[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 150 (Monday, September 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4364-H4366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MEMORIAL AND SACRED SITE ACT

  Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3371) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete 
all actions necessary for certain land to be held in restricted fee 
status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and 
for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3371

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Wounded Knee Massacre 
     Memorial and Sacred Site Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Restricted fee status.--The term ``restricted fee 
     status'' means a status in which the Tribal land--
       (A) shall continue to be owned by the Tribes;
       (B) shall be part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and 
     expressly made subject to the civil and criminal jurisdiction 
     of the Oglala Sioux Tribe;
       (C) shall not be transferred without the consent of 
     Congress and the Tribes;
       (D) shall not be subject to taxation by a State or local 
     government; and
       (E) shall not be subject to any provision of law providing 
     for the review or approval by the Secretary of the Interior 
     before the Tribes may use the land for any purpose as allowed 
     by the document titled ``Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux 
     Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe'' and dated October 
     21, 2022, directly, or through agreement with another party.
       (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (3) Tribal land.--The term ``Tribal land'' means the 
     approximately 40 acres (including the surface and subsurface 
     estate, and mineral estate, and any and all improvements, 
     structures, and personal property on those acres) on the Pine 
     Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, at Rural 
     County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and generally 
     depicted as ``Area of Interest'' on the map entitled 
     ``Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial Land'' and dated 
     October 26, 2022, which is a segment of the December 29, 
     1890, Wounded Knee Massacre site.
       (4) Tribes.--The term ``Tribes'' means the Oglala Sioux 
     Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River 
     Reservation, both tribes being among the constituent tribes 
     of the Great Sioux Nation and signatories to the Fort Laramie 
     Treaty of 1868 between the United States of America and the 
     Great Sioux Nation, 15 Stat. 635.

     SEC. 3. LAND HELD IN RESTRICTED FEE STATUS BY THE TRIBES.

       (a) Action by Secretary.--Not later than 365 days after 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
       (1) complete all actions, including documentation and minor 
     corrections to the survey and legal description of Tribal 
     land, necessary for the Tribal land to be held by the Tribes 
     in restricted fee status; and
       (2) appropriately assign each applicable private and 
     municipal utility and service right or agreement with regard 
     to the Tribal land.
       (b) Conditions.--
       (1) Federal laws relating to indian land.--Except as 
     otherwise provided in this Act, the Tribal land shall be 
     subject to Federal laws relating to Indian country, as 
     defined by section 1151 of title 18, United States Code and 
     protected by the restriction against alienation in section 
     177 of title 25, United States Code.
       (2) Use of land.--The Tribal land shall be used for the 
     purposes allowed by the document titled ``Covenant Between 
     the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe'' 
     and dated October 21, 2022.
       (3) Encumbrances and agreements.--The Tribal land shall 
     remain subject to any private or municipal encumbrance, 
     right-of-way, restriction, easement of record, or utility 
     service agreement in effect on the date of the enactment of 
     this Act.
       (4) Gaming.--Pursuant to the document titled ``Covenant 
     Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux 
     Tribe'' and dated October 21, 2022, the Tribal land shall not 
     be used for gaming activity under the Indian Gaming 
     Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3371, the bill now under 
consideration.

[[Page H4365]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COLLINS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 3371, the Wounded Knee Memorial and Sacred Site 
Act, introduced by Congressman Johnson from South Dakota, would place 
approximately 40 acres of fee land within the Pine Ridge Reservation 
into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne 
River Sioux Tribe.
  The land would be held as a memorial and a sacred site in remembrance 
of the Indian people killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In 
the mid- and late-1800s, there were many armed conflicts between 
Tribes, settlers, and U.S. military on the Great Plains and in the 
Western United States.

                              {time}  1700

  This contributed to distrust, fear, and misconceptions between 
groups, and the Wounded Knee Massacre was a result of that atmosphere.
  On December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians, led by Chief Spotted 
Elk, had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian 
Reservation in South Dakota. U.S. Army 7th Cavalry troops were sent 
there to disarm the Lakota.
  A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted 
Elk's band, a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot 
rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group. 
At that time, it was estimated that approximately 300 Indian people 
were killed.
  In September 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River 
Sioux Tribe jointly purchased 40 acres of land where an old trading 
post was located. The piece of land also contains a portion of the area 
where the Wounded Knee Massacre took place.
  On October 21, 2022, both Tribes signed a covenant stating that this 
property shall be held and maintained as a memorial and sacred site 
without any economic development and prohibited any gaming on the land.
  I applaud Mr. Johnson for working collaboratively with both Tribes to 
develop H.R. 3371, which would place the 40 acres into restricted fee 
status held jointly by both Tribes and memorializes the covenant 
between them.
  Restricted fee land contains the same restrictions against alienation 
and taxation as land held in trust, but title is not held by the 
Federal Government. It is held by the Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne 
River Sioux Tribes.
  This legislation and the land it sets aside will memorialize and 
honor the Indian men, women, and children who were killed in 1890.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) 
and the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes for their work on 
this important legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3371, the Wounded Knee 
Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by my colleague from 
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).
  This legislation is an important step to honor Lakota lives lost at 
Wounded Knee and honor the Lakota for generations to come.
  In particular, this bill would place approximately 40 acres of land 
located within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation into restricted fee 
status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. 
This is the land believed to be the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee 
Massacre.
  In the late 1880s, Tribes began holding ghost dances for the renewal 
of stolen land and in protest of the U.S. Government, a government that 
prohibited American Indians from practicing their religious freedom.
  In December of 1890, the government sent U.S. Army 7th Cavalry troops 
to disarm the Lakota near Wounded Knee Creek. A struggle occurred, and 
the 7th Cavalry brutally massacred over 350 American Indian men, women, 
and children near Wounded Knee Creek.
  The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the most atrocious acts in our 
Nation's history. The healing is still continuing today.
  In 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 
purchased this land and signed a covenant to hold and maintain the land 
as a memorial and sacred site.
  Representative Johnson's bill affirms that covenant and would allow 
the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to hold, 
maintain, and protect the land as a memorial and sacred site without 
any development.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the lead sponsor of this bill.
  Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, in December 1890, Chief 
Spotted Elk and his band of Lakota, including many women and children, 
were moving from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the reservation, to 
the Pine Ridge Reservation. As was mentioned, they were stopped by the 
Army's 7th Cavalry, and they were forced to make camp at Wounded Knee 
Creek in South Dakota.
  The next morning, on December 29, the 7th Cavalry attempted to disarm 
the Lakota. A struggle ensued, a shot rang out, and before long, the 
7th Cavalry was opening fire on the Lakota. Almost all of them were 
unarmed. As was mentioned earlier, most were women and children. More 
than 300 noncombatants were killed.
  Mr. Speaker, this was a massacre. Too many think of Wounded Knee as 
something that happened in the long ago past and in a faraway place. 
The inaccuracy of that view was driven home to me in June when I went 
to the site, and I spoke to the descendants of Wounded Knee.
  There, I sat at length with an elder whose grandmother survived that 
day. He grew up hearing from her own voice of the fear, the violence, 
and the tragedy of that day. Mr. Speaker, this was not a history book. 
This was his grandmother.
  Close by, at St. John's Church, I looked at the site where the 
wounded and the dying were taken. The floorboards of that church are 
still stained with their blood. These are real people. These are real 
places. These are not ancient tales of a distant land.
  Our Nation has struggled with how best to remember, to mourn that 
terrible day.
  On the 100th anniversary of Wounded Knee, this body issued a formal 
apology and expressed deep regret for the actions of that day. That is, 
obviously, altogether appropriate, although on its own it is woefully 
insufficient.
  Last year, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 
exercised tremendous leadership by coming together to purchase the 40 
acres surrounding this site, an area that was mentioned was site to 
just an old trading post. The management of that site was not 
an appropriate memory of those who had died that day.

  This bill, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, 
would place those 40 acres into restricted fee status; in essence, 
placing them into trust for the Tribes. That would provide the Tribes 
additional tools that they could use to better protect this sacred 
land.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize the leadership of the Tribal leaders 
involved: firstly, President Frank Star Comes Out, who graces our body 
with his presence in this Chamber today, but also Chairman Ryman 
LeBeau, former President Kevin Killer, and former Chairman Harold 
Frazier. We have spent months working together along with committee 
staff and the Department of the Interior to craft this important 
legislation.
  My colleagues, I ask for a ``yes'' vote on this bill.
  Wounded Knee is sacred ground. It has been hallowed by the blood of 
innocent women and children. It deserves protection. This act can give 
the Tribes, the descendants of those who died, the tools they need to 
do just that.
  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am 
prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, this legislation will further allow the 
Lakota

[[Page H4366]]

people to memorialize and honor their relatives and ancestors killed in 
the Wounded Knee Massacre. It gives title of the land to both the 
Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe while ensuring 
that the land has the protections that restrictions against alienation 
and taxation provide.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill and yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kustoff). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3371.
  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. COLLINS. 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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