U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda introduced legislation to shore up the federal Supplemental Nutrition Program — or SNAP — to help more than 37,000 low-income families in Hawaii afford healthful and nutritious food.

Tokuda’s Feeding Rural Families Act of 2023 would adjust the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Thrifty Food Plan — Alaska and Hawaii, which Tokuda said in a news release Tuesday is “based on food cost data from Honolulu and (does) not account for the higher cost of food for those living on neighbor islands.”

Tokuda represents rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that SNAP benefits for Hawaii have been calculated in a way that ignores that we are an island state,” she said in the release. “Any calculation that only considers Oahu is disregarding our neighbor island communities. When I fly throughout my district, I walk through grocery stores and see the higher prices and often the empty shelves. It’s outrageous that while even Alaska has provisions to calculate for both urban, rural, and remote areas, Hawaii has been left out.

“My bill calls for fairness for our rural and remote communities and asks for the same considerations provided to Alaska. Our ohana in the Second District deserve better than this arbitrary data collection area for the Thrifty Food Plan that would result in a significant reduction in SNAP food money for my constituents who need it most.”

Even on Oahu, state Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe- Laie-Mokuleia) said his constituents have plenty of need for support for healthful food, especially in Kahuku and Kahaluu.

“We need it, food assistance,” he said. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic ended, “we’re still doing food drives. People who used to be middle income no longer have savings and can’t afford anything beyond the necessities.”

Awa, in general, questioned communities’ reliance on “taxes and government” but said that people, particularly Native Hawaiians, are moving to cheaper communities on the mainland because of Hawaii’s cost of living.

Before the pandemic, he said, Kahuku “was a community that was just now getting by, but can’t anymore. If she’s (Tokuda) helping, we need it.”

State Rep. David Tarnas (D, Hawi-Waimea-Waikoloa) said there are thousands of SNAP recipients in his district and welcomed Tokuda’s bill, which he said should receive bipartisan support in a divided Congress from U.S. legislators who also represent rural districts with low-income residents.

“It would be a significant help to my constituents in this part of Hawaii,” Tarnas said. “Rural Hawaii has a lot of folks that rely on additional food assistance.”

Shoring up support for SNAP would allow KTA Super Stores to continue to partner with Hawaii island farmers to sell locally grown food at reasonable prices, which Tarnas said benefits everyone.

Tokuda’s bill represents her goal of reaching across a divided Congress to find consensus with Republicans to address common concerns in their districts, particularly as a member of the House Committees on Education and Labor and Agriculture.

“It seems like Congresswoman Tokuda could build alliances with other representatives from rural parts of the mainland and find common ground,” Tarnas said. “Her modus operandi is always to build alliances … reach across the aisle, reach across the country. I’m hopeful she can do that.”