Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker, whose parents both attended HBCUs, along with Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Doug Jones (D-AL), led more than a dozen of their colleagues in urging Senate leadership and appropriators to support minority serving institutions (MSIs) in the next coronavirus stimulus package. New Jersey is home to 13 minority-serving institutions. “As MSIs enroll a high number of low-income, first-generation college students and are consistently under-resourced due to... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-N.J.) joined a group of colleagues in calling on Senate Leadership to provide the resources necessary to fully support students with disabilities in upcoming COVID-19 response legislation. Additional emergency funding would enable school districts and educators to continue to effectively serve these students, as required by law, while schools across the country remain closed. Today, Sen. Menendez will virtually join advocates... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As New Jersey and New York’s first responders face perils on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, New Jersey Senators Cory Booker (D) and Bob Menendez (D), along with New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D) and Chuck Schumer (D) today introduced a bipartisan bill to ensure families of public safety officers lost to COVID-19 can quickly access survivor benefits. The Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act (SAFR) clarifies the certification requirements for survivor... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As America’s first responders face perils on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, a bipartisan group of senators is working to ensure families of public safety officers lost to COVID-19 can quickly access survivor benefits. The Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act (SAFR), led by senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), clarifies the certification requirements for survivor benefits under the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program to account for... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in a letter addressed to the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Mark Emmert, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) urged the NCAA to take further action to ensure that college athletes are able to access the rights and opportunities they deserve.Their letter comes in the wake of a recently released report from the NCAA’s Board of Governors with recommendations to address changes regarding the ability of college athletes to... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today announced a total of $15,089,588 to public housing authorities across New Jersey to support their work in maintaining and protecting the health and safety of individuals and families living in their facilities. The senators secured this funding in the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which allocated $1.25 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance.“As we continue to battle this public health... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez today announced a combined total of $24,019,053 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support mental health and substance abuse services across New Jersey. These services are especially critical during the current pandemic as anxiety and emotional distress rises as Americans follow state stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. "As we address the need for... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) pressed FedEx on workplace safety at their Newark Airport Shipping Center following troubling reports that the delivery services company was failing to implement practices to adequately protect its workers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, Booker detailed concerns shared with his office from FedEx personnel working at the Shipping Center in Newark, New Jersey, including reports that... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee that sets national health policy, and Cory Booker today announced the awarding of $1,100,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support the New Jersey Department of Human Services’ Aging & Disability Resource Center (ADRC) to ensure the safety and health of seniors and adults with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. “New Jersey’s health care professionals have worked tirelessly... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today unveiled a bill to ban price-gouging of essential goods and services during emergencies. The legislation comes as consumers in New Jersey and across the country are encountering steep price increases for in-demand items such as face masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting cleaners. According to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs, the Garden State has received more than 3,600 complaints about such price increases... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez today announced the awarding of $43,739,760.71 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA) grants to the New Jersey State Police Office of Emergency Management to support those on the frontline combatting the COVID-19 outbreak. This funding will reimburse the state for the purchase and distribution of personal protection equipment to hospitals, health care providers, long-term care facilities, first responders,... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today urged Facebook to take further steps to educate its millions of American users about how to vote and how to register to vote, and to combat the spread of voting disinformation on its platform, in the wake of COVID-19-related challenges that are putting a strain on the normal elections process. In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Booker wrote:“Facebook is…critically positioned to help... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) joined a group of 74 senators urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to direct federal advertising to help support local radio, television and print media hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Local newspapers and broadcasters have been particularly hit hard financially due to decreased revenue typically derived from advertising sales. This comes at a time when they have increased coverage of daily news, alerts and... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), along with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) today pressed Walmart to improve safety for its front-line workers following news that several employees of the retail giant have died due to COVID-19. In a letter sent today to Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon, the lawmakers expressed concerns about the danger Walmart workers face on the job and the lack of safeguards the retail giant is... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Edward Markey (D-MA), Angus King (I-ME), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) today announced plans that they will reintroduce the Community Broadband Act to improve internet access in underserved communities as millions of students and families find themselves struggling to learn and work remotely during the coronavirus public health emergency. Specifically,... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today announced the awarding of $323,080,779 from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), with half being promptly released to support New Jersey’s students and institutions of higher education that are suffering tremendous losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal funding comes from the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which allocated approximately $14 billion to help colleges and universities... Read More

TRENTON – Governor Murphy today signed legislation (S2357) which will require hospitals to report demographic data to the Department of Health. In conjunction with this signing, the COVID-19 Information Hub has been updated with preliminary racial data that has already been collected.“We have a solemn obligation to protect every New Jerseyan from the coronavirus. This means we can’t leave anyone behind,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker. “Deep-seated health disparities faced by communities of color... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-N.J.) today urged Vice President Mike Pence and other members of the Trump Administration to take action to help ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply and protect essential workers in the food supply chain. There have been numerous reports of essential workers in meatpacking plants, processing facilities, farms, grocery stores, and markets falling ill from COVID-19.“The severe shortages of adequate COVID-19 testing... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-N.J.), urged 15 pharmaceutical companies engaged in COVID-19 related work and their trade organization to prioritize diversity in any coronavirus vaccine or trial. Given the disproportionate impact of the outbreak on communities of color and other minority groups, the senators underscored the critical need for comprehensive demographic and racial data to ensure new treatments work for all Americans. “The disparities in the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the below statement following news that the Centers for Disease Control had released data on the racial and ethnic breakdown of COVID-19 cases. Booker, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) had been pushing for such detailed information, writing a letter to the Health and Human Services Department late last month and introducing a bill earlier this week to require... Read More