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Press Releases
Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Delegation Announces Nearly $1 Million in Grants for Vermont’s First Responders
Vermont's congressional delegation announced on Wednesday that firefighters throughout Vermont have received $991,958 through nine federal grants. The awards are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program, which helps fire departments and fire academies purchase critically needed equipment to better protect the public and first responders. This year's grants will help buy a range of equipment, including air packs, vehicle extrication tools a… Continue Reading
09.19.18
Leahy Secures New Funding For LIHEAP
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $3.69 billion in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, better known as LIHEAP. The LIHEAP funding is in a package of appropriations bills passed by the Senate on Tuesday, thwarting President Trump's repeated efforts to eliminate a program thousands of Vermonters rely on to heat their homes during the cold New England winters. The appropriations package - which has already been t… Continue Reading
09.18.18
Latest Major Appropriations Progress: Statement Of Appropriations Vice Chair Leahy As Senate Passes The Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, And Education Appropriations Conference Report
[The Senate passed this Appropriations package this afternoon, in an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 97 to 3. It is the latest in the unbroken string of successes that Leahy, as Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the committee's chairman, have had in their partnership this year to fix an Appropriations process that has been broken for more than a decade. This bill, passed by the Senate today, and expected to be passed by the House and signed… Continue Reading
09.18.18
Leahy Champions Fight Against Opioids In Senate-Passed Appropriations Bill
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) led the fight against the opioid epidemic in another Senate-passed appropriations bill Tuesday, securing $3.78 billion in funding to address the opioid crisis and mental health, an increase of $2.7 billion over fiscal year 2017. The appropriations bill passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support in a vote of 93 to 7 and is on track to be signed into law by the end of the month. The bill contains Leahy-authored provision t… Continue Reading
09.18.18
Blumenthal, Jones & Leahy Question McGahn's Knowledge Of Sexual Assault Allegations Against Kavanaugh
Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wrote White House Counsel Don McGahn seeking information about his knowledge of sexual assault and attempted rape allegations against Judge Kavanaugh before they became public last week. "Based on your unique role in choosing and vetting judicial nominees for the administration and shepherding Judge Kavanaugh through the Supreme Court nominations process, we have questions about your knowledge surroundin… Continue Reading
09.18.18
Feinstein, Leahy And Other Judiciary Committee Democrats To Chairman Grassley: Don’t Repeat Past Mistakes
All ten Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tuesday outlined ways in which Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is upending the investigation and public hearing into Dr. Blasey Ford's allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault: The senators wrote: "Now, just two days after Dr. Blasey Ford shared her story with the public, Republicans are again rushing forward with a hearing within a week. This time, they are doing so without d… Continue Reading
09.18.18
Under Leahy-Led Appropriations Legislation, Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Research Service Reports Are Publicly Available Today, For The First Time
(TUESDAY, Sept. 18, 2018) - Widely hailed as a key victory for transparency and open access to information, Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports will be made freely available to the public for the first time beginning Tuesday. The change in policy was directed by appropriations provisions authored by Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The Leahy legislation was signed into law in March. A legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS issues … Continue Reading
09.18.18
REAX of Appropriations Vice Chair Patrick Leahy To Guatemalan Govt’s Request That UN SecGen Propose A Replacement For The CICIG Commissioner
"The Constitutional Court of Guatemala has rightly rejected attempts by President Morales to summarily expel the CICIG Commissioner. For a public official to remove an international prosecutor who, jointly with the Attorney General, has initiated a criminal investigation against that official, threatens the judicial process. Absent a showing of misconduct, such interference would undermine the office of the Commissioner and deter future prosecutors from carrying out their responsibilities inde… Continue Reading
09.17.18
REAX Of Senator Leahy To The Trump Administration's Announcement Of The Lowest Number Of Refugees To Be Admitted In U.S. History
"In so many ways, this White House has shown a particular contempt for the world's most vulnerable people seeking refuge from persecution and war. What previous Republican and Democratic administrations believed was a moral responsibility - and a way to demonstrate that unmatched American power is derived in part from how we treat the powerless among us - the Trump administration shamelessly treats as a burden to be callously discarded. "As disheartening as this abdication of leadership is, s… Continue Reading
09.17.18
Judiciary Committee Democrats (including Senator Leahy): Reopen Kavanaugh FBI Background Investigatio
All 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today urged White House Counsel Don McGahn to request that the FBI reopen Brett Kavanaugh's background investigation. The senators wrote: "It is our understanding that the FBI conducts background investigations of nominees at the White House's request. Accordingly, the President can request an appropriate follow-up, even after a background investigation may be closed. We ask that the President immediately do so here." Full text of the… Continue Reading
09.17.18
Leahy And Other Senators File Suit For Hidden Kavanaugh Documents
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), joined by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and others, are filing a lawsuit to compel the National Archives and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to release all records involving Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his time as an associate in the White House Counsel's office and as White House Staff Secretary. The senators are represented in this effort by American Oversight, a nonpartisan ethics and accountability watchdog. Also joining the l… Continue Reading
09.17.18
BREAKING: Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), On Judiciary Committee Democrats Demanding That Kavanaugh Vote Be Postponed Due To New Allegations
Dr. Ford has shown courage and deserves to be heard, to be treated with respect, and to have her detailed allegations evaluated by professionals trained on trauma-informed investigations. The integrity of our nation's highest court is on the line. We cannot brush aside these extraordinarily serious allegations in an unseemly rush to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to a lifetime seat. Unimpeachable integrity must never be in doubt. I join my fellow Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee to d… Continue Reading
09.17.18
BREAKING: Leahy And Other Judiciary Committee Democrats to Grassley: Postpone Kavanaugh Vote, Investigate Allegations
All 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Monday urged Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to postpone Thursday's vote on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, to allow the FBI to investigate Dr. Ford's allegations and follow up on Kavanaugh's false and misleading committee testimony. The senators wrote: "As you are aware, Dr. Ford's serious allegations were submitted to the FBI for investigation last week. Now that her story is public, it is e… Continue Reading
09.14.18
Senator Patrick Leahy Gives The Weekly Democratic Address, On The Kavanaugh Supreme Court Nomination
"The American people just witnessed an unprecedented week of Supreme Court hearings for President Trump's nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Now I have been in the Senate for 44 years, that's a time that includes 19 nominations to the Supreme Court - more than any other sitting Senator. And I do not use the word unprecedented lightly," said Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). "We must protect women's constitutional rights, vulnerable individuals with pre-existing conditions, protect the rule of law from … Continue Reading
09.13.18
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Releases Summary For Defense/LHHS “Minibus” Appropriations Package
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) released a summary compiled by the Senate Appropriations Committee Minority staff of the conference agreement for the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies "minibus" appropriations package. Leahy said: "This agreement invests in the American people and ensures that the government remains open into December. Just as importantly, Congress, Republicans and Democrats, rejected President Trump'… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Leahy Statement At House-Senate Conference On The Interior, FSGG, Agriculture, T-HUD Minibus Appropriations Bill
I am pleased to be here at the third appropriations conference of Fiscal Year 2019. We have made a lot of progress toward an agreement on the four bills before us - Interior, Financial Services, Agriculture, and Transportation-HUD - that will allow us to move this package forward, but we still have work to do and differences to resolve. Together these bills demonstrate the importance of the bipartisan budget agreement reached earlier this year. In these four bills, the priorities outlined in … Continue Reading
09.13.18
Appropriations Package Includes “E-File” Campaign Finance Requirement For Senate Candidates
The Senate passed a package of appropriations bills Thursday that contained a provision requiring Senate candidates to electronically file campaign finance forms directly to the Federal Election Commission, announced Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Under current law, candidates for the United States Senate must submit paper copies to the Secretary of the Senate who then files the forms to the Federal Election Commission. This process can delay the public re… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Leahy Protects Funding For Vermont-Based PTSD Research And Treatment Facility
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced a package of appropriations bills approved by the Senate Thursday protects $40 million in funding for the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Consultation Program, run out of the National Center for PTSD at White River Junction, Vt. The PTSD Consultation Program was created by Leahy in fiscal year 2013 and faced a $20 million, or 50 percent, cut in President Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget. With bi… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Appropriations Vice Chair Leahy Wins Significant Increase In Funding For Economic Development In Vermont Border Counties
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Thursday that a package of appropriations bills approved by the Senate includes $20 million in Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) grant funding, a $5 million increase over the previous year. The grants are part of a continuing effort, long supported by Leahy, to revitalize communities in Northern Vermont. It included an increase of $1 million, for a total $4 million, for a second year of funding… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Appropriations Vice Chair Leahy Announces Funding To Pay All Congressional Interns
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Thursday that a package of appropriations bills approved by the Senate includes funding to pay congressional interns for the first time. The package includes $8.8 million to pay House interns and $5 million to pay Senate interns. The Senate funds will be in included in accounts used to pay staff and provides an average of $50,000 to each Senate office, an amount which varies by state. The $8.8 mill… Continue Reading
