Raúl Grijalva

Because of Castro-Huerta, our Native women and children will now have to rely on their state and local governments to protect them and governments that until now, have failed to do so.

It misconstrues the plain language of the General Crimes Act. It violates the Constitution separation of powers and disrespects Congress' exclusive authority to legislate over Indian Affairs.

I strongly urge you to hold it as soon as possible so that there would still be time in this Congress for Congress to act to effectively address the Castro-Huerta decision.

It is Congress's role to act and it is our understanding that Congress has the backing of Tribal Nations to act.

What Tribal Nations need is for Congress to pass legislation to fix the jurisdictional maze of criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country.

The majority decision in Castro-Huerta v.

Congress has the responsibility to correct this injustice; to affirm and ensure the sovereignty of Tribal Nations.

For decades, Tribal Nations have been treated as second class sovereigns.

Improving public safety in Indian Country should be a process of addition not subtraction; a process of collaboration, not disunity.

The State of Oklahoma illegally exercised jurisdiction over reservations in Oklahoma for decades.

The environment created by his actions have caused others to follow his lead.

It is no secret that that the state of Oklahoma has sought to overturn our victory in McGirt since the day the decision came out.

The solution is restoration of tribal jurisdiction and authority, full stop. Plain and simple.

In VAWA 2022, Congress made very clear that no sovereign has a greater interest in protecting Indian children from non-Indian abusers than the child's tribal nation.

The worst thing that can happen is that crimes go unprosecuted. Crimes against Indians in Indian Country go unprosecuted.

I urge you to reject calls to stall approval of the Willow project.

Production from Willow would constitute a tiny fraction of national and international greenhouse gas emissions.

Willow is a balanced development plan that was refined during an extensive public process, complies with the law, and serves the broad public interest.

If the transition is sharp and painful, or if the transition is this one that talks about study, planning, management going forward.

We can either move in the direction that this legislation addresses with discussion and compromise at some level, or we can continue to delay and ignore.

The reality is that we are going to go through a transition in this country, Mr. Chairman.

The intent of the legislation that we are discussing this morning is pretty simple to me: mandating the Interior Department to have a responsibility to the public to demonstrate whether fossil fuel development on U.S. public lands and…

Our public lands and oceans can and must be a solution to climate change, but right now, they are still a substantial source of carbon pollution.

H.R. 8802 requires the Interior Department and Forest Service to take the next step in combating climate change by aligning our public lands and waters with the Biden administration's ambitious emission reduction goals.

This bill requires DOI and the Forest Service to develop, publish, implement, and regularly update a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Strategy.