Tokuda votes against partisan Farm Bill, fights for Hawaiʻi priorities  

US Rep. Jill Tokuda (HI-02) voted against House Republicans’ Farm Bill on Thursday, arguing it falls short for Hawaiʻi farmers and families. 

As the only member of the Hawaiʻi congressional delegation serving on one of Congress’s agriculture committees, Tokuda fought during the committee’s markup to ensure the bill reflected the realities facing Hawaiʻi’s local agricultural communities, following her recent Ag Listening Sessions across the state. 

Tokuda ultimately opposed the measure, citing its failure to address the rising costs facing farmers and producers, support the nutrition needs of working families—from keiki to kupuna—and provide meaningful investment in rural economies. The bill cleared the committee by a vote of 34-17 and now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration.  

“Unnecessary tariffs have squeezed both ends of our food system—farmers are paying more for supplies and families are paying more at the checkout line,” said Tokuda. “The Farm Bill is a promise to Americans who grow our food and to those who need help putting it on the table. This legislation fails to honor that promise or meet this critical moment.” 

Tokuda offered several amendments to the Farm Bill that received a vote and were not adopted during the markup. These amendments would have: 

• Eliminated President Trump’s tariffs on essential agricultural imported supplies;  
• Reinstated the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, which helped states purchase local, unprocessed foods for school lunches; 
• Expanded the Community Facilities program to reimburse rural health care facilities for staffing costs and revenue loss caused by temporary reductions in patient volume or service delivery. 

“Congresswoman Tokuda’s amendment to open Community Facilities funding to cover revenue losses and staffing costs at rural hospitals shows her commitment to and understanding of what rural providers really need,” said Alan Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Health Association. “At a time when rural hospitals need support more than ever, they are generally not able to use funds from federal programs to keep the lights on. The Congresswoman’s amendment would help rural hospitals keep their doors open and continue to serve their rural communities. The National Rural Health Association commends Congresswoman Tokuda for being a tireless champion for rural healthcare.” 

“Family farmers across the United States are facing a perfect storm of rising input costs, trade disruptions, and market pressures, and those challenges are even more acute in Hawaiʻi where production and transportation costs are already among the highest in the country. Policies that destabilize markets — whether through tariffs or other trade conflicts — create real uncertainty for the farmers and ranchers working every day to feed our communities,”said Christian Zuckerman, Vice President of the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union. “We appreciate Representative Jill Tokuda’s leadership and her continued advocacy for family farmers and rural communities. As Congress works through the farm bill, it is critical that federal policy strengthens the farm safety net, supports local food systems, and protects nutrition programs that connect farmers with the communities they feed.” 

The Congresswoman criticized sections of the bill that she says guts more than $1 billion from farm conservation programs that Hawaiʻi ranchers benefit from and strip local authority from states like Hawaiʻi over pest management and environmental protections. She also spoke in strong support of reversing the $187 billion cut to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and delaying the proposed cost shift to states, as enacted under H.R. 1.

Provisions secured by Tokuda in the base text of House Republican’s Farm Bill include: 

• The Tropical Plant Health Initiative Act, which provides dedicated funding for research and pest management tools to strengthen and protect Hawaiʻi’s tropical specialty crop industries, including coffee, macadamia nuts, cacao, tropical floriculture, and nursery crops.  
• The Rural Health Care Technical Assistance Act, which codifies and expands an existing pilot program at USDA to prevent closures, improve operational performance, and enhance services at rural health care facilities. 
• The Creating Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success (CAREERS) Act, which reauthorizes and expands the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program to increase investment in career training programs and employer partnerships in rural communities.  
• The Parity for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Students in Agriculture Act, which reauthorizes and increases funding for a competitive grant program that supports higher education pathways into food, agriculture, and natural resource careers. 
• The Promoting Competition in Aquaculture Research Act, whichincreases support for research and innovation to strengthen competition, sustainability, and growth in the US aquaculture industry. 

The House Agriculture Committee’s markup of the Farm Bill took place over a span of 23 hours.