Gov. Josh Green says he will not send Hawaii National Guard troops to the mainland to help enforce potential Trump administration immigration policies “that would break up families.”
The governor also drafted a budget ahead of next month’s legislative session that includes an additional $10 million in each of the next two fiscal years for state Attorney General Anne Lopez to file potential lawsuits against Trump administration policies.
They are among governors and attorneys general from Democrat-leaning states across the country who are collectively preparing for the possibility of pushing back against policies and potential cuts to federal agencies promised by President-elect Donald Trump, his Cabinet appointees and high-level members of his administration.
During Trump’s first term, cuts to federal social service programs “cost us $300 million a year in social services,” according to Green, who was lieutenant governor at the time.
Heading into his January inauguration, Trump and his appointees have promised deep cuts to federal agencies, including the U.S. departments of Education and Health and Human Services, that could cost Hawaii even more to maintain vital programs such as public education, nutrition programs including food stamps, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Green, a medical doctor, vowed to continue a media campaign calling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unqualified to become Trump’s health and human services secretary, especially because of Kennedy’s anti-vaccination stance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ll be doing it a lot more in the coming weeks,” Green said.
In Congress, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda said House colleagues from both red and blue states would be equally affected by severe changes and cuts to federal programs that could hurt their residents and cost their states more to maintain current levels.
“Will there be conflicts and times we have to really push back? Absolutely,” Tokuda said. “It requires us finding that middle ground. They have people to feed and people that need health care.”
With thin margins in the House and Senate, it won’t take many Republican senators to vote down the appointments of some of Trump’s more controversial Cabinet appointees. And the same could happen with budget cuts and other Trump policies that require congressional approval.
“We have to help the Republican majority with a president who may be proposing ideas that will hurt,” Tokuda said.
She continues to reach across the political aisle to find compromise on issues such as disaster relief funding that affect historically Democratic communities like Maui recover from the 2023 wildfires and Republican southern states leveled by hurricanes this year.
“The more we work this muscle where we put aside political partisanship as much as possible, the easier it will be when things are really tough,” Tokuda said. “Working together — it’s going to help us find solutions.”
Green plans to attend the Western Governors’ Association winter meeting Monday and Tuesday in Las Vegas and is on track to become the associations’s vice chair and then chair working with his Republican and Democratic counterparts from other states.
“Governors are all affected, irrespective of party, depending on what the federal government does,” Green said. “We’ll band together if we think we’re not getting what we need.”
It will likely take Congress two years to approve any dramatic Trump administration changes requiring congressional oversight but, Green said, “I’m getting ready.”