David Minge: “I would also like to report that I am familiar with the Indian tribe that is involved here, the Lower Sioux community.…”

“I would also like to report that I am familiar with the Indian tribe that is involved here, the Lower Sioux community. It is in my congressional district. It is a relatively small Indian community, Native American community; but I would like to emphasize it is very well administered. It has acquired this land and feels that, in order to remove a cloud from title, this act of Congress is necessary. I would like to suggest to the subcommittee that it consider legislation that deals with this type of situation because I expect that the Lower Sioux community is not the only Native American group in the United States that faces this type of obstacle to the disposition of land that it has purchased which has not been in trust status which is off of its reservation area. As we see here in the 21st century, we have a number of Native American communities that are becoming more prosperous. They are engaging in commerce. I think that it would certainly facilitate the activities of these communities if, in these fairly well-defined situations where there is not a concern about any abuse in connection with the assets of the community, that they had the flexibility to, on their own, make these transfers and not have the cloud on title that exists in situations such as this one.”