U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye has issued the following statement regarding recent criticism by Republican senators over the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals meeting on Maui:

I continue to be disappointed by my colleagues’ position on this issue. Here we sit, six months away from a series of devastating mandatory spending cuts, and they insist on attacking a Ninth Circuit judicial conference by equating  Hawaii’s natural beauty to “opulence” and implying that judges and lawyers would be rendered incapable of doing the very serious work of the court. Sadly, I have heard this line of reasoning from the first day I set foot in the nation’s Capitol. Yet, ever since I began my service in the Congress in 1959, Hawaii has served as an international meeting place where business executives and world leaders meet to manage their affairs and discuss the serious issues of the day. One need look no further than November, when Hawaii hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. We welcome more than seven million visitors a year to our shores and hundreds of professional conferences are held in Hawaii each year, largely because Hawaii offers affordable accommodations that fit any budget. Over the years I have been advised by many of the attendees of these “costly” Hawaii conferences that their meetings are very productive. For one thing the weather is better. It is 83 degrees in Hawaii right now. It was 103 in Washington the other day. Need I say more?

Photo of Kaanapali courtesy Randy Son Of Robert.