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Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Comment On The President’s Forthcoming Nomination Of Former Senator Jeff Flake To Be U.S. Ambassador To Turkey
My good friend Jeff Flake this afternoon called to let me know that he has accepted the request of President Biden to serve as our Ambassador to Turkey. I had the pleasure of knowing and working closely with Jeff Flake in several ways during his service in the Senate. I told him that the President had made an outstanding choice. Turkey has been an ally of the United States for many decades, and the American people have great respect and fondness for the Turkish people and for Turkey's rich cu… Continue Reading
07.12.21
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy On The United States and Cuba
I want to speak briefly about a topic that I have spoken about before, which is U.S. policy toward Cuba. The recent press reports of Cubans protesting in the streets, demanding greater freedom and economic opportunity, graphically illustrate the widespread hardship and hunger, and the need for fundamental change in Cuba. Human rights are universal, and the Cuban people are no different from people everywhere who want to be able to speak freely without fear of retribution. We have been told t… Continue Reading
07.09.21
Statement of Senate Appropriations Chairman Leahy On The Capitol Security Supplemental
It is urgent that Congress pass a security supplemental to address the needs of the National Guard and the Capitol Police resulting from the fallout of the January 6 insurrection. As I have warned, if we do not act, Capitol Police projects they will deplete salaries funds sometime in August, and they already exceeded their projected overtime because of activities resulting from January 6th in late June. The National Guard will also be forced to cut training sometime in August as well. It has be… Continue Reading
07.08.21
Comment Of Sen. Leahy About President Biden’s Appointment Of Gov. Scott To The Council Of Governors
"I was proud to recommend Governor Scott for the Council of Governors to advise the President and his Cabinet about critical security, and disaster response and recovery matters. Throughout this difficult time as we battle the effects of the pandemic, Governor Scott has shown himself time and again as a pragmatic decision-maker and a partner in my efforts in Congress to help Vermont. He has been laser-focused on serving Vermonters in their most challenging times. As I worked to pass laws providi… Continue Reading
07.01.21
Reaction Of Senator Patrick Leahy, Lead Author Of The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, To Supreme Court's 6-3 Decision In The Brnovich Case
"I am deeply disappointed by this decision which is a body blow to yet another critical pillar of the Voting Rights Act - our nation's marquee law protecting Americans' precious and foundational right to vote. By overriding Congress's clear intent in crafting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act - affirmed over and over again with overwhelming bipartisan support - a partisan majority on the Court has yet again made it easier for states to suppress the vote with impunity and harder to protect it. … Continue Reading
06.29.21
Leahy Joins The Trust For Public Land In Huntington To Release Report On Community Forest And Open Space Benefits
HUNTINGTON, Vt. (TUESDAY, June 29, 2021) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday visited the Huntington Community Forest to coincide with the release of a special report, "Community Forests: A Path to Prosperity and Connection" by the Trust for Public Land. The property, immediately adjacent to the Brewster-Pierce Memorial School, is one of many forests in Vermont and across New England and the nation that offer community members and students the opportunity to learn, play, and connect with nat… Continue Reading
06.25.21
Wealthy Special Interests Kill Leahy-Grassley EB-5 Reform Bill To Boost Investment in Rural, Economically Challenged Communities
(FRIDAY, June 25, 2021) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday condemned a blockade of their bipartisan bill to reform and extend the EB-5 investor visa program, which expires on June 30. The blockade was at the behest of a small group of wealthy real estate developers who reflexively oppose any efforts to improve accountability and transparency in the EB-5 … Continue Reading
06.24.21
Statement On The Increasing Urgency Of Bipartisan Negotiations On The Security Supplemental
It was 169 days ago that the world witnessed a violent insurrection take place in the seat of American democracy. The memory of rioters in combat gear, armed with zip ties, smashing in the windows of the Capitol Building is seared into the American consciousness. The images of the National Guard patrolling the Capitol grounds behind fences topped with barbed wire will fill the pages of text books on American history for generations. We did not budget for an insurrection, and the path of dest… Continue Reading
06.24.21
Leahy, Sanders, Welch: Vermont Receives $5.M. In Federal Grants To Support Lending, Investment And Business Recovery From The COVID-19 Pandemic
(THURSDAY, June 24, 2021) -- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.) announced on Thursday that six Vermont Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are receiving Rapid Response Program funds authorized by the Fiscal Year 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The grants will provide capital needed for CDFIs to respond to economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in underserved communities. The Rap… Continue Reading
06.22.21
Leahy Today Holds Hearing Featuring Vermont’s Patent Troll Experience
(TUESDAY, June 22, 2021) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, on Tuesday will hold the panel's second hearing of this Congress, titled, "Protecting Real Innovations by Improving Patent Quality." The hearing will feature testimony from Bridget Asay, an attorney who represented the State of Vermont against a patent troll that threatened dozens of small Vermont businesses and nonprofits in 2013 with infringement claims on a patent t… Continue Reading
06.21.21
Leahy Calls For Bipartisan Negotiations On Security Supplemental
(Monday, June 21, 2021) - Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday called on Senate Republicans to join bipartisan negotiations on the Security Supplemental to address the fallout from the January 6 insurrection. It has been 166 days since the January 6 attack, and 32 days since the House passed an emergency supplemental. Without Senate action, the Capitol Police will run out of funding sometime in August. And without Senate action, the National Guard, which provid… Continue Reading
06.21.21
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy, Chair, Intellectual Property Subcommittee, On The Supreme Court’s Decision In Arthrex
Ten years ago, Congress enacted the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which gave the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) the necessary authority to curb the abuse of poor-quality patents. Patents are one of the core engines of our American economy. High-quality patents are essential to American innovation, creating jobs and boosting economic output, while poor-quality patents have the opposite effect, depriving Americans of new inventions and miring small businesses in needless litigation. Th… Continue Reading
06.18.21
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
