Teresa Leger Fernandez

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I am so grateful to Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton because she knows how to listen to brilliant women no matter the age. We really need to thank Ms. Raya Kenney for coming up with the idea. Precisely, as we have heard on the floor of the House today, it was not just Rosie the riveter, it was a complex participation of women in the workforce. In New Mexico, they were participating by running the ranches, they were participating in our national labs on defense issues and some of the most complex scientific discoveries that helped us win the war. 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 reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), the sponsor of the bill.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4706) to establish the Blackwell School National Historic Site in Marfa, Texas, and for other purposes.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to congratulate the Zuni Cross-Country Girls Team for winning the District Championships in 2021. Looking through all of the school's running records, it's clearly an amazing community. These runners continue to be a shining example of what we women are capable of. It is even more remarkable that their success happened during a pandemic that has devastated our indigenous communities. They still delivered and lived up to expectations making their village proud. The team is a gift to the community. I extend my warmest wishes for the future of the village. If it's in this team's hands, I'm sure Zuni will continue to thrive.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to send my congratulations to the Zuni Cross-Country Boys Team who won the New Mexico State Cross Country Championships for 2021. Their win is even more impressive during a pandemic that made it impossible to train last year. They make us all proud. Zuni's cross-country program is in a class of its own. I am so impressed with its leadership in the running world especially in hosting one of the largest meets with more than 30 schools in attendance. It is an honor to represent a community where the running culture is so strong. I extend my warmest wishes for the future. I have no doubt Zuni will continue to impress us all through the ages.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, our communities should not have to choose between paying their medical bills or paying for groceries. Parents want to go to work knowing that their kids are being taken care of, that their kids are learning, because when kids are learning, parents are earning. Families want to know that their kids and grandkids will inherit this beautiful place we call home, this planet, still beautiful. They want the Build Back Better Act because it delivers those opportunities. So many Americans, especially our Latino and Native-American communities, suffer from diabetes. With Build Back Better, no one will have to pay more than $35 a month for insulin. This is lifesaving. Big Pharma shouldn't make excessive profits off the pain of Americans. We are delivering for Americans, and it is fully paid for by taxing the rich and big corporations. I urge my colleagues to deliver Build Back Better ``for the people,'' para la gente, for our hardworking immigrants, for all of our communities.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I think this reference to how history will judge us is important because we are facing a historical moment right now. The decisions we make on the floor of this House this week will determine whether our future is one that is inclusive and that includes every single family and community in this great Union of the United States or whether it continues to leave people behind. Right now, those who are being left behind include the vast majority of Americans. What we are doing with this legislation is creating the kind of opportunity, creating the kind of jobs so that everybody can come forward and thrive. We are focusing on women. This is a women's agenda. The Build Back Better Act is a women's agenda because it is the women who had to drop out of the workforce to care for their children because there wasn't enough childcare available or it was too expensive. In New Mexico, we just learned that almost 21 percent of the women in New Mexico dropped out of the workforce because they could not afford childcare. Build Back Better addresses that. It is going to make sure that no family pays more than 7 percent of their income on childcare. That is the kind of agenda that every family wants, because they want to make sure that their children are cared for and are either in a great childcare center or are in that pre-K that is so essential so that they can succeed later in life. We know that the science has shown us that if you have quality pre-K for your 3-year-olds, for your 4-year-olds, you are going to have a successful life, you are going to earn more in income, you are going to graduate from high school, you are going to earn additional degrees. It is going to be better. So we are taking the investments today and we will recoup the benefits 12 years from now, 18 years from now. And that is believing in our future. We are investing in what we believe in. I also want to take a moment to address the fact that this bill is fully paid for, so when anybody ever says that it is going to increase our deficit, know ye that it is not true what they say because this bill is fully paid for. It is paid for by making sure that tax cheats don't get to cheat anymore. We are going to invest in the IRS so that they can audit and go after tax cheats. Who wants to defend tax cheats? Do you really want to be defending tax cheats? I hope not because everybody should pay their fair share. We are going to make sure that nobody earning less than $400,000 a year pays any more in taxes. Indeed, this is one of the biggest tax cuts that we are doing for regular people. Not like the tax cut they passed in 2017 which benefited only the wealthy and the corporations. This tax cut is a benefit to our working families, to our middle-class families. The child tax credit is available to all now. Everybody who is receiving that $300-per-child payment every month, that is going to continue because of the American Rescue Plan and because of Build Back Better. If anybody says it is going to add to the debt, know that they are not speaking the truth. The other thing that Build Back Better does is it has the biggest impact on addressing and combating climate change in American history. Anybody who has lived through this summer, through last winter, the storms, the climate disasters knows that it is not a hoax, as some have argued. Climate deniers have been proven wrong because we all witness what is happening with our climate. We all know that it will cost us billions and trillions of dollars if we do not act. In my beautiful New Mexico, if we do not act to combat the climate crisis, we will become an extension of the Sonoran Desert. I love my mountain streams. I love the snowfall that falls on our ski resorts and in our mountains and trickles down to our rivers and provides us with the water we need for our farms and our fields and to quench our thirst. I love that snow. If we do not address the climate crisis, we will not see that snow in winters to come. We might not see it this winter. So I am very pleased at the investments that we are making to combat the climate crisis in the Build Back Better Act. The infrastructure bill also included some key provisions. It included provisions for my Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act to plug orphaned wells and protect our communities from the dangerous methane they spew into the air. We know that methane is many times, 35 times more dangerous to our climate than carbon, and so it is important to plug up those orphaned wells that oil and gas companies have abandoned. Not all of them, but there are too many that have abandoned those wells, and they are called orphaned. They are spewing methane into the air right now. I visited one with our Labor Secretary. It was right next door to a school. The methane that leaks from that abandoned and dirty well is breathed into the lungs of our students. The infrastructure bill will help clean it up, but the Build Back Better bill will say we don't want this to happen over and over again. Build Back Better says: You can't walk away, oil and gas companies, you can't walk away from those wells and leave the mess for the taxpayers to clean up. We asked the Interior Department to strengthen the bonding requirements so that the bonds cover the cost of cleaning them up. We also establish an idled-well fee so that oil and gas companies don't have and don't let these wells just sit unattended. If you are not going to be pumping from the well, close it down. Don't just let it spew methane into the air. I also helped secure $240 million for a Just Transition investment fund to create new economic opportunities in our energy communities. New Mexico relies on oil and gas for jobs and tax revenues. I am acutely aware of the benefits that this industry has brought to our State, but I am also acutely aware of the need to transition in a way that honors our communities and our workers who have worked in this industry, who have fueled our economy. We now need a transition to renewable energy and to a clean energy economy, but in that transition we cannot leave any worker behind. And so Build Back Better includes money to invest in those communities so we can see new businesses arise. It also includes money to invest in the workers so that if they need to gain new skills that we are there for them, that our community colleges are there for them, that our apprenticeships are there for them. But many of the skills that we need, like cleaning up the orphaned wells, are the same skills that you would use in the industry itself. So we are going to be creating good-paying jobs, and we are making sure in the Build Back Better plan that those jobs are union, if they want to be. We are making sure that we prioritize the jobs that pay well and that treat their workers well. We also are investing in a civilian climate corps. I am very proud to have had my first job in the conservation corps, the Youth Conservation Corps. It taught me that cleaning and protecting our environment is hard work. I went out there with my boots and my shovel and my pickaxe, and we helped create trails, and we helped clean up those trails. It taught me about work ethic, but it also taught me about the importance of caring for the land that we love. The civilian climate corps will do the same, but it will grow it. I have met with those who are engaged, like the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. I give a shout-out to the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps because they are there managing our forests, working to protect our forests, and earning their degrees, starting new businesses coming from that experience in the climate corps, in the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. We are going to be investing in thousands and thousands of jobs for young people who will be able to go on and secure education, if that is what they want, or start a business, if that is what they want, from the skills that they will have learned from the climate corps. We also are going to be strengthening domestic manufacturing and the supply chains for critical goods because it is only when you address the root cause of the problems, which is our supply chains that you solve the problem. We want to bring back manufacturing to this continent, to this country. There are those who talk about it the same way they talked for years about infrastructure week, but it doesn't help if all you do is talk about it. What you need to do is deliver. In the infrastructure plan, we are delivering to bring back the jobs that are needed to build those bridges. We are building that infrastructure. We are delivering because Democrats deliver. In Build Back Better, we are going to be delivering the jobs of the future. We are going to be delivering the investments in manufacturing. We are going to be delivering the investments so our consumers can realize the benefits so that they are paid more and can really have the respect that comes along with a job that has the kind of benefits you need. We are going to be delivering prescription drug price negotiation. We are going to be delivering the lowering of healthcare costs because for too long we have had those who would stand for Big Pharma instead of for those who need insulin, those who need Humira, those who need the kinds of drugs that make their life bearable, those who need the kinds of drugs that allow them to survive. What we are doing in Build Back Better is making sure that we can negotiate to reduce those drug prices. That is something that we know Americans want. And so when we do not get a single Republican vote for lowering drug prices, remember that, that Republicans were unwilling to vote to lower drug prices because that is what this bill does. Remember that Republicans were unwilling to vote for infrastructure, because that is what the infrastructure plan did. I am asking, however, that we receive those votes, that we receive bipartisan support for the kinds of investments that we are going to be doing for our people. I yield now to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), an amazing colleague in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, an amazing colleague from the Equality Caucus who has fought for the rights of all Americans. He has fought for the Equality Act. He is one of the drafters of the Equality Act.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, New Jersey is so lucky to have Representative Watson Coleman because she knows what is needed on the ground. Yes, indeed, it is together, and that is what I like about our Caucus and what we are doing. We are doing it together. We are not about division. We are about unity. That is what we represent, right? Because we know that community working together, living together, and growing together is how we succeed in life. I want to raise another part of where Build Back Better is very important. I am chair of the Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee. I am so lucky to have the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the Navajo Nation, and 16 different Puebloan Tribes in my district. They tell me about their needs. I have walked in their villages. I have sat at their feast days. I know the pandemic hit them hardest of all. We saw the death and despair in our Tribal communities. So what we did in Congress, what we did in the Natural Resources Committee, was to make sure that their voices were heard. We provided $14 billion in the American Rescue Plan and another $12 billion for their communities. We have been hearing lately about the incredible, sad stories that come from the fact that there was a time in America's history when we took children away from their Tribes, away from their culture, and we put them in boarding schools, and many died. We were trying to erase the savage Indian, and those were the words that were used. It didn't work. The Tribes are alive and with us. We must respect that history. I am proud that both the American Rescue Plan and the Build Back Better Act have $200 million for Native American languages because it is through language that you preserve a culture and that you preserve an identity. Add that together with the fact that we are going to have $470 million for Tribal climate resilience because we have moved Tribes from their homelands and put them in places where they are at the greatest risk from the climate crisis. We include money for drought relief because they are at the greatest risk of thirst because of the droughts that will be caused. We have $2.3 billion for the Indian Health Service. This will help us address the backlog. 1993 is when we started setting out the list of Indian Health Service buildings that needed repair, and we still have a 1993 list that we have not met. I am very proud of what we have done in Build Back Better to address the needs of our Native Americans and our urban Native Americans in our Tribes. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley), my colleague in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a gentlewoman but fierce and proud.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I do love it when this President always says we are going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up and the middle out because that is exactly who he is focused on. He is focused on giving us the opportunities, my constituents as well. You know, there could not be two States that are more different than Rhode Island and New Mexico, but these are the same things we hear in New Mexico. We are addressing those in Build Back Better, and I can't be more excited as a freshman to be able to be here on the floor of the House and to vote for the American Rescue Plan because that really was the first step. The American Rescue Plan saved our economy. It saved families from homelessness. It lowered hunger. It addressed the pandemic by giving us the vaccine. The second step was the infrastructure bill. We talked earlier about how, last Thanksgiving, we were apart. This Thanksgiving, we are together because of the American Rescue Plan. But the infrastructure bill, that is about repairing our infrastructure, which has been too long ignored. Then this last one, Build Back Better, I am just overjoyed that I get to serve in Congress in this historic moment to work on these things that will be benefiting my grandchildren and their grandchildren. I want to leave them with this beautiful place we call home intact. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, Monday was such an exciting day for our country. President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, and we came one step closer toward making the necessary investments to help our communities thrive; to help them thrive, not just survive. And I want to point out that, although it is called the bipartisan infrastructure act, we had very few Republicans in this House vote for that bill. In my State, the Republican Congresswoman did not vote for the infrastructure act; so she voted against the clean water. She voted against the broadband. She voted against the infrastructure that we need to keep our roads safe and our bridges strong enough so that kids can cross them in their school buses to get to school. But the Democrats delivered that bill, and the Democrats are going to deliver the Build Back Better agenda. And the reason why we need to pass the Build Back Better Act, it is para la gente. It is for the people. It is for our communities. Just a few weeks ago, my Progressive Caucus colleagues and I held a Special Order hour dedicated to the many great things in the Build Back Better Act. But, there is so much in there that is good that we are back here tonight to continue to highlight the benefits for our communities. Madam Speaker, throughout the pandemic, New Mexicans lost their livelihoods. They put savings toward just surviving. If it wouldn't have been for the American Rescue Plan, they would have lost their homes. The eviction moratorium helped them. Housing--I want to talk a little bit about housing because that is something I have worked on for many, many years in my district. We know that housing instability and the shortage of affordable housing hurts our working families. Many saw their dreams of home ownership vanish with the pandemic and the recession. But, with Build Back Better, we have an opportunity to change that. We know that the biggest barrier to purchasing a home is the lack of savings needed for a downpayment. People just don't have $10,000 or $20,000 to put down on a downpayment. And current benefits like mortgage deductions don't help low-income families looking to buy a home. They don't help middle-class families, because you need the money at the time you are buying the house, at closing. So, to successfully address the affordable housing shortage and the growing racial gap that comes along with it, we need to make sure there is access to home ownership, especially for communities like in New Mexico, or Native American, Latino, African American, Black, Indigenous communities, we need to make sure that we provide them with the homeownership assistance when it is needed, which is at closing. And you know what? Build Back Better does just that. It makes one of the largest investments in housing downpayment assistance in history. I am proud to have been one of those many in our caucus who advocated for the $10 billion that is in Build Back Better to help first- generation homeowners purchase their home. In my beautiful New Mexico, we are lucky to have an organization that I have worked with for 20 years. It is called Homewise, an organization that helps create successful homeowners so that families can improve their long-term financial wealth. We have financial fitness classes. We also help people with downpayment assistance. But we could use more of that. We never have enough downpayment assistance. But one of the people that we helped was Maria Luisa. Maria Luisa first came to the United States from Mexico. She had a dream to own a home of her own and to create that better life for herself. She found that dream hard. She found herself living on the streets of Santa Fe, but she turned her life around. She got her GED. She got her residency, her green card. She took classes at the Santa Fe Community College in community health, and she found Homewise, and she found her first home with our help. She says that being a homeowner lifts her spirits and gives her confidence in her own future. She knows that she will be able to pass along the savings that are incorporated into that home of her own to her children. Spirit and confidence in the future, that is what Democrats are about. We are about opportunity. We are about creating that belief in the future and making it possible for working families. I am glad to be on the floor with my progressive colleagues to talk about the many opportunities that Build Back Better has. But I want to take a little moment right now and have us walk back a year. Thanksgiving. Do we remember what Thanksgiving was like a year ago? In my household, we always have a sit-down dinner for about 24 people. You know, we believe in those extended tables. And everybody comes. Somebody will make the turkey, somebody else will make the green chili and the red chili, because you can't do without red chili and green chili if you are from New Mexico. And everybody brings what they made with such love to the table, and we sit around together and share stories and share good food and laugh and tease. Last year, did we do that? No. Last year, we had a Zoom Thanksgiving. Last year, we were living in despair. We were living with our former President, who made fun of COVID. We were living with politicians from the other side of the aisle who called it a hoax. And we could not gather. We could not celebrate. What a difference a year makes. What a difference leadership makes. Under President Biden and the American Rescue Plan, we have made it possible for our families to gather together once again because we made sure that they didn't get kicked out of their homes; that they had a place to invite their family too with the money that we put into rental assistance. We made sure that they could get that vaccination; that they could have those shots. And anybody who wants it in the United States can get a shot, can be vaccinated, can get their booster, so that they protect everybody in their community. And that is what we need to celebrate, and that is what we need to respect because a year later, the American Rescue Plan has done so much for our communities. But, yes, it is true. As those on the other side of the aisle state, we are seeing inflation. But gas prices, who controls gas prices? Oil and gas companies do. Who protects oil and gas companies? Republicans protect oil and gas companies. They protect those corporations. They do not let us attack their corporations or tax those corporations. So Democrats have to do it themselves. We need to remember that it is greedy corporations that are raising the prices and profiting off of working families. We need to remember that it is Grubhub that is increasing the price of deliveries by 30 percent, and none of that is going back to the mom- and-pop restaurants. It is going to those corporations that don't want to pay taxes. But in the Build Back Better Act, we are going to make sure that corporations pay their fair share so they can stop fueling the inflation that the Republicans protect. They are fueling the inflation, and Republicans are protecting those corporations. Let's call it like it is. But right now, I want to go back to all the amazing things that are in the Build Back Better Act. I am going to call on our wonderful Representative Watson Coleman, my colleague, who always stands ready to tell the stories of what it means on the ground in our community, for our people, from visions like Build Back Better. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, serving in public office is and should be a sacred responsibility, and that responsibility calls upon us to condemn hate when we see it. If we let hate fester and spread, then it will destroy us. That is why one in three women have been attacked violently in this country and around the world. But instead of apologizing today, Republicans chose to vilify immigrants yet again which is an outrage when the victim is herself a Latina. Madam Speaker, do you remember the gunman who traveled to El Paso to kill Mexicans after Republican politicians demonized them? Scripture says: Love thy neighbor as thyself. And we must also love this institution. It is the love for this institution and the love for our fellow Members which is calling upon us to pass this resolution.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor veteran Valdemar DeHerrera from the beautiful Costilla, Nuevo Mexico. Mr. DeHerrera is one of the more than 1,800 New Mexicans that bravely fought in the Battle of Bataan during World War II. He endured a grueling three years and seven months as a prisoner of war under Japanese forces. He demonstrated unimaginable courage in the face of unimaginable abuse. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. DeHerrera last month and was in awe of his story. His love for his community showed in his service and continues to show to this day. For 102 years, Mr. DeHerrera has led an exemplary life. I'm proud to serve him in Congress and recognize his noble service.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, today we join with President Biden, Vice President Harris, Senators, Congressmen, mayors, and Governors to witness the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. And do you know what? It was summed up as a BFD today, and indeed, it was. And it was summed up in a four-letter word, which is J-O-B-S, jobs. It will create so many jobs in our communities. And once we finish with this bill, we are going to move on to do the Build Back Better bill because that is the bill for the people, para la gente. I can't wait, Madam Speaker.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3616) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating certain land as the Bear River National Heritage Area, and for other purposes.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

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, today is the first day of the month that is dedicated to Native American heritage. As we all know, the United States' historic treatment of our indigenous governments and peoples is fraught with genocide, displacement, termination, and attempts to eliminate Native American culture, language, and identity. But as a Nation, we have also taken actions to remedy and to build back from that sad history. In 1934, Congress recognized that termination was the wrong policy and passed the Indian Reorganization Act, which recognized Tribal governments and placed most remaining Tribal land into trust. In 1975, we passed the Indian Self- Determination Act, which allowed Tribes to reassert their sovereignty and jurisdiction over their own lands and programs intended to benefit them, but the work is far from done. Through bipartisan legislation we are debating today, and many other legislative initiatives we will undertake this 117th Congress, we are furthering Tribal recognition and reacquisition of Tribal homelands. We are strengthening the consultation requirements to provide better healthcare to the 70 percent of Native Americans living in urban areas. In the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better Act, we will have historic levels of funding for programs that meet the trust responsibilities owed to Native Americans, promised to them as the United States entered into treaties and took over their historic lands. Our work today declares that it is not enough to just acknowledge Native American heritage, we must also pass the legislation that protects that heritage and strengthens Tribal sovereignty and self- determination. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Majority Leader Hoyer for scheduling these bills to be heard today as we begin Native American Heritage month. I especially want to thank Chairman Grijalva and Ranking Member Westerman for moving the bills through the Natural Resources Committee. Madam Speaker, I wish to thank the sponsors of the bills and the committee staff who dedicate themselves to getting things done on behalf of the indigenous peoples of our country. Madam Speaker, I will turn to H.R. 1619. The Catawba Indian Nation Lands Act, introduced by Representative Clyburn of South Carolina, will ratify and confirm the Department of the Interior's decision to take into trust 17 acres of land in Cleveland County, North Carolina, for the benefit of the Catawba Indian Nation. The Catawba Indian Nation is the only Federally-recognized Tribe in South Carolina, and its approximately 3,400 members reside primarily in the Catawba River Valley. The current Catawba Reservation is made up of multiple parcels of land in South Carolina, totaling about 700 acres. To improve the Tribal economy and meet the needs of Tribal members, the Catawba Nation petitioned the Department of the Interior to place approximately 17 acres of land, known as the Kings Mountain site, into trust in Cleveland County, North Carolina, for gaming and other purposes. On March 12, 2020, the Department of the Interior accepted the Catawba Indian Nation's request to transfer the land into trust. The Department's decision derived from the terms of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993, which ended the Nation's fight against the State of South Carolina in its assertion of aboriginal land claims. The Act not only restored the Federal trust relationship between the Nation and the Federal Government, but it also contained various provisions about the trust acquisition of land by the Secretary of the Interior, the use of such land for gaming, and the applicability of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Following the announcement of the Department of the Interior's decision, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians filed a suit against it to block the Nation's plans to construct a casino complex at the Kings Mountain site. Among other assertions, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians claims that the project will encroach upon its aboriginal territory. However, the historical records demonstrate the Kings Mountain site is within the aboriginal and historical lands of the Catawba Nation. H.R. 1619 will thus reaffirm the Department of the Interior's recognition of Catawba Indian Nation's historical and ancestral ties to the lands in Kings Mountain and the Catawba Nation's right to conduct gaming operations on those lands under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The legislation will provide much-needed economic development opportunities to the Nation and the surrounding local communities. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Clyburn for championing this bipartisan legislation, and I urge its quick adoption. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, I think that we have heard today about the importance of how we are, in essence, making history by undoing a little bit of the unfortunate history of the United States. This small parcel of land, which will be taken into trust, will yield significant benefits for the Tribe. I do appreciate the fact that, like all the legislation we are considering today, it is bipartisan and that all of those who are supporting it recognize the benefits that it will bring to the Catawba Nation. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2758) to provide for the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and for other purposes.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

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

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

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.