Bill Has Virtually No Chance Of Success
Honolulu Star-Advertiser - March 31, 2011
Against seemingly long odds in both chambers of Congress, US Senator Daniel Akaka renewed his long-standing effort to secure federal recognition for native Hawaiians.
Akaka and Democratic colleague U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye introduced yesterday the latest version of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, better known as the Akaka Bill.
Democratic US Representatives Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa introduced the same bill in the House....
...At least one political analyst expects the measure to be dead on arrival in the partisan atmosphere of the nation’s capital. “I don’t think there’s any chance at all it would get passed,” said Neal Milner, a University of Hawai`i political scientist.
“The Republicans have had what they consider to be principled objections to the idea for the past, at least, five or six years, and that’s really what’s always kept it from going forward more than anything else.”
