[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2934 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2934

To repeal the Bennett Freeze thus ending a gross treaty violation with 
 the Navajo Nation and allowing the Navajo Nation citizens to live in 
 habitable dwellings and raise their living conditions, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 1997

 Mr. Hayworth (for himself, Mr. Redmond, Mr. McInnis, and Mr. Cannon) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 



To repeal the Bennett Freeze thus ending a gross treaty violation with 
 the Navajo Nation and allowing the Navajo Nation citizens to live in 
 habitable dwellings and raise their living conditions, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Navajo Nation is one of the largest and most 
        economically depressed Indian reservations in the United 
        States;
            (2) the Bennett Freeze, named after former Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs Commissioner Robert Bennett, was administratively 
        issued and enforced in 1966 to restrict the Navajo tribe from 
        constructing new dwellings or repairing existing dwellings on 
        some of the acreage involved in the land dispute with the Hopi 
        Tribe;
            (3) the Bennett Freeze has affected 1,500,000 acres, or 
        approximately 9 percent of the total acreage of the Navajo 
        Nation, covering 10 chapters and affecting nearly 8,000 people;
            (4) only 3 percent of the families affected by the Bennett 
        Freeze have electricity and only 10 percent have running water;
            (5) since 1966, the population in the Bennett Freeze area 
        has increased by approximately 65 percent, forcing several 
        generations to cohabitate in dwellings that have been declared 
        unfit for human habitation;
            (6) doctors have concluded that overcrowding and the 
        absence of running water, refrigeration, and adequate sewage 
        disposal adversely impact the mental and physical health of 
        Navajos residing in the Bennett Freeze area;
            (7) the Bennett Freeze has halted essential construction 
        such as power line extensions, waterline extensions, road 
        improvements, and community facilities improvements;
            (8) when the Bennett Freeze was temporarily lifted in 1992, 
        an ambitious $20,000,000 construction plan for new dwellings 
        was proposed that would have raised living conditions and 
        increased the economic viability of the Bennett Freeze area, 
        however, the plan was halted when a Federal judge reinstated 
        the freeze;
            (9) the Federal Government has not taken the steps 
        necessary to end the Bennett Freeze in this already 
        economically depressed community; and
            (10) the Bennett Freeze is a gross violation of treaty 
        obligations to the Navajo Nation.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE BENNETT FREEZE.

    Section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531 (25 U.S.C. 640d-9(f)) is 
repealed.
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