Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will correct an error in the Native American Technical Corrections Act of 2004. The intent of section 121 of the 2004 law was to put a parcel on the northern edge of the Barona reservation, in San Diego County, into trust for the tribe. Unfortunately the bill identified a parcel on the southern edge of the reservation and put that in trust. The mistake is compounded by the fact that the land north of the reservation is owned by a non-Indian property owner. The landowner now cannot sell or modify his property without permission from the tribe and the Department of the Interior. The Barona Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Clarification Act corrects this mistake. The bill removes the private property on the northern side of the reservation from trust status; and the bill places the correct parcel in trust for the Barona tribe on the southern edge of the reservation. The Barona Land Transfer Clarification Act closely follows an agreement brokered by Congressman Duncan Hunter and his staff. Congressman Hunter, and former Congressman Duncan Hunter, Sr. before him, brought the Band, the County of San Diego and the neighboring homeowners to the negotiating table. The agreement they reached, embodied in this legislation, is a product of compromise. The end product is something that everyone agrees is better than the status quo. That is how compromise works. The Tribe supports the legislation.…”