{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/representative-jill-tokuda-applauds-united-states-department-agricultures", "Representative Jill Tokuda Applauds the United States Department of Agriculture\u2019s Announcement to Review Food Price Data for the State of Hawai\u2018i", "2024-01-18", "2024", "2024-01", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Jill N. Tokuda", "T000487", "tokuda.house.gov", "tokuda", "https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases?PageNum_rs=8&", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Representative Jill Tokuda commended the announcement from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service to collect information on food price data for the State of Hawai\u02bbi as a whole. Tokuda led Members of the Hawai\u02bbi Congressional Delegation in highlighting the significant disparity between the cost of food on O\u2018ahu and in rural communities on the neighbor islands in Hawai\u2018i. The USDA currently uses food cost data from the City and County of Honolulu and does not account for the higher cost of food for those living in the other counties when evaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines the maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP ) benefit, for the state.\n\nRep. Tokuda introduced legislation in July to separate the Thrifty Food Plan study in Hawai\u2018i between urban and rural communities, which would better account for the cost of local food and help more families in Hawai\u2018i afford healthy and nutritious food.\n\n\u201cI am pleased that the USDA recognizes the gross miscalculation that has been occurring in only considering food costs in Honolulu,\u201d said Rep. Jill Tokuda. \u201cIt has been unacceptable to me that SNAP benefits for Hawai\u02bbi have been calculated in a way that ignores every island other than O\u2018ahu which is contributing to a reduction of SNAP benefits for Hawai\u2018i families. When I fly throughout my district, I walk through grocery store aisles and see the higher prices and often empty shelves. Our \u02bbohana in the Second Congressional District deserve better, and I encourage the local food industry and research community to participate in the USDA\u2019s Request for Information and submit comments on the price of food across our state.\u201d\n\nThe public can submit comments to the USDA online through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov; follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically. Comments may also be submitted via email to fns.foodplans@usda.gov or mailed to: Kevin Meyers Mathieu, Economic Advisor, Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Place, Fourth Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. All comments received in response to this notice will be a matter of public record.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T23:46:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/representative-jill-tokuda-applauds-united-states-department-agricultures"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0000322945415974, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}