the idea that people can make a better life for themselves, it is really hard to do that if you don't have a roof over your head and a stable living situation.

Native people should be able to enter mortgage transactions just as any other citizen in this country.

We appreciate the opportunity to express our strong support for H.R. 3579, the Tribal Trust Land Homeownership Act of 2023.

This trust responsibility should not impede tribal members' ability to utilize their property rights to achieve their dreams of homeownership.

Mr. Chairman, I think we all know a lot of politicians who will be whatever you want them to be.

Programs offered by USDA Rural Development are crucial in helping rural areas develop and attract new economic opportunities.

While we may not have a large population, we do have a robust agricultural economy--one that depends on rural communities having the tools they need to grow and thrive.

I think the 2018 Farm Bill made a lot of good progress in those areas.

I think now it is altogether appropriate for the Federal Government to step up in partnership to try to make sure that this sacred site is protected in the right way.

We have a tendency to think about dark days like Wounded Knee as in the ancient past.

December 29, 1890 was most assuredly one of those dark days.

A central part of the American experience has been our journey toward a more perfect union.

We must understand our history, especially when it is as horrific as the massacre was, so we do not repeat it.

Our South Dakota Congressman, Dusty Johnson, offered this bill to restore the lands to 'Indian country' status with reference to our 1868 Treaty.

We believe H.R. 3371 represents another important step in that process.

One of the reasons that it is important for us to honor this site is that there are still real, living connections to the terrible actions that were taken that day.

Our people have grieved for well over a century the loss of life and the genocidal attack on our people and our way of life that took place at Wounded Knee.

Success has many mothers and many fathers and, of course, that is true for this bill, as well.

This is an important step for the healing of the people of our Oceti Sakowin.

This legislation would take a parcel of land into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

It is altogether appropriate for the Federal Government to step up in partnership to try to make sure that this sacred site is protected.

We are pleased that Representative Dusty Johnson (R-SD) has introduced H.R. 3371 to place this sacred land in restricted fee status and to protect the land from alienation and outside interference and control.

Let us not use polite phrases to ignore the reality: this was no battle, this was a massacre.

Dusty Johnson offered this bill to restore the lands to Indian Country.

To correct this minor but very consequential mistake, the bill before you today strikes the 'State of Oregon' in text that states that the claims are extinguished for all claims to lands within the state of Oregon, and replaces it with…