Gee, I wish that life were so black and white that you can't think of a single person who, you know, a good person who has done bad things.
Mazie Hirono
Diversifying our energy sources will create jobs, improve our national security and lay the foundation for a strong, sustainable economy in the future.
The defense to slander is the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts.
My friend Patsy Mink was a champion for social and economic justice, equality and civil rights for women and marginalized communities. She was a trailblazer who never backed down from a challenge and whose work in Hawaii and Congress brought positive change to the lives of women, children, and minorities in Hawaii and across the country.
Women are problem solvers, and often we don't get much credit for that because the typical image of a leader is someone who's loud, obnoxious, chest-pounding. That's not my vision of what true leadership is; true leaders are the ones who work with great commitment to get something done.
It's worth remembering that immigrants come to this country to work, they don't come to get handouts.
America must not abdicate its global leadership role in the climate crisis to countries like China.
I was in sixth grade at Koko Head Elementary School in Honolulu, and was chosen to pin the 50th star on the American flag in front of my teachers and classmates at a special assembly to celebrate statehood.
As I walk to my office every morning, I know I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me.
Opinion is not slander.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders lies on a regular basis.
Browbeating the tech industry for a problem that does not exist also draws attention away from the real problems with Google and other tech companies.
We cannot afford to continue losing our coral reefs, which are suffering from a number of threats such as warmer temperatures, more acidic waters, and disease, and that is why Hawaii has become a leader in taking steps to mitigate the harmful impacts of sunscreen on our marine environment.
Going through economic hard times is something I know firsthand.
We should not forget what it felt like to watch Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testify, and what it meant to so many of us.
In our country, racism is never far below the surface.
Hawaii - the Aloha state - is built on the strength of its multicultural society, from our indigenous Native Hawaiian people to the many immigrants that followed.
The millions of people in our country with severe health-care needs needed to know that many of us in the House and Senate have those kinds of concerns, too.
There are people in our country, in our communities who are being marginalized and discriminated against every single day. I fight for them.
The passing of my friend and a great American hero, Dan Inouye, is a major loss for the country and Hawaii. But the people of Hawaii are strong and we will persevere.
Trump is a major motivation to be speaking out because I so disagree with some of the things that he decides on, and you notice there's a lawsuit on just about everything he does? My gosh.
There are people getting screwed in our country every single second, minute, hour of the day. And if by our work, we can decrease that number, we'll make a difference; we'll be doing our jobs.
It is amazing how our natural areas can change over our lifetimes.
We should all be treating each other like human beings.
For the Navy, developing alternatives to fossil fuels isn't just about fighting climate change - though that's an important side benefit. Biofuels will also play a much more practical role in the Navy's fuel mix, boosting our energy security and supporting the U.S. economy.
When we in Congress set the terms under which immigrants in this country must live, we wield a power that is checked primarily by our individual sense of fairness: the power to set taxes and make laws that apply to people who do not have representation.
Women are socialized to be very nice and put up with a lot of things.
Blue slips enable home-state senators to ensure that the federal judges serving in their states are highly qualified.
I wanted to be a counselor or social worker. That's one of the reasons I was a psychology major.
Don't talk to me about civility when you're separating families at the border.
I always saw my mother just making decisions that helped our family. It was much later when I realized how courageous she really was, and I came to understand what a risk-taker she was. That's very much a part of how I am.
I was almost 8 when my mother bravely brought her children to this country so we could have a chance at a better life.
Our country is made up of groups of immigrants who came here hoping for a better life. They created America. It's a sad thing to have so many people not remember that, including Trump.
I never took a path that was the usual path for someone in my generation. A lot of the women who I went to school with, in those days, it was still the track of becoming a teacher, becoming a nurse. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I didn't go down that path.
I would never criticize a judge just because he or she presides in another state, including Alabama.
Clearly, there is a growing market for affordable, abundant and sustainable energy. Industry is working to meet the needs of this market, and in the process is creating jobs, technologies and industries in states across the country.
In Hawaii, we understand that our way of life depends on a healthy ocean.
Nobody is entitled to a promotion to the Supreme Court.
I lived out in the Koko Head area as a kid, when it was all farms. We would walk over that mountain into Hanauma Bay almost every day.
That makes a difference when you have all these Asian faces running then getting elected. You have some 30 people, many of them Democrats, running for Congress. When the community sees the other faces who look like them can run and win, I think it encourages them.
I will work hard to ensure Hawaii's strategic position in our national security remains strong.
We all know that the earlier cancer is detected the more successful treatment will be, and my cancer had spread to my ribs and that was a very fast-growing cancer.
My deep emotional connection to my mother, a remarkable woman who made a hard choice to save her children, and who valiantly struggled to care for us as a single parent, is the current that has driven my entire life. Everything I've accomplished is a testament to her fortitude.
I am fighting kidney cancer. And I'm just so grateful that I had health insurance so that I could concentrate on the care that I needed rather than how the heck I was going to afford the care that was going to probably save my life.
In Hawaii we understand why it is important to malama, or take care of, our land, ocean, and air - our way of life depends on it.
Both political parties should be able to support the idea that taxpayers who are lawfully present, working, and paying taxes should be able to use the programs their tax dollars pay for - it is only fair.
If I had to wait around for somebody to pick me for lieutenant governor, I never would have been picked.
I hope that my uniquely American journey can help pave the way for others, especially women, to step into their own immense power.
I had run other people's campaigns. I had been doing political activities for a decade before I ever ran for office myself. That is so much the experience of women of my generation. We always feel as though we have to bring so much more to the table, and that never stops the guys.
I did not want the #MeToo movement to be swept under the rug.
