[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 153 (Monday, December 3, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6586-H6587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. ISSA:
       H.R. 6625.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article 1, Sec. 8: To regulate Commerce with foreign 
     Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian 
     Tribes; To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper 
     for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all 
     other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of 
     the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. 
     Article II, section 2, clause 2:

[[Page H6587]]

     [The President] shall have the power, by and with the Advice 
     and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties.'' For much of 
     the Nation's history, Indian treaties, and legislation made 
     pursuant to Indian treaties, governed the relations between 
     the Federal Government and Indian tribes. The U.S. Supreme 
     Court has acknowledged that these and other provisions of the 
     Constitution of the United States grant Congress with broad 
     plenary to legislate with regard to Indian affairs. The Court 
     in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribes held in part that 
     Congress' treaty and other dealings with tribes inherently 
     divested tribes of criminal jurisdiction over persons who 
     were not citizens of the host tribe. Similarly, the Court in 
     U.S. v. Lara upheld Congress' restoration of tribal criminal 
     authority over non-member Indians.