Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 478 and S. 789 En Bloc

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, the Senate has a solemn duty to exercise and fulfill U.S. Federal trust responsibility. This duty is the guiding principle for all our work on behalf of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. So as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, it is my job to prioritize and push Tribal and Native communities' legislative priorities toward the finish line and ultimately to actually enact legislation.

The Indian Affairs Committee has a strong tradition of bipartisanship going back decades. Committee Members on both sides of the aisle routinely work together to achieve their own Native communities' goals. When there are disagreements, we do everything we can to work them out internally and to find common ground so that Members aren't forced to air their disagreements when bills get to the floor.

In fact, just last night, the Senate passed eight Indian Affairs bills unanimously. Those bills would, among other things, promote economic development, protect Native children, honor Tribal self- determination--goals that we all agreed take important steps toward fulfilling our shared Federal trust responsibilities. Time and again, we have shown that the Indian Affairs bills can rise above partisan logjams. That compromise can be found. But here we are.

H.R. 478, which passed the House on May 12, 2021, under suspension of the rules, would help to rebuild Tribal homelands; and S. 789, which passed the Senate unanimously in late November 2019, would repeal 11 obsolete, racist, unenforced laws that are inconsistent with the current government-to-government relationship enjoyed by the United States and Indian Tribes.

Both bills would likely be laws by now if the COVID-19 pandemic had not disrupted our legislative work last year. These bills are good policy. That is why both Republican and Democratic administrations support them.

And the Senate should have passed these bills last night, but because there was an objection to their inclusion in the 10-bill package, we find ourselves here again. The Indian Affairs Committee, as is tradition, has negotiated in good faith to clear up any concerns there may be, but those efforts were not successful, which leads me to this moment.

When it comes to fulfilling the U.S. trust responsibility, there is no room for partisanship.

59, H.R. 478, the Blackwater Trading Post Land Transfer Act; and Calendar No. 53, S. 789, the RESPECT Act; further, that the bills be considered read a third time and passed en bloc and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, a couple of points. On taking 55.3 acres into trust, this is not like the Federal Government is going to have new land management responsibilities. This is a matter of principle for the Senator from Utah, and I recognize that; that he thinks, basically, no additional land should be taken into trust, even though this government-to-government relationship--this authority over these government relationships are enshrined in the Constitution of the United States and this government-to-government relationship has already been established by statutory law and the process for putting land into trust is already a well-established pathway. But what the Senator from Utah is saying is no more or we are going to have to do a one-for-one swap or even sometimes a two-for-one swap. You cannot have a net increase in the acreage, even if it is 53 acres, even if there is an established process.

And so, I do find that difficult to work with. I know that the Senators from Arizona are in discussions with the Senator from Utah.

We will find our way forward. This is 53 acres. It is important, obviously. We are going to enact this legislation.

I like the Senator from Utah. We will find a way on this one.

But if he would entertain an amendment to the request, then I would be pleased to pass the RESPECT Act by voice vote, if that is something that the Senator from Utah would be amenable to.

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