WASHINGTON: The US House rejected funding for public housing for Native Hawaiians on after the House Republican leader advised party member it could be unconstitutional.
The bill would have reauthorized a 2000 law that guaranteed loans and gave block grants to build infrastructure on land the federal government reserved in the 1920s for Native Hawaiian homesteads. The vote was 262-162, short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage under a special House procedure. A new provision would have allowed the state department that administers the homelands to borrow money for large construction projects.
``This program definitely is of tremendous need to meet the housing needs of our Native Hawaiian people,'' said Rep Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, on the House floor. The bill failed after House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio urged his party to vote against it. Abercrombie said on the House floor that he and Boehner had come to agreement on the measure but while Abercrombie was speaking, the majority leader's office issued a press release urging a no vote.
Abercrombie stumbled on the floor ``I just got a little note here that set me off a little bit,'' he said and his spokesman, Dave Helfert, said the congressman had received a copy of Boehner's statement. Boehner argued that benefits for Native Hawaiians were unconstitutional because of a Supreme Court decision, Rice v Cayetano, which declared they could not have different statewide voting rights than other Hawaii citizens. Boehner said the court suggested that special legal privileges for Native Hawaiians are unconstitutional.
Congress first authorized public housing benefits for Native Hawaiians in late 2000, months after the Supreme Court decision. Last year, the Senate dashed efforts led by US Sen Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, to give native Hawaiians some of the same powers of self-governance granted to American Indians. Critics argued that the measure, known as the Akaka bill, could lead to race-based privileges in a state known for its diversity. Helfert said Abercrombie's office would try to bring the housing bill up again, preferably under normal rules that would require a simple majority to pass.
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