It was a slow week at U.S. Congress as the federal government shutdown creeps towards its third straight week.
Since Oct. 10, only five bills have passed the Senate, while none have passed the House, which has not convened for two weeks. Those bills included:
• The National Defense Authorization Act, a colossal, 1,454-page bill setting forth hundreds of policies and authorizations for various Department of Defense projects through the 2026 fiscal year.
Pertinent to Hawai‘i, the measure includes a passage authorizing the Secretary of Defense to acquire or lease “certain land used by the armed forces in Hawai‘i," either through land exchanges or rental payments, until 2031. This comes as military facilities on Hawai‘i Island, O‘ahu and Kaua‘i near the end of their leases.
Other Hawai‘i-specific language includes a section specifying that Hawai‘i and Alaska are included in plans for “The Iron Dome for America” — a nationwide missile defense system proposed by President Donald Trump in a January executive order — authorizes more than $461 million for Navy and Marine Corps activities at Pearl Harbor, Barking Sands and Kāne‘ohe Bay, authorizes another $20 million for U.S. Army activities at Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island, and allows for extensions to various construction and upgrade projects at military facilities around the state.
Hawai‘i senators were split on the measure, with Sen. Mazie Hirono voting in favor and Sen. Brian Schatz voting against. The bill passed 77-20.
ASD reached out to both senators for comment.
• The Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act, a brief bill repealing a section of laws concerning sick leave for commissioned officers of the United State Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, in order to bring such policies in line with the other uniformed services. Bill passed unanimously.
• The Employee Ownership Representation Act, which establishes an Office of Employee Ownership within the U.S. Department of Labor to develop guidelines and policies regarding employee ownership plans such as employee stock ownership plans. Passed unanimously.
• The Retire Through Ownership Act, which establishes regulations on employee stock ownership plans that would allow plan fiduciaries to rely on stock valuations provided by an independent valuator. Passed unanimously.
• A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 201 West Oklahoma Avenue in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as the “Oscar J. Upham Post Office,” which does exactly as its name states. Upham was a Marine Corps private and Guthrie native who received a Medal of Honor for service in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Passed unanimously.
