Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the below statement on passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the House of Representatives, a bill he co-authored with U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass, and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler. The sweeping legislation, which is cosponsored by 37 Senators and 230 members of the House of Representatives, awaits consideration in the Senate. “I applaud my colleagues in the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the below statement after the GOP forced a vote, which ultimately failed, on the inadequate, deeply flawed Justice Act: “We will not meet this moment with half-measures and half-steps that don’t meaningfully fix our broken policing system. The Justice Act is woefully inadequate, deeply flawed, and painfully weak, but don’t take my word for it – take the word of the more than 130 civil rights and faith-based organizations that have... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) today demanded bipartisan talks to get to a constructive starting point on policing reform legislation. Leader McConnell said last week that he would not negotiate with Democrats before bringing Senate Republicans’ JUSTICE Act to the floor, despite the weight and magnitude of this time.As people across the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) today introduced legislation that would increase tree planting and reduce residential energy bills across the United States. The Tackling Residential Energy burdens Efficiently Act, or the TREE Act, creates a cost-share grant program at the Department of Energy to provide funding to plant a minimum of 300,000 trees annually in residential neighborhoods that will reduce energy consumption and help protect public... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) today announced they will introduce Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. “Juneteenth”, observed on June 19, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and is also known as “Emancipation Day”, “Jubilee Day”, and “Juneteenth Independence Day”. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Major General Gordon Granger... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) took to the Senate floor today in an attempt to use a procedural maneuver to pass legislation removing Confederate statues from the United States Capitol but was blocked by Republican objections. Booker is the co-author of the Confederate Monument Removal Act, which will remove all statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from the National Statuary Hall Collection within 120 days of passage. Booker attempted to... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) took to the Senate floor today in an attempt to use a procedural maneuver to pass legislation removing Confederate statues from the United States Capitol but was blocked by Republican objections. Booker is the co-author of the Confederate Monument Removal Act, which will remove all statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from the National Statuary Hall Collection within 120 days of passage. Booker attempted to... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Cory Booker and U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill, both New Jersey Democrats, today sent a letter to Senate and House leaders urging them to ease application requirements for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) program in the final COVID 4 legislative package.Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, non-profits and local and state governments enrolled in the CoC program are experiencing a severe strain on their time and resources,... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the below statement on the GOP policing bill released today: “The Republican proposal is heavy on gestures and light on real reform. It does nothing to meaningfully hold law enforcement officers accountable in court for egregious misconduct; it does nothing to provide public access to records of police misconduct; it does nothing to actually mandate that law enforcement agencies ban dangerous and extreme tactics like chokeholds and... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today spoke on the Senate Floor on the urgency of passing the Justice in Policing Act and appealed to his Republican colleagues to create “meaningful reforms in this moment” and not “symbolic gestures that will do nothing to save people’s lives.” Invoking the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown “and so many others” who have been killed at the hands of law enforcement, Booker explained how our current policing and justice system... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the VA New Jersey Health Care System – which is now the highest in the nation. In a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, Booker calls for the federal agency to develop a plan to address the increasing fatalities, review existing policies related to patient care, and raises concern regarding inadequate supply of... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Cory Booker and U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill, both D-NJ, today celebrated Women Veterans Appreciation Day, recognizing the distinguished service of women in the Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve Forces. They marked the day by hosting a virtual roundtable with women veterans across the state this afternoon. June 12 marks the anniversary of the signing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which allowed women to serve as permanent, regular... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) re-introduced a bicameral bill in the Senate and House to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol. The Confederate Monument Removal Act would remove all statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from the National Statuary Hall Collection within 120 days.Booker and Lee originally introduced the bill in 2017.“The National Statuary Hall Collection is... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), along with U.S. Representatives Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-51), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.-31), and a bicameral group of colleagues requested that the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) open an investigation into whether the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in its decision to change the agency’s policy to deny Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans to... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (D-CA), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced sweeping police reform legislation, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. The bill is the first comprehensive legislative approach to ending police brutality and changing the culture of law enforcement departments by holding police accountable in court for egregious misconduct, increasing... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today introduced legislation that expands protections for family caregivers from discrimination by their employers. The Protecting Family Caregivers from Discrimination Act would prohibit employers from firing, demoting, mistreating, refusing to hire, or taking other adverse employment action against workers who are caregivers for their loved ones. The bill would also prohibit employers from retaliating against a worker for seeking enforcement of... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker and Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (N.J.-09) today announced the awarding of $11,816,087 to the State of New Jersey in Byrne-JAG funding from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to support the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will allow the state to hire additional frontline workers and first responders, purchase personal protective equipment, train staff and address the needs of inmates in state and local... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rob Portman (R-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Paycheck Protection Program Second Chance Act, which will allow small business owners with criminal records to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP provides forgivable loans to small businesses that keep their employees on payroll during the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. But as a result of rules put forward by the Treasury... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United States Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), along with Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representatives G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), and Karen Bass (D-CA) today sent a letter requesting further information about the State Department’s handling of complaints by Tianna Spears, a Foreign Service Officer who was repeatedly racially harassed while posted at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico . The letter also urges the Department of State to address and identify steps being taken... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered powerful and emotional remarks on the Senate Floor today on the urgent need for comprehensive police reform in America. After first remembering the lives of “a loving son,” Ahmaud Arbery; “extraordinary” Breonna Taylor; and “gentle giant” George Floyd, Booker spoke movingly on his personal experience with racism as a black man in America. He spoke on the unprecedented and tragic times that we are facing as a nation. Finally, after... Read More