[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 8, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SUBSTITUTION OF H.R. 671

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                       HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 8, 1995

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, on January 25, 1995, I and my good 
friends, Mr. Bill Richardson, Mr. Pat Williams, Mr. George Miller, and 
Mr. Peter DeFazio, introduced the Indian Federal Recognition 
Administrative Procedures Act of 1995, H.R. 671, in an effort to create 
an efficient and fair procedure for extending Federal recognition to 
Indian tribes. In my remarks at that time, I stated that introduction 
of the legislation was only the starting point for further discussion 
and debate and that I looked forward to the advice and input of 
colleagues, the agency, and tribes.
  Mr. Speaker, since January a number of occurrences have provided me 
with some of the discussion and input that I was looking for. The 
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing in July on S. 479, a 
bill very similar to the original H.R. 671. Nonrecognized and 
recognized tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian organizations, 
and experts submitted testimony on the bill and the existing 
recognition process. In addition, the White House has held a number of 
meetings with nonrecognized tribes so that they could discuss 
recognition with administration officials. As a direct result of those 
meetings, the Department of the Interior set up a task force of 
administration people and representatives of nonrecognized tribes to 
assist the Department in formulating a position on whether the 
recognition criteria could be improved. Further, only this month an 
administrative law judge, in the first challenge to a decision against 
recognition, has essentially reversed BIA/BAR. In doing so, the ALJ was 
critical of BAR's methodology and interpretation of their own criteria. 
The judge's views of the existing criteria can be considered a 
suggestion that the criteria could be improved.
  Mr. Speaker, I have reviewed all of those developments and taken into 
account the views of the interested parties. As a result, I have 
modified H.R. 671 to improve both the procedures and the criteria that 
were in the original bill. The modifications will advance the goals of 
recognition reform legislation--providing a more objective, consistent, 
and streamlined standard for acknowledging groups as federally 
recognized Indian tribes.
  Mr. Speaker, I have made the following changes to the original H.R. 
671. The procedures under which the independent commission would hear 
and decide petitions for recognition have been slightly modified. 
Provisions that would have excluded groups from petitioning for 
recognition or continuing to seek recognition have been removed. Most 
importantly, the criteria for recognition have been improved. The 
improvements take into account the almost unanimous view of the experts 
and affected tribes that the criteria used in the existing 
administrative process, which were carried into the original H.R. 671, 
do not really test whether a group should be recognized or not and 
unnecessarily burden petitioners and decisionmakers. I believe that it 
is only through these changes that we will enact a process that is both 
fair and able to resolve the recognition issue in the timeframe 
anticipated.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

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