Inouye says debt crisis shouldn’t affect rail funding

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said on Monday that the debt crisis should not endanger federal money for Honolulu’s rail project.

“Well, the decisions made so far — and also by the committee — will not involve itself in line items like the East-West Center or the University of Hawaii or the rail,” the Hawaii Democrat said at a meeting with reporters in his Honolulu office. “They just say ‘so much for defense,’ ‘so much for the State Department,’ and then you work in between the caps, within the caps.”

The senator offered assurances that federal money for rail will be available.