Tule River Indian Reservation Land Trust, Health, and Economic Development Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the Tule River Indian Tribe are constituents of mine, and I believe that they have a right to self-governance and local control.

This bill is about putting some unused Federal land in trust for the tribe. More fundamentally, this is about giving the people who actually live in a place more control over that land.

This is a good, practical rule of thumb when it comes to governance. People at the local level govern themselves best. That is definitely the case when it comes to Native American tribes. My principle is that Indian tribes will use their land better than a distant Federal Government, and we should let them.

Today's legislation transfers a relatively small piece of land, only about 34 acres, but it will allow the Tule River Tribe to unify their property, giving them the freedom to live as they choose. And that freedom has more value than any amount of acreage.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source