Jill N. Tokuda

Madam Speaker, imagine sending your 13-year-old daughter to school and waiting nearly 50 years for her to come home.

That is what Sakie Yokota has endured since North Korean agents abducted her daughter, Megumi, in 1977. As a parent, that thought is absolutely heartbreaking.

I think about my own sons. I imagine them growing up without me at an age so young that, after all those years, they might not even recognize my face.

Koichiro Iizuka knows what that is like. His mother was abducted when he was just 1 year old.

There are 17 Japanese citizens officially recognized as having been abducted by North Korea. While 5 returned home, 12 remain unaccounted for.

Their families have grown old waiting. Many passed away. Sakie is now 90 years old. Every year without answers is another year stolen from them.

This is not only Japan's tragedy. David Sneddon, an American college student who disappeared while hiking in China in 2004, is also believed by his family and many others to have been abducted by North Korea. His fate remains unknown.

These cases are a warning. When governments are allowed to make people disappear, no family and no country are beyond their reach.

Japan is one of America's closest friends and allies. If President Trump has an opportunity to speak to Kim Jong-un, he must raise these abductions directly. He must press for the return of every abductee and a full, credible accounting for those who remain missing, including David Sneddon.

Diplomacy cannot be limited to weapons, sanctions, and security agreements. It must also be about human beings. Democracies must stand together in defense of our people and their most basic human rights. Time has already taken far too much from these families. We cannot allow silence to take away their last hope for answers.

restoring funding for public broadcasting

Madam Speaker, this is not the first time I have taken to the floor to talk about Kauai Community Radio, KKCR.

When Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KKCR lost $83,000. I warned then that this wasn't simply about radio programming. It was about whether communities would have a trusted lifeline when disaster strikes.

Last week, Hurricane Lowell proved the point. When the storm hit Kauai, power went out across the island. Cell service and internet became unreliable. Roads were blocked. Trees came down. Communities were cut off.

KKCR stayed on the air. When the power failed, they switched to a generator. When the internet went down, they used a donated Starlink connection. When trees went down around their North Shore station, they kept broadcasting.

For a time, KKCR was the only station that Kauai could hear. They carried updates from the mayor and emergency management officials. They relayed calls from listeners who were reporting weather, road conditions, and power outages in their neighborhoods. They told people where they could find food, ice, water, and help. They played music to keep people calm. In the digital age, when clocks and phones had gone dark, they even reminded people what time it was.

KKCR was founded after Hurricane Iniki to provide emergency communication. More than three decades later, Hurricane Lowell shows us why that mission still matters.

This is what Congress put at risk when it cut public broadcasting-- not entertainment but a lifeline. We must restore this funding because when the next disaster comes, the question is not whether people will need KKCR. It is whether KKCR will still be on the air to answer the call.

Madam Speaker, imagine sending your 13-year-old daughter to school and waiting nearly 50 years for her to come home.

That is what Sakie Yokota has endured since North Korean agents abducted her daughter, Megumi, in 1977. As a parent, that thought is absolutely heartbreaking.

I think about my own sons. I imagine them growing up without me at an age so young that, after all those years, they might not even recognize my face.

Koichiro Iizuka knows what that is like. His mother was abducted when he was just 1 year old.

There are 17 Japanese citizens officially recognized as having been abducted by North Korea. While 5 returned home, 12 remain unaccounted for.

Their families have grown old waiting. Many passed away. Sakie is now 90 years old. Every year without answers is another year stolen from them.

This is not only Japan's tragedy. David Sneddon, an American college student who disappeared while hiking in China in 2004, is also believed by his family and many others to have been abducted by North Korea. His fate remains unknown.

These cases are a warning. When governments are allowed to make people disappear, no family and no country are beyond their reach.

Japan is one of America's closest friends and allies. If President Trump has an opportunity to speak to Kim Jong-un, he must raise these abductions directly. He must press for the return of every abductee and a full, credible accounting for those who remain missing, including David Sneddon.

Diplomacy cannot be limited to weapons, sanctions, and security agreements. It must also be about human beings. Democracies must stand together in defense of our people and their most basic human rights. Time has already taken far too much from these families. We cannot allow silence to take away their last hope for answers.

restoring funding for public broadcasting

Madam Speaker, this is not the first time I have taken to the floor to talk about Kauai Community Radio, KKCR.

When Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KKCR lost $83,000. I warned then that this wasn't simply about radio programming. It was about whether communities would have a trusted lifeline when disaster strikes.

Last week, Hurricane Lowell proved the point. When the storm hit Kauai, power went out across the island. Cell service and internet became unreliable. Roads were blocked. Trees came down. Communities were cut off.

KKCR stayed on the air. When the power failed, they switched to a generator. When the internet went down, they used a donated Starlink connection. When trees went down around their North Shore station, they kept broadcasting.

For a time, KKCR was the only station that Kauai could hear. They carried updates from the mayor and emergency management officials. They relayed calls from listeners who were reporting weather, road conditions, and power outages in their neighborhoods. They told people where they could find food, ice, water, and help. They played music to keep people calm. In the digital age, when clocks and phones had gone dark, they even reminded people what time it was.

KKCR was founded after Hurricane Iniki to provide emergency communication. More than three decades later, Hurricane Lowell shows us why that mission still matters.

This is what Congress put at risk when it cut public broadcasting-- not entertainment but a lifeline. We must restore this funding because when the next disaster comes, the question is not whether people will need KKCR. It is whether KKCR will still be on the air to answer the call.

Mr. Speaker, after the Lahaina wildfire, West Maui knew we could not afford to wait to strengthen fire protection and emergency response, so the community got to work.

They donated land and raised $3 million to build a new fire station in Olowalu. This station will cut emergency response times by up to 15 minutes. That can mean the difference between life and death, between a home burning and a home being saved. It will also cut fire insurance costs by nearly half for homeowners, saving families thousands of dollars annually.

The land was donated. The money was raised. The project was fully funded. Then President Trump's steel tariff slapped over $300,000 to the cost, not because the project changed, not because it went over budget, but because the President changed our trade policy. This is what reckless tariffs look like in real life.

Today, it is a fire station on Maui, but across our country, families, businesses, and communities are paying more because of the President's tariffs, including for the things that they need to keep themselves safe.

A fire station is not a luxury, not in West Maui, not after Lahaina. I am fighting to get relief for Olowalu, but we cannot fight these tariffs one fire station, one small business, or one community at a time. Congress has the constitutional authority over tariffs and trade, and it is time we take that responsibility back.

No President should be able to unilaterally impose tariffs that make it harder and more expensive for Americans to protect their homes, their communities, and their lives.

West Maui has already paid too high a price. We should be making communities safer, not making safety more expensive.

Hurricane Lala

Mr. Speaker, Hurricane Lala never technically made landfall in Hawaii, but disasters aren't measured by whether the eye of a storm crosses a shoreline. They are measured by what they leave behind, and Lala left devastation.

Over 3 days, an estimated 1.3 trillion gallons of rain fell across our State. Hawaii Island took the brunt of it, with some communities seeing 20 to 40 inches. I saw the damages myself.

At Na'alehu Elementary, buildings were pushed off their foundations by the force of water and debris. Parts of Highway 11 were washed away. At Na'alehu Cemetery, floodwaters tragically disturbed the resting place of generations of loved ones.

Hundreds of homes across Hawaii were damaged or destroyed. At the height of the storm, over 200,000 people were left without power.

However, I also saw Hawaii at its best: neighbors checking on neighbors, community hubs feeding families, supplies flown in by helicopter and carried on horseback to communities cut off by damaged roads, school workers preparing food and hygiene supplies for our ``children,'' ``keiki,'' even while their campuses were closed.

When disaster strikes, Hawaii shows up. Now Washington needs to show up for Hawaii. I am grateful the President approved an emergency declaration, bringing critical FEMA resources to Hawaii, Maui, and Honolulu counties, but we need a major disaster declaration and individual assistance to help our families, farmers, and small businesses recover.

The storm may be gone, but the emergency is not. Families are still without power. People still need food, medicine, clothing, and basic necessities. Roads, homes, schools, farms, and businesses need to be repaired and rebuilt. Even as we recover, we have to prepare, because the Pacific is still churning. More storms are coming, and they will not wait for Hawaii to recover.

We need to replenish supplies, strengthen critical infrastructure, restore essential services, and make sure our most isolated communities are prepared to withstand whatever comes next.

Help our people recover, prepare for what is coming next, and do it now. That is what Hawaii needs from Washington.