Japanese American redress gained bipartisan co-sponsorship by 1979.

Evidence

In the late 1970s, several Japanese Americans had been elected to Congress, and the JACL successfully lobbied them to put their support behind the redress movement. The Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Ronald Dellums (D-CA) and Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-CA), also proved to be helpful allies. Eventually in August 1979, Senators Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), Spark Matsunaga (D-HI), Samuel I. Hayakawa (R-CA), and Ted Stevens (R-AK) agreed to co-sponsor Senate Bill 1647. Meanwhile in the House of Representatives, Norman Mineta (D-CA), Robert Matsui (D-CA), and James Wright (D-TX), along with 114 other representatives, introduced House Resolution 5499 on September 28, 1979. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 191