Posted on: Friday, January 7, 2005
McCain could block vote on Native Hawaiian bill
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Concern is mounting in Washington and among supporters of the Akaka bill here that the measure, which seeks to give Native Hawaiians federal recognition, faces serious opposition from the Republican senator now heading the committee considering it.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this week told the Stephens Media Group's Washington bureau that he would rather increase money going to existing Native Hawaiian programs than extend Hawaiians a "nation-within-a-nation" status similar to that accorded Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
McCain left Washington after being sworn in and was unavailable for comment yesterday; Hawai'i Sens. Dan Inouye and Daniel Akaka also could not be reached.
McCain spokeswoman Andrea Jones told The Advertiser yesterday that the federal recognition measure, known as the Akaka bill, is expected to be heard by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which McCain now heads as its chairman.
"I'm sure there will be hearings on this and I'm sure there will be meetings about this," Jones said. "It is premature to be saying anything. He will talk to Sens. Akaka and Inouye, and there most likely will be hearings."
Noe Kalipi, deputy legislative director for Akaka, also told The Advertiser that the Hawai'i senators plan to meet with McCain. She emphasized that the senators have a written agreement with the GOP leadership that the Akaka bill would be brought to the floor for a vote no later than Aug. 7.
Responses from Hawai'i officials were worded cautiously but showed concern. Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday that McCain did not mention his opposition to the bill when she spoke with him over lunch in November, while the senator was here to tape a television appearance at Pearl Harbor.
The governor said she would try to meet with McCain when she travels to Washington in February to attend a National Governors Association meeting.
Clyde Namu'o, administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, is in Washington and said OHA attorneys are checking into a legal barrier to federal recognition that McCain reportedly cited.
Specifically, McCain told a Stephens reporter that when Hawai'i attained statehood "there was an implicit agreement at that time that Native Hawaiians would not receive the same status as Native Americans."
Namu'o told The Advertiser that OHA attorneys have reviewed the statehood law and committee records and have not found evidence of such an agreement.
"We think there are probably issues that Sen. McCain needs to be briefed on," he said.
Lingle and her advisers have said on other occasions that they believe they have had a role in keeping the Bush administration neutral on the bill, which has been quietly opposed by several Republicans since it was introduced in 2000.
McCain's colleague, U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., had used the Senate's procedural rules to block the bill. Kyl described the bill in a 2003 letter to a constituent as a "recipe for permanent racial conflict."
