[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8752-S8753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMENDING THE NATIVE AMERICAN TOURISM AND IMPROVING VISITOR EXPERIENCE
ACT TO AUTHORIZE GRANTS TO INDIAN TRIBES, TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND
NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATIONS
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, S. 612 is a bipartisan bill that amends
the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act, which
authorizes grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations and Native
Hawaiian organizations to support recreational travel and tourism
activities.
This bill just makes it easier and less bureaucratic for both the
administration and the recipients of this grant program. I am glad it
is passing today as the 15th bill from the Indian Affairs Committee to
pass out of the Senate this year.
I am proud of the work we have done on the committee, on a bipartisan
basis, with Chair Murkowski and others. There is a lot more work to do
to support Native communities across the country in the new year.
Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No.
72, S. 612.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 612) to amend the Native American Tourism and
Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize grants to
Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian
organizations, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill,
which had been reported from the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Mr. SCHATZ. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 612) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading,
was read the third time, and passed as follows:
S. 612
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. NATIVE AMERICAN TOURISM GRANT PROGRAMS.
The Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor
Experience Act (25 U.S.C. 4351 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 6 (25 U.S.C. 4355) as section
7; and
(2) by inserting after section 5 (25 U.S.C. 4354) the
following:
``SEC. 6. NATIVE AMERICAN TOURISM GRANT PROGRAMS.
``(a) Bureau of Indian Affairs Program.--The Director of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs may make grants to and enter
into agreements with Indian tribes and tribal organizations
to carry out the purposes of this Act, as described in
section 2.
``(b) Office of Native Hawaiian Relations.--The Director of
the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations may make grants to
and enter into agreements with Native Hawaiian organizations
to carry out the purposes of this Act, as described in
section 2.
``(c) Other Federal Agencies.--The heads of other Federal
agencies, including the Secretaries of Commerce,
Transportation, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and
Labor, may make grants under this authority to and enter into
agreements with Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and
Native Hawaiian organizations to carry out the purposes of
this Act, as described in section 2.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $35,000,000 for
the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.''.
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, this summer marks an important milestone
in the great American experiment. On July 4, 2026, our country will
celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding--a nation founded on
the universal principle that all people have inherent God-given rights.
To protect those rights, our forefathers established a democratic
republic.
Throughout the year, communities from sea to shining sea will hold
events celebrating our rights and freedoms.
This is also a fitting time to reflect on our Nation's history. The
story of America is filled with acts of courage and righteous
struggles. America has
[[Page S8753]]
not always lived up to its high ideals; however, the principles laid
out in its founding document have proved enduring.
The Declaration of Independence states:
All men are created equal . . . endowed with certain
unalienable Rights . . . life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
This has been successfully wielded to secure freedom for those
overlooked at our Nation's founding.
One of those overlooked things that we are not very proud of--not
proud of at all--is slavery. In a speech delivered in 1852, the great
abolitionist Frederick Douglass quoted these words to land a damning
blow against slavery. His Fourth of July speech made it patently clear
that the practice of slavery was an affront to the universal principles
enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence was also influential to the women's
suffrage movement. It was used as a model for the movement's
Declaration of Sentiments, which was signed at the first women's rights
convention, organized by women in 1848.
The history of the suffrage movement has a special place in my heart,
so I am going to show you a front-page story of the Des Moines Register
of August 30, 1920. You can see the same picture in the Waterloo
Courier.
This woman is Mrs. Louis Grassley--Ruth Grassley, my mother. August
30 is 1 or 2 days after the Secretary of State of the U.S. Government
informed the secretary of state of Iowa that women could vote. And
there was an election in Black Hawk and Grundy Counties that my mother
participated in 1 day after the Secretary of State said that women
could vote. I think this goes back a couple of weeks before that
because Tennessee, by a 1-vote margin, was the 36th State out of the 48
States at that particular time--the last State--to ratify the 19th
Amendment. Then, I presume, it took a couple of weeks to get it out to
the States that they could vote. So I presume that on August 29 or
maybe even as late as August 30, through a telephone call to this
meeting that women could vote, my mother was voting.
My mother was Ruth Corwin Grassley. She was, as I just told you, one
of the very first women--for sure in Iowa but maybe in the entire
United States--to cast a vote after the ratification of the 19th
Amendment. As I just showed you in the Des Moines Register and also the
exact same picture in the Waterloo Courier--it verifies what I just
told you.
The Waterloo Times Tribune reported this quote:
Black Hawk and Grundy County women gained fame Friday by
being the first in the state and probably the first in the
nation to take advantage of the privilege of equal suffrage.
Growing up, I was unaware that my mother took part in this history.
In fact, this picture came to my attention probably 20 years after my
mother's death. She never bragged about anything, so it is not
surprising that we did not hear about this part of her life in history.
She took great pride in being a dedicated schoolteacher. She
instilled in her students and in her own children lifelong lessons of
civic responsibility. I imagine she saw herself as simply exercising
her freedom to vote to make sure her voice was counted.
To honor my mother and all suffragettes, I proudly cosponsored the
Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. It was enacted at
the end of 2019. The bill authorized the U.S. Mint to issue special-
edition silver-dollar coins commemorating the adoption of the 19th
Amendment in 1920. This program resulted in the sale of over 56,000
coins, with a portion of the proceeds being directed toward the
Smithsonian Institute's American Women's History Initiative.
The U.S. Mint is now set to commemorate like coins for the 250th
anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. This includes five
quarter designs emblematic of this historic anniversary and
commemorative dollar coins. My understanding is the original five
quarter designs will depict historic American events, such as women's
suffrage and abolition.
I am obviously here because I am very much interested in the fact
that it doesn't look like they are going to have a women's suffrage
coin. The current Treasury Department abandoned the designs that were
first suggested, and the women's suffrage coin was one of those. In my
view, this is a very big mistake. The forthcoming anniversary is a
perfect time to honor historical events that have made America what it
is today. The historic victory won by suffragettes after more than 140
years of fighting for the right to vote is as worthy as any.
While the Treasury has since finalized five different quarter
designs, it has yet to announce the final designs for other
commemorative coins. To correct the mistake that was recently made,
Treasury officials should consider honoring the suffrage movement and
other worthy events as part of the 250th anniversary commemorative
dollar coin program.
You can see that I am kind of shocked that the executive branch of
government would change what was studied for a while and suggested. It
didn't meet the ideology of this administration. I don't think that
what they want to substitute is not worthy of consideration, but I
think we have to remember that in the preamble of the Constitution, it
didn't say that we were going to create a perfect Union; it was that we
were going to work toward a more perfect Union. And when we forget the
work of women for 140 years who tried to get the right to vote and one
of them--the suffragettes--is from the county next to the county I
spent 92 years in, living in Iowa, we take great pride in what it took
to get the 19th Amendment adopted.
So I hope I can get some reconsideration on the part of the
administration about honoring the suffragettes with a coin at this
particular time.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
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