Don Nickles: “I rise to report on an agreement reached today between Senator Inouye and myself regarding the Fort Reno Agriculture…”

“I rise to report on an agreement reached today between Senator Inouye and myself regarding the Fort Reno Agriculture Research Station at El Reno, Oklahoma. Our agreement delays any decision on the ARS until the next Administration. It also preserves the right of Congress to play a role in the future of the ARS. Our agreement ensures that any decision made about the research station will be made based on the merits of the work performed there rather than a decision based on November political considerations. The agreement should not be read to mean that the research station will be eliminated, nor that the lands at Fort Reno should or will be returned to the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe of Oklahoma. I do not want the status of the Agriculture Research Station to be influenced by presidential politics, which has been the case in the past. This agreement will help prevent the future of the research station from becoming an election-year tool and better protect both the tribe and the research station from pressures surrounding the November election.”