2. Appropriations/Federal Funding. Our federal fiscal year starts October 1st, which means that, as a now-sixth year member of the House Appropriations Committee, responsible for funding our federal government each fiscal year, my mid-years are largely about appropriations season. We have been at work on our twelve Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills for months now and the final proposals are coming up in Committee and the full House. Last week the House passed our first measure, funding all military construction and veterans affairs.

The bill included several funding initiatives I sought for our Hawaii’s military infrastructure and veterans, including another $1.2 billion for new Drydock 5 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard which is critical to our national defense in the Indo-Pacific as well as to thousands of high-quality Hawai‘i jobs. More information on this measure is here.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Webinar Replay. AI is changing our world and the pace of change is accelerating. It is all of exciting, uncertain and concerning, and many constituents asked me for more information on AI and how it may affect us. In response, I hosted a live webinar last Friday, June 7th, with special guest Austin Bonner of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy who is at the center of our national and international discussion of AI. We covered many topics, including: what is AI; how does it differ from other technologies; what is generative AI; where is AI already in our lives and where will it be; what are the benefits and risks of AI; how will AI affect jobs and the workforce; what are our policy choices on AI to maximize opportunities and minimize risks; and what is the rest of the world doing on AI. For your own information and to guide my own decisions on AI, please watch the replay of our webinar here and email me your questions and comments at [email protected]. 

4. Again Highlighting Constituent Services. No matter what other issues I am addressing in Congress year-to-year, some efforts of my Congressional office are constant. Foremost is constituent services, or how I can help you with your own individual concerns and needs, especially with our federal government. We have already helped hundreds of constituents with their concerns just this year in many areas including delayed federal income tax refunds, passport renewals, federal military benefit application processing, Social Security benefit questions, and emergency housing transition assistance. If you are my constituent (Congressional rules largely limit my “casework” assistance to actual constituents in my 1st District (Honolulu from Makapu‘u to Mililani and Kapolei)) and have any questions or needs, just contact us here or at (808) 650-6688 and we’ll figure out whether there’s any way we can help. 

5. Opt-In For E-Newsletter During Election Blackout. This e-newsletter along with my occasional mailers and texts to my district are important to me to keep you informed and I truly value the many responses I receive. Under the rules of Congress, I cannot do any of that large scale outreach during the sixty days before any election (the “blackout period”), which for me starts this Tuesday, June 11th. But during that period I can continue to send this e-newsletter report to anyone who has opted in to receiving it. Please consider doing so here so that I can keep you fully informed and ask for your guidance for the next sixty days. Of course our work continues throughout, you can continue to contact us directly, and we can continue to respond to and assist you. 

As always, I deeply appreciate your consideration and assistance as we all work to find the best way forward for our country and Hawai‘i. For more information on my efforts, and how we can help you, please visit my website at case.house.gov. If I can help you and yours with your own questions and needs, email us at [email protected], or call us at (808) 650-6688.

Be safe and be well.