From hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the Hawaiian monk seals to hundreds of millions for military construction, Congress released a flood of money into Hawaii, notwithstanding the supposed frugality of the Republicans in charge.
"As objectively as I can say it, I think Hawaii did very well," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who is generally credited with steering most Hawaii projects through the Congress from his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I had no problems with the Republican majority."
But Inouye warned that next year, when the president for the first time will have a line-item veto, is likely to be different.
Many of the Hawaii projects are not usually part of the president's budget request but are added on by Congress, he said.
In Hawaii, the recipients of the money were understandably pleased.
"We think it's great," said C. Barry Raleigh, dean of UH's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, which operates the current oceanography vessel and expects to operate the new one.
The current ship, the Moana Wave, is due to be taken out of commission next year, said Raleigh, and finding a replacement was the university's top priority for federal aid.
The replacement was greeted with intense criticism from other oceanographic institutes, which called it an unnecessary drain on scarce federal dollars.
At the East-West Center, officials are equally grateful, though perhaps not as delighted, with their share of the federal pie. The $10 million set aside by Senate-House negotiators for the Honolulu center is less than the $11.75 million it got this year - but $10 million more than the House wanted to spend. And it will be enough to avert more layoffs at the center, which last year, following a steep cut in federal aid, laid off half its staff.
The $16 million set aside for Hawaii in a Veterans Affairs bill will continue work on the Spark M. Matsunaga Medical Center in Honolulu. When completed, the center will include an ambulatory care facility, a nursing home and an emergency wing.
More money will flow into Hawaii for construction at military bases throughout the state.