Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, earlier this week, I spoke about the historic accomplishments of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs with my good friend and vice chair Lisa Murkowski over the last 4 years.

I made it very clear that the foundation of this success--and continues to be--Native leaders, communities, and advocates sharing their priorities and telling us what is most important to them.

I also emphasized that we cannot and will not rest on our laurels because our progress is still in progress.

That is why, today, we have to pass S. 1723, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act.

This bill would establish a Federal commission to investigate the Federal Indian boarding school era, when the Federal Government partnered with religious institutions in an attempt to assimilate Native children at so-called schools, often far from their homes and families, where they were stripped of their cultures, languages, and identities and beaten and abused, both mentally and physically. Thousands--likely more--died at those schools, and those who returned home were never the same.

The Truth and Healing Commission would turn the page on this shameful era and help begin the healing process for Native survivors, descendants, and communities and those who continue to experience the generational trauma and lasting legacy of these policies today.

S. 1723 passed out of the committee after extensive bipartisan debate. Since then, Vice Chair Murkowski and I have worked with the bill's sponsor, Senator Warren, the Native American Boarding School Coalition, and other advocates to refine the bill and to accommodate feedback. The current version of this legislation is the result of hundreds of hours--hundreds of hours--of drafting, redrafting, discussion, and tough negotiations.

I will now turn it over to the vice chair for some remarks before I make a unanimous consent request.

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Mr. SCHATZ. 432, S. 1723.
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Mr. SCHATZ. I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.

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Mr. SCHATZ. I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, it is no small task for us to confront the unbearable burden of our history. Yet to stand before that history in silence and to remain idle while these wounds persist is to turn away from one of the most fundamental acts of justice and healing that we are in a position to do something about. We have to turn the light on and let the truth out.

This is the work that we have done in the Senate now, and we do hope the House takes action and passes this incredibly important measure into law.

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