Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions - S. 1565
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. INOUYE:
S. 1565. A bill to reauthorize the Native American Programs Act of 1974; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, August 11, 2003, will mark the 25th Anniversary of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978.
I am proud to have served as one of nine original co-sponsors of this Act, joining Senators Abourezk, Goldwater, Gravel, Hatfield, Humphrey, Kennedy, Matsunaga and Stevens to introduce the Joint Resolution on December 15, 1977.
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act states that it is the policy of the United States to preserve and protect the traditional religions of the American Indians, Aleuts, Eskimos and Native Hawaiians. It was necessary to declare this policy to begin to counter the ill effects that stemmed from the policy of the 1880s to the 1930s that sought to ban the exercise of Native American traditional religions.
With the American Indian Religious Freedom Act policy in place, Congress built on this foundation to develop more specific legislation in 1989 and 1990 to provide for the repatriation of Native American human remains, sacred objects and items of cultural patrimony that were taken from Native Americans during the time of that Federal policy attempted to eliminate the practice of their religions.
From time to time, the Congress has also returned certain sacred lands to Native Americans for their traditional religious use.
The Committee on Indian Affairs has been conducting a series of oversight hearings on Native American sacred places and has found that many of these areas are being systematically damaged and destroyed, and Native Americans have no specific statutory authority that would enable them to defend their traditional religious areas in court.
I believe that this twenty-fifth anniversary year of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act is a fitting time for Congress to amend the Act, to assure that Native Americans have the legal means to protect their places of worship.
I believe it is time that we join together in enacting legislation that will fulfill the policy promise of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.