Schatz town hall draws hundreds
Nearly 250 people gathered at the Kahilu Town Hall in Kamuela on Tuesday to engage with U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who fielded over a dozen questions about topics ranging from ICE raids and protecting democracy, to the environment and America’s relationship with Israel.
Concerns about cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also were brought up several times in questions from residents.
Schatz advised that understanding new eligibility requirements and managing the paperwork of the newly required biannual re-enrollment was critical to maintaining access to both services, touting support staff at clinics who help guide people through the process.
Schatz also encouraged federally supported clinics to avoid closing or drastically downsizing for fear of funding losses, and instead “brace” for the next 18 to 36 months while the true impact of the sweeping legislation becomes more clear.
“I just think that’s the thing that’s on everybody’s mind with these Medicaid cuts,” Schatz told the Tribune-Herald after the town hall about why this issue was the most important for him to address.
“We’ve really got to try to reverse this law,” he said, referring to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “But in the meantime, we’ve got to band together and make sure everybody across Hawaii Island remains eligible for both Medicaid and SNAP.”
Armando Rodriguez, coffee grower with Aloha Star Coffee Farm and president of the Aloha Latinos Hawaii Association, asked Schatz what he planned to do to protect people like him from the mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of Latino people — some which have been found to be legally unwarranted — occurring across the country, including several on the Big Island since May.
Schatz told the crowd that, “it very much matters how we rally together for our fellow residents on Hawaii Island: peacefully, but forcefully, with moral clarity about how we treat each other.”
He also evoked a historic Taiwanese battle tactic that he feels could be effective known as the “porcupine strategy,” in which a less powerful group makes a fight so daunting that the stronger party chooses to abandon its efforts.
“I want to be very clear. I don’t want anybody to interfere with any law enforcement action, but I do want to prick their consciousness. I want them to feel uncomfortable with what they’re doing. ….We want them to make the assessment, after a couple of runs, that this place ain’t worth it. It’s too far away, there’s too little support. Stay away, it’s a porcupine,” Schatz said, eliciting applause and cheers from the crowd.
Schatz also was asked how the Democratic Party can get out of its own way, gain a better public opinion, and achieve advancement on liberal policies.
Schatz made it clear to the crowd he thinks the Democratic Party’s self-referential and divided messaging is both self-defeating and an unnecessary distraction from the important universal needs of the American people. He also encouraged Democrats to be welcoming to former Trump voters who now disagree with the administration instead of being punitive about their past choices.
“All of the discourse on the right is about how terrible the Democrats are, and half the discourse on the left is how terrible the Democrats are,” Schatz said, calling disputes between the center-left and far left an “endless cycle of factional dominance” for “who’s at the top of this mountain called Losing All The Time.”
“I really believe that the more we focus on regular people, the better. … I think that we spend a lot of time using language that does actually exclude people and does make it seem like we’re the ones that don’t want to have any fun. I actually think one of the things we need to do is loosen up a little bit,” he said.
In response to questions about the environment, the senator encouraged maintaining hope in the “decades long” fight ahead against climate change. He also denounced Elon Musk’s SpaceX missile waste being dumped into Hawaiian waters and assured the crowd that, despite staff cuts, environmental agencies like NOAA, NASA, and the National Weather Service will continue to function.
For questions about how citizens can defend democracy, Schatz said the answer lies in taking care of each other at the community level.
“I think it’s really important for us to continue to be an example of how the United States ought to be. … If you’re really asking where you can make the most impact, find 10 people to help stay enrolled in Medicaid. Find some way to help people get SNAP benefits. Push more for clean energy, push more to protect the vulnerable. That’s what we should all be doing, and we should be doing it in our own neighborhoods, not on Instagram,” Schatz said, to loud applause.
The topic of U.S. arms support for Israel during its military actions in Gaza was brought up by two people. Schatz said he voted for the first time last year and the second time this year to withhold arms from Israel, and that he will continue to vote no on any arms transfer deals Congress weighs in on.
“Israel as a home for the Jewish people is a principle, an idea, that I believe in very strongly. I think the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government has done more to undermine the safety of Israel, Israelis, and Jews than any of Israel since its founding,” he said. “The conduct of this war has been absolutely inexcusable, and the weaponization of famine has caused a lot of people who consider themselves supporters of Israel to draw a real distinction between the people and their government.”
The second commenter — who prefaced by telling Schatz he was a “fellow Jew” worried about America’s future historical perception — was so upset by Schatz not publicly committing to an immediate Israeli arms embargo that he loudly said, “What a bummer,” after the senator’s response and yelled, “Nazi collaborator,” as the town hall concluded.
Other attendees, however, said after the event that they were pleased with Schatz’s answers.
“His comments were exactly in alignment with what we’re seeing as an industry as the tactics going forward,” said John White, the chief executive officer of Hamakua-Kohala Health. “To help people navigate the Medicaid enrollment changes, having to do it now twice a year, it’s a lot. We practiced (large-scale re-enrollment support) once already (during) COVID … so we’ve gotten our feet wet and know all the processing systems to do that.”
He added that he also found Schatz’s advice on areas other than health to be“right on point” because “part of total health is food security, housing, transportation and medical care, of course.”
“I thought the questions were excellent, and I thought he was very thoughtful in answering them. He was truthful,” said Diana Nui of Honoka‘a. “I didn’t feel like he was hedging on anything, and I thought everybody appreciated what he had to say. I certainly did.”
“I appreciated him reminding us that we have a role to play, and that democracy is not an observer sport,” Waimea Community Association President Patti Cook said. “I liked what he had to say about being porcupines and really not being passive and letting stuff happen, but stepping up and speaking up and showing up.”