Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, I want to thank everybody for being part of this series of very compelling speeches about the atrocities that the U.S. Government perpetrated against the first peoples of the United States.

For over 150 years, the U.S. Government stole hundreds of thousands of Native children from their families and communities and forced them into federally run and supported ``boarding schools,'' often far away from their homes. These institutions, by design, worked with efficient, brutal, and systematic diligence to force Native children to abandon their culture, abandon their language, and abandon their very identity through unspeakably cruel punishment, abuse, and neglect. As one school superintendent noted: ``Only by complete isolation of the Indian child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily educated.''

These inhumane policies were part of the government's longstanding colonial project to rob Native people's land through assimilation. The goal was to ``civilize'' Native children by killing the Indian in him and saving the man. That was the motto at the time: Killing the Indian and saving the man.

These were not faraway bad guys. These were employees and agents of the U.S. Federal Government. To hear this history today is appalling, it is infuriating, it is heartbreaking, because as the late Senator Ted Kennedy put it, it ``challenges the most precious assumptions about what this country stands for--cultural pluralism, equity and justice, the integrity of the individual, freedom of conscience and action, and the pursuit of happiness.''

But it is not just the history that demands a reckoning. It is also the lasting legacy of these immoral policies, which continue to this day. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which I chair, has heard devastating testimony from survivors, descendants, communities, and leaders about the impact of these schools decades later--a legacy of enduring trauma passed down from parent to child to grandchild to great-grandchild, fracturing families and communities over and over again.

I want you to imagine a Native community with no kids left, just the parents and grandparents. Imagine, not just the trauma for that group of children who were abducted, but what kind of community is left there. As a parent, I would be absolutely catatonic for the rest of my life--across Indian reservations and Hawaiian homelands and Alaska Native communities, from coast to coast in cities and in rural communities. And we see it manifest in so many ways with Native communities, whether it is higher rates of mental health challenges or substance abuse or suicide.

So it is not enough to just face up to the wrongs of the past; although, that is essential. It is equally important to provide justice and support for survivors and descendants. The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act does both of these things. The bill establishes a Truth and Healing Commission as well as several advisory bodies tasked with uncovering the full scope of what took place at these schools. The Commission will provide a platform for survivors to share their experience, for the Nation to hear and acknowledge their pain. Doing so ensures that these stories are preserved and that the atrocities are never forgotten.

Importantly, this bill is sensitive to the trauma experienced by survivors and descendants and requires the Commission to provide them with trauma-informed care.

Ultimately, the Commission's final report will provide a comprehensive account of the boarding school era and recommendations to Congress for future action.

Madam President, before I close, I want to take a moment to directly acknowledge the survivors, the descendants, the families, and the communities that have been devastated by these policies. Some of them are here with us today in the Gallery. Their advocacy and courage have been the driving force behind this bill. And the fact that we have reached this point--having passed the bill unanimously out of Committee and ready to consider it before the full U.S. Senate--is testament to their unwavering commitment to truth and justice.

Their stories will not be forgotten. This bill is not just a legislative act; it is a moral imperative. It is our duty to unflinchingly confront the full scope of this shameful history and help to heal the deep pains this very body helped create.

We can't change the past, but we can and we must shape a better future--a future where the mistakes of the past are never again repeated, where every child can grow up with pride in their heritage and their identity.

I urge my colleagues to join me and Senator Murkowski and all of the previous speakers and the author of this bill, Senator Warren, in supporting this important legislation. Too many have waited too long for truth, for closure, and for justice. By passing this bill, we can finally begin the work.

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