As I reported yesterday, Senator McCain requested that his bill, S-1962
(ICWA Amendments of 1996) be "hot-lined."
I now understand this term! If you object to this bill, your immediate
action is required.
"Hot-Lining" involves placing the bill on a list of bills that may be
brought up and passed without debate and without a separate vote. The list
of bills on the "hot-line" is forwarded to each Senator's office, and a
period of 15 minutes to one hour is allowed for an objection to be
registered. If an objection is registered, the bill is removed from the
hot-line list and brought up and voted on in the normal manner. If no
objection is registered, at some point (usually at the end of the day),
the list is brought up and declared "passed by unanimous consent." If you
have an objection to this bill, call your Senator and ask them to register
an objection if/when they are notified of its "hot-line" status.
The ICWA info page has been updated, and explains some of the concerns in
the Native American community with Senator McCain's bill. Also, I've been
informed that some browsers have trouble accessing the url I posted
yesterday. This is a function of how I created the site - as a "mini web"
- the URL I posted is actually the address of the "miniweb" but most
browsers will take you to the page listed as the "home page" - if yours
doesn't, try this URL:
http://members.gnn.com/karenjg/ICWA_Info/homepage.htm
And sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused you!
Karen