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Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Leahy: Senate Should Debate How To Fight Online Infringement
"If there is one thing upon which there is consensus in the United States Senate it is that we need to consider ways in which American law enforcement can protect American consumers and defend American intellectual property rights against foreign criminals who are stealing American creative products and the jobs that go with them. When introducing the PROTECT IP Act in May 2011, the bill's leading cosponsors called this a 'common-sense bill,' stating that it would 'add another tool to the toolb… Continue Reading
01.13.12
Leahy: President Taps Chief Of Staff Ed Pagano As Presidential Assistant And WH Liaison To Senate
(FRIDAY, Jan. 13) - The White House and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Friday that Leahy Chief of Staff Ed Pagano will begin work next week as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senate Liaison. Leahy is the Senate's second-most-senior member and chairs two major Senate panels, the Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations. Pagano started his public service career as an attorney in Leahy's office in 1993 and ha… Continue Reading
01.12.12
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Internet Service Providers And The PROTECT IP Act
[Amplifying comments made today on Vermont Public Radio, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday confirmed that as the sponsors of the PROTECT IP Act work to craft a managers' amendment to the legislation, he will propose that further study be given to the bill's provision concerning Internet Service Providers' actions to prevent online infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods online. The Senate is set to hold a procedural vote on the bipartisan legislation, which is sponsored by more than… Continue Reading
01.06.12
Leahy: Center For An Agricultural Economy’s New Food Venture Center Is ‘Model Of Agricultural Innovation’
HARDWICK, Vt. (FRIDAY, Jan. 6) - During an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony at the Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC) in Hardwick Friday afternoon, Senator Patrick Leahy (D) called the nonprofit multipurpose kitchen incubator and food processing facility a critical piece of infrastructure that will help enable Vermont's agricultural renaissance. The center gives Vermont's producers and entrepreneurs new tools to convert crops and dairy products into value-added foods, from inception to pr… Continue Reading
01.06.12
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Revisions To The Uniform Crime Report’s Definition Of Rape
"I applaud Attorney General Holder, Director Mueller, and the Department of Justice for taking steps to ensure that sexual violence and rape are accurately, and fully, reported. All victims of these horrendous crimes deserve justice and should have access to the comprehensive services that will help them rebuild their lives. This updated, more inclusive, definition will bring added emphasis to sexual assault, which often goes unreported, and as a result, unprosecuted. "The bipartisan Violenc… Continue Reading
01.05.12
Reaction Of Senator Leahy To National Guard Components Of New U.S. Defense Strategy
"I applaud President Obama, Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey for producing a new defense strategy that makes clear choices about our future national security priorities. Unlike many past efforts in earlier times, this is a plan that recognizes that our economic strength is at the core of our national security and the foundation of a healthy defense budget and strategy in the years to come. And unlike in earlier times, this has not been a go-through-the-motions exercise ungrounded in real… Continue Reading
01.04.12
Leahy, Sanders, Welch: Vermont Nets Nearly $135 Million In Federal Emergency Road Aid
BURLINGTON, Vt., (WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Congressman Peter Welch (D) on Wednesday announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation is releasing $134.6 million in emergency funds to help Vermont rebuild and repair roads and bridges destroyed or damaged by Tropical Storm Irene and in last spring's flooding. The total includes $125,651,814 for costs associated with Irene and $8,975,130 for costs associated with the spring floods. The fun… Continue Reading
01.03.12
The Washington Post: A Fair Block on Internet Piracy (Editorial)
In an editorial today, The Washington Post supports efforts in the U.S. Senate to address online piracy, which is estimated to cost the United States billions of dollars every year. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is the lead author of the PROTECT IP Act, cosponsored by 40 senators, which proposes reasonable and restrained yet meaningful steps to address online piracy. The Post's editorial calls the PROTECT IP Act a "thought-out" and "prudent approach" to addressing the growing problem of online… Continue Reading
12.31.11
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Chief Justice Roberts’ Year-End Report On The Federal Judiciary
"There is no better time than the occasion of the Chief Justice's year-end report to thank the many dedicated public servants who work in our nation's federal courts. Millions of Americans rely on our federal judiciary to resolve their disputes and uphold their constitutional rights. Because of the work of these dedicated men and women, fair and impartial justice is administered each and every day. "Despite the many challenges facing the federal judiciary, the focus of the Chief's report this… Continue Reading
12.29.11
Comment of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Actions Taken Against NGOs In Egypt
"It's another jarring and disappointing turn for the worse. Egypt's military rulers risk breaking faith with the people and interrupting the transition they had promised. This will invite condemnation from inside and outside of Egypt, as it should. Actions like these are another reason why my appropriations sub-committee refused to give a blank check of foreign aid to the Egyptian military."… Continue Reading
12.22.11
Vermont Receives $3.6 Million For LIHEAP, Delegation Fights For More
BURLINGTON, Vt., Dec. 22 - Vermont's congressional delegation - U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) - announced today the release of $3.6 million for Vermont under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). "As Vermont's winter settles in, another installment of home heating aid helps. This allocation will keep many seniors and families with small children from going cold this winter," the delegation said in a joint statement. "B… Continue Reading
12.22.11
The Leahy Letter -- December 2011
Vermonter Bill Stenger Testifies Before Leahy Panel On The Benefits To Vermont Of EB-5 Investments In December, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Senator Leahy, hosted Vermonter Bill Stenger. Mr. Stenger is president and co-owner of Jay Peak Resort, and testified about how the important EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program has revitalized the Northeast Kingdom, turning Jay Peak into a top-notch four-season resort, and prompting economic development around the s… Continue Reading
12.21.11
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On EPA’s Utility Air Toxics Rule (Utility MACT) Regulating Power Plant Emissions Of Mercury And Air Toxics
I commend the Environmental Protection Agency for doing the right thing, under tremendous special interest pressure, in standing up for the public's interest. The Utility Air Toxics Rule to control toxic air pollutants such as mercury is a health and environmental breakthrough for the American people, and especially for Vermonters. Finally, after 20 years of dodging regulation, coal- and oil-fired electric power plants, the largest contributors of these toxics, will be held accountable for the… Continue Reading
12.20.11
Guard Empowerment: A Seat At The Table, And Much More
This month Congress passed the bipartisan Leahy-Graham National Guard Empowerment Act. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and I authored these reforms to change the way the Department of Defense operates, for decades and even generations to come, by giving the National Guard a real voice in national security decisions. We Vermonters know how important our National Guard is. Hurricane Irene showed anew how Vermonters come together in times of tragedy and also how we can always count on our Verm… Continue Reading
12.20.11
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Nominations To The Privacy And Civil Liberties Oversight Board
"At a time when our nation faces growing threats to our national security at home, abroad, and in cyberspace, having a fully functioning Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight board to help ensure that privacy and civil liberties concerns are appropriately considered in our national security polices is more important than ever before. I welcome President Obama's recent nominations. "Since Congress first created the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in 2004, I have worked with both Demo… Continue Reading
12.19.11
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On False Claims Act Settlements In 2011
"Today's announcement by the Justice Department that in this year alone, investigators and prosecutors have recovered more than $3 billion in taxpayer dollars through False Claims Act cases is an important reminder of why we must support anti-fraud efforts. The False Claims Act is a critical tool in the fight against waste, fraud and abuse against the government, and our investment in prosecuting these cases is returned many times over. The Justice Department has recovered a record-breaking $… Continue Reading
12.17.11
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Judicial Nominations
With the conclusion of the first session of the 112th Congress, the Senate Republican leadership has cost us the opportunity to take long overdue steps to address the serious vacancies crisis on Federal courts throughout the country. With one out of every ten Federal judgeships vacant we can and should be doing all that we can to consider and confirm judicial nominations without unnecessary delays. Regrettably, Senate Republicans have chosen instead to continue their tactics of unexplained del… Continue Reading
12.17.11
Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Senate Consideration Of The PROTECT IP Act
"I am pleased the Majority Leader has filed a motion to proceed to the PROTECT IP Act. The costs of online infringement are American jobs, harm to America's economy, and very real threats to consumers' safety. The answer cannot simply be to do nothing. The Internet is a vibrant and free marketplace; it cannot be lawless. "Few issues before Congress today are as well supported on both sides of the political aisle as the PROTECT IP Act, and boast the broad support that this legislation has rec… Continue Reading
12.17.11
Leahy Votes No On Bill Linking Keystone Tar Sands Project To Americans' Payroll Tax Rates
(The U.S. Senate Saturday approved a bill that includes fast-tracking the controversial KeystoneXL tar sands oil pipeline to an extension of the payroll tax cut. Leahy has long been a leading opponent of the Keystone project and has strongly supported the payroll tax cut extension but objects to holding Americans' tax rates hostage to the tar sands project and to House leaders' insistence on linking them in this bill. Leahy's statement today on the bill follows.) Statement Of Senator Patri… Continue Reading
12.17.11
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we are close to voting on a payroll tax extension bill that includes a House provision designed to force the President to approve the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Proponents of this tar sands project argue that it belongs on this bill for one reason: building the pipeline would create jobs. Any construction project creates jobs, and it is no surprise that this debate has come down to this. Unable to sell the pipeline as necessary to meet the country's energy… Continue Reading
