Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chris Coons (D-DE), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement: “Despite crackdowns by security forces on pro-democracy activists and opposition groups leading up to the election, in a courageous and inspiring demonstration of will, the Congolese people turned out to vote on December 30 to cast their ballots after a two-year delay of its elections. We are deeply concerned about the... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) hailed the signing into law of the bipartisan Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act – introduced by Booker and Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) in February and cleared by the Senate in October. The House sent it to the president’s desk last week.  A companion bill in the House was introduced by Representatives Danny Davis (D-Il) and Michael Burgess (R-TX). “Research and treatment... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the below statement following the passage through the Senate by unanimous consent of their bipartisan Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018, historic legislation that would – for the first time in history – criminalize lynching, attempts to lynch, and lynching conspiracies. The legislation was originally introduced in June by Booker and Senators Kamala Harris... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after the Senate passed the First Step Act, a landmark bill to reform the criminal justice system. “Our country’s criminal justice system is broken – and it has been broken for decades. You cannot deny justice to any American without it affecting all Americans. That’s why the passage of the First Step Act tonight is so meaningful – it begins to right past wrongs that... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today introduced a bill to shine a light on certain tactics drugmakers employ to profit off of state Medicaid programs by influencing their drug coverage decisions. The bill follows an investigation over the summer that found that drug makers swarm state Medicaid board meetings when their drugs are under consideration and have given payments and perks to doctors serving on those boards, like free meals and consulting opportunities. For example,... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) today would seek to prevent unnecessary and unethical animal testing practices on primates. Experiments on primates often are unnecessary, as they do not address essential human needs, such as effective medical treatments and cures for serious medical conditions. For instance, a scientific review by the Institute of Medicine determined that chimpanzees were not necessary for scientific research. As a result, the National... Read More

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers today released revised text of the First Step Act to continue building support for criminal justice reform. This update was brokered by the White House and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan have pledged to take up the revised package before the end of the year. “Our broken criminal justice system is a cancer on the soul of our nation that’s disproportionately... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The bipartisan Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act – introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC) in February and cleared by the Senate in October – will head to the President’s desk to be signed into law after the U.S. House passed it earlier today.  A companion bill in the U.S. House was introduced by Representatives Danny Davis (D-Il) and Michael Burgess (R-TX). The legislation seeks... Read More

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) today sent a letter urging U.S. News & World Report to further change their methodology for college rankings by more expansively considering a school’s diversity, inclusion, and representation. “U.S. News may claim that it now adequately addresses economic diversity by adjusting its new Pell metrics by the share of the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced legislation to prohibit federal law enforcement officers from claiming consent as a defense when accused of sexually assaulting someone in their custody or while exercising their authority under color of law. Over the last year, states including New York, Maryland, Kansas, and Louisiana have enacted legislation closing a loophole that allows law enforcement officers to claim that a sexual... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced his support of the bipartisan criminal justice reform package introduced in the Senate today. Other cosponsors include Sens. Chuck Grassley (D-IA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Booker was instrumental in adding key sentencing provisions to the package after opposing the House-passed version of the First Step Act first released in... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Chris Coons (D-DE), members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the appointment of Dr. J. Peter Pham to be the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Booker and Flake are the top lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy. “We welcome the appointment of a new Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa,... Read More

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – As the nation pauses to observe Veterans Day, today U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was joined by New Jersey student veterans and advocates at Rutgers Veterans Services to announce the introduction of legislation that would extend education benefits for student veterans. The Veteran Education and Transfer (VET) Extension Act would address critical gaps in current U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) education benefits, which were revealed during a roundtable discussion... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Jeff Sessions’ firing at the hands of the President is an alarming development that brings us one step closer to a constitutional crisis. I’m concerned that President Trump made this decision based on his fear of being implicated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the following statement:   “My heart breaks for the victims of the horrific and outrageous act of anti-Semitic violence in Pittsburgh. An attack on any American’s free exercise of their religious beliefs is an attack on us all. We stand united against this hatred, and we must take action to prevent future gun violence. We are not powerless to stop this.” Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the bipartisan SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act was signed into law. The comprehensive legislation includes a provision authored by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) that will help hospitals and emergency departments develop, implement, and study best practices for utilizing alternatives to opioids for pain management. The provision is from the bipartisan, bicameral Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO) in... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today announced new legislation aimed at giving every American child a fair shot at economic mobility. The American Opportunity Accounts Act aims to mitigate the growing wealth gap between American families by creating a seed savings account for every American child when they are born. The funds would sit in an interest-bearing account that would receive additional deposits each year depending on family income. At age 18, account holders could... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018, historic legislation that would criminalize lynching, attempts to lynch, and conspiracy to lynch for the first time in American history. The legislation was originally introduced in June 2018 by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), and Tim Scott (R-SC). “After more than a hundred years of failed efforts, we are now one step closer... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-NJ) and U.S. Representative Donald Norcross (NJ-01) announced the expansion of the Liberty Mid-Atlantic High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), a federal drug prevention program within the Office of National Drug Control Policy, to include Atlantic County.   The designation, which the lawmakers advocated for in June, will allow Atlantic County to receive federal assistance through the HIDTA program to combat... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate today passed America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA), a comprehensive bill that makes much-needed investments in water infrastructure systems across the country. The bill contains several provisions based upon legislation written by U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. "This bill contains critical and much-needed investments in our nation’s water infrastructure and ecosystems," Booker said. "It will help... Read More