Gov. Josh Green heading to D.C. to urge vaccinations
GEORGE F. LEE / HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER Gov. Josh Green urges everyone to get vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella, at an April 8 press conference in Honolulu.
Gov. Josh Green will board a coach seat for a red-eye flight to Washington, D.C., on Monday to testify in support of vaccinations after Hawaii's 90 % COVID-era vaccine rate resulted in the lowest COVID mortality rate in the country.
Green will appear on May 21, before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which intends to 'examine the development and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, ' according to the request for him to testify in person issued by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Green—America's only sitting governor who's also a medical doctor—previously testified against the Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary because of Kennedy's skepticism of vaccines.
So Green plans to also talk to the Senate committee about the need to encourage measles vaccinations.
Green expects vaccine skeptics to testify at the hearing that COVID vaccinations did not work because other communities that vaccinated residents at lower rates than Hawaii had high rates of deaths and illnesses, which only proves Green's point, he said.
'I'm sure measles will come up, ' Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 'I will give an impassioned plea to follow the science. … I disagree with their thesis that the COVID vaccines were not necessarily helpful.'
Hawaii's high rate of COVID vaccinations and low mortality rate 'benefited us and we ended up surviving. So it's an impossible invitation to pass up. … My unique position as a physician-governor make many of these opportunities possible and I can see this advantage to improve the treatment of Hawaii.'
Green's visit follows other trips by Green to the mainland and Washington, D.C., where's met with President Donald Trump and administration officials in the White House, including last week to Los Angeles, where he met again with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The two doctors speak the same language and Green has been urging Oz to oppose dramatic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Green began his Hawaii medical career serving low-income families in the rural Ka 'u District of Hawaii island who rely on Medicaid and Medicare, which have been targeted for cuts, along with food stamps and other federal programs that residents in Hawaii and all across the country rely on.
'It's made me possible to make the compelling case for saving Medicaid, ' he said. 'You will destroy rural health care. … With Medicaid, governors should be allowed to show a return on investment so our state and also Red States don't suffer.'
Green believes he has the ear of the administration and with some Red State Republican governors and Republican members of Congress because he can speak from experience about the value of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and how it can more streamline services to communities that face disasters like the Aug. 8, 2023 Maui wildfires.
Green has also suggested that FEMA develop a funding formula to get financial assistance within 72 to 96 hours to communities around the country that are affected by disasters.
'I want to earn enough respect so they'll listen to me when it comes to serious policy questions, ' Green said. 'I also have deep concerns about immigration.'
Behind closed doors, Green said Trump Administration officials, cabinet-level secretaries and Red State politicians often share similar concerns about cuts to federal services their constituents need—especially when they have to face voters in the November mid-term elections that are expected to serve as a referendum of the first two years of Trump's second term.
'Of course, I lean left, there's no question, ' Green said. 'We differ on a lot from an ideological standpoint. … But when I talked to the president, 'I said I want to have a good working relationship to do what's best for the country.'
Green said he told Trump that he will continue to speak out about Kennedy if Kennedy opposes or spreads doubt about vaccinations.
Trump, Green said, replied, 'say whatever you want about Kennedy. Just don't mention me.'
Green's relationships with the administration also enabled him to lobby to have the Army restore an online page on the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team as part the Trump Administration's purge of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Army said in March that 'The 442nd Regimental Combat team holds an honored place in Army History and we are pleased to republish an article that highlights the brave Soldiers who served in the 'Go-for-Broke ' brigade.'
During his trips, Green has also visited the Los Angeles Rams earlier this year and again last week, which resulted in the Rams announcing this month that they will hold a pre-season mini-camp on Maui June 16-19.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority supports the return of the Rams' mini camp to War Memorial Stadium after the Aug. 8, 2023, deadly wildfires that killed 102 people devastated Maui's tourism industry.
Green also spoke to the Rams to see if they would be interested in taking advantage of a bill the Legislature sent him allowing for naming rights on a new Aloha Stadium, along with the Hawai'i Convention Center.
Following a phone call with the Trump Administration in March, Green—who's Jewish—told the Star-Advertiser at the time that he was assured that the University of Hawaii 'is not on the chopping block for antisemitism ' just one day after the Trump administration warned UH and several dozen other colleges and universities that they were under investigation for alleged civil rights violations.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had sent shock waves throughout the 10-campus UH system with a notice that it was one of 60 institutions of higher education across the country that faced 'potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.'
Cancelling the investigation saved Hawaii $600 million in federal funding that could have been cut off, Green said.
Green said his connections with the administration also enabled him to convince the U.S. Department of Education to exempt Native Hawaiian, American Indian and Alaska Native history from being categorized as 'diversity, equity and inclusion ' or 'critical race theory ' under the federal government's new directive for the nation's schools.
Hayley B. Sanon, acting assistant secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, wrote in a letter dated April 25 that 'It is the position of the Department that American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian history is not classified as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI ) or critical race theory (CRT ), and the Department will not treat Native history as DEI or CRT.'
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