[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 21 (Monday, March 4, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E248-E250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AMENDMENTS TO FISCAL YEAR 2002 APPROPRIATIONS LEGISLATION AFFECTING THE 
               RIGHTS OF THE WYANDOTTE TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 4, 2002

  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, during the first session of the 107th 
Congress, two amendments were considered as a part of the annual 
appropriations process which had an impact upon the Wyandotte Tribe of 
Oklahoma. This Tribe has a long history in Wyandotte County, Kansas, 
which is located in my congressional district. Currently, the Tribe is 
seeking to establish and operate a gaming facility in Wyandotte County, 
under the provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
  I recently received a very thoughful and detailed letter from 
Wyandotte Tribe Chief Leaford Bearskin, in which he responds to a 
statement concerning the issues raised by these appropriations 
amendments that was delivered on the Senate floor late last year by 
Senator Sam Brownback. So that the Congressional Record may fully and 
accurately reflect the history of the Wyandotte Tribe in Kansas, as 
well as the circumstances surrounding last year's provisions of P.L. 
107-63 and Senate amendment 2065 to H.R. 3061, I ask that Chief 
Bearskin's correspondence with me be included in the Record.

                                             Wyandotte Nation,

                                  Wyandotte, OK, January 29, 2002.
     Hon. Dennis Moore,
     House of Representatives, Cannon House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC
       Dear Congressman Moore: As Chief of the Wyandotte Nation, I 
     am compelled to write in response to Senator Brownback's 
     comments on the Wyandotte Nation which were published in the 
     Congressional Record on December 19, 2001 [at pp. S13671-3].
       The deplorable history of tribal relations in the United 
     States History is well known, and for more than three 
     centuries the non-tribal community and even the United States 
     Government have continuously attacked the Wyandotte Nation, 
     both verbally and physically. I am truly saddened that in 
     this modern era of instant global communication, Senator 
     Brownback continues the centuries old practice of verbally 
     attacking the Wyandotte Nation by spreading false and 
     misleading information about both the Nation and our 
     reservation lands located in Kansas City, Kansas. While my 
     ancestors did not have the capacity to respond to false and 
     insidious verbal attacks on the Nation, I do, and feel 
     compelled to set the record straight for the Senate 
     concerning our history and activities in Kansas.
       First, Senator Brownback and others have wrongfully 
     suggested that the Wyandotte Nation is an out-of-state tribe 
     trying to relocate to Kansas. Such suggestions are 
     outrageous, and demonstrate that Senator

[[Page E249]]

     Brownback and other who have labeled the Nation as 
     ``carpetbaggers'' simply speak without knowing the history of 
     the Nation and the State of Kansas. In 1843, after the Nation 
     ceded millions of acres in Ohio and Michigan to the United 
     States for unfair and inadequate compensation (according to 
     the Indian Claims Commission) the Nation relocated to the 
     Kansas Territory and were promised a 148,000-acre 
     reservation. When the United States did not honor this 
     promise, the Wyandotte Nation acquired 39 sections of land at 
     the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers from the 
     Delaware Indian Nation. The Wyandottes founded and platted 
     Wyandotte City, which was later renamed Kansas City.
       As commerce expanded dramatically on the Kansas and 
     Missouri Rivers in the late 1840s and early 1850s, the United 
     States Government determined that it was no longer advisable 
     to have the Wyandotte Indians occupying Wyandotte City, which 
     was growing into a significant river city. In 1855, the 
     United States, noting that the Wyandotte had become so 
     ``civilized'' and experienced in commercial dealings, entered 
     into a Treaty with the Tribe, giving tribal members the 
     choice to either renounce their Indian heritage and become 
     citizens of the United States, or to maintain their tribal 
     existence and be removed to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). 
     Rather than turn their back on centuries of history and 
     culture and renounce their tribal identity, my ancestors and 
     many other members of the tribe chose to maintain their proud 
     history and thus were forcibly removed to Oklahoma, left to 
     fend for themselves without any land or resources, and 
     finally left to starve. The Treaty also ceded most of the 
     Wyandotte Nation's Kansas lands to the United States, 
     although the Treaty expressly ``reserved to the Nation the 
     perpetual use and occupancy of the Huron Cemetery''.
       On the Senate Floor, Senator Brownback objected to the 
     conference report on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill 
     (Senate amendment 2065) because the report did not include 
     Senator Brownback's amendment to the Bill which would have 
     overturned a technical provision (Section 134) enacted in the 
     FY 2002 Interior Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2217). Senator 
     Brownback's comments concerning Section 134 of H.R. 2217 are 
     so misleading, and so demonstrate a complete lack of 
     understanding of 150 years of Indian law and history, that I 
     feel compelled to also set the this record straight for the 
     Senate.
       Section 134 of H.R. 2217, as originally proposed, would 
     simply have acknowledged and clarified that since the 
     Department of the Interior was created in 1848, the Secretary 
     of the Interior has had the authority to determine what lands 
     constitute an Indian reservation. Such a clarification was 
     necessary because last April, the United States Court of 
     Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Sac & Fox of Missouri, et 
     al. v. Bruce Babbitt, et al., issued a confusing opinion that 
     turned two centuries of Federal Indian Law on its head, 
     ruling that the National Indian Gaming Commission (the NIGC) 
     and not the Secretary of the Interior, had the authority to 
     determine what lands constitute an Indian reservation. Both 
     the Department of the Interior and the NIGC were so troubled 
     by this ruling that they requested, albeit unsuccessfully, 
     for the 10th Circuit to reconsider its decision.
       The 10th Circuit case arose out of a 1996 decision by the 
     Secretary of the Interior with respect to the Huron Cemetery 
     and the property adjacent to the Cemetery. The suit was 
     initiated by the State of Kansas and three (3) other Kansas 
     tribes who operate gaming facilities south of Topeka in an 
     attempt to prevent the Wyandotte Nation from operating a 
     gaming facility in Kansas City. Although Senator Brownback 
     stated that the State and the other tribes prevailed at the 
     District Court level, he is wrong: the United States District 
     Court dismissed the suit in February 2000.
       The District Court did not address the question of whether 
     the Secretary of the Interior or the NIGC had the authority 
     to determine what constitutes and Indian reservation, and 
     neither the State, and other Kansas tribes, nor the Wyandotte 
     Nation briefed or even discussed this question before the 
     10th Circuit. Without any thoughtful discussion or 
     information on the matter whatsover, the 10th Circuit, in a 
     fit of judicial activism, simply turned Federal Indian Law 
     upside down by throwing out more than 100 years of history 
     and precedent.
       Senator Brownback's accusation that the Wyandotte Nation 
     committed an egregious abuse of the appropriations process 
     simply further demonstrates that he does not understand 
     Federal Indian Law or how the Wyandotte Nation responded to 
     the 10th Circuit's plainly wrong decision.
       After the 10th Circuit opinion was issued, the Nation 
     consulted with the NIGC, the Associate Solicitor for Indian 
     Affairs within the Department of the Interior, and the 
     Department of Justice who had represented the Secretary 
     before both the U.S. District Court and the 10th Circuit. All 
     of the agencies instantly recognized that the 10th Circuit 
     decision not only established bad precedent by reversing 150 
     years of established law, but created uncertainty throughout 
     Indian Country by creating confusion over which agency, the 
     NIGC or the BIA, makes Indian land and Indian reservation 
     determinations. As a result of these consultations, and to 
     avoid further confusion within Indian Country created by the 
     10th Circuit's wrong decision, the Nation worked with Members 
     of the House and Senate Appropriation Committees, the Senate 
     Indian Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Natural 
     Resources to correct the problem created by the 10th Circuit.
       The Department of the Interior strongly supported the 
     original version of Section 134, which simply clarified for 
     the BIA, the NIGC and all of Indian Country that the 
     Secretary of the Interior has always had the authority to 
     determine what constitutes an Indian reservation, and nothing 
     in IGRA was intended to eliminate or diminish the Secretary's 
     authority. During the Interior conference, Senator Brownback, 
     through his surrogates, attempted to add a rider to Section 
     134, which would have taken away the Nation's rights to use 
     and develop its trust land as it best sees fit. The conferees 
     wisely rejected Senator Brownback's attempt to take the 
     Nation's property rights without any debate, discussion or 
     compensation.
       After failing to convince the appropriate Committees to 
     strip the Nation of it property rights, Senator Brownback 
     sponsored another amendment (#2065), which was accepted en 
     bloc with numerous other amendments on the Senate floor to a 
     non-germane piece of legislation, the FY 2002 Senate Labor-
     HHS Appropriations Bill, without any debate or discussion. 
     Fortunately, with your help, the Labor-HHS conferees also 
     rejected Senator Brownback's amendment. The Bureau of Indian 
     Affairs, the National Indian Gaming Commission, the 
     Department of Justice, as well as the Senators and 
     Representatives serving on the various committees which have 
     been involved with both Section 134 of H.R. 2217 and Senator 
     Brownback's various attempts to amend or repeal Section 134 
     all recognize that the 10th Circuit decision wrongfully 
     divests the Secretary of the Interior authority which the 
     Secretary alone has exercised for more than 150 years.
       Because of the unique role the Department of the Interior 
     has played in Indian Affairs since its inception in 1848, 
     only the Secretary of the Interior has the institutional 
     experience and knowledge to make complex Indian land and 
     Indian reservation determinations. Many of the current 
     Senators were in Congress in 1988 when the Indian Gaming 
     Regulatory Act was enacted and the NIGC was created. They 
     know that the IGRA only gives the NIGC authority to regulate 
     tribal gaming and not the broad authority to make Indian land 
     decisions in the first instance, as the 10th Circuit 
     attempted to do. As many in Congress also know, the Secretary 
     of the Interior has always had the authority to determine 
     what constitutes Indian lands or an Indian reservation, and 
     when Congress passed the IGRA, it carefully ensured that 
     nothing in the IGRA diminished or eliminated that authority. 
     Hopefully Senator Brownback will cease his efforts to divest 
     the Secretary of authority that dates back 150 years.
       In the past, Senator Brownback has publicly stated his 
     intention is to protect the Huron Cemetery by prohibiting 
     gaming activity within the boundaries of the Cemetery itself. 
     Indeed, for the past three years Senator Brownback has 
     attached riders to the Interior Appropriations Bills 
     prohibiting such activity and that language is included again 
     in the Interior conference report on H.R. 2217, without 
     objection from the Wyandotte Nation. The Wyandotte Nation has 
     already agreed to protect the Huron Cemetery by entering into 
     a formal agreement with the Wyandotte Nation of Kansas for 
     such purposes (see enclosed letter from the Wyandotte Nation 
     of Kansas).
       I should point out that the Wyandotte Nation will not game 
     on the Huron Cemetery, and does not want to game on the land 
     next to the cemetery. We would rather game on another piece 
     of property in Wyandotte County away from downtown Kansas 
     City.
       Our efforts to game in another location are supported by 
     the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, 
     Kansas, organized labor, the local business community and 80% 
     of the voters by referendum. Yet, Senator Brownback's 
     comments on the Senate Floor imply that Wyandotte County 
     residents and local officials do not support our effort. 
     Senator Brownback's comments are simply not true.
       Congressman Moore, we sincerely appreciate your support of 
     both our and the community's position and will continue to 
     work with you on your legislation that would settle the land 
     claims that we have in Kansas City and Wyandotte County, 
     Kansas. We understand that your bill has twice passed the 
     House Resources Committee. However, we also understand it has 
     never seen action on the House floor because of opposition 
     from Senator Brownback and some of his Kansas colleagues in 
     the House who do not represent Wyandotte County. This session 
     will be different.
       Currently, we have a claim to three sections of land in 
     Kansas City, Kansas, and had filed a lawsuit in this regard. 
     We have subsequently dismissed the lawsuit for the time being 
     because we reached an agreement with the City and County that 
     we, with their support, would pursue the passage of 
     Congressman Moore's bipartisan legislation in Congress 
     allowing us to purchase a piece of property in Wyandotte 
     County that would be taken into trust by the Secretary of the 
     Interior. If that were to occur, we would not pursue any 
     further litigation and give up our claims to the three 
     sections of land we believe we have legitimate title to in 
     Wyandotte County.
       Finally, it is also important to mention that the property 
     adjacent to the Huron

[[Page E250]]

     Cemetery was purchased with funds appropriated, pursuant to 
     P.L. No. 98-602, in satisfaction of four (4) judgments 
     rendered in favor of the Wyandotte Nation against the United 
     States. Each of these judgments arose out of the U.S. 
     acquiring Wyandotte land in the present states of Ohio and 
     Michigan for unfair and inadequate compensation. Because the 
     Nation had virtually no trust land when P.L. No. 98-602 was 
     enacted, the act provided that $100,000 of the appropriated 
     funds must be used to acquire land, and that the United 
     States must accept title to such lands in trust for the 
     Nation. P.L. No. 98-602 is thus a statute, which provided for 
     reestablishment of a trust land base so that the Nation could 
     pursue economic development and self-sufficiency.
       Senator Brownback's attempts to amend or repeal Section 134 
     of H.R. 2217 would deprive the Wyandotte Nation of its 
     ability to use the Property acquired with 602 funds for any 
     meaningful economic development. Such a move would be 
     entirely contrary to our legal rights under P.L. No. 98-602 
     to reestablish a trust land base and pursue economic 
     development and self-sufficiency.
       Having said all that, I am hopeful that you will continue 
     to oppose Senator Brownback's attempt to amend or repeal 
     Section 134 that would not only take away from the Wyandotte 
     Nation the rights every other Indian tribe is guaranteed by 
     law, but would also cement a decision by the 10th Circuit 
     which creates great uncertainty within Indian Country and 
     prejudices the rights of every Indian tribe in the United 
     States.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Leaford Bearskin,
                                                            Chief.

     

                          ____________________