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U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, stands next to President Barack Obama on Thursday at the signing ceremony for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which improves protections for plaintiffs suing for unfair pay discrimination. - Office Of Hawaii U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono

Hirono: 'Our economy is in dire straits'

by Peter Sur
Stephens Media

Sunday, February 1, 2009 7:08 AM HST

HILO -- Fresh off a vote to pass an $819 billion economic stimulus package on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, flew to Hawaii to meet with Mayor Billy Kenoi, contractors and University of Hawaii at Hilo officials.

Speaking Saturday in Hilo, Hirono emphasized the dire need for the stimulus package and said she wished it included more money for transportation projects. When asked, she showed little enthusiasm for another run at the governor's office in 2010.

Hirono arrived in Hilo on Friday night, flying in from Maui; she left for Honolulu on Saturday night.

Before the bills can become law, which the Obama administration has been pushing, the U.S. Senate has to pass its own version, and then Congress will have to work out a compromise of the two versions.

Hirono and fellow Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie voted to approve the House version of the bill, which passed on a largely party-line vote of 244 to 188. All 177 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted against it.

The congresswoman said Hawaii is due to get $1 billion in economic aid.

"Since our shortfall is, I think, half a billion, a billion coming into Hawaii over the next two years will have a major impact," Hirono said. The projects would have to be "shovel-ready," meaning that if they don't start soon, the state could lose the money. Hawaii has a list of projects ready to go, but the total bill exceeds the amount of money available for Hawaii, Hirono said, emphasizing the need for Gov. Linda Lingle to work with the mayors to make sure the counties also are being helped.

Citing figures from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hirono said that the bill would save or create 19,000 jobs in Hawaii by the end of 2010.

Yet many critics -- among them Republican lawmakers -- charge the economic package is loaded with billions of dollars in wasteful spending not directly related to job creation and not enough tax cuts.

Hirono rebutted the charges.

"A lot of these are for what we consider needed help for working families who are being affected by this huge economic downturn," Hirono said. "And I'm sorry to say that the Republicans in the House basically took a very ideological position, saying that they wanted more tax cuts. Well, you know the last tax cuts were the Bush tax cuts that helped the richest people in our country, and they got the lion's share of the tax benefits of the tax cuts, which are supposed to trickle down. So their ideology is, they'd like to see tax cuts. Our perspective is we're not doing this for ideological purposes. We're addressing those needs that are there."

Democrats may need some help from Senate Republicans to overcome the threat of a filibuster, a procedural blocking tactic that can only be overcome by 60 affirmative votes. Currently, 58 senators caucus with the Democrats. Hirono acknowledged a possible filibuster attempt but expressed hope that senators could overcome it.

"There's money for retention of teachers. Those are jobs. So it really is a bill that reflects, I think, the kind of spending that is, we hope, going to move us in the direction of economic recovery," Hirono said. She cited widespread agreement by economists that "not doing anything is not an option."

"Our economy is in dire straits," Hirono said. "This is a time for us to take action to help all these people. One hundred twenty-five thousand people are losing their jobs in this country every single week. This is real. This is deep. We need to take responsible action."

Hirono said the purpose of meeting with Kenoi was "to bring him up to speed on what's in the bill and encourage him to talk with the governor to make sure that there's money for this island coming from that portion that can go out the door really quickly." Kenoi has already submitted a formal request for $487 million to Hawaii's congressional delegation.

Hirono's other priorities in her second term include a bill, introduced last week, to provide $1 billion in grants to support state-funded preschool programs. The "Akaka bill" providing for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians and establishing a governing entity will be an issue again. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, of which Hirono is a member, is busy working on a multibillion dollar transportation funding bill.

E-mail Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

There are 25 comment(s) comments to this story.

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