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Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)

U.S. Senator (since January 1963)

(Inouye Senate Web site)

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: U.S. Senator (since 1962); U.S. Representative (1959 to 1963); Hawaii Territorial Senate (1958 to 1959)
Birthday: Sept. 7, 1924
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii
Alma Mater: University of Hawaii, B.A. (government and economics), 1950; George Washington University, J.D., 1952
Spouse: Irene Hirono
Religion: Methodist

State Office: Honolulu, 808-541-2542; Hilo,808-935-0844; Kaunakakai, 808-560-3653; Kona, 808-935-0844; Maui, 808-242-9702; Molokai, 808-560-3653
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Path to Power

Inouye's experiences from being born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the son of Japanese immigrants have shaped his life and career as a politician.

At the age of 17, Inouye saw the consequences of war first hand when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. That day, he rushed to help the injured with his first-aid training.

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World War II Veteran

Shortly after the attack, Inouye attended the University of Hawaii for pre-medical studies before he left school in March 1943 to enlist in the U.S. Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team, also dubbed the "Go for Broke" regiment of soldiers with Japanese ancestry.

Inouye was promoted to the rank of sergeant and became a combat platoon leader during the Italian campaign where for three months the platoon participated in the Rome Arno campaign with the U.S. Fifth Army. By the fall of 1944, Inouye's unit was shifted to the French Vosges Mountains where it spent two weeks rescuing a Texas battalion surrounded by German forces.

During the course of the war, Inouye lost 10 pounds and his right arm. He earned the Medal of Honor of for "extraordinary heroism" on April 21, 1945, when near San Terenzo he led his platoon through "formidable resistance" to capture a key ridge.

His Medal of Honor Citation states in part: "With complete disregard for his personal safety, Second Lieutenant Inouye crawled up the treacherous slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two grenades, destroying the emplacement. Before the enemy could retaliate, he stood up and neutralized a second machine gun nest. Although wounded by a sniper's bullet, he continued to engage other hostile positions at close range until an exploding grenade shattered his right arm. Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his platoon until enemy resistance was broken and his men were again deployed in defensive positions."

After losing his arm, Inouye spent 20 months in an Michigan before he was honorably discharged in May 1947 as a captain in the service. Along with his Medal of Honor, Inouye took with him a Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart with cluster, and 12 other medals and citations.

Political Career

Once he left the service, Inouye returned to the University of Hawaii and graduated with the finical assistance of the the G.I. Bill before heading to law school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Inouye headed back to Hawaii after completing law school to serve as a deputy public prosecutor for the City of Honolulu.

Then, in 1954, he turned toward politics and was elected to the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives before he was elected to the Territorial Senate in 1958.

A year later, in 1960, Inouye headed to Washington, D.C., when he was elected to the U.S. House. The WWII veteran moved over to the Senate two years later and remains there today.

Inouye was considered as a vice-presidential running mate when he was 43. According to tapes from the Lyndon Johnson library, Johnson urged Hubert Humphrey to consider picking Inouye as his running mate in 1968.

The Issues

Inouye is a moderate senator who is praised for his emphasis on collegiality and evenhandedness. He assumed the reins of the full Senate Appropriations panel after serving on the committee since 1971, he continues as the top Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

Amid questions about his health, 90-year-old Sen. Byrd (D-W.Va.) announced in November 2008 that he would step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee in the 111th Congress.

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"I hope that I am sufficiently prepared to succeed my mentor who has assisted and guided me over the past 30 years, and in particular, during the years that he has led this important panel with distinction," Inouye said in November 2008.

With an eye toward the future, Inouye didn't plan to overhaul the way the Appropriations Committee operates, including the handling of earmark requests and the way approved earmarks are disclosed. "It will be the same," he said in November 2008.

Groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense and Citizens Against Government Waste have sought greater transparency in the committee's practices, including calling for open hearings and making the text of appropriations bills quickly available on the Internet. A key part of the appropriations process is earmarking, usually direct federal funding of projects in lawmakers' home states that are popular with constituents. Opponents argue that earmarks are based on clout rather than merit, but supporters maintain that earmarks are vital for getting federal money to states.

Iraq and Afghanistan

The WWII veteran opposed going to war with Iraq, but has been a soft-spoken critic of the Bush administration's tactic of keeping U.S. troops in the war-torn country. "We won that part of the war, the part the military can win," Inouye said on the Senate floor April 26, 2007, before the chamber held a vote on a supplemental Iraq spending bill. "We failed in not preparing for the aftermath of direct conflict, and now we are enmeshed in an untenable position."

The senator from Hawaii's tone has remained strikingly different from his counterpart's in the House. The late Defense Appropriations subcommittee head John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) was stridently critical of the Bush administration and insisted on a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as a chief lieutenant of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Although Inouye has made speeches at Democratic leaders' request, he has avoided loud denunciations of George W. Bush and his policies. His approach to war spending bills and demands by Democratic leaders for a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal has been to broker a deal that made withdrawal a goal but not a mandate.

In 2007 when Bush announced his troop surge, Inouye spoke opposed the plan because he believed it would only make the situation there worse.

For several years, he also opposed increasing troops in Afghanistan, which he saw as essentially a lost cause. But after a trip to the country in the fall 2009, he supported Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops. "I believe Gen. McChrystal's assessment of the current situation and his conclusions, including his assessment that coalition forces must have more daily contact with the people of Afghanistan, ... is what is needed if we are to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan."

Friendship With Former Sen. Ted Stevens

During a tumultuous year in the Senate marred by partisan fighting and a contentious presidential election, Inouye crossed party lines to testify in court on behalf of his Republican counterpart on the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee, then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), and even campaigned for his reelection.

Stevens was accused of violating ethics laws by not disclosing tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and services that he allegedly received from an energy company in Alaska. Both Inouye and Stevens served in WWII, hail from the last two states to join the union, and have worked closely over the decades on military issues.

Inouye told the court he is so close to Stevens and his family that the Alaska senator's daughter calls him "Uncle Dan." He added that he's "never known of (Stevens) to lie, and I wouldn't expect him to."

After Stevens was convicted of seven felony ethics laws just days before the November 2008 election, Inouye said he hoped Alaskans would "continue to believe" in Stevens, who faced a difficult path to winning reelection against Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage. Inouye raised money for his colleague and even campaigning for him in Alaska. Inouye even gave Stevens $10,000 in 2007 from his "leadership PAC," a political action committee set up to receive donations and distribute the money to other politicians.

Stevens' ultimately lost the election, but the federal court later threw out the charges against him because of prosecutors' mistakes. He died in 2010 in an Alaskan plane crash.

The Network

As the top appropriator in the Senate, Inouye worked closely with the committee's ranking member, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). He also collaborated with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). In the House, Inouye worked with retiring Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) and the committee's top Republican, Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.), to iron out the differences between spending bills. As the panel's chairman, Inouye will also work closely with the Obama administration and cabinet secretaries on budgetary issues.

Inouye's plans to remain the chairman of the subcommittee responsible for Defense spending, which will mean he will work closely with Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and C.W. 'Bill' Young (R-Fla.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, respectively, on military-related issues.

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