[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 16, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1894-E1895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE ``VIETNAM VETERANS BILL FOR ALASKA NATIVES''

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 16, 2001

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce 
legislation to provide for the equitable treatment of Alaska Native 
Vietnam veterans. My bill will amend Section 41 of the Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). This section applies to the Native 
Allotments for Alaska Native Vietnam veterans.
  In 1998, P.L. 105-276 (Section 432) amended the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (ANCSA) to provide Alaska Native Vietnam veterans an 
opportunity to obtain an allotment of up to 160 acres of land under the 
Native Allotment Act. There are approximately 2,800 Alaska Natives who 
served in the military during the Vietnam conflict who did not have an 
opportunity to apply for their Native allotment. When P.L. 105-276 
became law, many Alaska Native Vietnam veterans were encouraged with 
the belief that they would finally receive recognition for their 
military service to the United States. Many Alaska Native Vietnam 
veterans saw this as their last opportunity to obtain land which had 
been used by their families for generations for subsistence purposes. 
That opportunity was lost to 1,700 Alaska Native Vietnam veterans who 
were excluded by the terms of P.L. 150-276 (which was harshly enforced 
by the previous Administration).
  P.L. 105-276 contains three major obstacles which prohibit Alaska 
Native Vietnam veterans an opportunity to select and obtain their 
Native allotment. These obstacles are so formidable that 48% of the 
total Alaska Native Vietnam veteran allotment applications which have 
been filed (as of September 27, 2001) have been rejected [according to 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)]. The BLM also reports that only 
116 applications for Alaska Native Vietnam veterans' allotments have 
been filed and 56 of those applications have been rejected. The reasons 
for all but 16 of the rejections are for one of the following reasons: 
(1) the land applied for is not available; and/or (2) the dates that 
the Alaska Native Vietnam veteran served during the Vietnam conflict 
did not coincide with those required under P.L. 105-276.
  P.L. 105-276's first obstacle is: Alaska Native Vietnam veterans can 
only apply for land that was vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved 
when their use of the land first began. Land that is available to 
Alaska Native Vietnam veterans for allotments is extremely limited or 
non-existent. For example, out of the 116 applications filed thus far, 
36% have been rejected because the land applied for is not available 
under P.L. 105-276. Most land in Alaska is out of reach for Alaska 
Native Vietnam veteran allotments. Lands that are expressly not 
available for allotments are lands in a National Forest, selected by 
the State of Alaska or Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Native 
Corporations or under a public land law, camping sites, designated 
wilderness, and acquired by the federal government through gift, 
purchase, or exchange.
  The second obstacle is: Alaska Native Vietnam veterans can only apply 
if they served in active military duty from January 1, 1969 to December 
31, 1971 (even though the Vietnam conflict began August 5, 1964 and 
ended May 7, 1975). The dates of January 1969 to December 1971 were 
adamantly required by the previous Administration because they did not 
want to give up any additional federal lands in Alaska. Approximately 
1,700 Alaska Native Vietnam veterans who served during the Vietnam 
conflict are not eligible for an allotment under existing law because 
they do not meet the military service date's requirement. Many of those 
1,700 veterans did not even apply, but those who did have been 
rejected. Of all of the applications rejected, 13% were rejected 
because the Alaska Native Vietnam veteran's military service dates did 
not meet the existing requirements.
  The third obstacle is: Alaska Native Vietnam veterans must prove they 
used the land (applied for in their native allotment application) in a 
substantially continuous and independent manner, at least potentially 
exclusive of others, for five or more years. This requirement was not 
in the original Native Allotment Act, nor has it been required of other 
Alaska Native allotment applicants. This requirement further penalizes 
our Alaska Native Vietnam veterans and will certainly cause many 
applications to be rejected. Further, adjudication of use and occupancy 
issues will take years and will be very costly.
  My proposed legislation will increase the available land by 
authorizing Alaska Native Vietnam veterans to apply for land that is 
federally owned and vacant. The lack of available land under existing 
law nullifies the very purpose of granting Alaska Native Vietnam 
veterans an allotment benefit. This is true because most land in Alaska 
is not available for Alaska Native Vietnam veteran allotment 
applications under existing laws. For example,

[[Page E1895]]

there is no land available in southeast Alaska because it either is 
within the Tongass National Forest or has been selected or conveyed to 
the State of Alaska or ANCSA Native Corporations. In addition, vast 
areas of land in Alaska were withdrawn before most Alaska Native 
Vietnam veterans could have made qualifying use of the land. In 
contrast, federally owned ``vacant'' land is still available throughout 
Alaska and should be made available for Alaska Native Vietnam veteran 
allotments.
  My legislation will also expand the military service dates to the 
dates that coincide with the entire Vietnam era conflict: beginning 
August 5, 1964 and ending on May 7, 1975. The expansion of military 
service dates to include all Alaska Natives Vietnam veterans who served 
in the military during the Vietnam conflict is consistent with the 
federal government's policy of providing benefits to all veterans of 
the Vietnam conflict and not just to some of those veterans. This 
provision also fulfills the trust obligation to Alaska Natives. The 
limited military service dates have excluded many Alaska Native Vietnam 
veterans who bravely served during the Vietnam conflict. Never before 
has the United States given veteran land benefits to only a portion of 
those who served their country. The federal government has given public 
land benefits to all veterans (or their widows or heirs) of every war 
beginning with the Indian Wars of 1790 and ending with the Korean 
conflict in 1955. As Members will recall, Alaska Native veterans were 
not eligible for these public land benefits until 1924 because the 
courts had determined Alaska Natives were not United States citizens.
  My legislation will also replace existing use and occupancy 
requirements with legislative approval of allotment applications. The 
provision assures the legislative approval process affords due process 
protections of valid existing interests in the land a veteran claims. 
The use and occupancy requirements would be replaced with legislative 
approval for several reasons. First, Congress has made legislative 
approval available to all other allotment applicants under 43 U.S.C. 
Section 1634(a)(1)(A)--[Section 905 of the Alaska National Interest 
Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) which extends the legislative approval 
of Native allotments that were pending at the time of passage of 
ANILCA]. Second, legislative approvals of allotments prevent costly and 
lengthy adjudication of use and occupancy issues. Legislative approval 
also prevents lengthy delays that will impede many Alaska Native 
Vietnam veteran applicants from ever receiving land during their 
lifetime. Third, there are many Alaska Native Vietnam veterans that 
could not meet use and occupancy requirements as a result of their 
service to their country, One example that illustrates this point is 
that a deserving Alaska Native Vietnam veteran who was paralyzed during 
the Vietnam conflict would be rejected if that veteran was unable to 
complete the five years of use of the claimed land and had not used the 
land for five years before the Vietnam conflict.
  My legislation addresses the formidable barriers that deserving 
Alaska Native Vietnam veterans face when applying for a Native 
allotment under P.L. 105-267. For many years, Alaska Natives have had a 
unique legal relationship with the United States. Because of this 
unique relationship, Alaska Natives have steadfastly answered a call to 
duty when the United States called during a conflict or an act of war. 
Alaska Natives did so in disproportionately high numbers during the 
Vietnam conflict. Those who answered the call during the entire Vietnam 
conflict should not be penalized for their service to their country.
  My proposed legislation will correct those inequities imposed by the 
last Administration in allowing all of the Alaska Native Vietnam 
veterans to apply for their Native allotment under the Native Allotment 
Act. I urge America's support of this legislation and of the Alaska 
Native Vietnam veterans who bravely served this great country during 
the Vietnam conflict. Fulfill our promise to all Alaska Native Vietnam 
veterans and allow them to obtain their Native allotment under the 
Native Allotment Act.

                          ____________________