NAN A. S. HAYWORTH: “There is much to praise in this bill; and yet as this legislation came together in conference, an indignity has been…”

“There is much to praise in this bill; and yet as this legislation came together in conference, an indignity has been thrust upon this body and the legislative branch of government. What we witness tonight, my colleagues, is the triumph of the unelected, where legislative staffers, along with staffers from the executive branch, presume to know more than the duly elected officials of this body. And so in a closed conference, in 15 minutes' time, a provision is added to this bill which passed neither the House nor the other body and is thrust upon us at the last nanoseconds of the 11th hour in a cynical attempt to say, Come on, we dare you. There is needed firefighting money in here. We dare you to vote against it. This cuts to the core of our legislative branch and our system of coequal and separate branches of government. We cannot allow the First Americans to remain the Forgotten Americans.”