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From http://www.cibolabeacon.com/news/bipartisan-bill-introduced-to-promote-preservation-of-native-american-languages/article_6ab1d9ce-f582-11e4-88c6-dfc7bd9f23ee.html

Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Promote Preservation of Native American Languages
May 8, 2015

Earlier this week, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján and Steve Pearce announced they have introduced the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act, a bill to provide grants to Native American language educational organizations to preserve disappearing Native languages in Indian Country. The bill reauthorizes the Native American Languages Program until 2020, and includes improvements to expand the program's eligibility to smaller-sized classes and allow for longer grant periods.

The bill reauthorizes legislation that first passed in 2006 with Udall's leadership, named for the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo master storyteller Esther Martinez. The Esther Martinez Native American Preservation Act amends the Native American Languages Act of 1990 to strengthen Native language education by creating and funding Native language nests, Native language survival schools, and Native American language restoration programs. The program’s current authorization expired in 2012, but annual appropriations have continued during the lapse.

Read the full article at http://www.cibolabeacon.com/news/bipartisan-bill-introduced-to-promote-preservation-of-native-american-languages/article_6ab1d9ce-f582-11e4-88c6-dfc7bd9f23ee.html

Read a related article at http://bigislandnow.com/2015/05/05/senators-introduce-native-language-bill/