Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker,    Each year we come together to recognize May as Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Month, in celebration of the critical participation of our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities in our national story.    Over the past year, the pandemic has highlighted the harsh disparities that too many in the… Read more »

"While COVID-19 assistance from the USDA and SBA has been a vital lifeline for our farmers, we must continue to invest in domestic agriculture to help our agricultural producers bounce back and thrive." Read more »

"Your continued support for the Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems is especially needed now as we work to get through this pandemic." Read more »

"Hate against any of us based on our race, our ethnicity, our heritage, is hate against us all; that this must end, here, now." Read more »

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Rodgers and Members of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you our national security challenged and opportunities in my backyard of the Indo-Pacific.  Pacific Deterrence Initiative Overall, the current and previous administrations have affirmed the reemergence of strategic competition with other great powers as the central… Read more »

Thank you so much, Chair Kilmer, Vice Chair Timmons and Members of the Select Committee. I really appreciate the opportunity you’ve provided to weigh in on modernizing our Congress. I listened to the last three fellow testifiers and it was gratifying that they all said something that I completely agree with. Ms. Lee, that’s way overdue; Ms. Jacobs, intern pay and accessibility, that’s… Read more »

Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves and Members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:    Aloha and mahalo for the opportunity to update the Committee on key transportation and infrastructure issues and needs for my home state of Hawai‘i. I would like to highlight three today for your consideration and assistance: (1) adapting our surface… Read more »

Member Day Testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Representative Ed Case (HI-01) Friday, March 26, 2021     Chair Meeks, Ranking Member McCaul, members of the Committee:    Aloha from my office in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Thank you for the opportunity to again testify before the Committee. In my last Member Day testimony in December 2019, I… Read more »

Chair Lee, Vice Chair Inouye and members of the Committee: First, mahalo for highlighting and pursuing a critical issue that increasingly risks the public safety and disrupts the daily lives of residents and visitors in all corners of our Hawai’i: the virtually unregulated operations of commercial tour helicopters and small aircraft.    Based on my constituents’ continued… Read more »

Mr. Chair, Ranking Member and Colleagues: Mahalo for the opportunity to testify before you today in support of a fiscally responsible budget.  At the outset, let me say that I reject the view that federal deficits and debt no longer matter, that we can continue to endlessly spend far more than our revenues, endlessly increase our national debt, with no consequence. Our debt… Read more »