Bruce F. Vento: “I rise in support and concur with the remarks of my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Yates], the ranking…”

“I rise in support and concur with the remarks of my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Yates], the ranking member. Furthermore, this amendment has nothing to do with the tax structure that exists. It makes a direct attack on trust lands. The fact is in my home State of Minnesota the native American groups have often lost much of the land that was trusted to them, ceded to them under treaties. This would put a moratorium on any type of action that might take place with regard to acquiring the lands that they initially had or other lands that would provide for a reservation or the economic viability of those reservation the native American people. This is a mean-spirited amendment. As far as that goes, the ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois is exactly right. We have South Dakota advertising that they offer various tax benefits, so this goes on quite regularly. It is true that many of these native American groups do of course impose taxes or other means of raising money from various sources, except it goes back to that native American group. In fact, they at times agree to collect a portion of the sales tax or all of the sales tax. The native American groups provide law enforcement. They make many contributions on a voluntary basis. The fact is that this amendment is an argument over power. This is an argument over the basic sovereign power of these independent Native American groups. That is what this amendment represents.”