[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 104 (Thursday, June 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H4925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING THE LIFE OF FRANK LaMERE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. King) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to 
address you here on the floor of the House of Representatives.
  I rise today to honor the life of Frank LaMere. Frank LaMere was a 
leader for the Winnebagos, who had land on both sides of the Missouri 
River in the Sioux City area, and also for Native Americans, especially 
in the upper Midwest.
  Over the years, our lives interacted multiple times. I had the 
opportunity to work with him and see the gentleness of his nature.
  I will say that he mellowed out in his later years, but he never let 
up. He never took his foot off the throttle. He just found a smoother 
way to get to the goals, which were to help out his Native American 
people.
  He was a model of dedication to selflessness, and he also had more 
than his fair share of tragedy, loss, and demons to fight.
  Over the course of his life, he demonstrated that no matter the 
obstacles, he could rise above them, as we could rise above those and 
do the most good we can with the tools we have to work with.
  He overcame addiction himself. He had dedicated his life to being a 
voice for the voiceless, including securing housing, food, and other 
necessities for the people whom he did such a good job representing in 
the area.
  Yet, tragedy still exists in our communities, and Frank LaMere saw 
the need to address those situations. We collaborated on a couple of 
important things together. They were the passions of Frank LaMere who 
passed away on Sunday evening.
  The imagination and the dream that he had was to build Hope Street, 
which would be a treatment center and housing center primarily for 
Native Americans who are drug addicted or alcohol addicted.
  That project, by the way, has the language that allows it to qualify 
in this appropriations bill that we have before us this week.
  Also, the second project that was a very, very important project was 
when Frank and I had a chance meeting in the airport in Omaha, and we 
began to discuss these things, too, that were on his mind, that brought 
about the bill that is now H.R. 184. That is the Winnebago Land 
Transfer Act.
  In 1865, the United States Government and the Winnebago Tribe signed 
a treaty that granted that land on both sides of the Missouri River to 
the Winnebago Tribe. As the river changed and situations changed--
actually, I shouldn't say both sides of the river. It was the Nebraska 
side of the river. When the river changed, that meant that a lot of 
that land actually ended up in Iowa.
  The Corps of Engineers came in 105 years later and condemned that 
property for their own project. It was a takings, and I believe it was 
an unconstitutional takings. In doing so, they never compensated them 
for that land, and they didn't use that land for the project for which 
they had intended.
  So, over time, the Winnebagos were able to put the money together to 
go to court. The statute of limitations had expired. The court ruled 
that, if they were going to rule on the issue, they would grant the 
land back to the Winnebagos, but it was beyond their jurisdiction 
because of the statute of limitations.
  The only thing that puts that land back is an act of Congress, and 
that is the Winnebago Land Transfer Act, H.R. 184. If we can conclude 
that this week or next week, it will be the time that we have finished 
the biggest part of the work of Frank LaMere. We should do so to honor 
his life.
  One of the things that he was quoted as saying, and this was at the 
services for him: ``If you haven't been marginalized at least once a 
week, then you probably haven't done very much.''
  I can identify with that, Madam Speaker, and I can identify with the 
life of selfless work of Frank LaMere.
  We honor his life. Let's honor his life in this Congress this week or 
next.

                          ____________________