Political Quotes

“Madam President, reserving the right to object, I have great respect and admiration for my friend and distinguished colleague, the Senator from Oklahoma. When I listen to the arguments being presented, I am reminded of a couple of things. No. 1, these claims arise out of and relate to a treaty--a treaty going back to 1805. Those claims had the opportunity, more recently, to have been litigated in front of the previously existing Indian Claims Commission. Congress, in recognizing the need at the time to open up what might have been a confusing set of legal circumstances or an inadequate availability for relief, opened up a 5-year window for claims related to this treaty that was entered into with the Miami Tribe in 1805. They opened that up for a period between 1946 and 1951. Jurisdiction over what was previously the Indian Claims Commission has since been transferred over to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Interestingly, the Court of Federal Claims still maintains jurisdiction over such things, but it lacks the ability to enter orders, and the statute of limitations has long since passed. There was this 5-year window under which they were able to bring up claims like this. Now, during that time period between 1946 and 1951, the Miami Tribe did pursue and litigate on a number of claims related to that treaty, enough for them to have received a remedy--a remedy of about $11 million at the time. I am told that, in 2024 dollars, that is about $200 million.…”