Douglas Alexander: “one of the parliamentary mysteries of the Senate is that we are now about to move, as was reported, to the Native…”

“one of the parliamentary mysteries of the Senate is that we are now about to move, as was reported, to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Some might wonder why. I was presiding, as the Senator from Minnesota is now, earlier in the week. I heard an eloquent speech by a Senator from the other side of the aisle, the Senator from Vermont, who said we ought to ``focus on solutions to the high [gasoline] prices, something that hurts people in your state and mine, the rising cost of health care . . . the ongoing situation in Iraq. . . . We're not going to talk about any of those things,'' said the Senator from Vermont, from the other side of the aisle. Yet as a result of efforts there, on that side of the aisle, we are now moving ahead to the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, S. 147. The legislation may seem insignificant, but I am here today to say that, in this seemingly insignificant piece of legislation, is an assault on one of the most important values in our country. It is a value so important that it is carved in stone above the Chair of the Presiding Officer. It is our original national motto: E Pluribus Unum, one from many. This bill is an assault on that principle because it would, for the first time in our country's history, so far as my research shows, create a new, separate, sovereign government within our country, based on race, putting us on the path of becoming more of a United Nations than a United States of America.…”