"This is something that I have learned from Senator Warren, who is such a strong advocate for this."
"issues around zoning and land use and building codes are often dealt with at the local level, and we need to think, I believe, about how the Federal Government can be--make sure that our incentives ar..."
"We have a responsibility to support the economic development of Native communities."
"These changes, though technical, are crucial for implementing the existing law and to fulfill our goal and our trust and treaty responsibilities of restoring illegally taken lands to Leech Lake."
"Thank you so much, Chair Schatz and Vice Chair Murkowski, for holding this hearing today and including my bill, the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Technical Corrections Act of 2023."
"I first want to thank Senator Smith and this Committee for your efforts to enact the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Act."
"I very much appreciated your testimony, as you reviewed some of the history of the illegal land transfers which is, of course, as you pointed out, part of the long legacy of taking land from the Ojibw..."
"The seller keeps everything, and the person who has been paying in does not have any opportunity for any kind of redress at all."
"So I want to just start out by clarifying a bit about what is happening here with these contracts-for-deed."
"You cannot have balloon payments. You cannot have rapidly increasing monthly payments that basically price people out of an ability to own their own home."
"If you do not have a safe, decent place to call home, nothing else in your life works."
"Native housing emerged as a top priority for both of us."