With Democrats controlling the U.S. House of Representative by razor-thin margins, even a small group of the party’s lawmakers can wield leverage. That appeared to be the intent on Friday, when a group of nine — including Hawaii’s Rep. Ed Case — bucked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s current strategy to steer the Biden agenda through Congress.

Citing risk of squandering a “once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package,” the centrists said they would not consider voting for an ambitious $3.5 trillion budget resolution until the House approves the $1 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure package and sends it to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Hawaiian homesteaders in D.C.

The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations closed its Washington, D.C., office due to the pandemic last year. Robin Danner, who chairs the organization, is reopening the bureau in the hopes of improving the program, with its famously long waiting lists. For example, there is a bill to change blood quantum for successors on homestead leases.

The pandemic has taught everyone the value of online conferencing, but it appears, in some cases, there’s no substitute for being there.