Press Room
Press Releases
Search Senator Leahy’s press releases, floor statements, and Committee speeches by date or by subject.
Senator Leahy's Statement On Introduction Of His Bill With Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) To Modernize ECPA, To Protect Americans' Email Privacy
(Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) joined with Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Thursday to introduce their bipartisan legislation to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) for the 21st Century. The ECPA Modernization Act of 2017 ensures that law enforcement agencies will have to secure warrants to read Americans' communications, including those stored in the cloud. This, coupled with their separate Email Privacy Act of 2017 that the senators introduced at the same time, seeks to pres… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Repeal Of The Affordable Care Act And The Debate On A Trumpcare Replacement
On Tuesday, the Vice President cast a tie-breaking vote to move to debate on a health care reconciliation bill, the contents of which even now remain a mystery to most of us. This vote to proceed without a transparent path forward underscores a process that has, from the beginning, been politics and policymaking at their worst. You would think that after seven years of campaigning to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Majority would have a plan in place to do just that. Instead, a dozen or s… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Leahy Scores Key Victories For Vermont As Appropriation Bill Clears Committee
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Thursday secured major victories for Vermont and communities across the country as the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill cleared the Appropriations Committee. Leahy was instrumental in including millions of dollars in additional resources to combat the opioid epidemic, support Lake Champlain through the National Sea Grant program, promote economic development in Vermont and other Northern Bor… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Leahy: Senate Appropriations Committee Rejects Trump’s Unbalanced Budget
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday helped steer through a funding bill that rejects efforts by the Trump Administration to eliminate housing, transportation and infrastructure programs vital to communities across Vermont. The Committee Thursday approved the fiscal year 2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which maintains level funding for the Essential Air Service, Home Investmen… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Leahy Joins Durbin, Schumer And Other Democratic Senators In Calling On President Trump To Protect Dreamers
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and 40 of their Democratic Senate colleagues today asked President Donald Trump to use his executive authority to the greatest extent possible to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary relief from deportation to immigrant students who arrived in the United States as children if they register with the government, pay a fee, and pass criminal and natio… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Leahy Scores Public ‘Right To Know’ Win, To Open Access To Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Research Reports
Senator Patrick Leahy Thursday advanced legislation in the Senate Appropriations Committee to make all non-confidential reports prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) - Congress's research arm - freely available to the public, schools and libraries across the country. A legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS issues or updates more than 3000 reports each year on topics ranging from the structure of government agencies, to summaries of legislative proposals an… Continue Reading
07.27.17
SUMMARY: Appropriations Committee Approves FY18 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill
The fiscal year 2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Senate Appropriations bill provides a total of $60.058 billion in discretionary budget authority - $2.41 billion more than in fiscal year 2017 and $12.130 billion more than the President's budget request. Additional resources are provided to prevent and end homelessness among veterans and youth, as well as to maintain existing rental housing assistance for nearly 5 million households nationwide. The b… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Appropriations Committee Republicans Reject Democratic-Led Investments In The American People For Third Week In A Row
Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans Thursday rejected amendments offered by Committee Democrats that would have improved public safety, bolstered economic development and invested in our nation's infrastructure. The party-line opposition marks the third week in a row Republicans have blocked the Democrats efforts to invest in the American people by increasing both defense and non-defense spending constrained under the Budget Control Act. Offered by Senate Appropriations Committee Vice … Continue Reading
07.27.17
SUMMARY: Appropriations Committee Approves FY2018 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill
The fiscal year 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Bill provides a total of $53.4 billion in discretionary funding, $3.2 billion less than fiscal year 2017 and $4.4 billion more than the President's request. The CJS bill invests in a wide range of critical programs that affect the lives of all Americans. The bill provides $29.1 billion, $121 million more than fiscal year 2017 and $740 million more than the President's request for the Department of Justic… Continue Reading
07.27.17
SUMMARY: Appropriations Committee Approves FY18 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill
The fiscal year 2018 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill provides $3.171 billion in discretionary budget authority, excluding items pertaining solely to the House, which total an additional $1.319 billion. Total funding accommodated in the bill is $4.490 billion, which is $50 million more than the fiscal 2017 enacted level and $192 million less than budget request. The bill provides critical increases for the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, the United Stat… Continue Reading
07.27.17
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On FY '18 CJS, THUD and Legislative Branch Appropriations Bills
Today we mark up three appropriations bills, the fiscal year 2018 Commerce and Justice, Science and Related Agencies bill, the Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies bill, and the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. I want to thank Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Shaheen for their hard work on the CJS bill. This bill represents a truly bipartisan process, making the most out of a tight allocation to fund law enforcement, invest in science, and support eco… Continue Reading
07.25.17
[BREAKING] Reaction Of Senator Patrick Leahy To The Senate's Vote To Proceed To Consideration Of Trumpcare Legislation
[Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) voted no on the motion to proceed to consideration of Trumpcare legislation.] This was a lockstep vote for Trumpcare, produced through a secretive and shoddy process. These decisions mean health or illness and life or death to countless Americans. And let's be clear: Republican senators have no idea what they voted for with this motion to proceed. Millions upon millions of Americans' health is at stake. This cynical vote is intended to lead to a final Trumpca… Continue Reading
07.21.17
Leahy And Bipartisan Drug Affordability CREATES Act Cosponsors Urge FDA Commissioner To Reform Anticompetitive Drug Practices
Leahy And Bipartisan Drug Affordability Cosponsors Urge FDA Commissioner To Reform Anticompetitive Drug Practices WASHINGTON (July 20/21, 2017) - U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), joined by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah), are asking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to address anticompetitive practices currently used by some brand-name pharmaceutical companies to delay the manufacture and introduction of generic dr… Continue Reading
07.20.17
Leahy Scores Key Victories For Vermont As Appropriations Bills Clear Committee
Senator Patrick Leahy, Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday notched key victories for Vermont as the Agriculture and Energy and Water appropriations bills cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee. Leahy said: "This legislation rejects the majority of President Trump's dangerous and unbalanced priorities and makes valuable investments in organic agriculture, dairy and rural communities like the Northeast Kingdom. But this is still not sufficient, and I look forwar… Continue Reading
07.20.17
Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats Offer Alternative Allocation To Invest In The American People
Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats Thursday demanded an increased investment in the American people and an increase in defense spending by rejecting topline spending numbers offered by Committee Republicans and putting forward their own detailed proposal. Offered by Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Democrats' proposal would increase defense spending in fiscal year 2018 by $54 billion above post-sequester spending caps, mandated by the Budget Contr… Continue Reading
07.20.17
SUMMARY: Senate FY2018 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Bill Advances
The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved the Energy and Water Development fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill that totals $38.4 billion, which is $629 million more than the fiscal year 2017 level and $4.1 billion above the President's requested level. There is a $1 billion increase for defense activities, while non-defense activities see a decrease of $415 million, demonstrating the fundamental imbalance in the current approach to funding the nation's infrastructure, scientific r… Continue Reading
07.20.17
SUMMARY Of The FY18 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Approved TODAY By The Committee
The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved the fiscal year 2018 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill that provides a total discretionary funding level of $20.525 billion, which is $352 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $4.8 billion above the President's request. The bill does not contain poison pill riders. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administr… Continue Reading
07.20.17
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On the FY 2018 Agriculture Appropriations Bill And Energy & Water Appropriations Bill
Today we mark up two appropriations bills, the FY 2018 Agriculture Appropriations bill and the FY 2018 Energy & Water bill. We will also consider the allocation offered by Chairman Cochran. Before I comment on the Chairman's allocations, I want to talk briefly about the two bills under consideration today. I thank Chairman Hoeven and Ranking Member Merkley for their hard work on the Agriculture Appropriations bill. While this bill is $352 million below last year's funding level, it … Continue Reading
07.20.17
Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy Includes Key Safety Net Help For Dairy Farmers In FY 2018 Agriculture Appropriations Bill
The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved legislation to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration, rejecting what Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy calls "harmful" cuts proposed by the Trump administration. At the request of Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Vice Chairman Leahy, the bill includes bipartisan provisions that make crucial improvements for dairy farmers and cotton farmers who are struggling with low prices … Continue Reading
07.19.17
$500,000 Granted For New Burlington Waterfront Park Supported By Leahy, Sanders And Welch
Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), announced Wednesday that Burlington had been selected for a $500,000 Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program competitive grant from the National Park Service, which will help the city acquire 12 acres on shores of Lake Champlain to develop a new city park and eventually develop a trail connecting two other park properties as well as other recreational amenities. Funding for this project w… Continue Reading
