Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to express my thanks to the Majority Leader for laying down the cloture petition on the motion to proceed to S. 147. As many of my colleagues are aware, I have worked closely with Hawaii's senior senator to bring the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act to the Senate floor for debate and vote. We have struggled for five years to bring this bill to the floor.
I applaud the Majority Leader and the Democratic Leader for their efforts to uphold a commitment that was made last year for a debate and vote on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act prior to the August recess. While I am very disappointed that we were not able to consider the bill, I look forward to action on S. 147 when we return in September.
This is a bipartisan bill which is widely supported in Hawaii. The bill is supported by Hawaii's Governor, Linda Lingle, the first Republican governor in Hawaii in 40 years, who testified in strong support of the bill before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The bill is also supported by the Hawaii State Legislature which passed resolutions in support of the bill in 2000, 2001, and 2005. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Cantwell, Coleman, Dodd, Dorgan, Graham, Inouye, Murkowski, Smith, and Stevens. I want to especially thank the bill cosponsors who have actively worked with us to try to get this bill before the Senate.
S. 147 sets up a process for the reorganization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity for the purposes of a federally recognized government-to-government relationship. Congress has always treated Native Hawaiians in a manner similar to that of American Indians and Alaska Natives because of its recognition of Native Hawaiians as indigenous peoples.
Some have argued that Native Hawaiians are not native "enough" for a government-to-government relationship. There is no doubt that Native Hawaiians are indigenous to Hawaii. There is no doubt that Native Hawaiians exercised sovereignty over the Hawaiian archipelago. There is no doubt that Native Hawaiians had a governing structure and entered into treaties with the United States, similar to that of their American Indian and Alaska Native brethren.
Where we differ is that whereas most tribes have been allowed to retain their governing structure, Native Hawaiians, following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, were forbidden from maintaining their government. Native Hawaiians did, however, maintain distinct communities, and retained their language, customs, tradition, and culture despite efforts to extinguish these "native" practices.
The bill does not create a new relationship - Congress has long recognized its legal and political relationship with Native Hawaiians as evidenced by the many statutes enacted to address the conditions of Native Hawaiians. This bill does not create a new group of natives - we have always been here, in fact we were here before the United States. Rather, this bill establishes parity in federal policies towards native peoples in the United States by formally extending the federal policy of self-governance and self-determination to Native Hawaiians.
I look forward to a full and thorough debate on this bill in September. I urge all of my colleagues to support the petition to invoke cloture - after five years, the people of Hawaii deserve to have this issue considered by the Senate. If you oppose the bill, then vote against it, but give us the opportunity to debate the merits of this bill. Unfortunately, there are some in this body who do not even want to allow us to debate this issue. I ask them to carefully consider their position over the August recess. While I respect their ability to use Senate procedure to prevent us from considering this measure, I do not agree with their tactics. I believe the people of Hawaii deserve more than that - we deserve a full debate and up or down vote on this bill.
Once again, I thank the Majority and Democratic leaders for working with us to bring this issue before the Senate for its consideration.
