AKAKA BILL STUDY SNUCK INTO OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL

US Senator Daniel Inouye has snuck into the Omnibus spending bill an appropriation for study of native Hawaiian recognition.

The appropriation is related to his support for the Akaka bill, otherwise known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.

Opponents of the Akaka Bill and government transparency advocates are concerned that the study provides no vehicle for public involvement, testimony or legal analysis and instead appears to simply be a working group — conducted in secret, with no particular beginning or end.

One Congressional source remarked, “If Inouye wants it to be a meaningful study, then it needs to be structured in a way that truly grapples with the legal, policy, and cultural questions in an organized fashion.

"Perhaps he does not really want that and instead is just tossing this study into the bill as an admission of defeat. If he wants it to work, then this isn’t the best way of doing it.”

INOUYE PUTS FORTH OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL IN U.S. SENATE

Akaka Bill Hidden Deep Inside?

Associated Press - December 9, 2010

In the Senate, Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawai`i, backed by Democratic leaders, has fashioned an omnibus spending measure — providing almost $20 billion more than the House bill — that he wants to substitute for the measure being passed across the Capitol.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opposes Inouye's move, but GOP members of the Appropriations Committee, such as Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are open to the idea.