[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5168 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5168

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2004

  Mr. Renzi 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 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. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Bennett Freeze 
Rehabilitation Act of 2004''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Navajo Nation is the largest Indian reservation in 
        the United States;
            (2) the Bennett Freeze, named after former Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs Commissioner Robert Bennett, was administratively 
        issued in 1966 to restrict the Navajo tribe from constructing 
        and repairing their dwellings on land that was subject to a 
        land dispute with the Hopi Tribe;
            (3) the Bennett Freeze has affected 1,500,000 acres of 
        land, approximately 9 percent of the total acreage of the 
        Navajo Nation, covering 10 Navajo Nation 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 has increased by 
        approximately 65 percent in the Bennett Freeze area, forcing 
        several generations of families to live together in dwellings 
        that have been declared unfit for human habitation;
            (6) members of the medical community confirm 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, 
        including 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 improved living conditions and 
        increased the economic viability of the Bennett Freeze area, 
        however, the plan did not become a reality because a Federal 
        judge reinstated the freeze;
            (9) the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe have since been 
        involved in settlement negotiations to lift the Bennett Freeze; 
        and
            (10) the Bennett Freeze is a gross violation of treaty 
        obligations to the Navajo Nation.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF USE OF NAVAJO-HOPI SETTLEMENT ACT.

    Section 12 of Public Law 93-531 (16 U.S.C. 640d-11) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e), the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(f) The Commissioner may carry out a rehabilitation program to 
redress the effects of Federal development restrictions in the western 
portion of the Navajo Reservation. This program shall be limited to 
housing construction and renovation, infrastructure improvements, and 
economic development initiatives. There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the program under 
this subsection.''.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE BENNETT FREEZE.

    Upon the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of an agreement 
between the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe settling the land dispute 
over the lands subject to the Bennett Freeze, section 10(f) of Public 
Law 93-531 (25 U.S.C. 640d-9(f)) is repealed.
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