[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10303-H10305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     STIGLER ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2018

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur 
in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 2606) to amend the Act of 
August 4, 1947 (commonly known as the Stigler Act), with respect to 
restrictions applicable to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of 
Oklahoma, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendments is as follows:
  Senate amendments:

     (1)On page 3, line 12, strike [, as of said date,] and 
     insert: , as of the date of enactment of the Stigler Act 
     Amendments of 2018,
     (2)At the end of the bill, add the following:

     SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION PROVIDING FOR NO RETROACTIVITY.

       Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, 
     shall be construed to revise or extend the restricted status 
     of any lands under the Act of August 4, 1947 (61 Stat. 731, 
     chapter 458) that lost restricted status under such Act 
     before the date of enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Grijalva) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of the Senate amendments to H.R. 2606. This 
bill would amend the 1947 Stigler Act to remove the Indian blood 
quantum requirement for certain land to be maintained in restricted fee 
status for any member of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma.
  Under H.R. 2606, restricted fee land currently owned by members of 
the Five Tribes would remain in restricted status regardless of the 
blood quantum of the owners.
  H.R. 2606 passed the House on September 12, 2018, by voice vote. A 
clarifying amendment was adopted before being passed by the Senate on 
December 13, 2018.
  I thank the sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from Oklahoma 
(Mr. Cole), for his work on this bill.
  I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2606 seeks to amend the 1947 Stigler Act by 
removing the arbitrary blood quantum levels it established for Indian 
land ownership. This will ensure that lands currently owned by the 
citizens of the Five Tribes of Oklahoma will remain in restricted fee 
status, regardless of their blood quantum levels or that of their 
heirs.
  The House has already passed this measure once, and I am happy to 
agree to the changes that the Senate made to Mr. Cole's bill.
  Upholding the sanctity of a Tribe's land base should be of utmost 
importance to Congress and the Federal Government as a whole. A tribal 
land base is not just about tax-exempt status or economic development, 
both of which are vitally important to tribal communities. It is also 
about construction of housing, schools, clinics, and eldercare 
facilities, things that are extremely vital to the health and the well-
being of tribal members.
  It is also about recognizing a tribe's historical, cultural, and 
spiritual connection to the land, land that they called their own until 
it was forcibly or wrongly taken from them.
  We need to ensure that tribal sovereignty and self-governance are 
more than just talking points. There are real-world decisions that we 
make that have very real consequences, so it is shameful that a dark 
chapter in history is now repeating itself. I am referring to the dire 
situation that is facing the Mashpee Tribe of Massachusetts.
  The Mashpee have inhabited present-day Massachusetts and eastern 
Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. Their ancestors are the ones 
who welcomed the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock, as well as the 
people who aided these Pilgrims through the hard times of 1621 that we 
now refer to as our First Thanksgiving.
  Like many tribes, the Mashpee were intentionally and systematically 
rendered landless through various actions by the States and the Federal 
Government.

                              {time}  1700

  They have fought long and hard since that time to reestablish that 
which was taken from them: their homeland. They fought first for 
Federal recognition, which they finally received in 2009 after a 30-
year struggle. They then fought to establish a homeland for their 
people, which they finally did in 2015, when Interior approved their 
application to take 320 acres into trust for the Tribe.
  Things were looking optimistic for the Mashpee people. They 
constructed a government center, which includes a school, courtrooms, 
and multipurpose rooms, and they established a medical clinic facility. 
They were planning to embark on economic development opportunities that 
would help sustain the Tribal people and ensure their prosperity for 
future generations. Then the rug was cruelly pulled out from beneath 
them.
  In 2017, the Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, 
inexplicably refused to continue to defend the status of the Tribe's 
reservation in court.
  Then on September 7, 2018, the Department of the Interior issued its 
first Carciary decision, in which it refused to reaffirm its own 
authority to confirm the status of the Tribe's reservation. Interior 
rejected clear evidence that the Mashpee were indeed under Federal 
jurisdiction, evidence that was accepted as sufficient in prior agency 
decisions.
  This decision is devastating and unprecedented. It would mark the 
first time since the dark days of the termination era that the United 
States acts to de-establish an Indian reservation and make a Tribe 
landless.

[[Page H10304]]

  On our side of the aisle, we have been sounding the alarm for some 
time that this would come to pass if we did not address the Carciary 
issue, and yet the majority has refused to address that issue for 
almost a decade.
  Many other Tribes also face frivolous lawsuits on land that they have 
had in trust for years, sometimes decades. These attacks on sovereignty 
eat up valuable Tribal resources and funds, funds that could be instead 
used on housing, healthcare, economic development, and a myriad of 
other Tribal needs and concerns.
  As a result of this, the Trump administration's decision, the Mashpee 
and the Tribal government is on the brink of total dissolve. The legal 
limbo that has been imposed by the decision is forcing the Tribe to 
have to borrow thousands of dollars every day to keep its government 
running. This has resulted in devastating cuts to essential services 
and massive layoffs.
  The majority of Tribal members are employed with the Tribe. Due to 
this, the Tribal unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 49 percent. They 
have had to essentially dissolve their police force except for one 
patrol officer; they have laid off all Tribal court staff; they are in 
the process of shutting down their elder services and addiction 
treatment programs; and they are having to shut down their language 
immersion school serving preschool and school-age children. This is 
completely unacceptable and, sadly, avoidable.
  If this were occurring with a State or a local government, my 
colleagues across the aisle would have already remedied the situation, 
and we could do just that. We could address this issue head-on by 
simply reaffirming the trust status of Mashpee land. We could overturn 
the misguided agency decision and give stability and sovereignty back 
to the Mashpee people.
  This is exactly what many of us on both sides of the aisle have 
strongly advocated for months; however, the silence from Republican 
leadership of the House is deafening. Legislation to affirm the Mashpee 
homeland has existed for months, even before the Interior decision, yet 
the majority has refused to move it.
  Inaction is complacency, and the inaction of this body sets a 
dangerous precedent moving forward for other Tribes that are having 
their sovereignty challenged.
  Many of us have worked diligently over the years to right the wrongs 
of the past and rightfully return land back to Tribes. Mr. Speaker, I 
implore our Republican majority to work with us now to ensure Mashpee 
culture and its way of life survives.
  Congress must affirm its Federal trust responsibility and ensure 
Tribal sovereignty remains intact. We must not idly stand by as Tribal 
people are on the losing end of another heinous wrongdoing--not on this 
watch.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the gentleman 
from Arizona on an inspiring and eloquent speech on a subject that has 
nothing to do with the bill at hand.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the author of this measure.
  Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding, 
and I certainly want to thank him and Chairman Bishop for their 
assistance through this whole process.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2606, the Stigler Act 
Amendments of 2018, and on the Senate amendments to that legislation.
  I also speak on behalf of the citizens of the Cherokee Nation, the 
Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation, and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, commonly known as the Five 
Civilized Tribes. This bill only addresses and affects those Tribes and 
lands of their citizens within the State of Oklahoma. The passage of 
this legislation is critical to maintaining the inherited land of our 
Native citizens' ancestors.
  This legislation seeks to amend the original Stigler Act of 1947 and 
remove the one-half degree requirement of Native American blood.
  The original Stigler Act provides that, upon probate, if the heirs or 
devisees of an original allottee from the Five Tribes have passed out 
of one-half degree of Native blood, the allotment loses its restricted 
fee status.
  This bill ends that practice. It provides the opportunity for the 
heirs and devisees to take title to the land and allow the parcel to 
maintain its restricted status.

  This legislation will also create parity in Federal law in the 
treatment of Native American-allotted land by removing minimum blood 
degree requirements. Currently, these minimum requirements apply only 
to the citizens of the Five Tribes.
  The House has already passed this legislation this Congress by voice 
vote, and it was passed in the Senate with an amendment by unanimous 
consent. The Senate amendment provides clarifying technical language, 
which I fully support.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to once again support and pass 
H.R. 2606 to remove this outdated and discriminatory law and to 
preserve what Native-held land is left in Oklahoma's Indian Country.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank the chairman for his help in this 
matter. It partially rights an historic wrong.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Arizona 
(Mr. Grijalva), my good friend, for yielding time and for his 
leadership on this and so many other important issues.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no concerns with the underlying bill before us 
today, and I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), whom I have 
the great honor to serve with on the House Rules Committee, for his 
efforts on this bill.
  However, I am very concerned--and I can't stress that enough, very 
concerned and disappointed--that this majority has refused to allow an 
important bipartisan bill affecting a Tribe in my home State of 
Massachusetts from coming to the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to express my appreciation for all the hard work 
my fellow Massachusetts delegation members Joe Kennedy and Bill Keating 
have done to advance that bill.
  The Federal Government formally recognized the Mashpee Wampanoag in 
2010. In 2015, the previous administration agreed to hold several 
hundred acres of land in trust. Yet, despite these actions, the status 
of the Native American Tribe that greeted the Pilgrims landing on 
Plymouth Rock nearly 400 years ago is in question.
  In September, the Department of the Interior unjustly reversed its 
prior decision to hold the Mashpee land in trust.
  The review of the Department's prior decision came due to a quirk in 
a 1934 Federal law, but that minor quirk could have major implications 
for this Tribal community. Schools could be shuttered, healthcare 
access could be restricted, and its economic sovereignty could be 
limited.
  H.R. 5244, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, 
was introduced by my good friend Bill Keating. This bill would reaffirm 
the Mashpee land as being held in trust in Massachusetts, effectively 
overturning this unjust decision by the Department of the Interior.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress has acted time and again to correct unjust 
actions taken by our government with respect to Native American Tribes 
across the country. We must do so again to protect the Mashpee 
Wampanoag Tribe, and I urge my colleagues to bring this legislation 
that will do just that to the House floor for a vote as soon as 
possible.
  Now, if that doesn't happen in the remaining hours of this Congress, 
I will look forward to working with the distinguished incoming chair of 
the Natural Resources Committee to make this bill a reality. This is 
the right thing to do, and, quite frankly, it is just inexcusable that 
this House hasn't moved this issue forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt the issues raised by the 
gentleman will be addressed in the future. In the meantime, this bill 
addresses an important matter to the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma, 
and I would ask for its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H10305]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe of Texas). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) that 
the House suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the 
bill, H.R. 2606.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that 
a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is 
not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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