Capitol Hill briefs for July 22: Affordable housing, Iran war, military promotions, Jones Act and more

Caste co-introduces bipartisan measure to boost affordable housing

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat who represents Hawai‘i’s First Congressional District, and Delegate James Moylan of Guam co-introduced Case’s bipartisan Transit Oriented Development Act to drive greater development of affordable housing in areas nationwide designated for transit oriented development, such as along the Honolulu Skyline.

“The affordable housing shortage remains one of the most significant drivers of the unacceptably high cost of living facing most Americans,” said Case in a press release. “In my home state of Hawaiʻi, this crisis is particularly acute. Housing costs consume an outsized share of household income, forcing working families to make impossible choices between rent, groceries and health care.”

The proposed Transit Oriented Development Act of 2026, among other things, would increase the credit for buildings in transit-oriented development areas, increase eligibility for noncontiguous states and territories and require U.S. Housing and Urban Development to complete a study regarding adjustment of tax credit allocations to reflect geographic cost-of-living difference.

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Schatz: No Trump Administration objectives met in Iran

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz pressed U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the President Donald Trump Administration’s failure to meet goals it set out at the beginning of the war in Iran, including regime change and destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“I go back to the original five objectives,” the Hawai‘i Democrat said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing for a supplemental budget request. “And none of them have been met. Some of them have changed, but none of them have been met.”

Schatz said about 190,000 people in Hawai‘i voted for Trump. He knows a lot of them and represents all of them. One of the reasons they were enthusiastic about Trump — and Hegseth — was the promise of a new foreign policy, thrilled about the idea that “America First,” in their minds, meant the nation was not going to do “this kind of adventurism.”

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Schatz, Booker demand investigation into military promotions blocked by Hegseth

Following reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked promotions of several well-qualified military officers based on political bias, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawai‘i Democrat, and Senate colleague Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey demanded an independent inspector general investigation.

“Secretary Hegseth’s alleged use of his personal views and perceptions on race and gender to interfere with the promotion process completely nullifies the extensive, competitive, rigorous and merit-based vetting process of candidates that the selection boards put forward,” wrote the senators in a letter to U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General Platte Moring. “It is clear his determinations are antithetical to the standards that should be assessed when considering promotions. We request a review of Secretary Hegseth’s reported removal of officers from the various selection boards’ lists.”

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Case calls on Trump to again extend Jones Act waiver

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat who represents Hawai‘i’s First Congressional District, asked President Donald Trump to grant another 60-day extension of a Jones Act waiver, which is set to expire Aug. 15, citing continued global shipping disruptions, constrained fuel supply chains and rising gasoline and energy costs in Hawai‘i, along with implications for U.S. military readiness in the Indo-Pacific.

Among reasons the lawmaker in his latest letter to Trump urges the president to extend the waiver because contracts for the acquisition and shipping of fossil fuel products to U.S. ports are signed well in advance of shipping and delivery and failure to provide clarity on that timeframe will seriously disrupt shipping options and prices with wide ranging effects.

The century-old federal maritime law mandates all cargo shipped between U.S. ports be transported on U.S.-flagged vessels, excluding most ships operating in global trade that are flagged internationally. With fewer than 100 oceangoing Jones Act vessels nationwide, limited domestic capacity faces no international competition, contributing to higher shipping costs.

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Hirono co-introduces legislation to protect multilingual services

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, a Hawai‘i Democrat, and her Senate colleagues New Jersey’s Andy Kim and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York co-introduced the Language Access for All Act aimed at protecting language access requirements for federal agencies and fighting initiatives by President Donald Trump’s Administration to reduce multilingual services available at federal agencies.

Trump signed an executive order in March declaring English as the official language of the United States and revoking a 25-year-old mandate requiring agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide meaningful language access to individuals with limited English proficiency. The U.S. Department of Justice has also issued new guidance minimizes multilingual services and redirects resources toward English language education and assimilation.

The Language Access for All Act would modernize and strengthen the federal government’s approach to language access by establishing a coordinated, accountable framework to ensure meaningful access for people with limited English proficiency. The legislation promotes consistency across agencies, increases transparency and public engagement and updates federal language access policy to reflect evolving technologies. Companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives was also introduced.