Legislative Hearing on: H.R. 1451 (Rep. Brecheen), “Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025”; H.R. 2302 (Rep. McClintock), “Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025”; H.R. 2389 (Rep. Randall), “Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act”; and H.R. 2400 (Rep. LaMalfa), “Pit River Land Transfer Act of 2025”.
House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs
2025-04-30
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Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
Thank you. Thank you. that the bipartisan bill has facilitated. The field hearing itself was bipartisan as well. Ranking Member Ledger Fernandez, you were there as well. It goes to show how Congress can provide excellent avenues for success when we take the time to listen to tribal leaders and remove bureaucratic red tape. Speaking of tools for success, Today, the subcommittee is meeting to consider four bills that will support tribal sovereignty and the restoration of tribal homelands. First is HR 1451, the Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025, sponsored by Congressman Besheen.
This legislation would establish a special deposit account in the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration for the purpose of dispersing the $137.5 million to Quapaw tribal member claimants. In 2002, the Quapaw Nation filed a lawsuit against the United States stemming from the mismanagement of the tribe's trust assets, which led to the creation of a Superfund site. The litigation went on for years. Eventually, the case was referred to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by an act of Congress. In 2019, an agreement was reached between the federal government and the Quapaw Nation for $137.5 million. This legislation would help facilitate this settlement. Our second bill, H.R. 2302, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025 is sponsored by Congressman McClintock. This bill would place approximately 85 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 118 acres of fee land into the trust for Shingle Springs ban of Miwok Indians. Due to the creation of Highway 50 in California, the Ranchera has become largely landlocked. Growth including housing has been practically non-existent as a result. The fee land in this legislation has been purchased by tribes for the purpose of continued growth. The Bureau of Land Management land included in this legislation is adjacent to the fee land and has not been well managed by the Bureau, leading to an increased risk of wildfires, Our third bill, H.R. 2389, the Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Randall.
This bill would place approximately 72 acres of Forest Service land known as Allotment 1157 into trust for the tribe. Like many other tribes, the Quinault was impacted by General Allotment Act and saw their lands divided up into individual allotments. Allotment 1157 is one such example. The tribe has worked to reacquire 48% of their original reservation, including land adjacent to allotment 1157. If HR 2389 is passed, The tribe intends to use allotment 1157 for heritage and cultural purposes. Our final bill on today's agenda is HR 2400, the Pitt River Land Transfer Act of 2025, sponsored by Congressman LaMalfa. This bill would place approximately 584 acres of Forest Service land, known as the Four Corners, land into trust for the Pitt River Tribe. This bill would also place approximately 40 acres of fee land into trust for the tribe. If H.R. 2400 is passed, the tribe intends to build an interpretive center to commemorate the protest and the ancestral history of the land. I thank our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to today's conversation. The chair now recognizes ranking member for any statement. Thank you so much, Chair Wahlberg, and thank you for sitting in and heading up this hearing. And thank you, as always, to the witnesses for being here. As the tribal witnesses know well and the administration witnesses, I think also understand that this subcommittee has always sought to remedy historic injustices.
and support tribal sovereignty. And we've done that in a beautifully bipartisan manner since I got to Congress and before then. This is a long tradition of the Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples or Indian Affairs is how can we look at the horrible injustices that have gone back, the loss of land, you know, the Superfund sites. How could we look at all of this and try to begin remedying the harm? It is also our duty here to perform congressional oversight to figure out what do we do better and where are we lacking? That means we have to ask tough questions of the administration if they fall short of this responsibility.
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