HONOLULU (KHON2) — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a $95 billion foreign aid package aimed at providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region. President Joe Biden expressed gratitude to House members for approving the package, stating it comes at a “critical inflection point” for these nations.
Hawaii’s Representative for Congressional District 2, Jill Tokuda, supports the package. “The bottom line was this very thin chaotic majority could not have done it without us,” Rep. Tokuda said. “That is the reality and I would say for every single person across this country, passing this national security funding was so critical to making sure that we could protect ourselves right here back at home so this had to be something that was done bi-partisanally. It was something that democrats stepped up and said we have got to hurry up and do this. This has been waiting with the republican majority to finally pass it. They ended up breaking it down into individual bills but thankfully we were able to get that work done this past weekend.”
Rep. Tokuda acknowledges the necessity of the package, but she voted against aid to Israel due to the conflict in Gaza with Hamas.
“I actually did vote against it, it was a very difficult one given that it included humanitarian aid. But given for some of us it was also about making a strong statement that unconditional aid given the impact of loss of life that we are seeing in Gaza, the indiscriminate bombing, the fact that hundreds of aid workers have been killed in this war, and crisis, it was about sending a strong message that the days of unconditional aid could not continue in this theatre. But we have to make sure this funding does get out and that’s what happened this past weekend,” she explained.
The package is receiving mixed reactions, with House Speaker Mike Johnson at the forefront of Republican criticism. Tokuda declined to share support for Johnson as he faces a potential ouster from far-right Republicans.
“The first 15 votes I took in Congress was for the speakership vote and my vote has not changed. Hakeem Jeffries our minority leader continues to be my person. If there are any discussions going on in Washington, D.C. Hakeem is the person who should be speaking on our behalf in terms of what would that balance look like. As you can tell no matter what, no matter who is speaker, Democrats have stepped forward and stepped up to make sure the work of the people got done,” she stated.
The package now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to receive final approval this week.
Back in the islands, Rep. Tokuda plans to host a town hall in Kailua-Kona on Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 at the West Hawaii Civic Center. Concurrently, Big Island is grappling with power generation issues, prompting state lawmakers to question Hawaiian Electric’s (HECO) management of infrastructure.
HECO is asking ratepayers to pay an additional $4 a month for wildfire mitigation, on top of already high rates.
“We’ve got to exhaust every possible federal resource that we can. Tap every dollar we are eligible for that can contribute for fire mitigation on all of our islands throughout our state. That is the first thing we’ve got to make sure that we do. Leave no resource behind on the table. Then at that particular point, we know this is going to be a tremendous investment, at that point then it’s a discussion that HECO has to have with its ratepayers in terms of what needs to happen next and how it will be funded.” Rep Tokuda said.