WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (TNSres) -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following news release on Oct. 30, 2023: A new report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that financial aid provided by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic helped millions of working-class Americans reduce their credit card debt. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the share of active credit card accounts with a ba  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 -- Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, D.C. - Today, Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) announced the House passage of federal funding that Magaziner requested for two community projects across Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional district totaling $1,919,504 in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. "My number one priority is to deliver results for Rhode Islanders, and I am proud to announce the Ho  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with 20 Senate Democrats, in sending a letter to the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Lina Khan, demanding the FTC protect American consumers by investigating two major proposed oil industry mergers and warning that the consolidations could hurt consume  more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: WASHINGTON, DC - In an effort to ensure women can access the reproductive health care they need and remove cost barriers, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and 45 of their Senate colleagues sent a letter urging the Biden Administration to require federally and state-regulated health insurance plans to fully cover over-the-counter contraceptives, including Opill  more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: NEWPORT, RI - As the leading champion of public libraries in the U.S. Senate, U.S. Senator Jack Reed today hosted the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Crosby Kemper in Rhode Island. Director Kemper joined Senator Reed on Monday morning for a meeting with chief officers of state libraries from across the nation, including Rhode Island. Following this meeting, Reed and Kemper  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -- Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: WASHINGTON, DC - In a significant win for public health, safety, and fresh water supply on Block Island, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Seth Magaziner today announced that the federal government is investing $5,581,000 to upgrade water infrastructure on Block Island. As an island ecosystem, Block Island relies on rainfall and wells to replenish the island's supply of freshw  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: WASHINGTON, DC - In a significant win for public health, safety, and fresh water supply on Block Island, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman Seth Magaziner today announced that the federal government is investing $5,581,000 to upgrade water infrastructure on Block Island. As an island ecosystem, Block Island relies on rainfall and wells to replenish the island's supply   more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, DC -- Representatives Seth Magaziner (RI-02) and Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) led ten members of Congress in a letter to Assistant Secretary Douglas L. Parker, calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assess current sanitation standards and to evaluate the extent to which workers have adequate access to bathroom facilities. Inadequate sanitation standards are denyi  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Episode seven available now on Spotify and Apple Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, today released episode seven of his podcast, Making the Case. In the new episode, Whitehouse is joined by retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner to discuss the changes in the behavior of Supreme Court justices in recent years, Judge Gertner's   more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner today announced $3.8 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) to construct a ramp at the Port of Davisville's Pier 1 to accommodate stern offload roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels that carry automobiles and other wheel  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner today announced $3.8 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) to construct a ramp at the Port of Davisville's Pier 1 to accommodate stern offload roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels that carry automobiles and other wheeled c  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following news release: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an estimate of House Republicans' proposed $14.3 billion supplemental aid package for Israel. House Republicans' "offset" would rescind $14.3 billion from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement and would reduce federal revenues by $26.8 billion, increasing the deficit by $12.5 billion and costing American ta  more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following opening statement at a hearing on Oct. 18, 2023, entitled "Improving Care, Lowering Costs: Achieving Health Care Efficiency": * * * Ranking Member Grassley and members of the Committee, Today's hearing is about excess costs in health care and ways we can reduce the budget by spending health care dollars more efficiently. As I point out often, and as this chart shows, t  more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Senate Budget Committee issued the following testimony by Al Kurose, chair of the Rhode Island Foundation, involving a hearing on Oct. 18, 2023, entitled "Improving Care, Lowering Costs: Achieving Health Care Efficiency": * * * Chair Whitehouse, Ranking Member Grassley, and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to address the topic of managing patient care and population health to reduce healthcare costs. Happily, when done correctly, such efforts also   more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today introduced the Manifest Modernization Act, legislation to shine a light on imports and bring greater transparency to shipping manifests. Under current law, only ocean vessels must publicly disclose manifest information. The senators' bipartisan bill would extend the public disclosure requirement to aircra  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Today, the Senate passed a resolution from U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and John Cornyn (R-TX) recognizing Red Ribbon Week, the nation's largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign. Text is below, and you can view the full resolution here. "Whereas the National Family Partnership started the Red Ribbon Campaign in 1988-- (1) to educate the people of the United States and e  more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA) wrote to the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules to ask the Judicial Conference to finalize rules that would strengthen transparency requirements for amicus curiae brief filers. Whitehouse and Johnson are Chairman and Ranking Member of  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, DC - As executive pay soars, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have introduced the Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act, which would apply an excise tax on public and private companies that have at least a 50 to one CEO-to-median-worker pay disparity. In 2022, the CEO Act would have raised over $1  more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, issued the following news release: Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) today reintroduced the Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services (TREATS) Act, legislation to increase access to telehealth services for opioid use disorder. The bipartisan bill will waive regulatory restrictions for accessing care, preserving fle  more