Political Quotes

“I want to be perfectly clear that I strongly and unequivocally support full compensation to the Torres-Martinez Tribe for the injustices they have suffered in the last century. Today almost 123,000 acres of Torres-Martinez tribal reservation land lies submerged beneath the Salton Sea. This land was flooded early in this century. The tribe has never been fully compensated by the U.S. Government for that. Our Government, Mr. Speaker, has a moral and legal obligation to settle this long overdue claim of the Torres-Martinez Tribe. It is my understanding that this is a tribe with very few resources, and this settlement agreement will better enable them to establish and maintain a sovereign-to-sovereign relationship with the U.S. Government. But, Mr. Speaker, I must admit I am deeply troubled by the process which the Department of the Interior used to facilitate the settlement with the Torres-Martinez Tribe. It is my understanding that the Department of the Interior failed to meet with or even discuss the proposed settlement agreement with all the tribes who live in the area and who will be most affected by this legislation.”