[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13981]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECTIFY MISTREATMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to talk about a United 
States Supreme Court decision that could have far-reaching social and 
economic impacts on the American Indian population.
  Carcieri v. Salazar, a 6-3 decision by the United States Supreme 
Court issued on February 24, 2009, held that the Secretary of the 
Interior exceeded his authority in taking land into trust for an 
American Indian tribe that was not under Federal jurisdiction or 
recognized at the time the Indian Reorganization Act was enacted in 
1934. I speak tonight to the injustice of that result and to the moral 
imperative that we as Members of the United States Congress have to see 
that that decision is corrected.
  For centuries, now, the American Indians who called these lands home 
long before Europeans have arrived have been pushed to the geographic 
and societal fringes of this great country. They have suffered 
disruption, violence, and relocation to make way for continued 
expansion. The Indian Reorganization Act, ironically, of 1934 sought to 
actually rectify so many of those mistreatments.
  From 1934 to 2009, the Department of the Interior has restored lands 
to enable tribal governments to build schools, health clinics, 
hospitals, housing, and community centers to serve the American Indian 
people. The Secretary of the Interior has approved trust acquisitions 
for approximately 5 million acres of former tribal homelands, far short 
of the more than 100 million acres of lands lost through the Federal 
policies of removal, allotment, and assimilation.
  The Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, if left in place, 
has the potential to undo that effort. The decision threatens tribal 
sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency and self-determination, as the 
Indian Reorganization Act provides not only for the authority of the 
Secretary of the Interior to take lands into trust for tribes, but also 
for the establishment of tribal constitutions and tribal business 
structures.
  The Carcieri decision also has the danger of establishing two classes 
of American Indian tribes in this country today: those recognized as of 
1934 for whom land may be taken into trust, and those recognized after 
1934, who would be unable to have land taken into trust for their 
benefit. This is simply unacceptable and contrary to the intent of 
Congress. In fact, the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act, 
passed by Congress in 1994, provides that all tribes are treated 
equally regardless of their date of recognition.
  Since 1934, the Department of the Interior has construed the Indian 
Reorganization Act to authorize the Secretary to place land into trust 
for all federally recognized tribes. Trying to right our Nation's 
wrong, Secretary Salazar and his predecessors have taken steps to 
return to American Indians a small portion, a fraction of the lands 
that their ancestors called home.
  And for the Supreme Court--for any court for that matter--to render a 
narrow decision like this based on supposition that 76 years ago the 
writers of the act gave particular meaning to one word in their 
decision is a further slap in the face to this proud people.
  Current history leaves many Americans to associate the restoration of 
American Indian tribal lands with the development of casinos and 
gaming, but it is about much more than that. It is about providing 
resources for a nation to survive. It is about restoring sacred lands 
on which their ancestors hunted, prayed, and were buried. It is about 
rebuilding communities, heritage, and proud nations.
  I would like to acknowledge the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) 
and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for their efforts to amend 
this decision. I would like to acknowledge, also, the Senator from 
North Dakota, Mr. Dorgan, for his efforts in seeing that this 
miscarriage of justice is corrected.
  While times have been bad for most Americans, they have been worse 
for a lot of our American Indian friends. Despite their own struggles 
during the economic downturn of the early 1980s, when I was traveling 
this country as an ironworker, they gave me a place to live. For 1 
year, I was a guest of the Navajos on a reservation in New Mexico on 
the land that the United States Government put them on to simply 
survive. Over the years, I have worked alongside Navajo, Wampanoag, 
Apache, Navajo, and Mashpee ironworkers. I know them to be hardworking, 
honorable people.
  The Carcieri decision serves only to further dishonor them and their 
ancestors, to deprive them of an opportunity to regain the dignity and 
the justice that they are owed.
  As a Member of this body, I am now in a position to return the 
kindness of my Navajo hosts and say thank you to the many American 
Indians I have worked beside on the high iron all over this country. 
That's why I am a cosponsor of Mr. Kildee's bill, H.R. 3742, which will 
make the necessary amendments to the Indian Reorganization Act.

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