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Speeches & Testimony

Statement Before Hawai'i State Legislature on Tour Helicopters

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

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…

Statement to the House Budget Committee Regarding a Fiscally Responsible Budget

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

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…

Ensuring the Full Inclusion of Native Hawaiians in VAWA

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker: I rise today to express appreciation to my House colleagues who voted for my amendment to our recently passed Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) to ensure the full inclusion of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in key parts of VAWA.  My amendment requires key data for full implementation of VAWA about our nation’s indigenous…

Statement before the House Celebrating Women’s History Month

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

I rise today to honor the women of our nation and my home state of Hawai‘i past, present and future as we again celebrate Women's History Month. Each year during the month of March, we remember and honor the extraordinary American women who have made such lasting contributions to our culture, history and society. Long before they finally gained the right to vote in elections and before…

Remarks on Safe and Quiet Skies Act

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker, today I am re-introducing my Safe and Quiet Skies Act from the 116th Congress to ensure that commercial air tour flights are adequately regulated to ensure in-air and on-ground safety and address widespread and accelerating community disruption. I extend a special thanks to my colleagues, Congressmembers Nadler, Neguse, Norton, Sherman and Sires, for co-introducing this…

Remarks on Amending the Jones Act

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker, today I introduce three bills to end a century of monopolistic closed market domestic cargo shipping to and from my isolated home state of Hawai‘i as well as the other island and separated jurisdictions of our country not part of the continental United States. In doing so, we will break the stranglehold on the peoples and economies of these exposed communities and their…

Supporting Our Commitments to Our Freely Associated States Allies

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker, last year, I was proud to help create the first-ever Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus, which I co-chair along with four of my colleagues. When we launched the Caucus, I noted that our country's and world's future lie in the Indo-Pacific, and that the island nations of the Pacific are a key yet too-often overlooked part of that region and future. We have critical…

Native Hawaiians Health Care System Tort Coverage

| Posted in Speeches & Testimony

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6585 with deep reservations. I support the substance of the measure as addressing key concerns for American Indians and Alaska Natives. My grave concern is with the inexplicable omission of Native Hawaiians as indistinguishably indigenous peoples of this country to be treated and included the same. I spelled out my concerns at length in a…