[Senate Report 119-76]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 185
119th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 119-76
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A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE EQUITABLE SETTLEMENT OF CERTAIN INDIAN LAND
DISPUTES REGARDING LAND IN ILLINOIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
_______
October 14, 2025.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 550]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 550) to provide for the equitable settlement of
certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois, and
for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the
bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 550 is to authorize the United States
Court of Federal Claims to consider treaty-based land claims of
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and to extinguish any future claims
to those lands by the Tribe and its members.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally-recognized
Indian Tribe whose ancestral homelands are located in present-
day Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.\1\ In 1805, members of the
Miami Tribe, and several of its component bands, signed the
Treaty of Grouseland with the United States. The Treaty
relinquished title to the Tribe's lands in southeastern
Illinois and reserved lands for the Tribe in the Wabash River
watershed in east-central Illinois.\2\ Under terms of the
Treaty, the United States agreed that it would not take any
part of the reserved lands without consent of the Miami Tribe
or the other Tribal signatories.\3\
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\1\In 1846, the United States forcibly removed the Miami Tribe to
present-day Kansas; it was removed again by force in 1867 to present-
day Oklahoma, where the Tribe's seat of government is currently
located.
\2\7 Stat. 91 (1805). See Letter to Senator Brian Schatz, Chairman,
U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, from Douglas G. Lankford,
Chief, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (January 16, 2024) (on file with the
Committee).
\3\7 Stat. 91, Art. IV.
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Through a series of additional treaties executed between
1805 and 1840, the Tribe ceded all but 2.6 million acres of the
lands that it reserved under the Treaty of Grouseland.\4\
Beginning in 1821 and continuing throughout the 19th century,
the United States sold parcels of the reserved lands without
consent of, or compensation to, the Tribe. In 2000, the Tribe
filed a treaty-based takings claim against the United States,
alleging that the United States did not transfer the reserved
lands with clear title, resulting in clouded title for current
landowners.\5\
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\4\See, Treaty of September 30, 1809 (7 Stat. 13); Treaty of
September 30, 1809 (7 Stat. 115); Treaty of October 6, 1818 (7 Stat.
189); Treaty of October 26, 1826 (7 Stat. 300); Treaty of February 11,
1828 (7 Stat. 309); October 23, 1834 (7 Stat. 458, 463); Treaty of
November 6, 1838 (7 Stat. 569); and Treaty of November 28, 1840 (7
Stat. 582).
\5\Litigation is ongoing and unresolved. Miami Tribe of Oklahoma v.
Walden, et al., Case No. 4:00-cv-041420JPG (S.D. Il.) (filed on June 2,
2000).
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SUMMARY
S. 550 grants the United States Court of Federal Claims
jurisdiction to decide a takings claim by the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma arising under its 1805 Treaty of Grouseland with the
United States; provides one-year for the Tribe to file its
claim with the Court; and extinguishes any and all future
claims by the Tribe, its members, descendants, or predecessors
in interest to lands in Illinois.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 550 was introduced by Senators Mullin and Durbin on
February 12, 2025. The Committee held a business meeting on
March 5, 2025, to consider S. 550 and ordered the bill to be
reported favorably, without amendment, by voice vote.
An identical companion bill, H.R. 2827, was introduced by
Representative Cole (R-OK-4), with Representatives McCollum (D-
MN-4) and Bost (R-IL-12) as cosponsors, in the House of
Representatives on April 10, 2025.
In the 118th Congress, an identical bill, S. 2796, was
introduced by Senator Mullin on September 13, 2023. Senators
Duckworth and Durbin were added as cosponsors on July 9, 2024.
The Committee held a legislative hearing on S. 2796 on February
8, 2024. (S. Hrg. 118-416). On May 1, 2024, the Committee held
a business meeting to consider S. 2796 and ordered the bill to
be reported favorably, without amendment, by voice vote (S.
Rept. 118-211).
An identical companion bill, H.R. 5831 was introduced by
Representative Cole (R-OK-4) with Representatives McCollum (D-
MN-4), Brecheen (R-OK-2) and Bost (R-IL-12) as cosponsors, in
the House of Representatives on September 29, 2023.
In the 117th Congress, Representative McCollum (D-MN-4)
introduced a similar bill, H.R. 6063, with Representative
Mullin (R-OK-2) as a cosponsor in the House of Representatives
on November 19, 2021. Representative Young (R-AK-At-Large) was
added as a cosponsor on February 3, 2022. The House Committee
on Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the
United States held a hearing on the bill on April 27, 2022.
H.R. 6063 was considered at a markup in the House Natural
Resources Committee, on June 15, 2022, and ordered reported
favorably by voice vote, with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (H. Rept. 117-597).
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in an open business
meeting on March 5, 2025, by a majority voice vote of a quorum
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 550, without
amendment.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1--Settlement of claims
Section 1(a)(1) authorizes the United States Court of
Federal Claims to hear, determine, and render judgement on a
land claim of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma under its 1805 Treaty
with the United States.
Section 1(a)(2) clarifies the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has
one year, after the date of enactment of the Act, to file a
claim with the United States Court of Federal Claims based on
its 1805 Treaty.
Section 1(b) clarifies that except for a claim made under
Section 1(a)(1), any and all future claims by the Tribe, its
members, descendants, or predecessors in interest to lands in
Illinois are extinguished.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
S. 550 would grant jurisdiction to the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma's land claim
against the United States arising from the Treaty of
Grouseland. The bill would require the court to render
judgement without regard to the statute of limitations or any
other delay-based defense. The bill also would extinguish all
other claims, including any future claims, of the tribe to land
in Illinois.
Groups that file civil suits in the U.S. Court of Federal
Claims pay filing and administrative fees, which are recorded
as revenues. Those fees can be spent without further
appropriation to cover the administrative costs of the
judiciary. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting S. 550
would increase both revenues and direct spending by an
insignificant amount over the 2025-2035 period.
S. 550 contains an intergovernmental mandate as defined in
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) because it would
extinguish the tribe's claims to land in Illinois. Eliminating
an existing right of action is a mandate because the right to
seek redress and recover damages beyond what is provided in the
bill would be lost. CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate
would not exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA ($103
million in 2025, adjusted annually for inflation).
S. 550 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in
UMRA.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Margot Berman
(for federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director
of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 550 will
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY AND COMMUNICATIONS
The testimony provided by the U.S. Department of the
Interior from the February 8, 2024, hearing on S. 2796 follows:
statement of kathryn isom-clause, deputy assistant secretary for policy
and economic development for indian affairs u.s. department of the
interior
s. 2796, a bill to provide for the equitable settlement of certain
indian land disputes regarding land in illinois, and for other purposes
Good morning, Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman Murkowski, and
members of the Committee. My name is Kathryn Isom-Clause and I
am the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic
Development for Indian Affairs at the Department of the
Interior (Department). Thank you for the opportunity to present
testimony on . . . S. 2796, A bill to provide for the equitable
settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in
Illinois, and for other purposes . . . S. 2796 would confer
jurisdiction to the United States Court of Federal Claims to
hear, determine, and render judgment regarding the Miami Tribe
of Oklahoma's land claims under the Treaty of Grouseland (7
Stat. 91), signed August 21, 1805, and would remove legal or
equitable defenses based on the passage of time, including the
statute of limitations. The jurisdiction conferred to the
United States Court of Federal Claims expires unless a claim is
filed under paragraph (1) of S. 2796 by the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma within one year of enactment of this legislation. The
bill extinguishes all other claims to title of the Miami Tribe
of Oklahoma, or any member, descendant, or predecessor in
interest to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to land in the State of
Illinois.
The Department needs to better understand the claims by the
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the impacts of this legislation on
those claims and any remedy sought by the Tribe. The Department
therefore takes no position on the legislation at this time.
The Committee notes that while the Department did not take
a position on S. 2796 at the February 8, 2024, hearing, the
Department subsequently provided an Executive Communication
informing the Committee that it supports the legislation after
review of the Tribe's claims, the impacts of S. 2796 on those
claims, and any remedy sought by the Tribe.\6\
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\6\Letter to the Honorable Brian Schatz, Chairman, U.S. Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, from Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (Apr. 22, 2024) (in the
hearing record and on file with the Committee).
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CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In accordance with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by S. 550 as ordered reported.