Press Releases

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today voted to approve the Indo-Pacific Cooperation Act of 2019, legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and cosponsored by Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Todd Young (R-IN), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would require the U.S. to partner with allies in the Indo-Pacific region, Europe, and elsewhere, to develop a unified approach to address the rise of China.

Senator Romney released the following statement after a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on health care legislation was reached. The agreement includes provisions from the Smoke-Free Schools Act and the Tobacco to 21 Act – legislation backed by Senator Romney – to address the youth vaping crisis. Romney has led efforts to reverse this epidemic, repeatedly raising the issue in HELP Committee hearings, meetings with the president, and with the FDA nominee during his confirmation process.

Senator Romney expressed his concern about a rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security that would place a 500% fee increase on the delivery of family history records obtained through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This rule would greatly inhibit Utahns’ access to these records.

Senators Romney and Bennet (D-CO) announced that the Government Accountability Office has accepted their request to review the effectiveness and implementation of the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP): “It is welcome news that the Government Accountability Office has accepted our request in a timely manner. As the review process moves forward, I will continue working with our state and federal partners to ensure that communities across Utah have the...

Senators Romney, Rubio (R-FL), and Collins (R-ME) welcomed the inclusion of legislation in the annual defense authorization bill that would ensure that Huawei is not removed from the entities list until it no longer poses a threat to national security. The final version of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) reflects provisions from the Huawei Prohibition Act of 2019, introduced by Romney, Rubio, and Collins that Huawei Technologies, Co. Ltd. is not removed from the Commerce...

Senator Romney joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) in sending a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper raising concerns about the national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on foreign-manufactured pharmaceutical products. In recent years, China has come to dominate the global market for pharmaceutical products, particularly active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which are necessary to manufacture pharmaceutical products such as generic drugs...

Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee released the following statement regarding the confirmation of David B. Barlow of South Jordan to serve as United States District Judge for the District of Utah. In July, Romney and Lee introduced Barlow at his nomination hearing before the Judiciary Committee.

Universities and colleges in Utah are grappling with potential changes related to compensating student athletes and so are schools across the nation. It’s not fair for student athletes, especially those coming from low-income families, to give so much time and energy to their sport without any kind of compensation. We need to find a way to resolve this inequity while preserving the integrity of collegiate sports. This working group will serve as a forum for an ongoing bipartisan dialogue as we...

The latest data released today by the CDC shows that the vaping crisis is worsening, with more than one quarter of high schoolers and 10.5 percent of middle schoolers reporting they have vaped in the past 30 days. To reverse this deadly trend, the Administration and Congress must act without any more delay to ban flavors that appeal to kids and prevent vaping cartridges from being adulterated with substances that kill. A continued failure to act in the face of this data would be unconscionable.

Utah continues to have a higher opioid overdose death rate than the national average, and our rural communities – particularly Carbon and Emery counties – are disproportionately harmed. As we work on solutions to the opioid crisis in our state and the nation, we must develop a multi-front approach that combats the illicit flow of opioids into our neighborhoods. After finding that the U.S. Postal Service does not have in place an overarching strategy to combat illicit drug distribution, we are...