A bill to grant a Federal charter to the National American Indian Veterans, Incorporated.

Mr. President, I rise to discuss bipartisan legislation that I have introduced with Senator Lujan which would grant a Federal charter to the National American Indian Veterans, Incorporated, known as NAIV.

The NAIV was chartered in 2004, with headquarters located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Reservation in South Dakota. The NAIV was originally established as the result of a request by former Senators Akaka, Inouye, and Nighthorse Campbell during a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee in 2004.

At that time, no Native American veterans organization had ever received a congressional charter. Sadly, that remains the case today, nearly 20 years later. But that omission would be fixed by this legislation.

The NAIV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that operates solely for charitable, literary, educational, scientific, patriotic, and civil improvement purposes. It provides a voice to

Native American veterans whose unique needs are not always represented adequately by other organizations.

Native Americans are the highest serving race per capita in the U.S. Armed Forces, often serving at a rate five times over the national average, and have served with distinction in every U.S. conflict over the last 200 years. They also have some of the highest concentration of women servicemembers. According to a 2020 VA statistics report, there are over 140,000 Native American veterans across the Nation today. Discussions with Tribal leaders would indicate that this number is most likely an undercount and the true number likely approaches 200,000.

The NAIV serves the interests and needs of Native veterans in all 50 States. It conducts activities in collaboration with its national leadership and its 14 regional offices. Tribes rotate to host regional and State NAIV meetings. This is all done in a decentralized manner, respecting the independence and sovereignty of all Tribal nations.

NAIV often has been the only national Native American veterans organization invited to testify before Congress on issues facing Native veterans nationwide. NAIV works to make sure that our Native American veterans receive the benefits, compensation, and resources that they have earned. Among its activities, NAIV provided critical support for construction of an American Indian Veterans Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery in California.

In addition, COVID-19 had a significant impact on Tribal reservations, and the NAIV secured over 5 million masks, thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer, and personal protective equipment to respond to the pandemic. It distributed these critical resources to over 375 Tribes in 30 States at no cost to our veterans or their Tribes.

NAIV also serves on the Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group of the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee and has been a tireless advocate of providing broadband access to Tribal communities throughout the Nation.

Last week, we celebrated Veterans Day, an opportunity to honor our veterans for their service. Also, last week, we finally saw the dedication of the National Native American Veterans Memorial on the National Mall here in DC. While the Native American Veterans Memorial actually opened in 2020, due to COVID, the dedication did not occur until this year.

I believe we have the opportunity today to address another overdue recognition of our Native American veterans by finally approving the Federal charter for the National American Indian Veterans, Incorporated, to recognize all the work the organization does on behalf of our Native American veterans.

Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 1725 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I wanted to say how pleased I am to finally see this bill pass the U.S. Senate. I want to underscore, again, the situation of recognizing the important work done by the NAIV to benefit our Native American veterans.

I particularly want to recognize the work done by Mr. Don Loudner of Mitchell, SD, who has led the NAIV since its inception in 2004. Don has served as an Army officer and is a combat veteran of the Korean war. He served with my father in the National Guard in South Dakota, as well. He also served in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Census Bureau and has spent decades supporting our Native American veterans. I want to thank

him for his 70 years of service to our Nation.

I would also like to thank Senator Hirono for the open communication that we have received in coordinating and successfully passing these pieces of legislation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, 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.

It would likely shock many of my colleagues to learn about the gender-based violence and sex trafficking numbers in Hawaii and of sex trafficking survivors in Hawaii. Over 70 percent are Native Hawaiian women and girls. But yet, Native Hawaiian organizations cannot actually serve Native Hawaiian women through these grants.

By passing this simple technical fix, we can ensure that Native Hawaiian women can access the benefits and support included in the critical Violence Against Women Act.

I am very glad that my colleague from Hawaii is presiding as we have this debate.

So now I would ask if the Senator would modify his request so that immediately following the disposition of S. 1725, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 7, which was introduced earlier today; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate?

Mr. President, I would just like to commend my colleague for his work with the Native American veterans and for working with me to pass S. 7, which is a very necessary bill for Native Hawaiian women. Aloha.