[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 117 (Friday, August 1, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S10915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      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.
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