Press Releases
Hawley Urges Senate Leadership to Protect Americans and U.S. Elections from Deceptive AI
Today in a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ranking Member of the subcommittee, criticized Senate leadership's failure to send legislation to the floor to protect Americans and the U.S. electoral process from the worst effects of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. "Let's not allow these same companies that control the social media technology in this country, that control the news in this country to also now use AI to further their hammer-hold on the United States of America and on our political process," said Senator Hawley. Senator Hawley also warned of the alarming uptick in sexually explicit “deepfake” imagery circulating online. He urged his Senate colleagues to act on...
Hawley, Blumenthal Demand Answers and Action Following UHG Cyberattack
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who serves as Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote a letter to the CEO of UnitedHealth Group (UHG) following its disastrous data breach by ransomware group BlackCat in February. The senators seek answers as to “how its critical health care systems were breached, why the firm suffered such an egregious and unexplained outage, and whether patient and provider data was compromised in the attack.” The letter goes on to demand that UHG proactively advance payments for all claims – not just UHG claims – to providers and asks what steps the group has taken to ensure such a breach never occurs again. “The result of UHG’s failure to properly safeguard against...
‘Total Failure’: Hawley Reacts to Spending Bill Neglecting Radiation Victims
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) released the following statements after his legislation to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was left out of the upcoming government funding legislation: Total failure. Politicians have talked like this for decades. While doing nothing. The time to talk is over. The time to ACT is now. Put RECA on the floor and vote on it. Stop screwing around with Missouri https://t.co/0lAoyvFVXn — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 21, 2024 The Senate has TWICE passed bipartisan legislation - by wide margins - to compensate Missouri radiation victims. The House has done nothing. And continues to do nothing, while politicians talk and make excuses. Time is running out — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 21, 2024 Senator Hawley has...
Hawley Calls for Senate Vote on TikTok, End to CCP Spying
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) released the following statement after the House overwhelmingly passed legislation that would ban TikTok on all American devices, if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) linked ByteDance refuses to sell the app. NOW is the time to act on TikTok and stop China spying. The Senate should take up this bill immediately https://t.co/PstR0rY9xi — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 13, 2024 Senator Hawley has been a leader against CCP-linked TikTok. In December 2022, Senator Hawley's legislation the No TikTok on Federal Devices Act was signed into law—the first law taking action against TikTok by banning it on government devices. Senator Hawley previously introduced legislation to ban TikTok on all American devices....
Hawley Calls on DOJ to Investigate FICO for Anticompetitive Practices
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter urging the Department of Justice to investigate The Fair Isaac Corporation’s (FICO) potentially anticompetitive practices. “The credit score market is dominated by FICO, a for-profit company operated under a sweetheart deal from the federal government,” wrote Senator Hawley. “Because of this government-granted monopoly, FICO enjoys a 90 percent market share in the business-to-business credit scoring market. It is the only real competitor in the space.” “In an apparent abuse of this market power, FICO has astronomically hiked its prices,” he continued. “These cost increases will be borne by homebuyers who are already facing the worst housing market in this country’s...
Hawley Visits Picket Line at Graybar, Supporting Teamsters in St. Louis
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) released the following statement after his visit with workers on strike at Graybar in Hazelwood, Missouri, to stand with them and protect American jobs. Privilege to be on the picket line with @teamsters688 at Graybar in St. Louis. All they want is a fair wage and equal treatment. They deserve it pic.twitter.com/uNaG4ttTyd — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 9, 2024
Senate Passes Hawley Legislation to Compensate Victims of Government Radiation with Strong Bipartisan Support
Today the U.S. Senate passed Senator Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) legislation to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), by a vote of 69-30. "This isn’t about a handout. This isn’t about some kind of welfare program. This is about doing basic justice by the working people of this nation, whom their own government has poisoned. This is the day when we break the cycle of lies from the government, when we break the cycle of passing the buck and irresponsibility from the government," said Senator Hawley. Click here or on the image above to watch the full remarks. Senator Hawley’s legislation would reauthorize RECA—which is set to expire this spring—and finally compensate victims of radioactive waste in impacted areas across the...
Hawley Lifts Holds on FTC & NTSB Nominees
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) released the following statements, announcing his lift of holds on the nominations of Andrew Ferguson to be a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Todd Inman, who is under consideration for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Senator Hawley previously sent a letter to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this past December, citing concerns about Ferguson and Inman—two of the Senate Minority Leader's nominees—over their policy views on several issues, including Big Tech and rail safety. Regarding Ferguson's nomination, Senator Hawley said, "I have now had the chance to speak with Andrew Ferguson, nominated for the Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Ferguson answered a series of questions from me...
Senate Committee Passes Hawley, Booker Bipartisan Legislation to Crack Down on Child Labor, Hold Companies Accountable for Violations
Today the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) bipartisan Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act to prohibit companies that engage in illegal child labor practices from securing coveted federal government contracts. "Companies that illegally employ children have no business leveraging lucrative federal government contracts for corporate gain. This bipartisan legislation would hold companies' feet to the fire for engaging in child labor exploitation and rightfully hold offenders accountable," said Senator Hawley. The Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act would: Require companies entering into federal contracts to...
Hawley, Colleagues Call Out Biden State Dept After Failing to Address Nigeria’s Religious Freedom Violations: ‘You have again failed to meet the moment’
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) penned a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the State Department’s ongoing refusal to re-designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). The letter points to the horrific massacre of Nigerian Christians this past Christmas season as a recent example of violence targeting Christians and expresses concerns about the deteriorating state of religious freedom in Nigeria. U.S. Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also signed the letter. “As you know, violence against Christians in Nigeria runs rampant. Reports estimate that roughly 5,000 Nigerian Christians have been murdered in religiously-motivated violence in each of the last two years. We wrote to you last on June 29, 2022, following the murders of...