Reaffirming the Authority of the Secretary of the Interior to Take Land Into Trust for Indian Tribes

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from Arkansas for yielding and being so generous with the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4352. Along with my good friend, Representative McCollum of Minnesota, I am proud to cosponsor this legislation.

The legislation amends the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and reaffirms the right of the Secretary of the Interior to place land into trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes.

Madam Speaker, as I am sure most people in this House know, the history and relationship between the United States and Indian Tribes isn't something to always be proud of. Frankly, with the passage of the Dawes Act in 1887, Tribes all over the country, but particularly in my State of Oklahoma, were systematically stripped of their lands, and individual Tribal members were as well. I know this because my Tribe was one of the victims. My family was one of the losers in the process.

In 1934, the Federal Government wisely saw that it had made a bad mistake and intervened with the Indian Reorganization Act to protect the remaining Indian lands and to allow modest additions and reacquisitions of that land.

For 75 years, it worked pretty much the way it was supposed to work, whether it was a Democratic or a Republican administration. Land was protected and modestly brought back into trust--only 9 million acres so far since 1934, so it is not as if we have had a large transfer of land back. But we have protected what was there and added back to Tribal patrimony where it made sense.

All that was upset by the Carcieri v. Salazar decision in 2009. That was a really bad decision, quite frankly. It did, as my friends from New Mexico and Minnesota both pointed out, upset the balance. It created a two-tiered system and penalized Tribes that had not been federally recognized in 1934. That, by the way, wasn't just ``new Tribes.'' A lot of them--the case was based on the Narragansetts in Rhode Island--actually had been around for a long time.

The Narragansetts are in the same place they always were. They were recognized by the State of Rhode Island but for some reason weren't in the 1934 bill.

So a lot of people have been victimized by this, and frankly, a lot of interests have tried to exploit it.

We have had an opportunity on a couple of occasions to fix it. Actually, this House should be proud. In December 2010, my amendment to an appropriations bill, supported by my good friend Ms. McCollum, we got it out of the House, but it died in the Senate that same December.

As my friend from Minnesota alluded, we passed legislation in the last Congress to deal with this issue on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.

I would just say, for the record, I have introduced legislation on this every year since 2009. My friend, Ms. McCollum, has done pretty much the same, and we have always cosponsored one another's legislation. So I am very proud to be here and support this bill.

I urge passage of this bill. It is a matter of justice for the Tribes, but it is also a matter of equity and a matter of, frankly, legislative convenience.

Madam Speaker, I strongly support my friend's bill, H.R. 4352, and urge its passage.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I truly appreciate Representative Cole bringing into the discussion about this bill the fact of how it has impacted his own Tribe and their ability to take land into trust and not be subject to these unnecessary, frivolous, and time-consuming, as well as expensive, lawsuits that just create confusion out there.

I think the fact that Mr. Cole has worked on this every year since we had the Carcieri decision tells you so much about how, on both sides of the aisle, in the House and Senate, we are looking for a fix, and this is indeed the Carcieri fix.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time and would inquire whether my colleague has any remaining speakers on their side.

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