Trump proposes cut to Hawaiian Home Lands funding – Hawaii News Now

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Native Hawaiian leaders and lawmakers are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove funding for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which he suggested last year, but failed.

“It’s not like we’re seeing benefits to the community that are flowing from, you know, money saved from those cuts. Those monies are going to fuel wars around the world. For a lot of Native Hawaiians, I think, probably just another chapter of a long story of getting screwed over time,” State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole said.

Trump argued that Native Hawaiians should not get money under a federal Native American Housing law because they are a racial group and not a tribal nation.

“So obviously. We can see with this administration that they are not friendly to Native Hawaiian causes and the Native Hawaiian community at large,” State Rep. Kanani Souza said. “We can see that through policy since this administration has been in office.”

The proposal comes after conservative organizations hit Kamehameha Schools with a lawsuit over its preference policy for Native Hawaiians, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claiming its Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship program is racially discriminatory.

“So it’s definitely more concerning than what we’ve seen in previous years. But I think, you know, it’s great that we have the strong support of our federal delegation,” Native Hawaiian advocate Jacob Aki said.

After the president’s unsuccessful attempt to deny federal funding for DHHL last year, the department was awarded more than $22 million to help clear its waitlist of more than 29,000 beneficiaries.

Some are looking to lawmakers to again shut down Trump’s proposal this year and are encouraging others to exercise civic engagement.

“We don’t need to be angry, we need to be active. You know, we need not put our fist in the air. We need to pick up the pen and vote,” Robin Danner, senior adviser for the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, said. “We need to write to our elected leaders and explain the history of Native Hawaiians and the Indigenous people and the fact that we’re in the United States Constitution.”