Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2176, Bay Mills Indian Community Land Claims Settlement

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2176, BAY MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY LAND CLAIMS SETTLEMENT -- (House of Representatives - June 25, 2008)

Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and I appreciate the bipartisan spirit in which this debate is conducted and why this is just a bad idea.

Many of us come to this microphone, to this well, through our conclusions from a whole variety of backgrounds and interests. I think back, not all that long ago, when I had a good friend in town, and we had a great philosophical debate about organized gambling coming to his town. And he was all for it. He had been, I think, the third generation of a great restaurant in that town. It was very well known, well known all over the State, and he said it would boost his business. Well, about 2 years after that casino landed in that town, he closed his doors. I think it was in his family for decades. It broke his heart. There was trembling in his voice when we had a conversation over the phone. Because, when organized gambling comes to your town, there are very few who will make a whole bunch, and there are a whole bunch who will lose a lot.

And it is not the economic tool that people profess. Study after study after study clearly shows there is more net loss, that there is more cannibalization of small businesses around these organized gambling casinos than there is success and benefit that happens inside.

Certainly, the local governments that house them love it; it means cash to them. That's great. But at what price? And we really need to stop ourselves and ask, at what price?

We already have more casinos in Michigan than we have public universities. And this isn't about fairness for this tribe. This tribe has seven casinos already, $400 million in revenue. And what they are asking to do is something unprecedented. The Federal court ruled against them. The State court ruled against them. But they said let's go around all of those things, including a 2004 referendum by the State of Michigan that said enough is enough, we're going to cap it right here at what we have. They went around all of those things, and it's like putting a casino from a tribe in Washington, DC in Cleveland and saying, ``This is part of our heritage, you need to help us.'' That's not what this is. This is about organized gambling and putting it in a place where they think they can make more than the $400 million in revenue they are already making.

I just plead with this House and this Congress don't set this precedent. And I don't care if they say it in the bill or not, it is a precedent. And every community in America will wake up one day and say we can do this too. We can come to Congress. We can show up and go around our States and our legislatures and our people and the courts, and we'll go to Congress too and get special treatment to have an organized gambling casino in a neighborhood near you.

A lot of people speak for both sides of this issue, but very few will speak for the folks who will lose everything when these casinos come to town.

I plead with this House not to do this. It's not the right thing to do. We know it's not the right thing to do. I encourage all of us to vote ``no'' on the rule and vote ``no'' on the subsequent legislation.

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