HONOLULU (KHON2) — We’re into day 20 of the federal government shutdown with wide-ranging impacts being felt in Hawaii, including federal employees and the University of Hawaii.
“We’re feeling the impact of people being out of work every week; we lose about 0.1% of our GDP, or 1% every 10 weeks. That’s about $120 million a week of economic activity,” Governor Josh Green said. “And you see that translated in people’s pocketbooks, but also everywhere. You know it will resonate across our economy because, for example, fewer people go out to eat. Restaurants will suffer. Fewer people travel in general because the guys in the mainland are also on furlough. So it really affects us quite terribly, and we need this to end. We’re encouraging the federal government to reopen. There’s some chatter about it reopening in the beginning of November, but no one is fully confident.”
Senators are at a stalemate over Affordable Care Act subsidies, with Democrats pushing for them to be continued over concerns of soaring healthcare costs without them. Governor Green, a former practicing physician, is flying to Washington, D.C. this week to meet with GOP leadership. He says there is a compromise for the taking.
“Truth be told, that hurts everyone in red states and blue states. We have 25,000 individuals that rely on some of those subsidy supports to be able to afford insurance. Otherwise, that falls to the state. It will hurt rural hospitals. It will hurt families. So I hope that they will compromise, but I’ll try to be a peacemaker.”
Hawaii is being hit by a wave of economic uncertainty from the shutdown, tariffs, and a plethora of strikes from workers in the healthcare industry.
“In the immediate, I’m worried about things like food for people. We have about $60 million of SNAP benefits that could go away if they don’t settle this shutdown. I do have a workaround to get most of those dollars back to families that are really struggling, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, really.”
If a recent prognosis from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization comes to fruition and Hawaii is plunged into a recession, Governor Green says the state has options to balance its budget while taking on more responsibility from a lack of federal funding.
“The tariffs are dangerous for us, and then just the global economy has been turbulent. Hawaii is going to be okay, but I don’t want to see any cuts. If we get to the session, the legislative session, and we see any real pain, we will use some of our rainy day funds. We have $1.58 billion in the rainy day fund, another $170 million in the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund. Rather than ever see people lose jobs at the state level, rather than anyone lose health, health care, or food support security, we would use a little bit of our rainy day fund with the support of the legislature to make sure that we’re okay. But that can’t go on forever. Thus, I have to make sure we get some of these deals in place.”
One of the deals he is working on in Washington is regarding the future of U.S. Army land leases in the islands, which are set to expire in 2029.
“Needless to say, the federal government is pushing very hard on our lands, where our bases are,” Governor Green said. “I’m doing my very best to keep them calm and steady. And if they are going to do that, if they’re going to use this condemnation provision for national security purposes, take our bases back, then I need Hawaii to be supported. They have the legal capacity to do that. So I’m working on a $5-10 billion package to help us with energy, to help us at the university level, to help us with cesspools, to help us with food security. All of these things are the many reasons that I have to go fight in DC.”
Hawaii’s next legislative session is scheduled to begin on January 21st, 2026.