[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3292-S3293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6081. Mr. PETERS (for himself and Ms. Slotkin) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1__. KEWEENAW BAY INDIAN COMMUNITY LAND CLAIM
SETTLEMENT.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is a federally
recognized Indian Tribe residing on the L'Anse Indian
Reservation in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the
State of Michigan;
(2) the Community is a successor in interest to the Treaty
with the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake
Superior, made and concluded at La Pointe of Lake Superior
October 4, 1842 (7 Stat. 591) (referred to in this subsection
as the ``1842 Treaty''), which, among other things,
guaranteed the usufructuary rights of the Community over a
large area of land that was ceded to the United States, until
such time that those usufructuary rights were properly and
legally extinguished;
(3) the Community is also a successor in interest to the
Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and the
Mississippi, made and concluded at La Pointe September 30,
1854 (10 Stat. 1109) (referred to in this subsection as the
``1854 Treaty'');
(4) article 2, paragraph 1 of the 1854 Treaty created the
L'Anse Indian Reservation as a permanent reservation;
(5) pursuant to article 13 of the 1854 Treaty, the 1854
Treaty became ``obligatory on the contracting parties'' when
ratified by the President and the Senate on January 10, 1855;
(6) in 1850, Congress enacted the Act of September 28, 1850
(sections 2479 through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43
U.S.C. 982 through 984)) (commonly known and referred to in
this subsection as the ``Swamp Land Act''), which authorized
the State of Arkansas and other States, including the State
of Michigan, to ``construct the necessary levees and drains
to reclaim'' certain unsold ``swamp and overflowed lands,
made unfit thereby for cultivation'' and stating that those
lands ``shall remain unsold at the passage of this act'';
(7) following enactment of the Swamp Land Act, the State
claimed thousands of acres of swamp land in the State
pursuant to that Act;
(8) between 1893 and 1937, the General Land Office patented
2,743 acres of land to the State that were located within the
exterior boundaries of the Reservation;
(9) the right of the Community to use and occupy the unsold
land within the Reservation had not been extinguished when
the United States patented the Reservation Swamp Lands to the
State;
(10) in 1852, Congress enacted the Act of August 26, 1852
(10 Stat. 35, chapter 92) (referred to in this subsection as
the ``Canal Land Act''), to facilitate the building of the
Sault Ste. Marie Canal at the Falls of the St. Mary's River,
to connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron;
(11) pursuant to the Canal Land Act, the United States
granted the State the right to select 750,000 acres of unsold
public land within the State to defray the cost of
construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal;
(12) the State identified and selected, among other land, a
minimum of 1,333.25 and up to 2,720 acres within the exterior
boundaries of the Reservation;
(13) the Department of the Interior approved the land
selections of the State, including the Reservation Canal
Lands, after ratification of the 1854 Treaty;
(14) the Secretary noted that the approval described in
paragraph (13) was ``subject to any valid interfering
rights'';
(15) the 1854 Treaty set apart from the public domain all
unsold land within the Reservation to the Community as of
September 30, 1854, which preceded the date on which the
State established legally effective title to the Reservation
Canal Lands;
(16) the Community made claims to the Department of the
Interior with respect to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the
Reservation Canal Lands, providing legal analysis and
ethnohistorical support for those claims;
(17) in December 2021, the Department of the Interior
stated that ``We have carefully reviewed pertinent documents,
including the Tribe's expert reports, and have determined
that the Tribe's claims to the Swamp Lands and Canal Lands
have merit'';
(18) the United States, through the actions of the General
Land Office, deprived the Community of the exclusive use and
occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation
Canal Lands within the Reservation, without just compensation
as required under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States;
(19) the loss of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the
Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation has--
(A) impacted the exercise by the Community of cultural,
religious, and subsistence rights on the land;
(B) caused a harmful disconnect between the Community and
its land;
(C) impacted the ability of the Community to fully exercise
its economy within the Reservation; and
(D) had a negative economic impact on the development of
the economy of the Community;
(20) certain non-Indian individuals, entities, and local
governments occupy land within the boundaries of the
Reservation--
(A) acquired ownership interests in the Reservation Swamp
Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands in good faith; and
(B) have an interest in possessing clear title to that
land;
(21) this section allows the United States--
(A) to secure a fair and equitable settlement of past
inequities suffered by the Community as a result of the
actions of the United States that caused the taking of the
Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands
without just compensation; and
(B) to ensure protection of the ownership of the
Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands by
non-Indian occupants of the Reservation, through the
settlement of the claims of the Community to that land, and
through that action, the relief of any clouds on title;
(22) a settlement will allow the Community to receive just
compensation and the local landowners to obtain clear title
to land, without long and protracted litigation that would be
both costly and detrimental to all involved; and
(23) this section achieves both justice for the Community
and security for current landowners through a restorative and
non-confrontational process.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
(1) to acknowledge the uncompensated taking by the Federal
Government of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation
Canal Lands;
(2) to provide compensation to the Community for the
uncompensated taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the
Reservation Canal Lands by the Federal Government;
(3) to extinguish all claims by the Community to the
Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands and
to confirm the ownership by the current landowners of the
Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, who
obtained that land in good faith;
(4) to extinguish all potential claims by the Community
against the United States, the State, and current landowners
concerning title to, use of, or occupancy of the Reservation
Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands; and
(5) to authorize the Secretary--
(A) to compensate the Community; and
(B) to take any other action necessary to carry out this
section.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Community.--The term ``Community'' means the Keweenaw
Bay Indian Community.
(2) County.--The term ``County'' means Baraga County,
Michigan.
[[Page S3293]]
(3) Reservation.--The term ``Reservation'' means the L'Anse
Indian Reservation, located in--
(A) T. 51 N., R. 33 W.;
(B) T. 51 N., R. 32 W.;
(C) T. 50 N., R. 33 W., E\1/2\;
(D) T. 50 N., R. 32 W., W\1/2\; and
(E) that portion of T. 51 N., R. 31 W. lying west of Huron
Bay.
(4) Reservation canal lands.--The term ``Reservation Canal
Lands'' means the 1,333.25 to 2,720 acres of Community land
located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation
that the Federal Government conveyed to the State pursuant to
the Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92).
(5) Reservation swamp lands.--The term ``Reservation Swamp
Lands'' means the 2,743 acres of land located within the
exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Federal
Government conveyed to the State between 1893 and 1937
pursuant to the Act of September 28, 1850 (sections 2479
through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 982 through
984)) (commonly known as the ``Swamp Land Act'').
(6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of Michigan.
(d) Payments.--
(1) Transfer of funds.--As soon as practicable after the
date on which the amount authorized to be appropriated under
paragraph (3) is made available to the Secretary, the
Secretary shall transfer $33,900,000 to the Community.
(2) Use of funds.--
(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the Community
may use the amount received under paragraph (1) for any
lawful purpose, including--
(i) governmental services;
(ii) economic development;
(iii) natural resources protection; and
(iv) land acquisition.
(B) Restriction on use of funds.--The community may not use
the amount received under paragraph (1) to acquire land for
gaming purposes.
(3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out paragraph
(1) $33,900,000 for fiscal year 2027, to remain available
until expended.
(e) Extinguishment of Claims.--
(1) In general.--Effective on the date on which the
Community receives the payment under subsection (d)(1), all
claims of the Community to the Reservation Swamp Lands and
the Reservation Canal Lands owned by persons or entities
other than the Community are extinguished.
(2) Clear title.--Effective on the date on which the
Community receives the payment under subsection (d)(1), the
title of all current owners to the Reservation Swamp Lands
and the Reservation Canal Lands is cleared of all preexisting
rights held by the Community and any of the members of the
Community.
(f) Effect.--Nothing in this section authorizes--
(1) the Secretary to take land into trust for the benefit
of the Community for gaming purposes; or
(2) the Community to use land acquired using amounts
received under this section for gaming purposes.
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