Neil Abercrombie: “I admire his independent spirit; I admire his devotion to this House; I admire his steadfast sense of responsibility in…”

“I admire his independent spirit; I admire his devotion to this House; I admire his steadfast sense of responsibility in the various amendments that he offers. I wish I could support it on the basis of that friendship and in my admiration for him. Yet I would like to say in that context--and I hope I am stating the purpose of the amendment correctly--that Mr. Flake wants to require any native governing entity to comply with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. If I had to summarize it in a sentence, that's the way I would put it. In the course of his remarks, he asked, Why not make sure? I think that's a perfectly reasonable request, but my contention would be, in asking that the amendment not be voted favorably upon, that precisely what he seeks to succeed in with his amendment is exactly what is in the bill, itself, which is in the amendment as a substitute. Mr. Flake's amendment then is duplicative of current Federal law.”