HONOLULU (KHON2) — The conflict in Iran continues Monday as oil prices have skyrocketed to over $100 per barrel, and Iran named Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader.
Hawaii Representative Jill Tokuda says the Trump administration’s policies that have led to this point are unacceptable.
“The question every American should ask themselves is, do I feel safer today than I did before this all started? Higher gas prices, literally tens of thousands of Americans fleeing the Middle East because there’s no plan to extricate them before the bombs dropped, service members killed,” Tokuda said.
Meanwhile, NewsNation reports that the US is spending $1 billion per day on the war effort, and Reuters reports that the Pentagon may seek around $50 billion supplemental budget for Middle East operations.
“Look at that number,” Tokuda said. “A billion dollars a day, and that’s probably at the lower end of how much it costs, and you can’t put a price tag on American lives that we lose as a result of this war.”
“When I think of all the things we could do with a billion dollars a day based on the war on affordability we’ve got right here at home,” Tokuda said. “It’s disgusting to think of where it’s going right now,”
Rep. Tokuda is back home in the islands after voting for a war powers resolution to stop the administration from continuing to attack Iran, where she will begin a series of town hall meetings.
“To really be a true and authentic voice, to really know that we are fighting for the things that people at home care about,” she said of the meetings. “We have got to go to the people. We’ve got to meet people where they’re at which is why the annual statewide town halls that I do, the listening sessions I do, are so important.”
By: Sam Spangler
Source: KHON 2