Teresa Leger Fernandez

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021, or STOP Act, will increase the penalties for trafficking Tribal cultural patrimony and will explicitly prohibit the export of such objects. The STOP Act will establish Federal frameworks to assist in the repatriation of stolen Tribal objects between Federal agencies and Tribal governments. Due to colonization, it is no secret that the exploitation of Native American cultural items, like human remains, sacred objects, and other tools, have been looted and sold to collectors around the world. In the 1970s, the Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico had their sacred Acoma shield stolen during a robbery on Tribal lands. Imagine the Tribe's surprise when their sacred Acoma shield was scheduled for sale to the highest bidder at the Eve Auction House in Paris, France. Thanks to an outpouring of support and diplomatic pleas against the auction house, the sale was stopped. But incidents like this will continue to occur without a codified method to hold traffickers of cultural patrimony accountable. While the Acoma shield is one example where the sale did not go through, there are countless and numerous other undiscovered and unreported cases where Tribal cultural artifacts and items are sold or auctioned in pure disrespect for their proper ownership and place of reverence. Cultural items belonging to Native Americans and Native Hawaiians should no longer be considered relics of the past and available to sell to the highest bidder. It is time for our country to celebrate the cultural items and protect them from exploitation. The STOP Act will: Direct the Department of the Interior to convene an interagency working group; Refer individuals and organizations to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to facilitate the voluntary return of human remains and cultural items; and Convene a Native American working group with representatives from Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to provide advice on issues concerning the return of and illegal trade in human remains and cultural items. The United States is a signatory to an international treaty that entrusts the Federal Government with supporting the repatriation of other countries' tribal objects. We do it for other countries, but we don't do it for our own. Our Native American Tribes and Native Hawaiians do not have the same statutory mechanism to prevent cultural sacred items in the United States from going overseas to other countries. The STOP Act requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of State to each designate a liaison to facilitate and hold trainings and workshops on the voluntary return of human remains and cultural items. The bill reflects significant compromises and adjustments to accommodate concerns of antiquity dealers and has gone through 20 amendments. I was pleased to see these efforts recognized with passage in committee by unanimous consent. This version reflects negotiations with Tribal leaders, Federal agency experts, and the Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association. As many know, New Mexico holds the largest Indian art market where artists sell their beautiful creations. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, SWAIA, has declared their support for the STOP Act. Passage of the STOP Act will allow the United States to strengthen its ability to prohibit the exportation of Native American and Native Hawaiian cultural items. Let's not forget that Native American and Native Hawaiian history is our country's history. The protection of these cultural items must be a priority for our country, because once they are stolen and taken out of our country, they become lost to those who revere them. Madam Speaker, I urge the swift adoption of H.R. 2930, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Once again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. We must remember that all we are doing is making sure that all Tribes have the same access to the existing statutory law that allows Tribes to take land into trust. We are not changing any of the other laws that would apply to that trust process. I myself have engaged in numerous land into trust transactions when I was an attorney, and I can tell you they are not easy. You must show that you have a connection to the land; what you will be doing with the land; how you communicated and discussed the issue of taking land into trust with the nearby communities, with the local governments, with the State government; is this aboriginal land; what will you be doing with the land; let's go through the NEPA process. It is not an easy process, but now every Tribe will be able to have the same access to the same statutory process when we pass this law. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I truly appreciate Representative Cole bringing into the discussion about this bill the fact of how it has impacted his own Tribe and their ability to take land into trust and not be subject to these unnecessary, frivolous, and time-consuming, as well as expensive, lawsuits that just create confusion out there. I think the fact that Mr. Cole has worked on this every year since we had the Carcieri decision tells you so much about how, on both sides of the aisle, in the House and Senate, we are looking for a fix, and this is indeed the Carcieri fix. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time and would inquire whether my colleague has any remaining speakers on their side.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I would like to offer my gratitude to the next speaker for the hard work she has put into this bill so that we can resolve this issue now and into the future. I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum).

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 4352 amends section 19 of the Indian Reorganization Act to allow the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes regardless of their date of recognition. Over a decade ago, in the Carcieri v. Salazar case, the Supreme Court held that the Secretary of the Interior's authority under the Indian Reorganization Act to place land into trust for a Tribe applies only to Tribes that were under Federal jurisdiction in 1934. Before the Carcieri decision, the Department of the Interior, under previous administrations, had consistently interpreted the Indian Reorganization Act as authorizing the Department to take land into trust for any Tribe as long as the Tribe was federally recognized at the time of its land-into-trust application. Placing land into trust is vital for Tribal sovereignty and self- determination. We must remember that most of the land sought to be placed in trust is actually historic land, aboriginal land of the Tribes themselves, and they are simply seeking to reacquire it and to have the same trust protections placed on that land as their other land. Placing land into trust also confers important protections, benefits, and flexibility for Tribes, including protections essential for supporting Tribal cultural practices and well-being as well as their ability to exercise jurisdiction over that land. However, the Carcieri decision overturned 75 years of Department of the Interior practice by holding that the Indian Reorganization Act provided the Interior Department with authorization to take land into trust only for Tribes that were federally recognized at the time of the enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. As a result, the Court's decision created a two-tier system of the haves and have nots among federally recognized Tribes applying for trust land acquisition. Now, Tribes that have been recognized after 1934 cannot apply with the Interior Department to have land taken into trust. Instead, each of these Tribes must seek new legislation from Congress every single time they have a similar land request. We have already seen the real-world consequences of the Carcieri decision, as year after year Congress has to pass stand-alone bills for individual Tribes on a piecemeal basis to protect their lands. In fact, in a few moments we will consider exactly such a bill. The Carcieri decision also opened up Tribes to costly lawsuits regarding land that they have held in trust for years, sometimes decades. It has taken almost a century for us to begin undoing the damage we inflicted on our Nation's indigenous peoples upon colonial contact. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act was an important step in that healing process with the Tribes, but we now know that our work is not yet done. We are still federally acknowledging Tribes to this day. We passed a Tribal recognition bill here in the House on November 1. To this day, Congress is still working to right many wrongs from the Federal Government. We are still striving to return a portion, just a small portion of the land back to the Tribes. To say that Tribes federally recognized after 1934 are somehow inferior to Tribes federally recognized before is dangerously ignorant of the idea that we right now are on Indian land. H.R. 4352, introduced by the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), will right this wrong and amend the Indian Reorganization Act to ensure that all federally recognized Tribes are treated equally, regardless of their date of recognition. For more than a decade, the Carcieri decision has caused anxiety and confusion in Indian Country. It has created dangerous legal ambiguities related to Indian trust lands. Passing this bill will remove the ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding land into trust and finally offer all 574 federally recognized Tribal nations peace of mind that their lands can be protected. I urge the swift adoption of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. 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 measure under consideration.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3531, the Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act, introduced by Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. And I thank Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton for the work that she has done to make sure that all women are recognized and that we have a way of focusing that recognition through this memorial. This bill would authorize the establishment of a memorial to commemorate the nearly 19 million women who worked on the home front during World War II. With mass male enlistment leaving significant vacancies in the industrial and defense agencies, women across the country filled thousands of jobs that were historically held by men to support the war effort and to keep America running. As the men fought abroad, these women worked in defense plants, flew military aircraft, delivered mail, and performed countless other duties necessary to keep the home front running. In addition to the women working on the home front, nearly 350,000 women served in uniform, both at home and abroad--directly supporting the war effort as codebreakers, Airforce Service Pilots, and as volunteers for organizations such as the Army Nurse Corps. The work carried out by women on the home front during World War II opened the door for women to hold more types of jobs than ever before, and it is long past time that Congress recognizes the contributions to our Nation. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for introducing this important legislation. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Ms. Raya Kenney, who developed the idea for this memorial when she was in fifth grade, and for her tireless efforts to ensure that the millions of women who worked on the home front during World War II are recognized and celebrated. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3531, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. 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 measure under consideration.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3531) to authorize the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, for all of the reasons that has been stated on the floor of this glorious House today, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am so very lucky to have on the Subcommittee for indigenous peoples, the dean of the House, Representative Don Young, as the ranking member. The amount of work that we do in that committee, that is bipartisan, that always looks at what is the issue that must be solved and works together to solve that issue, is exactly sort of epitomized by this bill. We are recognizing that there was a tragedy in our history where we actually tried to eliminate the food source for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. And we did. We caused hunger. We caused the deprivation, but we are recognizing that today and we are going to be giving the assistance to all Tribes to be able to manage buffalo herds. I have been very fortunate to eat bison. We love bison burgers at my home; and I have been at Taos Pueblo when they have offered in their ceremonial way the buffalo meat and the cooking around the fire. It is indeed delicious. I completely agree with the dean of the House. But we also need to recognize that managing a buffalo herd is not simple. We need to make sure that there are no diseases that are passed between cattle or elk and buffalo. They need to make sure that there is the right genetics so that we don't interbreed so much. So it does require a lot of work, and this bill provides the Tribes with the assistance so that they can both protect and manage these herds of these magnificent animals. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2074) to assist Tribal governments in the management of buffalo and buffalo habitat and for the reestablishment of buffalo on Indian lands, as amended.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. 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 measure under consideration

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 2074, the Indian Buffalo Management Act is sponsored by the dean of the House, Representative Don Young from Alaska, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill. This bill will establish a permanent program within the Department of the Interior to develop and promote Tribal ownership and management of buffalo and buffalo habitat on Indian lands. In the 1840s, the buffalo population in North America was estimated at 30 million, with approximately 60 million at its peak. Before colonization, about 7 million indigenous peoples populated the North American continent. Throughout this time, many indigenous peoples coexisted with buffalo, often through a sacred, spiritual relationship. The buffalo provided food, shelter, tools, clothing, and became an essential component of traditional beliefs and religion. But in the 19th century, in an attempt to displace or eradicate indigenous peoples, the United States military slaughtered tens of millions of buffalo. At the turn of the century, fewer than 500 buffalo remained in this country. Similarly, the American Indian population was reduced to merely 250,000 in the early 1900s. What a loss. By the 20th century many buffalo conservation efforts were headed by President Teddy Roosevelt and frequently led to private ownership of buffalo herds. In 1991, 10 Tribes committed to buffalo restoration efforts with 1,500 buffalo and organized the InterTribal Buffalo Council, or ITBC. The ITBC collaborates with several Federal agencies for buffalo management, and now includes 69 federally recognized Tribes in 19 States with 55 buffalo herds. I am here to report that many of the Tribes and pueblos within my district have thriving herds of their own. The Indian Buffalo Management Act will allow Tribal nations to develop and maintain buffalo herds on Tribal lands to restore treaty obligations and the buffalo population itself. Additionally, this bill will enable the transportation of surplus buffalo from Federal lands into Tribal lands. The great Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull, summed up the atrocities surrounding the buffalo when he said, ``a cold wind blew on the prairie on the day the last buffalo fell. A death wind for my people.'' Passage of the Indian Buffalo Management Act will begin the remediation of buffalo for indigenous peoples and restore religious and spiritual practices that were stripped after the founding of this country. Madam Speaker, I urge the swift adoption of this bipartisan bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 897 will take approximately 2,560 acres of specified lands in California into trust for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and make these lands part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is indigenous to the desert and canyons of what we now call the Coachella Valley. I was just there, Madam Speaker, and it is beautiful, and the manner in which the Agua Caliente Band takes care of the land and works with their community is superb. They should be recognized for their ability to have that government-to-government relationship with their neighbors. The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation was established in 1876, with their ancestral lands located in the greater Palm Springs area. Over the centuries, the lands traditionally held by the Agua Caliente were divided by parcels owned by the Tribe, the Federal Government, and private entities. The divided plots of land led to a checkerboard formation of ownership. The Tribe has been involved in land transfers with the Federal Government to consolidate the traditional land and reclaim certain culturally significant areas throughout the years. In 1999, the Tribe assisted in preserving the cultural resources surrounding the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and supported legislation for its recognition. The national monument legislation included a land exchange of remote wilderness located within the national monument. Although the legislation establishing the national monument passed, it did not expressly state the status of any land transferred to the Tribe through the land exchange. The lack of explicit language about the status of land led to the Bureau of Land Management and the Tribe working for at least 17 years to finalize a binding exchange agreement for the 2,560 acres addressed in this bill. This bill improves land management by the Tribe and the Bureau of Land Management by consolidating the checkerboard land ownership around the Tribe's reservation by placing these lands into trust. Concerns regarding public access to trails have been addressed. The Tribe has a long history of maintaining public trails within the monument boundary. I urge anybody who is in the area to go take a hike on the trails. They are beautiful. The land is within a remote wilderness area and will be managed similarly to how the Bureau of Land Management oversaw the land. In a good faith effort to support the conservation efforts of the binding exchange agreement, the Tribe included a gaming prohibition for the lands in H.R. 897. I thank Dr. Raul Ruiz for his sponsorship of this bill and his hard work getting it to this point. Madam Speaker, I urge swift adoption of H.R. 897, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. 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 measure under consideration.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 897) to take certain lands in California into trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I too want to recognize and acknowledge the importance of this bill and Representative Gonzales's bringing it to our attention because we must remember that all stories--all stories--whether they be good or bad, whether they concern segregation or celebration, are American stories, and this bill assists us in looking at the complexity of the American story. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4706, the Blackwell School National Historic Site Act, introduced by my colleague, Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas. This bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Blackwell School National Historic Site to preserve, protect, and interpret the role of the Blackwell School as an academic and cultural cornerstone in Marfa, Texas. The Blackwell School was the sole public education institution for Mexican-American children in Marfa from 1909 until 1965, when Marfa schools were integrated. The building is a tangible reminder of a time in American history when separate but equal remained so prevalent in our culture. It is a powerful reminder of the work that still remains before us today. Approximately 4,000 students attended the Blackwell School over the course of more than 50 years. Despite the inherent unfairness of segregation, the Blackwell School became a meeting place and source of pride for the local Hispanic community. Today, all that remains of the once sprawling campus is a three-room adobe schoolhouse--one of the last such schools remaining in Texas. Designating the Blackwell School as a national historic site ensures that the story of this school is maintained so that future Americans can learn from and understand its rich and complex history. Madam Speaker, I attended a school that was likewise, in its history, segregated. Hispanos attended school on one side of the town and all others on the other side. I congratulate Representative Gonzales for championing this bill to bring awareness that this is simply part of our history and we must recognize it and understand it. Madam Speaker, I urge everyone to support this bill today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. 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 measure under consideration.