Floor Speeches

   Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Rahall and the hardworking staff of the Natural Resources Committee for their dedication to the health and welfare of the many native peoples of this country and particularly for their work on this important legislation.

   I also want to thank my colleagues from Hawaii, Congressman Abercrombie and Congresswoman Hirono, for bringing this legislation forward in the House, as well as the bill's original author, Senator Akaka, for his tireless work on behalf of the people of Hawaii in the Senate.

   Our diversity is not only what makes us great but also what makes us American. My home State of Colorado is a beautiful land with awe-inspiring mountains and rugged landscapes, but the people are who make it truly beautiful. Colorado's rich history and diverse culture is interwoven with the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Ute peoples, who helped found our State and who continue to play such an important role in our vibrant diversity today.
   While Hawaiians celebrate the sun and while Coloradans treasure the snow, the same connection between land and people can be found in the unique beauty of Hawaii.

   As we have seen in Colorado, with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute and across the country, the U.S. has a longstanding policy of providing its indigenous people--those who exercised sovereignty until the United States expanded its borders into their homeland--with an opportunity to organize, to protect and to perpetuate their cultures and traditions and to look out for their interests. It is only right that all indigenous people should have a right to determine how they should interact with our government. This bill merely brings about parity in the U.S. treatment of its indigenous people--American Indians, Alaska natives and Native Hawaiians.

   H.R. 2314 would establish a Native Hawaiian interim governing council to develop elements of the organic governing documents and other criteria for the Native Hawaiian governing entity. These documents would detail the powers and authorities of the governing entity, but they would also include membership criteria as well as requirements for the election of government officials.

   The Secretary of the Interior would be required to certify that the organic documents meet specified criteria and are consistent with applicable Federal law and our Constitution. After this certification, the government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiians should be reaffirmed.

   It is also worth mentioning that these were the conditions set forward by the United States and that Hawaii agreed to in Statehood. These conditions of Statehood were set forth in the Admissions Act, signed August 21, 1959, which posed that the State of Hawaii would assume administration of the congressionally established Hawaiian Homes Commission Act trust, as well as ensure that former Hawaiian Government public lands held in trust would be utilized for one of five purposes, including the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.

   Like American Indians, Native Hawaiians have no other homeland to keep their culture alive. Like American Indians, disenfranchisement has left Native Hawaiians at the bottom of national health, education and economic rankings. Through all of this, however, Native Hawaiians continue to maintain their cultural identity and dignity as a distinct native community.
   This bill would reaffirm the Federal delegation of authority to the State of Hawaii, found in the State's Admissions Act, and would provide Native Hawaiians with the tools and status needed to preserve their vibrant culture and unique heritage for future generations.
   Last year, Madam Speaker, Hawaii celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Statehood. It is long past time that Congress grants the same opportunity for self-determination to Native Hawaiians. In 2000, the Hawaii Congressional Delegation offered the first Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Since then, Congress has held six joint hearings of the   Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and of the House Natural Resources Committee, five of which were in Hawaii, with a total of 12 congressional hearings within the last 9 years on the issue. The House has passed this legislation twice, in the 106th and 110th Congresses.

   While the bill has evolved over the years and has received input from many stakeholders, it has maintained true to its intent to extend the Federal policy of self-governance and self-determination to Native Hawaiians for the purposes of a federally recognized government-to-government relationship. This has received broad support from organizations and people across the ideological spectrum and the State of Hawaii.

   As a Representative of Native Americans who live in Colorado's Second Congressional District, I urge my colleagues in Congress to join me in passing this rule to honor and respect, not just this generation, but future generations of Native Hawaiians and to promote the diversity of cultures everywhere that make our country so great. I ask you to end half a century of neglect and to provide the Native Hawaiians with the same representation provided to other native peoples across the country.

   I reserve the balance of my time.

   Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, for more than 200 years, Congress, the executive branch, and the Supreme Court have recognized certain legal rights and protections for America's indigenous people. It's the moral and legal responsibility of Congress to reaffirm a political relationship with the native peoples of Hawaii, and H.R. 2314 will achieve this purpose.
  
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to pass this very fair rule that includes both Republican amendments that were filed and to allow for the further consideration of this bill on the floor of the House of Representatives.