. Yet again, the President has proposed shortsighted cuts that would slash investments in infrastructure, medical research, and American families, cuts that have been rejected by Congress two fiscal years in a row. But now he relies on a budget gimmick, Overseas Contingency Operations funding … Continue Reading
03.07.19
Torres, McGovern, Cardin, Leahy Introduce Bicameral Bill to Impose Targeted Sanctions on Guatemalan Officials Who Undermine Justice
Today, U.S. Representatives Norma J. Torres (D-CA) and James P. McGovern (D-MA) and U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Guatemala Rule of Law Accountability Act to authorize Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act sanctions against Guatemalan officials who have engaged in corruption, obstructed justice, misused U.S.-provided equipment, disobeyed Guatemalan Constitutional Court rulings, and interfered with the work of the U.S. government. In Guatemala,… Continue Reading
