Rob Bishop

I appreciate the concept. You have memos. They are not the same thing as statute.

Congress has plenary power, in terms of its relations with the Indian tribes. So, I do not have any constitutional concerns.

These guys have all given you examples of how the present system with the Department of the Interior has not been transparent, has been politicized.

Do you consider any tribes have been unlawfully recognized?

It is time for a paradigm shift, and it is time to actually have the agencies working with Congress, not opposed to Congress.

Since it appears the political branch understands recognition is a political matter, would you agree that it is more constitutionally proper for that recognition decision to be made in Congress?

I appreciate you wanting to explain here. I do not have much time.

But if you allow the decision to be made in the Department of the Interior, all of a sudden you do what happens in the 2002 report: it becomes a very politicized process there.

The Constitution clearly says in the Indian Commerce Clause that Congress has the authority over Indian affairs.

I am still open to those ideas, if you will be happy to send them to me.

One of the reasons why I would like this in statute is so we know exactly what the game is, what the ball looks like, and it is listed in statute.

It may be cumbersome, it may be uncomfortable, but it is congressional responsibility.

The transparency is when it comes here in a political process, where we do things in an open committee meeting.

What I am trying to do here is find out a way.

They once asked the famous spitball pitcher Gaylord Perry if he put a foreign substance on the ball, and he calmly answered: No. Vaseline is 100 percent American product. We used to only have to import a handful of rare earth minerals in…

I want to make sure that we have safeguards in there for commercial, charter fisheries.

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I am pleased to support this rule because of the underlying bill that is there. Normally, the 10th Amendment says that education is delegated to the States. So I would be opposing anything this body…

I am just brainstorming here. I am not advocating that position, but it is an option that should be on the table.

As I understand it, the bill's premise is that the states can do a better job than the Federal Government in managing our fishery resources, which is, admittedly, a low bar.

I appreciate the gentleman from Alaska yielding. There are some Native American tribes that do not rely on gaming alone for their source of revenue. They can't. It is amazing how often we hear, dealing with North American Native tribes…

Both the EPA and the Department of the Interior will be held accountable, today and in the future, as the recovery efforts continue.

I want to also emphasize the fact that you have three districts of the EPA that are involved in this area.

I expect we will hear the words '1872 Mining Law' repeatedly from both the Administration and the minority, as they attempt to ignore EPA's culpability, shift blame, and pursue action on an agenda that would decimate the mining industry.

Let me be clear. Secretary Jewell's refusal to testify today is especially egregious and disappointing, given the magnitude of this disaster and the breadth of its effect on her agency.

If an individual or a private company had done this, EPA would have already made sure there was hell to pay.