[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBAL LABOR SOVEREIGNTY BILL

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, first, a brief comment on the Tribal 
Labor Sovereignty Act, which failed to move forward in the Senate last 
night. Indian Affairs has very rarely found its way to the floor of the 
Senate, despite a number of very pressing issues in Indian Country, 
including homelessness, educational disparities, language loss, 
healthcare access, broadband access, and many more. For a number of 
years, Democrats and Republicans on the Indian Affairs Committee have 
pushed legislation that would alleviate these problems. On our side of 
the aisle, Senators Udall, Tester, Smith, Baldwin, Heinrich, Heitkamp, 
Cantwell, and Murray have worked very hard on bills that deal with 
these very, very significant issues in Indian Country, but none of 
these bills have reached the floor.
  The leader has refused to put bills that would dramatically help 
Indian Country on the floor. When, finally, a Tribal bill was brought 
forward by the majority leader, it was closed to amendments and debate. 
Senator Udall, our ranking member, wished to have amendments. Senator 
Hoeven, the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, told me he wanted 
amendments. But the way Leader McConnell brought it to the floor was 
with no amendments, no debate, and no discussion. Even worse, it was a 
bill to scrap labor rights at a time when we should be doing everything 
we can to strengthen labor protections. The only bill the leader would 
bring to the floor is one that was divisive and destined to fail--a 
political act, not an act to help Indian Country.
  The AFL-CIO said that passage of the measure ``would have amounted to 
the most aggressive erosion of labor protection since the 1940s.''
  After many years of waiting for Tribal issues to reach the floor, I 
think many of us were sorely disappointed that the majority leader 
opted for this incredibly divisive bill, done in such an incredibly 
divisive way.
  I hope, now that the measure has failed to advance, that the majority 
leader will consent to putting other Tribal bills on the floor, so many 
of which have broad bipartisan support and could pass at least the 
Senate.

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