The latest batch of bills voted on by Hawai‘i's federal delegation includes the return of a health care tax credit, foreign-made U.S. flags and a time capsule — all in one measure.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to pass the Breaking The Gridlock Act, a grab-bag measure making several wildly different provisions.
Most heavily touted in the bill is its resurrection of subsidies provided through the Affordable Care Act, which had previously been terminated at the end of 2025. Congressional Democrats had been unable to retain those credits in a government budget bill, despite triggering a 43-day government shutdown over the issue.
The House on Thursday voted to add yet another provision to the bill that would renew those subsidies for another three years, which Democrats have said will prevent health care costs from rising for millions of Americans — including some 24,000 Hawai‘i residents, said Hawai‘i Rep. Ed Case.
However, the bill does several other things beyond retaining ACA subsidies. These include, but are not limited to:
• A provision that will create a time capsule to be opened on July 4, 2276, the 500th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. The contents of the capsule will include “a representative portion of all books, manuscripts … and other materials” relating to the anniversary, copies of various contemporary legislative milestones and a message from today’s Congress to the one 250 years in the future. The capsule will be buried beneath the U.S. Capitol’s West Lawn by July 4 of this year.
• A provision awarding veterans money that had been incorrectly withheld from their severance payments for tax purposes since 1991. Veterans could also benefit from a pilot program described in the bill that will offer grants to local governments in order to improve participation and retention in veteran-focused treatment court programs.
• The bill imposes prohibitions against “data brokers” from selling personal data to “adversary countries” — e.g., North Korea, China, Russia and Iran — or entities controlled by said countries. Another foreign policy provision requires an assessment of China’s impact to global financial stability and potential Chinese financial threats, while yet another requires the development of a five-year strategy to assist the government of Nigeria to combat terrorist group Boko Haram.
• The bill also requires all government agencies to fly only U.S. flags made in the U.S., except for vessels in foreign waters or in cases where the U.S. President waives the requirement.
Case and Tokuda — and also all 211 other House Democrats — voted in support of the measure, along with 17 Republicans. The bill passed 230-196.
Other bills passed this week include:
• The Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, a 400-page budget bill providing funding for various federal agencies.
Case touted the bill’s Hawai‘i-specific allocations, including $1 million to the Hawai‘i Division of Aquatic Resources to remove invasive corals from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, $1 million for wildfire mitigation programs at the University of Hawai‘i and $1 million for a new mobile command vehicle for the Honolulu Police Department.
The bill passed 397-28, with Case and Tokuda in support.
• The Affordable Housing Over Mandating Efficiency Standards Act, or Affordable HOMES Act, a measure that removes energy regulations imposed by the Department of Energy upon manufactured housing developments, along with the department’s ability to impose those regulations at all. Currently, the law requires the DOE to impose standards on manufactured homes in line with the International Energy Conservation Code; the amendments proffered by the bill would only impose energy conservation standards based on cost-effectiveness.
The bill passed 263-147, with Case and Tokuda voting against it.
• The Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act, which prevents veterans’ disability payments from impacting their eligibility for federal housing assistance. This bill passed the Senate unanimously.
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