Bill Keating

I would respectfully urge Congress to explain that it meant what it said in 1994 and amend the IRA to provide absolute clarity that the Secretary of the Interior has authority to restore land for all federally recognized tribal nations in…

Time is of the essence.

This bipartisan legislation would direct the Department of the Interior to keep 320 acres of Mashpee Wampanoag land in southeastern Massachusetts in trust as federally recognized reservation land.

Thank you, Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook, the distinguished members of the Committee for inviting me to speak today about H.R. 312, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act.

These two bills, H.R. 375 and H.R. 312, would put many tribes on the pathway to better health, better education and great self-reliance.

I think it's a particularly sad statement that 400 years later they still have to defend against attacks on their lands.

The solutions coming out of the White House are making it worse, not better, and I darn sure don't want to take 6, 7, $8 billion out of DOD to build some wall that isn't going to make the situation any better.

There has to be--you know, it is like when the cords get all bundled up, there has got to be some place to start to sort of pull it apart and start working.

This committee does not accept that.

I think is folly. In a $4.75 trillion budget, obsessing over tens of billions of dollars in the discretionary portion of it, be it defense or non-defense, isn't all that helpful from a fiscal responsibility standpoint and is unbelievably…

It is dangerous to have national security analysis conform to politics.

It is just astounding. It is bizarre.

It is critical to have a strategy for NATO to grow and evolve and address the new and emerging threats.

NATO has long been, and will continue to be, a cornerstone of our security and defense policies.

To maintain this advantage, we need strong American leadership along two fronts.

We must anticipate that it will again evolve in new ways to address this changing landscape.

I would ask to be able to work with you and other members to either extend the authority or remove the cap and potentially raise the threshold of funding we are able to spend.

We are very concerned about the enormous investments Russia is making in nuclear forces that are not captured by existing arms control agreements.

Is that the way we should approach our Article 5 agreement with our NATO countries?

I think we should, and I think, Mr. Chairman, we should make that request formal in terms of our committee.

I know that you would agree that every single person who is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi needs to be held accountable.

It is important that our allies know this, too.

You are using emergency security powers to create tariffs on our closest allies.

The EU officials that we met with, they used words like 'painful' and 'hurtful,' and they meant it sincerely.

If we really want to be effective with China, we should deal from strength.