WASHINGTON — Sen. Daniel Akaka said yesterday he has received assurances from Republican leaders that they are still working to bring a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill to the Senate floor.

Akaka said he spoke with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist late Thursday and majority whip Mitch McConnell yesterday and that both said Republicans would talk over the weekend about how to proceed.

Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said he told them that he and Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, are still prepared to try to force a vote on the bill next week. "He told me, 'I really want to make this happen,' " Akaka said of Frist.

The Senate will soon break for August recess and is expected to consider major defense, gun liability and transportation bills next week. Republican leaders had promised a debate and vote on the recognition bill by August but might instead propose a debate after the Senate returns in September.

"My feeling now is I want to do it next week," Akaka said. "Up to now, I don't even want to consider (September.)"

A spokesman for Frist issued a statement yesterday indicating that movement on the bill is possible. "The majority leader continues to work with colleagues to resolve outstanding issues regarding (the bill) for its timely consideration in the Senate," said Bob Stevenson, Frist's communications director.

Akaka, and many people from Hawai'i who had traveled here in anticipation of a debate and vote, were disappointed after several Republicans put holds on the bill and raised other objections to keep it off the floor.

Clyde Namu'o, the administrator for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said, "We're going to leave it in the hands of our senators."

The fact that negotiations are ongoing, with both Republicans and the U.S. Department of Justice, suggests that the bill could advance to a vote this year after more than five years of procedural hurdles in the Senate.

Inouye told reporters earlier this week that something as consequential as the Akaka bill, which would create a process for Native Hawaiians to form their own government, would take time.

"After all, it took many decades before the Congress finally decided to consider statehood," Inouye said. "And yet we knew that every justification existed for that. It's just a matter of time. This is a nation of diverse people with many different philosophies and different cultural backgrounds, so you don't expect unanimity overnight."

Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday she received a written commitment from Congressman Tom Cole, R-Okla., to support the bill in the House of Representatives. Cole met with the governor this week in Washington.

In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom Delay, Cole encouraged his colleagues to "allow the timely consideration of this important, historic, and long-overdue piece of legislation."

Said Lingle: "Congressman Cole's letter to the House leadership clearly addresses many of the issues some have raised about the bill."

Meanwhile, it was "Aloha Friday" at the Washington Nationals baseball game yesterday at RFK Stadium against the Houston Astros. More than 150 people with Hawai'i ties attended.