Press Releases
Hawley Calls for Release of Investigation into DoD Denial of Vax Mandate Religious Exemptions
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Department of Defense (DoD) Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell calling on him to release all information related to his office’s investigation into DoD’s refusal to grant servicemembers religious exemptions to DoD’s Covid vaccine mandate. On June 2, 2022, Inspector General O’Donnell’s office reportedly sent Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin a memo raising serious concerns about DoD’s processes for reviewing servicemembers’ requests for religious exemptions. Thousands of servicemembers filed for religious exemptions but DoD reportedly only approved a fraction of the requests. “Servicemembers commit their lives to the defense of our nation. As part of that compact, they are assured they will...
Hawley Introduces New Legislation to Hold Universities Accountable for Rising Tuition Costs and Student Debt
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Make the Universities Pay Act -- new legislation to reform the nation’s higher education financing system and put universities on the hook for the creditworthiness of future student loans and the debt of students who default. College tuition increases consistently outpace the rise of inflation, the nation’s student loan debt balance has skyrocketed to almost $2 trillion, and lackluster student performance calls into serious question whether ballooning costs and indebtedness are worth the investment: only about half of college enrollees complete a degree within six years. “For decades, universities have amassed billion-dollar endowments while teaching nonsense like men can get pregnant. All while charging...
Hawley Blasts Mayorkas: Over Two Million Illegal Crossings, You Must Resign
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign for his failure to enforce our country's immigration laws. A record-breaking 2 million illegal migrants have crossed the southern border just this fiscal year, and illegal drugs coming over the border are destroying communities across America. "Your total abdication of responsibility to secure the border has consequences. It has resulted in a record 78 individuals on a terror watchlist entering our country this year alone," said Senator Hawley. During a Senate Committee hearing exactly one year ago, on Sept. 21, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas told Senator Hawley that DHS was executing a plan and was personally committed to securing the southern...
Hawley to Biden Admin: TikTok Must Fully Divest from ByteDance, End CCP Data Collection
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to require TikTok to sever all ties from ByteDance and any other Chinese companies. Senator Hawley wrote, "Last week, the Chief Operating Officer of TikTok testified in response to my questions that TikTok indeed has engineers in China who are able to access American user data and that the company has taken no measures to ensure that the employees in China accessing this data are not members of the Chinese Communist Party." He concluded, "This shocking testimony calls for action. I am therefore writing to you to exercise your responsibilities as Chair of CFIUS to ensure that the Chinese company ByteDance...
ICYMI: Senator Hawley Speaks at National Conservatism Conference
This week U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) delivered a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Miami, Florida. "Whatever your own beliefs, whatever your background, the revolution of the Bible is worth defending. It is worth preserving. It is the true source of the rights of man and the liberties we cherish. It has taught us what we know of dignity and equality. The Bible has made us who we are. And it is critical to our future," said Senator Hawley. [. . .] The Bible gave us also the idea of a state ruled by men, not by gods. It gave us the distinction between church and state. It gave us equality between men and women. And more, much more. But you get the idea. These were revolutionary notions that upended the ancient world. And they found...
Hawley, Rubio & Colleagues Introduce Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) joined Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and 12 Republican Senate colleagues in introducing the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act to combat the rise of fentanyl being trafficked across our southern border and into our communities. The Illicit use of fentanyl is now the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-45. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, drug dealers are increasingly targeting children and young people with fentanyl pills made to look like candy. “The Biden border crisis has caused an epidemic of fentanyl flooding our communities, and the results have been deadly. It’s time to get serious about holding illegal fentanyl traffickers responsible,” said Senator Hawley. "Fentanyl is killing...
Hawley Legislation to Create Senate Select Committee on Biden’s Botched Afghan Withdrawal
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced legislation to establish a Senate Select Committee, granting full subpoena power to investigate and report on President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left 13 American service members dead. "Joe Biden is desperate to evade responsibility for his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the American people deserve better. They deserve to know why the Administration ignored warnings that Kabul could collapse, why they delayed evacuating Americans until it was too late, and why they failed to protect our servicemembers or even vet Afghan evacuees before they came to the United States," said Senator Hawley. "My bill will make sure the American people get the answers – and accountability – they...
Hawley Blasts Visa, MasterCard, AmEx for Plans to Track Gun Purchases
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to the chief executive officers of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express calling on them to reverse their decision to separately categorize gun-related purchases from other retail transactions, allowing firearm purchases to be more easily tracked. "Whether this infringement is by the federal government or powerful corporations seeking to ostracize citizens for exercising their rights, I will oppose all attempts to undermine the Second Amendment’s protections," said Senator Hawley. "Americans have had enough of massive companies using their market power to drive ordinary people out of the public square. These practices must end." Read the full letter here and below: September 13, 2022 Alfred F...
Twitter Whistleblower: Engineers Have Access to Personal User Data, Can ‘Tweet as Anybody’
Today in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, Twitter whistleblower and former head of security for Twitter, who revealed that over 4,000 Twitter engineers have access to user data, including geolocation data, that could be used to dox users. Mr. Zatko also revealed that Twitter engineers have the ability to “tweet as anybody” and may have done so. "That is a significant concern, 4,000 people with the ability to dox individual users who pick up the phone and use Twitter. Four-thousand employees with access to that data, this is extraordinary," said Senator Hawley.
Whistleblower Allegations Lead Pentagon Watchdog to Open Review into Biden Administration Afghan Vetting Failures
Responding to a letter from U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced they will review whistleblower allegations that the Biden Administration failed to properly vet hundreds of Afghan evacuees who have entered the United States, despite appearing on a DoD watchlist that includes known suspected terrorists. DoD OIG also announced they will review allegations that DoD and National Security Council officials cut corners and "did not follow proper procedures when processing evacuees in Afghanistan and at staging bases.” In August, Senators Hawley and Johnson sent a letter to DoD OIG calling for an immediate investigation into new DoD whistleblower allegations,...