Neil Abercrombie: “this bill before us is the result of years of bipartisan and nonpartisan work, which has been mentioned. I take second…”

“this bill before us is the result of years of bipartisan and nonpartisan work, which has been mentioned. I take second to none my regard for Mr. Flake and recitation once again of our personal regard for one another; however, I am afraid that the reason I have to oppose this motion to recommit is for precisely the reasons I mentioned during our previous dialog. I am pleased that he actually read what the motion to recommit says because the part here, and you may recall in my previous commentary where I said we can't be sure what the consequences might be unless we have had a chance to vet them. The bill itself has been vetted again and again by counsel on both sides of the aisle and by groups that have an interest in the bill. This is the consensus that this meets all relevant legal technicalities. Here, look what it says: "The Native Hawaiian governing entity shall be subject to the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights and other protections in the same manner and to the same extent as a State or local government of the United States." That is an invitation to an avalanche of litigation. How are you going to define "same manner" and "same extent" of a State or local government?…”