Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, as the gentlewoman described, this is a very complex issue with a long history behind it. H.R. 4352 would reverse a 2009 Supreme Court decision, Carcieri v. Salazar, which held that the Indian Reorganization Act does not authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire land in trust for Tribes that were not under Federal jurisdiction in 1934 when the act was passed. The Carcieri decision created vast uncertainty over the fee-to-trust process for Tribes and impacted stakeholders. Since the decision was handed down, there has been no resolution in this incredibly complex issue. Lands taken into trust are extremely important to Tribes. Tribes' desire to increase their Tribal land base and help their communities must be respected. There are certain benefits and advantages afforded to Tribes having lands that are held in trust. But we should be clear that even prior to Carcieri, the fee-to-trust process was far from perfect. We should not ignore the larger need to improve the process. Many have argued the current Bureau of Indian Affairs process provides very limited incentive for community stakeholders to be partners and places little requirement on the BIA to analyze the impacts of a fee-to-trust decision on nearby communities or Tribes, often resulting in unresolved conflicts and litigation at the local level. For the last decade, county governments have been asking us to reform this process.…”