{"id":24817,"date":"2022-06-01T12:26:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T16:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=24817"},"modified":"2022-06-02T11:42:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T15:42:20","slug":"senate-committee-on-indian-affairs-hosts-field-hearings-in-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/06\/01\/senate-committee-on-indian-affairs-hosts-field-hearings-in-hawaii\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosts field hearings in Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Troop<\/a>
The Troop Hula dance group performs during an Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration in Hawaii on May 26, 2022. Photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Amy Biller \/ U.S. Navy<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosts field hearings in Hawaii<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, June 1, 2022<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n• Link to Livestream: youtu.be\/L7duNlgGKko<\/a><\/strong>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Senate Committee on Indian Affairs<\/a> is on the road this week, hosting two field hearings in Hawaii.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe committee is in Honolulu, the state capital on the island of O\u02bbahu, for the first field hearing on Wednesday<\/a>. A second one is taking place in Hilo, on the big island of Hawai\u02bbi, on Thursday<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe field hearings are titled \u201cUpholding the Federal Trust Responsibility: Funding & Program Access for Innovation in the Native Hawaiian Community.\u201d It’s a subject frequently raised by Sen. Brian Schatz<\/a> (D-Hawaii), the chair of the committee.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“The federal government has a special political and trust relationship with Native Hawaiians and that includes providing health care,” Schatz said at a hearing last Wednesday to consider the nomination of Roselyn Tso<\/a> to serve as director of the Indian Health Service<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n \"Brian<\/a>

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) serves as chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in the 117th Congress. Photo: Senate Committee on Indian Affairs<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut it’s not just Native Hawaiian health care that Schatz has focused on during his leadership of the committee. Since the start of the 117th Congress in January 2021, nearly every hearing<\/a> has included a witness from the state of Hawaii, with Native leaders, representatives and officials addressing a wide range of issues, including languages, housing, telecommunications, infrastructure and repatriation.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThis week’s field hearings appear to be the first in Hawaii since the committee was led by the late Sen. Daniel Akaka<\/a> (D-Hawaii). During the 112th Congress, Akaka held a field hearing on Native homeownership in April 2012.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“The United States has a trust relationship with Native Hawaiians as the indigenous people of these islands, of the state of Hawaii, and of what is now the United States,\u201d Akaka, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 93, said at the time.\r\n

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