[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21310]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    ALLOWING YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO TRIBE TO DETERMINE BLOOD QUANTUM 
                              REQUIREMENT

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the 
immediate consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 1696) to amend 
the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of 
Texas Restoration Act to allow the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe to 
determine blood quantum requirement for membership in that Tribe.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands?
  There was no objection.
  The Clerk read the bill, as follows:

                               H.R. 1696

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

     SECTION 1. BLOOD QUANTUM REQUIREMENT DETERMINED BY TRIBE.

       Section 108(a)(2) of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama 
     and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (25 
     U.S.C. 1300g-7(2)) is amended by striking ``if the 
     descendant'' and all that follows through the end of the 
     paragraph and inserting ``if the descendant is enrolled by 
     the tribe''.

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, one of the greatest exercises of 
tribal sovereignty is the ability of a tribe to determine their tribal 
membership. This measure would allow a Texas Tribe to determine the 
blood quantum requirement for membership in that tribe.
  Congressman Reyes of Texas introduced H.R. 1696 to restore the 
Tribe's right to determine its own membership requirements by deleting 
a blood quantum requirement specified in a 1987 law. Passage of this 
legislation would extend to the Tribe the same sovereign right 
possessed by all other Indian tribes--the ability to determine who is 
and is not a member of the Tribe.
  This measure is long overdue. Similar legislation has been introduced 
every Congress since the 106th Congress.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read 
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the 
table.

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