Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the chair and ranking member said, this is bipartisan, and I am sure will be bicameral, and, in fact, it is necessary because not only is H.R. 1975 necessary in order to put land in trust, but we, for more than 20 years now, have had to put most land that gets into trust in trust because of action by the Congress.

I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the 18 Tribes that I represent and have represented for most of my 20 years in Congress and say that this is the kind of bill that I hope we will pass further legislation to make unnecessary. The essential right of our first people to reclaim their ancestral land and have it placed into trust on a pro forma basis, on a nearly automatic basis, should not require action by Congress time and time again.

The Pala Band of Indians had to buy this land at their own expense in order to gift it, essentially, to the Federal Government. They do so because of the importance of their ancestral land and their pride in the people they are and the people they have been since before man, Western man, walked into California and disrupted their lives.

So I am proud that, once again, we are putting land in trust. I am proud of the Pala Indians who worked for more than 30 years to recapture this land, to keep it from being effectively taken away in perpetuity. They have done the right thing.

They have reinvested their hard-earned money, in fact, on putting, for their nearly 1,000 members, together a future of Tribal land in which the public can be aware will be taken care of better than it was under private land.

It is interesting to me that, in fact, we have had to get assurances that the Tribe would not use this for gaming, which is understood. But the idea that they cannot use it--they do not, in fact, regain their water rights that they historically would have, and others--quite frankly, is a giveaway that should not be necessary.

I am happy to take the opportunity to thank the chairman and ranking member, but I ask that we really take a hard look at the inefficiency of the system that has caused every single land in trust that has been done for my 18 Tribes, or many of my 18 Tribes over 20 years, to require this action.

I believe we should streamline the process to make the bias in favor of the Tribe's right to reclaim their land, to place it, in fact, into what is trust land, which is another name for it belongs to the Federal Government even though it has been bought out of the hardworking representatives in my district; in this case, Pala.

So I want to thank the gentleman for moving this. I believe this is noncontroversial. I know I brought up a point that is more controversial which is getting the bureaucracy to do a job they should do on behalf of Tribes throughout the United States. As somebody who has been honored to represent much of Indian Country in California, I hope I speak accurately for all 18 Tribes that they believe that what was theirs and is theirs again, should be placed in trust as soon as possible.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

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