[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ISSUES AFFECTING HAWAII

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand the Asian American 
and Pacific Islander Journal of Health here from the autumn issue in 
1993. It addresses the health status of Kanaka Maoli, the indigenous 
Hawaiians. It is written by my good friend Dr. Richard Kekuni 
Blaisdell.
  In the process of reviewing this, Mr. Speaker, you will find that the 
purpose is to summarize the current health status of the Kanaka Maoli, 
the indigenous Hawaiian people, with historical background, the 
underlying factors responsible for the indigenous Hawaiian health 
plight and recommendations.
  The principal findings, Mr. Speaker, are that the indigenous 
Hawaiians continue to have the worst health and socioeconomic 
indicators of the various ethnic groups who call their home Hawaii: 
cardiovascular disorders, cancer, diabetes, obstructive lung diseases, 
maternal and infant ill health, alcohol problems, obesity, major life-
style risk factors, societal factors such as depopulation, foreign 
transmigration, colonial exploitation, cultural conflict and racism.
  Since 1990, Mr. Speaker, as a result of our native Hawaiian health 
programs funded here in the Congress and under our auspices, native 
Hawaiian communities have established five island-wide native Hawaiian 
health care systems to improve availability, accessibility, and 
acceptability of health services to all of the indigenous Hawaiian 
people, to provide them with resources.
  The health status is a grim one, Mr. Speaker, and I have to bring to 
your attention and to the rest of my colleagues the important matters 
which we have been addressing by congressional action and are now 
compromised.
  The House Committee on the Budget yesterday released a proposed 
budget for the Federal Government for the coming year. Mr. Speaker, I 
am saddened, not just outraged, but saddened by the effort contained in 
that proposal to eliminate funding for the native Hawaiian health care 
programs. Why the leadership of the Committee on the Budget and the 
leadership, Mr. Speaker, in the majority Republican Conference, has 
chosen to attack native Hawaiian health courtrooms is beyond me.
  The program addresses the documented needs of Hawaii's native 
citizens in a culturally relevant context. Of all of the races of 
people in the islands of Hawaii, the native Hawaiian people have had 
the most difficult times in health and social indicators. Why it is a 
position of the Republican majority to attack native Hawaiians is 
beyond my grasp at this time, Mr. Speaker.
  They are hurting people in the lowest socioeconomic status with the 
highest overall mortality rate, the highest cancer mortality rate, the 
highest accident rate, the highest years of productive life lost to 
chronic disease, the highest infant mortality rate. I could go on with 
this, Mr. Speaker. It is a litany that we are trying to overcome.
  These grim statistics can be attributed to the imposition of foreign 
cultures and practices upon the native Hawaiian people. Only since the 
1988 introduction of the native Hawaiian health program have we begun 
to turn these statistics around. We need the budget for it, and we have 
achieved a balanced Federal budget in the process. I voted consistently 
to achieve that goal.
  Mr. Speaker, I will end my remarks now, but will put forward the 
statistics as well as the background on the proposal to end these 
programs for native Hawaiians by the majority. I hope, Mr. Speaker, by 
the time we finish our budget proposal that we will be able to reverse 
this proposal.

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