[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 65 (Friday, May 10, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 3286

  (Ms. FURSE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to express my support for the 
adoption bill we are considering today, but I also want to express 
adamant opposition to the title III amendments to the Indian Child 
Welfare Act.
  I have worked on native American issues since 1974. The Child Welfare 
Act was passed in 1978, after days of hearings. It was a much-needed 
law. Thirty-five percent of Indian children were adopted out of their 
tribes at that time. The changes proposed today will change the Indian 
Child Welfare Act drastically, and the worst thing about it, Mr. 
Speaker, is there will be not 1 hour of hearings.
  The other worse thing about it is, not one tribe has been consulted. 
That is like passing a law that affects your constituents without even 
talking to someone in your State.
  The proposed Indian Child Welfare Act amendments are antifamily, and 
they are anti-Indian. I urge my colleagues, to vote ``yes'' on the 
Young-Miller motion to strike.

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