Political Quotes

“I certainly thank the gentleman from Montana for yielding, and I want to thank him for moving this legislation through his committee and onto the floor. I rise in support, Mr. Speaker, of H.R. 2606, the Stigler Act Amendments of 2018, and on behalf of the citizens of the Cherokee Nation; my own tribe, the Chickasaw Nation; the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; the Muscogee Creek Nation; and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, commonly known as the Five Civilized Tribes. The bill before us only addresses and affects these Five Tribes and the lands owned by their citizens within the State of Oklahoma. The passage of this legislation is critical to maintaining the inherited land of the citizens of the five aforementioned tribes. The infamous Dawes Act of 1887 authorized the Federal Government to survey tribal lands and divide them into allotted parcels for individual Native Americans. Title to these allotment parcels was set forth in the Stigler Act of 1947. The Stigler Act provided that, upon probate, if the heirs and devisees of an original allottee from the Five Tribes had passed out of one-half Native American blood quantum, the allotment loses its restricted fee status. Restricted land is not subject to State taxation, and Federal law does not dictate a minimum Native American blood degree requirement to any other tribe.…”