Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in yielding to me and the presentation that he made outlining the situation, along with Ranking Member Bishop, under whose leadership this legislation moved forward in the last Congress. It is long overdue. It is jarring to visit these in-lieu treaty sites. The notion that it is unsanitary and unsafe really understates the case. Along the Columbia River, I have passed one of these sites for years, never knowing that what may be a Tiger Woods three-iron shot off the freeway revealed these conditions. These are sites that have been used by the Tribes for millennia, and sadly, they were a casualty of the Columbia River dam construction. Those dams have produced significant economic prosperity in our region with jobs and agricultural activities, but the Native people have been left behind. There was a pledge that we would be able to accommodate their sites that were flooded, but that has been observed mainly in the breach. It has reached the point now where we have on each of these sites people who naturally want to gravitate to what is part of their tradition. There is, as was referenced, a need for Tribal housing, but the fishing experience, the proximity to the river, and this being part of their historic heritage draws them there. In many cases, they do have sites where people are living on a year- round basis in conditions that really should not exist anywhere in America.…”