Dear Friend:
Our Congress has been convening every two years for a new Congress since 1789, also the first year of George Washington’s presidency. On January 3rd we did so for the 118th time, and I began my fifth full term representing Hawai‘i on Capitol Hill in addition to a partial sixth term.
In the U.S. House, the Speaker is the presiding officer and must be elected by a majority of all Members before we can further organize and commence our duties. This is usually routine, as the leader of the majority party (this Congress the Republicans) secures votes for Speaker in advance.
But as I witnessed up close and personal and we all saw, this year was anything but routine, as a very small group of Republicans disagreed with a great majority of their fellow Republicans on the choice of Mr. McCarthy for Speaker and forced fully fifteen ballots (and still-unknown concessions) before finally yielding. Regardless of one’s politics, this was not a good start to a critical Congress which must face and find solutions to a host of challenges domestic and foreign, as it exposed the risks to our democracy of rigid extremism in any form and the necessity of forging mainstream results in a divided Congress and country.
This rocky start has set back normal organizing and other initial efforts, and so I do not yet know all of my specific assignments. I will serve my third term on the House Appropriations Committee, responsible for all federal discretionary funding, and expect to continue some current responsibilities while undertaking some new ones. Regardless, my staff and I have been hard at work for months now on our goals for this Congress, and I’ll report back further as we go along.
Meanwhile, in contrast, my first district work period back home last week was highly productive. I know from experience that this groundwork at the very beginning of each Congress is invaluable to confirming my agenda, strengthening partnerships and driving results.
To that end, in a total of 25 scheduled events plus a lot of informal talking story, I focused on my federal, state and county government and community partners, community events, efforts I’m carrying forward such as Red Hill and the Indo-Pacific, and generally communicating that my office continues to focus on our three-part mission of (1) contributing to national leadership, (2) assuring that our federal government is working for our Hawai‘i, and (3) assisting you with your own questions and concerns.
Here are my main events from the past week:
- Joined the Korean American Foundation of Hawai‘i in celebrating the 120th Anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States/Hawai‘i
- Marched in the Lunar New Year parade through Chinatown
- Embarked out of Pearl Harbor for a day aboard the USS North Carolina, one of our home-ported Virginia-class attack submarines
- Discussed Red Hill, debt limit, classified documents and getting things done in a divided Congress on Hawai‘i News Now Sunrise
- Marched in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade through Waikīkī
- Met with Ambassador Frankie Reed, a Kapolei resident and now our country’s Special Envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum
- Joined my Congressional delegation colleagues in meeting with Governor Green and Lieutenant Governor Luke to highlight areas of common effort
- Discussed various current topics with the Honolulu Star Advertiser editorial board
- Delivered free books to Pu‘uhale Elementary School in Kalihi as part of the Library of Congress’ donated book program
