Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today introduced legislation that would require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to address disparities in health care access and outcomes when developing new payment and delivery models for care provided to patients, including Medicaid, Medicare and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries. Under the Equality in Medicare and Medicaid Treatment Act, CMMI would be required to consult with experts on health... Read More

Starting this year, New Jerseyans will use a state-based exchange, Get Covered New Jersey, to enroll in Marketplace health insurance plans. The Open Enrollment Period in New Jersey will run from November 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021, which is double the amount of time of recent years’ enrollment periods run by the federal government. Plans, enrollment assistance, and financial help, including a new state subsidy to make Marketplace plans even more affordable, will only be available for New Jersey... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today led 16 of his Democratic Senate colleagues in urging Congressional leaders to provide robust funding to ensure the swift distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as a part of any upcoming legislation to address the pandemic. With the recent news of at least one COVID-19 vaccine possibly being available to be distributed within the next month, many state and local governments lack the proper funding that is needed to distribute the vaccine.... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced landmark legislation aimed at addressing and correcting historic discrimination within the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal farm assistance and lending that has caused Black farmers to lose millions of acres of farmland and robbed Black farmers and their families of hundreds of billions of dollars of inter-generational wealth. In 1920 there were nearly 1 million... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation that will provide state and local school districts with more than $260 billion of additional federal aid to better serve students and support teachers during the pandemic. Specifically, the Educator Jobs Fund Act of 2020 will appropriate federal funding for a new educator jobs fund to create jobs and recruit and train educators, ensuring education equity, more personal protective equipment in schools, and grants for... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, United States Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sent a letter urging the State Department to hold accountable all actors violating the UN Arms Embargo on Libya. Booker is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The United Nations has repeatedly identified foreign financial and materiel support to rival Libyan factions as the most significant factor prolonging the conflict and limiting prospects for peace,” the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter urging Ambassador of the State of Libya, Wafa Bughaighis, to provide visas to international humanitarian workers. Additionally, the letter urges the Ambassador to press for an acceleration of visa approvals, ease restrictions on international humanitarian staff, and ensure that lifesaving aid reaches the people most in need. According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.3... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter urging Ambassador of the State of Libya, Wafa Bughaighis, to provide visas to international humanitarian workers. Additionally, the letter urges the Ambassador to press for an acceleration of visa approvals, ease restrictions on international humanitarian staff, and ensure that lifesaving aid reaches the people most in need. According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.3... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced S.Res762, a resolution recognizing the disproportionate impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on women and girls globally. Specifically, the resolution urges Congress and the executive branch to protect the rights of women and girls in the United States and abroad, provide robust humanitarian aid that supports women and girls, and ensure that the needs of women and girls are part of the ongoing... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) released a new report detailing how special interests’ campaign to capture our courts has tilted the playing field against critical civil rights protections to ensure equality for all Americans. As President Trump and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rush to confirm Judge Amy Coney... Read More

WASHINGTON D.C. — On Friday, October 23, 2020, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (NJ) and U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced bicameral legislation — the Nursing Home Pandemic Protection Act of 2020 — to require that nursing homes have a crisis plan in place to manage an outbreak, that facilities keep a stockpile of PPE on hand, that nursing homes report communicable diseases, infections, and potential outbreaks, and work to ensure that residents and their families be kept informed of... Read More

Washington D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA,) Chris Coons (D-DE) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, issued a joint statement calling for an immediate end to the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Nigeria. “As members of the Subcommittee on Africa, we have been watching the recent developments in Nigeria with great concern, and call for an immediate end to the violent... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Senator Cory Booker delivered opening remarks on day one of the Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.  Booker made clear what is at stake if Judge Barrett is confirmed -- tens of millions of Americans losing access to affordable health coverage during a deadly pandemic if the Affordable Care Act is overturned. Booker also highlighted the threat that Judge Barrett’s nomination... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Last week, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a bipartisan bill, Delivering Optimally Urgent Labor Access for Veterans Affairs, or the DOULA Act, to establish a pilot program to encourage the use of doulas in the Veterans Health Administration to support pregnant veterans and improve maternal health outcomes. This legislation was borne out of various veteran organizations and leaders such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Service Women’s Action Network, NJ SOS... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bipartisan bill, Delivering Optimally Urgent Labor Access for Veterans Affairs, or the DOULA Act, to establish a pilot program to encourage the use of doulas in the Veterans Health Administration to support pregnant veterans and improve maternal health outcomes. A study in 2010 by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent two letters seeking answers on the White House-linked outbreak of COVID-19. In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Booker requested an overview of steps that are being taken to protect the health and safety of the individuals who work on the White House grounds. In a separate letter to the Director of U.S. Secret Service James Murray, Booker requested that a full list and contact information of all individuals who attended... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez sent a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asking for more information about the Department’s decision to open an investigation into Princeton University’s recent efforts to confront systemic racism and discrimination and urging that the decision to open the investigation be reconsidered. In response to the national reckoning with racism spurred by the killings of unarmed Black Americans at the hands of... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez today announced $1,570,658.74 in funding for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to replace a building at Port Newark that was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy. “Superstorm Sandy left our already aging infrastructure in dire need of repair,” said Sen. Booker. “While we have made significant progress since Sandy’s devastation, the rebuilding process still... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez today announced that the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority was awarded $10,928,520.90 in federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make repairs after floods from Superstorm Sandy damaged the electrical distribution switchgear. “Even before Superstorm Sandy’s devastation, our aging water and wastewater infrastructure needed robust federal investment in order to ensure the health and safety of New Jersey... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Cornyn (R-TX) today introduced a bipartisan bill, the Preventing Future Pandemics Act, which would direct the State Department to work with international partners to shut down commercial wildlife markets and stop the associated wildlife trade, end the import, export and sale of live wildlife for human consumption in the United States, and phase out demand for wildlife as a food source. A companion bill was also introduced in the House... Read More