Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) introduced the bipartisan Public Health Response and Emergency Detection Through Integrated Wastewater Surveillance (PREDICT) Act, legislation that would strengthen and expand the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), which was initially developed to coordinate and build the United States’ capacity to track the presence of SARS-CoV-2, and other infectious-disease causing pathogens... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-NJ) today applauded the announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation that the Federal Transit Administration is awarding $6.88 billion in federal funds to the Hudson River Tunnel project – the largest ever federal investment in mass transit. “Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone in the construction of the Hudson River Tunnel project,” said Senator Booker. “Entering the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Sue Gove following reports that the company attempted to avoid paying severance to its workers during the store closings leading up to its bankruptcy after spending more than $11 billion in stock buybacks since 2004. Following years of declining profits, Bed Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy in April of this year. Despite the more than $11 billion paid out in... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks (N.Y.-05) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) introduced a bicameral resolution recognizing the contributions of African American music to America’s musical heritage, addressing the need for greater access to music education for African American students, and supporting the designation of June 2023 as African American Music Appreciation Month. The bill acknowledges the legacy of African... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representatives Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) led 80 Senate and House Democrats in a comment letter expressing support for the Biden administration’s proposed rule to extend eligibility for ACA coverage and certain other federal health insurance programs to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In the 2010 Patient... Read More

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Fly Pet Exception for Traveling Swiftly (PETS) Act, legislation that facilitates easier overseas transport of pets for all U.S. Government (USG) personnel when they are being assigned to a post abroad. Current law requires USG personnel, both military and civilian, to deploy via U.S.-flagged air carriers when traveling on commercial flights with funds provided by the federal government when they receive orders... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, today released a policy brief detailing the success of the CARES Act home confinement program three years after its inception. In March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act, which included provisions that permitted the Department of Justice to expand home confinement during the “covered emergency period” to... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-39), joined by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), introduced the bicameral Equality Act—historic, comprehensive legislation that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans, just as religious, racial, and ethnic discrimination are illegal everywhere in the United States. The bill introduction comes amid an alarming uptick in discrimination and... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement in response to the findings of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. “Three years ago, the brutality of George Floyd’s murder sparked a global movement to reform policing as we know it and prompted the Biden administration’s Justice Department to begin an urgently needed investigation... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-N.J.) announced a $24.18 million grant for Cumberland County and Salem County to expand broadband infrastructure to serve underserved residents with slow or no broadband. The grant, administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will fund the construction of 220 route miles of fiber throughout the two counties, especially along paths that are underserved by current... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) introduced the bicameral Opt for Health with SNAP (OH SNAP), Close the Fruit and Vegetable Gap Act of 2023, legislation that would significantly expand the successful Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), which incentivizes low-income recipients to consume fruits and vegetables. Approximately... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), along with 27 Senate colleagues, expressed their concerns to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power about Uganda’s “Anti-Homosexuality Act,” which was recently signed into law.  In addition to expressing concern over... Read More

NEWARK, N.J. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, hosted a virtual town hall discussion on the upcoming Farm Bill — a package of federal legislation shaping the nation’s agriculture and food policy that passes once every five years — and its impact on New Jersey’s farmers, workers, and consumers in urban and rural communities. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) reintroduced the bicameral Combating International Islamophobia Act, legislation to address the staggering rise in incidents of Islamophobia worldwide. The bill requires the State Department to create a Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Islamophobia. It will also establish a comprehensive strategy for... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reintroduced the bicameral, bipartisan legislation to end the outdated Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP), which strips justice-involved individuals of their Medicaid coverage, passing the cost on to counties and states. The Humane Correctional Health Care Actwould help disrupt the cycle of recidivism in our justice system and provide continuity of care for... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representatives Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Alma Adams (D-NC), and Jim McGovern (D-MD) introduced the bicameral Office of Small Farms Establishment Act, legislation to create a new Office of Small Farms at the US Department of Agriculture. The Office would directly serve small farmers with grants and technical assistance and ensure that all USDA programs are designed to meet the needs of small farmers. Small acreage... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) praised the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for amending Regulation B to implement changes to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) as mandated by section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. In the letter, Senators Booker and Brown expressed their appreciation for the rule's potential to bring transparency to small business lending, combat unlawful discrimination, and provide increased access to fair... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) issued the following statement after voting to pass the Fiscal Responsibility Act and suspend the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025: "Defaulting on our federal debt is not an option – it would cause unprecedented economic calamity for Americans and the entire world. Yet Congressional Republicans took our economy hostage in pursuit of their deeply damaging agenda, despite a long history of... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, issued the following statement in response to the Biden-Harris Administration’s release of a status update on actions taken under the Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety (EO 14074), signed one year ago... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Brussels, Belgium, to participate in the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ annual Brussels Forum. Booker, who is in Europe as part of a multi-day trip to examine the current role of NATO in bolstering European and American security and the impact of climate change on national security, spoke alongside Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister... Read More