[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2743-S2744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. Lieberman):
  S. 631. A bill to provide grants to ensure full and fair 
participation in certain decisionmaking processes of the

[[Page S2744]]

Bureau of Indian Affairs; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise with our colleague, Senator 
Lieberman, to reintroduce two pieces of legislation intended to improve 
the process by which the Federal Government considers petitions of 
American Indians and their tribal governments for Federal recognition. 
The first bill is called the Tribal Recognition and Indian Bureau 
Enhancement Act, or the TRIBE Act. The second bill is a bill to provide 
assistance grants to financially needy tribal groups and municipalities 
so that those groups and towns can more fully and fairly participate in 
certain decision-making processes at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA. 
I offer these bills with a sense of hope and with the expectation that 
they will contribute to the larger national conversation about how the 
Federal Government can best fulfill its obligations to America's native 
peoples, and uphold the principles of fairness and openness in our 
laws.
  The persistent problems that plague the current tribal recognition 
process have been well-documented and widely acknowledged. A General 
Accounting Office report concluded in November, 2001 that ``weaknesses 
in the process create uncertainty about the basis for recognition 
decisions, and the amount of time it takes to make those decisions 
impedes the process of fulfilling its promise as a uniform approach to 
tribal recognition.'' This conclusion has been shared by many tribal 
and non-tribal governments. The Chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe of 
Washington State has testified that she and her people ``have known and 
felt the effects of 20 years of administrative inaccuracies, delays and 
the blase approach in . . . handling and . . . processing the Duwamish 
petitions.'' And it has even been shared by the BIA itself, when in 
2001, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs admitted that ``. . . 
it is time for Congress to consider an alternative process.'' Clearly, 
tribes, municipalities, and others interested in the recognition 
process have been ill-served over the years by a broken system. I 
believe that we have an obligation to restore public confidence in the 
recognition process.
  The TRIBE Act would improve the recognition process in several ways. 
First, it would authorize $10 million per year to better enable the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs to consider petitions in a thorough, fair, and 
timely manner. Currently, there is an enormous backlog of tribal 
recognition petitions pending at the BIA. At current rates of progress, 
it takes many years for a petition to be considered. It seems to me 
that is an unacceptably long amount of time. Indeed, I can think of no 
other area of law where Americans must wait as long to have their 
rights adjudicated and vindicated. Second, the TRIBE Act would provide 
for improved notice of a petition to key parties who may have an 
interest in a petition, including the governor and attorney general of 
the State where a tribe seeks recognition, other tribes, and elected 
leaders of municipalities that are adjacent to the land of a tribe 
seeking recognition. Third, it would require that a petitioner meets 
each of the seven mandatory criteria for Federal recognition spelled 
out in the current Code of Federal Regulations. Unfortunately, in a 
number of highly controversial decisions, it appears that these 
criteria have not been applied in a uniform and consistent manner. 
Fourth, it would require that a decision on a petition be published in 
the Federal Register, and include a detailed explanation of the 
findings of fact and of law with respect to each of the seven mandatory 
criteria for recognition.

  I want to emphasize what this legislation would not do. It would not 
revoke or in any way alter the status of tribes whose petitions for 
Federal recognition have already been granted. It would not restrict in 
any way the existing prerogatives and privileges of such tribes. Tribes 
would retain their right to self-determination consistent with their 
sovereign status. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the TRIBE Act 
would not dictate outcomes nor would it tie the hands of the BIA. It 
would simply create a uniform recognition process that is equal and 
fair to all.
  My second bill would provide grants to allow poor tribes and 
municipalities an opportunity to participate fully in important 
decision-making processes pertaining to recognition. Consequently, 
these grants would enable these communities to provide to the BIA more 
relevant information and resources from which to make a fair and fully-
informed decision on tribal recognition. When the Federal Government, 
through the BIA, makes decisions that will have an enormous impact on a 
variety of communities--both tribal and non-tribal--it is only right 
that the Government should provide a meaningful opportunity for those 
communities to be heard.
  I believe that every tribal organization that is entitled to 
recognition ought to be recognized and ought to be recognized in an 
appropriately speedy process. At the same time, we must make sure that 
the BIA's decisions are accurate and fair. Every recognition decision 
carries with it a legal significance that should endure forever. Each 
recognition decision made by the BIA is a foundation upon which 
relationships between tribes and States, tribes and municipalities, 
Indians and non-Indians will be built for generations to come. We need 
to make sure that the foundation upon which these lasting decisions are 
built is sound and will withstand the test of time. We cannot afford to 
build relationships between sovereigns on the shifting sands of a 
broken bureaucratic procedure.
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