Debra Haaland

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to remind the House that this is an important bill that would bring equity to the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 722) to designate a mountain in the State of Utah as ``Miracle Mountain''.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. 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 the measure under consideration

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 722, introduced by Representative Curtis, would designate an unnamed peak near Elk Ridge City, Utah, as Miracle Mountain. On August 24, 2018, lightning sparked the 20,000-acre Bald Mountain fire, which expanded rapidly and eventually merged with the Pole Creek fire, threatening the cities of Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills. Fortunately, on September 13, the fire suddenly halted behind the mountain, saving the communities of Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills. To commemorate the peak that saved their community, many residents of Elk Ridge City have adopted the name Miracle Mountain. H.R. 722 would simply designate this peak as Miracle Mountain to serve as a lasting tribute to the mountain and the brave firefighters that protected Elk Ridge City and Woodland Hills from the ravaging Bald Mountain fire. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Representative Curtis, for championing this legislation and urge my colleagues to support H.R. 722. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time and would inquire whether my colleague has any remaining speakers on his side.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I just once more want to remind this House how important this measure is, this bill that my colleague, Mr. Curtis, has put forth, and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 50) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assess sanitation and safety conditions at Bureau of Indian Affairs facilities that were constructed to provide affected Columbia River Treaty tribes access to traditional fishing grounds and expend funds on construction of facilities and structures to improve those conditions, and for other purposes.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. 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 the measure under consideration.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 50 authorizes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA, to assess sanitation and safety conditions on lands that were set aside to provide Columbia River Treaty Tribes access to their traditional fishing grounds. The bill also authorizes the BIA to enter into contracts with Tribes or Tribal organizations to improve the conditions at those sites. The Columbia River Treaty Tribes, through a series of treaties in 1855, established their continued access to traditional fishing grounds and to certain fishing facilities on the Columbia River. However, starting in the 1930s, construction of the dams of the Columbia River power system resulted in the flooding and destruction of Tribal villages, homes, and traditional fishing sites, severely impacting the ability of the Tribes to exercise their treaty rights. The Tribes and their citizens have never been fully compensated for these losses. Starting in 1939, the Federal Government acquired and developed small parcels of land to serve as in-lieu and treaty fishing access sites, providing members of the Columbia River Treaty Tribes access and a way to exercise their rights to fish in the Columbia River and to reside at their traditional fishing places and stations. Congress also enacted the Columbia River Treaty Fishing Access Sites project in 1988, which authorized improvements for certain fishing facilities and directed the Army Corps of Engineers to acquire new lands to provide unencumbered river access for Tribal members. Today, there are 31 Tribal fishing sites located along the Columbia River, 27 of which are managed by the BIA. The sites were intended to be used primarily for in-season fishing and some temporary camping. However, out of both a need for housing and a desire to be closer to their own traditional fishing areas, many Tribal members now use these areas as permanent residences. These sites were not designed for and cannot sustainably accommodate this use. In fact, many people at these sites are living in extremely distressed, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions as a direct result of decades of unmet obligations by the BIA. S. 50 will allow much-needed improvements to the conditions at these sites. I thank Senator Merkley for his work on moving this bill through the Senate. I also thank our colleague from Oregon, Representative Blumenauer, for being the champion in the House on this issue and for tirelessly advocating for the Columbia River Treaty Tribes. Mr. Speaker, I urge quick adoption of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 453) to take certain Federal lands in Tennessee into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. 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 the measure under consideration.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is one of three federally recognized Cherokee Tribes. Their ancestral homeland includes substantial parts of seven Eastern States, including Tennessee. In 1979, the completion of the Tellico Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the TVA, caused large areas of their ancestral lands along the Little Tennessee River to be flooded, covering many historic Tribal sites. The Cherokee can never recover these flooded lands, but there are other sites in the area that are in need of protection and preservation. H.R. 453 aids in this cause by transferring approximately 76 acres of historically significant lands from the TVA's management to the United States, to be held in trust for the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Placing these lands into trust would give the Eastern Band greater control over their historic homelands, as well as the opportunity to memorialize the history and culture of the Cherokee people. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 453, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I would inquire whether my colleague has any remaining speakers on his side.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I also wholeheartedly support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it, as well. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3172.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Mr. Speaker, I reflect on all that House Democrats have done for the people this year and how much harm the grim reaper of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has done by purposefully stalling our legislative agenda. Our Democratic House majority has worked relentlessly for the people to strengthen the health, economic security, and well-being of every family in every community, and we have made real progress. We ended the Trump government shutdown, which inflicted needless pain and chaos into the lives of our fellow Americans and New Mexicans whose paychecks, financial security, health, and well-being were held hostage by the President. We stood strong and prevailed for the American people and did not give him the immoral, illegal border wall. To improve the safety of our communities, we sent to the Senate commonsense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation that would make our children safer. As vice chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, I am proud that we have worked to strengthen women's personal and financial security by passing a strong reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act, and the Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure equal pay for equal work. To bolster the paychecks and retirement security of working families, we passed the Raise the Wage Act to increase the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, giving a raise to 33 million Americans, including 20 million women. We also passed the Butch Lewis Act to protect the pensions of more than 1 million workers and retirees. To live up to the promises that we made to our veterans, we have passed dozens of bipartisan bills, including fixes to end unjust and unfair taxes on military families; expanded benefits for blue water Navy Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange; and legislation to reduce barriers for women veterans to access the VA, including an antiharassment initiative. To address our climate crisis, we passed the Climate Action Now Act and multiple bills to protect our public lands for generations to come. I have introduced legislation myself to promote natural solutions to climate change, such as H.R. 4269, the Climate Stewardship Act, and for the adoption of clean energy, H.R. 5221, the 100% Clean Economy Act. I am especially proud to have led the bipartisan effort on House passage of the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act to protect my ancestral homeland from oil and gas drilling. We have fought for those who have been the targets of hateful rhetoric and policies of this administration. We passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act, to help Dreamers stay right here in the United States, their home, the only country they know. Democrats have taken a stand to end discrimination against LGBTQ Americans by passing the historic Equality Act, H.R. 5. To stand up for human rights, we passed bipartisan legislation to recognize the Armenian genocide as the atrocity that it was, hold Turkey accountable for attacking our Kurdish allies, reject the President's disastrous decisionmaking in Syria, and uphold America's commitment to human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong. In light of the threats our democracy faces from foes foreign and domestic, we passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act; the SAFE Act; and the SHIELD Act to strengthen our elections and democracy and boost our defenses against foreign attacks on these systems. We passed H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, to protect the right of all Americans to participate in our democracy. The Democratic House has sent Senator McConnell more than 275 bipartisan bills, yet he still refuses to take them up. The American people deserve and demand action, and we call on Senator McConnell to put our legislation up for a vote. I am proud to have worked alongside my colleagues in this House majority to move these important issues forward for the people.

Ms. HAALAND

Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Native American Heritage Month. And as part of this acknowledgment, I wish to state that we are on Indian land. The Nacotchtanks, known for trading right here throughout the Chesapeake area, were the original inhabitants of the land we are standing on right now. I am a proud member of the Pueblo of Laguna in the great State of New Mexico. My mother raised me to be a Pueblo woman, and as such, I have an obligation to my people and the quest of all Native American communities to safeguard our cultures and traditions and do all I can to ensure that our people have a government that lives up to its trust obligations. Trust obligations were promises made to all of our Tribes in exchange for the tens of millions of acres of land that became the United States of America. As a child, I was taught to value our open space, our land, our water, and animals. In spite of the tremendous hardships my grandparents faced through their experiences in living through the Indian boarding school era, the assimilation era, and being at the forefront of moving our people into the modern era, I am here to advocate for the issues and policies that will offer a clean planet and opportunities now and for future generations. I am the product of generations of people who planted and harvested since time immemorial. My ancestors cared for the land, respected our air and our water, and passed down those responsibilities to their future generations. It is because of my people and the first people on this continent that we stand here today on this floor. In fact, our Constitution was largely influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy. Tribes here on the East Coast had official relationships with the crowned heads of Europe. When we talk about Native American history, we must recognize that Native American history is American history, and throughout this history, our ancestors held fast to a belief that our people would endure. We are reminded of our resilience by people like: Joy Harjo, from the Muscogee Creek Nation, the first Native American poet laureate in our country's history, named just this year. Our colleague, Sharice Davids, my sister, as one of the first Native American women elected to Congress in our country's history. Ruth Anna Buffalo, is a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation from North Dakota, a State legislator who is fighting to end the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and to make her State more equitable for its indigenous citizens. Tommy Orange, a Cheyenne and Arapaho award-winning writer from Oakland. Tatanka Means, a Navajo actor and activist, and so many more. This month is set aside to celebrate the contributions that Native Americans have made to our country and to recognize that there is so much more that the Federal Government must do to ensure that Native nations have every opportunity afforded to every American, which includes healthcare, education, public safety, housing, and economic development. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer).

Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), my friend and colleague.

Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Mucarsel-Powell).

Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case). (Mr. CASE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, this Native American Heritage Month, let us pay honor and respect to those who came before us. Let us never forget the genocide and racism that is so much of our history. Let us all work together to ensure that the future for the Native Americans and Native Hawaiians in our country is as promising as it is for any American living here currently. General Leave

Ms. HAALAND. 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 the subject of my Special Order.