Mazie Hirono: “reserving the right to object--Senator Rounds, I do not object to the substance of your bill. As a member of the Senate…”

“reserving the right to object--Senator Rounds, I do not object to the substance of your bill. As a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am very much in favor of the contributions made to our country by Native Americans and certainly the Native American veterans. However, for a long time, I have been trying to get a very simple technical fix to the Violence Against Women Act that would allow Native Hawaiian organizations to serve Native Hawaiian women. As we all know, VAWA provides support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, dating violence, and stalking. Tragically, Native women across the country--that would be Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, American Indian women--experience disproportionately higher levels of sexual violence, which is why VAWA includes STOP grants to provide funding for eligible Native organizations, nonprofits, including Native Hawaiian organizations, to serve Native women. However, in spite of the fact that Native Hawaiian women are represented among the disproportionately high number of survivors of gender-based violence and sex trafficking, and despite the fact that Native Hawaiian organizations are eligible for these grants, because of a drafting oversight, these Native Hawaiian organizations eligible for these grants cannot serve the Native Hawaiian community.…”