The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a hearing today on S.297, a bill to change the federal recognition process.

The bill codifies the standards for groups seeking federal status. It provides for grants and other assistance to petitioners and interested parties, and it seeks to speed up the process by imposing deadlines on the Bureau of Indian Affairs and by imposing a limit of Freedom of Information Act requests.

The hearing will take place after a business meeting on S.344, a bill to recognize a Native Hawaiian government, and S.1721, a bill to change the probate process for Indian lands.

The hearing starts at 9:30 a.m. in Senate Dirksen Room 106. An audio-only feed may be available at http://www.capitolhearings.org. The committee's web site is http://indian.senate.gov.

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