Proposal on new tribes rejected
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By Katherine Hutt Scott
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — The Senate rejected a proposal yesterday to temporarily halt new federal recognition of American Indian tribes after Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawai'i spoke passionately about the centuries of injustices that European immigrants have inflicted on American Indians.
"The Indians have waited a long time for justice and this does not bring justice to them," Inouye, Democratic chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said in a rare floor speech.
A moratorium on decisions to recognize tribes would further lengthen the already cumbersome recognition process and is widely opposed by American Indians, Inouye said. He also noted last week that a moratorium could undermine the movement to recognize Native Hawaiians.
The Senate voted 80-15 to reject the proposal — offered by Connecticut Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joe Lieberman — to halt recognition actions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs until the government makes changes that Dodd and Lieberman have proposed in the recognition process.
The two senators have proposed legislation that would notify more people when a tribe petitions for federal recognition, make it easier for a tribe's neighbors to influence a recognition decision and require that tribes seeking recognition meet specific criteria.
Inouye said his committee will consider any proposals to improve the process.
The General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, criticized the tribal recognition process last year.
Currently, 222 Indian tribes in 37 states are petitioning for recognition.
The top Republican on the Indian Affairs Committee, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, opposed a moratorium and the changes proposed by Dodd and Lieberman.
"Since tribes have been playing by the rules and waiting many years for recognition, it seems unfair to impose this on them," said Campbell, the only American Indian in the Senate. "People have actually died waiting for recognition."
Tribes that obtain recognition have a government-to-government relationship with the United States and their land is generally exempt from most state and local laws. Recognized tribes also can pursue compacts with state governments to develop casino gaming.
