Daniel Inouye: “I concur in the views of my colleagues, and add that the 1994 Act has been implemented without the benefit of any…”

“I concur in the views of my colleagues, and add that the 1994 Act has been implemented without the benefit of any regulations for the past six years. Accordingly, I can imagine no undue hardship would come to the Department if the final regulations are silent as to eight of the hundreds of issues addressed in the draft regulations. As to these eight so-called ``impasse'' issues, I would encourage the Department to simply not issue any regulatory provisions that touch upon these objectionable issues. As I understand it, the ninety-five percent of the remaining regulations that deal with other issues are acceptable to the Indian tribes. The Department should publish those as final and withhold from publication of the eight provisions that are objectionable. I would inquire of the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs as to the nature of the eight objectionable provisions.”