Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka took issue with GOP complaints about a federal judicial conference planned for Maui, but Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions isn’t letting up.

Here’s part of an email that went out on Tuesday from Sessions’ Spokesman Stephen Miller:

“As a reminder, here are some of the advertised amenities and activities that will occur at the million-dollar plus conference that is being billed to the American taxpayer: Sport fishing; Golf Tournament; Yoga; Surfing Lessons; Stand-up Paddle Board Lessons; Tennis Tournament; Floral Design Workshop;  Tour Of Upcountry Maui; Gemini Catamaran Snorkel Trip; ‘The Aloha Experience;’ ‘Fun pools with… a spectacular 150-foot lava tube slide;’ ‘An abundance of wildlife, everything from parrots and flamingos to swans and penguins.’”

In an earlier statement on the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference website, the court’s Cathy Catterson said “activities are paid for by individuals and are not reimbursable.” But in the GOP senators’ letter, they say such activities make the conference sound more like a vacation than a business trip.

Here’s how Miller put it in an email responding to DC808’s questions: “If one is paying an enormous sum to send a large group of people to a tropical destination the question of what they are doing while there for four days becomes rather important.”

Sessions and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley say the judges should go somewhere other than Hawaii. Civil Beat’s Nick Grube had an interesting story about the controversy on Tuesday. You can read it here.

Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka are fed up with criticism about a Hawaii-based conference that Ninth Circuit federal judges are set to attend in August. 

“Hawaii falls squarely under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit and legal issues in Hawaii deserve as much of a spotlight as any other state or territory in the circuit,” Akaka said in a statement. 

Akaka emphasized that Hawaii should be “treated like any other state” worthy of attention from federal officials. Inouye called the criticism “unjustified.”

“My Republican colleagues are quick to link the unique leisure and cultural opportunities available in Hawaii with an inability to do the very serious work of the court,” Inouye said in a statement. 

As anyone who lives in Hawaii can attest, it’s not uncommon for out-of-staters to see the Islands as limited to beaches and mai tais, and Republicans have picked on Hawaii similarly in the past. 

Hawaii is set to get more than $366 million for military construction projects, which the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved. 

According to a press release, the funding includes $181 million for new housing at Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield; $83 million for a helicopter hangar at Kaneohe Bay; $24 million for a “waterfront operations center” at Pearl Harbor; and $5 million for a facility to wash military aircrafts.

After a Senate subcommittee led by Sen. Daniel Inouye turned down the Obama Administration’s budget request for the transfer of Okinawa-based Marines to Guam, Inouye says he’s waiting for an “updated plan of action from the Department of Defense.”

As the Daily Yomuri reported, the recent agreement to transfer thousands of Marines to Guam, Hawaii and elsewhere prompted the call for “new, comprehensive plans for U.S. military deployment and the Asian-Pacific.”

Inouye provided this statement to DC808 via a spokesman on Tuesday: 

“The plans to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam are changing…  The Committee’s action reflects the changing situation, and our need to receive an updated plan of action from the Department of Defense to ensure that we fund only the projects necessary to complete the relocation.

“The U.S. and Japan have both provided funds to support the movement of Marines, but it would be unwise to continue to fund projects which are not necessary at this point in time, and as our respective governments continue to engage diplomatically.”

Inouye said the goal is to move forward “in an effort to reduce the U.S. military’s footprint in Okinawa.”

Congress as a whole is communicating at a lower comprehension level — 10th grade instead of 11th grade — compared with last year, according to a new word analysis by the Sunlight Foundation.

But does this mean members of Congress aren’t as smart, or that they’re getting better at communicating? As the Sunlight Foundation points out, “lawmakers of both parties still speak over the heads of the average American, who reads at between at 8^th and 9^th grade level.”

For better or worse, Sen. Daniel Akaka’s communicatoins require the highest level of comprehension among all U.S. senators. He scored a 14.18 in the foundation’s analysis, meaning someone needs more than 14 years of formal education — like a college sophomore — to understand him. 

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa ranked at a ninth-grade level. Rep. Mazie Hirono was on par with seniors in high school, and Sen. Daniel Inouye communicates at the level of a college freshmen. (Check out the complete database.)

Some points of comparison, from the foundation:  ”The U.S. Constitution is written at a 17.8 grade level and the Declaration of Independence at a 15.1 grade level. The Gettysburg Address comes in at an 11.2 grade level and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is at a 9.4 grade level.” 

For what it’s worth, we followed The Atlantic’s lead, and opted to test DC808’s readability. This post was written at a ninth-grade reading level, according to the measure that the Sunlight Foundation used.

We’ve said it before but Hawaii residents who are looking for a Capitol Hill internship should definitely take note of the culinary situation in Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s office. 

The congresswoman is known to whip up feasts for her staff. Just check out this screen shot from Roll Call’s Tuesday feature on Hanabusa’s home cooking:

You can click through the whole photo gallery by visiting the Roll Call site [requires subscription]. 

Bet you could have guessed a few of Sen. Daniel Inouye most commonly uttered words on Capitol Hill: 

1. Hawaii’s

2. Hawaiian

3. Hawaii 

4. Hawaiians

5. Indian

Also in the running, according to The Sunlight Foundation’s Capitol Words tracker: “Nurse;” “Filipino;” “coral;” “tsunami’” and “earmarks.”

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s top five include: “Kamehameha;” “worst-case;” and “guitar.” For Rep. Mazie Hirono, “mahalo” makes it into the top 10. For Sen. Daniel Akaka, the words “veterans;” “Inouye” and “aloha” are all common. 

Collectively, Hawaii’s delegates often say: “Aloha;” “Maui;” “Hawaiians;” “Filipino;” “nuclear” and “Honolulu.”

Capitol Words does more than look at individual legislators. It also compares commonly used words by party. For example, Democrats mention Iraq and Afghanistan more often than Republicans do, according to the database.

Hat tip to Ryan Ozawa, who tweeted about the site. 

The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday announced it is giving a $400,000 National Emergency Grant to help Maui and Kauai clean up in the wake of the severe storms, flooding and landslides from a March storm system. 

The money will be used to create 20 temporary jobs for eligible dislocated workers to assist in clean-up and recovery efforts.

The White House on Monday released a photo of President Barack Obama throwing a football on Soldier Field, home to the Chicago Bears.

Obama was in the city for a NATO Summit, and headed to the gridiron after a working dinner, according to the White House. No word on how many yards he threw for. 

Here’s Pete Souza’s photo: 

Since President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage on May 9, Civil Beat tried repeatedly to get Hawaii’s Congressional delegates and leading candidates for federal office on-record about the issue.

In some cases, lawmakers and candidates responded right away. But others have stayed quiet. Richard Rapoza,  spokesman for Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, emailed Civil Beat with this statement from the congresswoman on Friday night: 

“I have always believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. However, I have argued forcefully and consistently for the rights of all Americans. I am proud of the work I did to help write and first pass Hawaii’s civil unions law, my support of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and my co-sponsorship of the Respect for Marriage Act, which calls for federal recognition of any marriage that is valid in the state in which it was licensed.

“The issue of same-sex marriage is now before a number of courts and legislative bodies across the nation. If court rulings or legislative acts grant same-sex partners the right to marry, nationally or in the state of Hawaii, I will fully support those decisions.”

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday (May 18) — such a busy day for the House! — voted against “an amendment to guarantee civilian trials for any terrorism suspect arrested in the United States.”

The vote was 238-182, with most Democrats (including Colleen Hanabusa and Mazie Hirono) voting in the minority. The Huffington Post has this article on the vote.

Press release quote from Hirono:

The guarantee of due process is one of the most fundamental rights in our country. Current law allowing the indefinite detention of an individual in America without charge or trial or requiring military custody is unacceptable. This is not due process. The amendment addressed these major constitutional problems.

—Chad Blair

You can probably guess which way Colleen Hanabusa and Mazie Hirono voted, eh?

All but one U.S. House Democrat voted against the GOP amendment to block funding for the Law of the Sea Treaty, “which would essentially establish the rules of the road for the United States and other countries across the world’s waterways.”

The measure passed 229-193. The Hill has this report. Excerpt:

If Congress agrees to the pact, Navy commanders may be forced to clear future military operations with other pact members before moving forward, critics claim.

“Not only is this treaty unnecessary, it would also empower a new international bureaucracy at the expense of American sovereignty,” Michael Needham, CEO for Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said in a statement Friday. 

—Chad Blair

Photo courtesy Official U.S. Navy Imagery.

The U.S. Department of Energy is giving Hawaii $500,000 to test technologies that can harness wave energies for renewable power, according to the state’s Congressional delegation. 

The money will help fund a wave energy conversion device at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Kaneohe Bay.                                              

Hawaii’s U.S. representatives were on the losing side of a vote Thursday (May 17) in Congress that called for a quick end to combat operations in Afghanistan.

The amendment to a defense appropriations bill, introduced by Democrat Barbara Lee of California, would have limited war funding to the “safe and orderly withdrawal” of troops and military contractors. The vote was 303-113, with 101 Democrats (including Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa) and 12 Republicans voting in the minority.

Excerpt from a news report on the vote:

Lee argued on the House floor, “It is time to say enough is enough. With almost 2,000 United States troops killed in Afghanistan and many tens of thousands more maimed with injuries both hidden and visible, we must recognize that the boots on the ground strategy in Afghanistan must end.”

But Republicans countered that the California Democrat’s amendment amounted to “getting out now” and could result in opening up the United States again to a terrorist attack.

—Chad Blair

Photo of Barbara Lee courtesy Jim Ratliff.

Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa on Friday (May 18) voted in favor of the defense authorization bill for 2013 “that calls for the construction of an East Coast missile defense system in the United States by the end of 2015.”

The vote was 229-120, with Hawaii’s two Democrats  voting along with the Republican majority.

The Hill has this article on the bill.

Excerpt:

The House authorization level will lead to a showdown with the Senate, which is marking up the authorization bill in committee next week, because the Democratic-led Senate is expected authorize funding roughly at the president’s level.

—Chad Blair

Photo courtesy mashleymorgan.