Indian Affairs OKs Hawaiian recognition bill
Susan Roth and Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — With the Native Hawaiian recognition bill set for action on both the Senate and House floors, Hawai'i senators are honing strategies for the bill's passage.
Meanwhile, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is preparing to set up a presence in Washington D.C. to lobby for the bill and prepare for its possible implementation.
"Now is the time to lobby," said OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona.
Apoliona cautioned that the bill still faces several hurdles, including winning the support of the Bush administration: "It's not smooth sailing yet," she said.
As expected, the bill easily passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee by voice vote yesterday, with no questions or objections.
In May, the measure breezed through the House Resources Committee.
Floor action is expected first in the House, where the bill has the backing of several Republican leaders. In the Senate, scheduling debate on the measure is not likely to be a problem under the new Democratic leadership. But some Republican senators still oppose the bill.
"The political dynamics associated with the passage of the bill in the Senate remain much the same as they were in the last congressional session," said Patricia Zell, Democratic staff director of the Indian Affairs Committee.
Hawai'i Sens. Daniel Akaka, who has led the effort on the bill, and Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, said much work remains. Both are Democrats.
"We know you can never get 100 percent," Akaka said, "but we feel strongly that we have the majority of the Native Hawaiian community on our side. We will be working on it in the Senate. We will work with the leadership first in scheduling the bill on the floor, and then we will work to inform our colleagues about it."
Akaka said the fact that the Democrats have a majority in the Senate, albeit a slim one, makes "a huge difference. I feel there is more weight on our side because of that one vote, and it is a big psychological difference."
Inouye said he did not feel there is such a big difference, noting that "the players are the same," and any one senator can delay a bill. He said he expects the measure to hit the Senate floor in October, after the Senate deals with the majority of the 13 spending bills moving through Congress.
As a high-ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee with responsibility for the military budget, Inouye will have leveraging opportunities when the dealing over the tight budget heats up as expected in September. The Native Hawaiian bill could pass as part of another piece of legislation, such as a spending bill, or it could move on its own.
Last year, the measure passed the House and the Senate committee only to stall on the Senate floor, blocked by a small group of conservative Republicans who said they believed it would create unfair advantages for Native Hawaiians.
Hawaiian nationalists, meanwhile, sent letters and e-mails to members of Congress, arguing that the bill threatened to forfeit their full claims to land and other entitlements, and charging that the proposed legislation did not enjoy the full support of the Hawaiian community.
The bill aims to clarify the political relationship between Native Hawaiians and the U.S. government by extending the federal policy of self-determination and self-governance to Hawaiians. It would set a framework for creating a government-to-government relationship similar to those of American Indian tribes. The measure also expressly prohibits all forms of gaming, in tandem with Hawai'i law.
Only three members of the 15-member committee attended the meeting and voted on the bill: Inouye, Akaka and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, the former chairman and now senior Republican on the panel.
Campbell, the only American Indian in Congress, said Inouye had allayed his concerns of last year that the bill's passage would let Hawaiians gain in money and programs at the expense of Indians. He pledged to work with the senators and support the bill.
"It was really only opposed by two or three senators last time, and one of them is not here now," Campbell said, referring to Republican Slade Gorton of Washington state, who was defeated for re-election.
Campbell noted the bill has strong support from all major American Indian and Alaska Native groups. He said he suggested to lobbyists on the Native Hawaiian bill that they work with Indian groups in various states to gain the support of their senators. The senators are more likely to listen to their own constituents than people from Hawai'i, Campbell said.
But at least one of those senators — a member of the Indian Affairs Committee — is not likely to be moved by such a tactic. James Inhofe, R-Okla., one of those who blocked passage of the bill last year on ideological grounds, "is still going to be a 'no' vote whenever this comes up," said spokesman Gary Hoitsma.
"I don't expect Senator Inhofe to play an active role in this debate, but I think our position is well known from past discussions of this bill and our position hasn't changed," Hoitsma said.
Hoitsma said Inhofe remains concerned that the bill will "create competition for resources that go to Indian tribes." He said Inhofe also is worried that its passage will open the door to other groups seeking special federal status.
"He just doesn't think the approach of designating this community as a nation is an appropriate precedent to set when there are so many other ethnic groups of Americans who might seek to do the same," Hoitsma said.
Jon Van Dyke, a constitutional law professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said Native Hawaiians have a valid claim to land and other resources and will have to negotiate for those entitlements if the bill passes.
"Exactly how much land will be returned, and which lands? It will be controversial," Van Dyke said.
