Apology from the United States to Native Americans.

On Feb 26 the Senate passed a bill that will give American Indians better access to health care services, including screening and mental health programs.

The bill, approved 83-10, will boost programs at the federally funded Indian Health Service, prompt new construction and modernization of health clinics on reservations, and attempt to recruit more Indians into health professions. It also would increase tribal access to Medicare and Medicaid.

American Indians suffer much higher death rates of most leading causes than the rest of the country. Alcoholism, drug use, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and suicide rates are especially high.

The bill also included a resolution sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., that formally apologizes to American Indians for centuries of government mistreatment.

Senator Brownback has been calling for an apology since 2004.

The resolution acknowledges a long history of government misconduct against Indians, including forced relocation from tribal lands, theft of tribal assets and the breaking of treaties and covenants.

"For too much of our history, federal-tribal relations have been marked by broken treaties, mistreatment and dishonorable dealings," said Brownback, a Republican. "We can acknowledge our past failures, express sincere regrets and establish a brighter future for all Americans."

"It is meaningful because you've got to heal the wounds at some point in time to move forward," said Joe A. Garcia, president of National Congress of American Indians.

"But it's one thing to just apologize and another thing to do something while you're apologizing," said Garcia, who is governor of the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in northern New Mexico. "You have to put words into action and the action is to improve the problems created by those ill-conceived policies."

It is unusual for Congress to apologize for official government acts, though there have been exceptions, including a 1988 apology for interning Japanese-Americans in detention camps during World War II and a 1993 apology to native Hawaiians for the unlawful overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Source:
http://brownback.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=293090
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080227/NEWS02/526093998/-1/NEWS