Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I spoke on this a year or two ago, and not much has happened except more time has passed since this land was taken from this Tribe.

I represent 21 Tribes in my congressional district. I believe that when I come to the floor, people look and say, well, you are always representing Tribal issues. I represent the issues that became an issue when Ulysses S. Grant recognized what he had done wrong to Tribes. We began the process over 100 years ago of turning around that challenge.

As the ranking member mentioned, in 1934, we passed significant legislation. Much has happened since that time. One of the things that has happened is, here on the House floor, we talk about CBO scoring. I want to touch on that today, which I didn't do a year ago.

CBO says this has a cost. Yes, when we move land into trust, when we move it into Federal ownership, it loses property tax so there is a small cost. This is not a cost objected to by my county or any of the surrounding cities.

The Native American Tribes in my district have more than compensated the community from the revenues they earn, and they have been good stewards. This land failed to even qualify as a landfill over decades.

This is land that, to many, would be considered not usable. It has water challenges that the Tribe will be spending time and money making sure that they prevent the runoff, that they preserve.

They have antiquity on this site. They will be investing in that.

Yes, a few Members, mostly in my own party, last year failed to vote for this because they said: Well, it is an unfunded mandate. It costs a little money.

Yes, it costs money to transfer things into Federal hands because we lose a little bit of revenue, but over 100 years ago--far over that; actually, during the Spanish time--this land was taken from a people, and there was no compensation.

As we put it back, I would ask each of the Members who considered not voting for it a year ago to reconsider, to consider that every piece of every objection, other than that small one, has been taken care of.

The Tribe will be a better steward of the land than it is now. The land will be better preserved and will be used in a way that-- certainly, if you can't qualify as a landfill, it is not exactly the land everybody is looking for.

The reality is the Pala Band has taken what they have earned over the years in agriculture and from their gaming concession and are putting it back into their ancestral land.

I have another Tribe that we are working on that is trying to simply get their graveyard back into trust. We will have the same challenge. They will say: But the graveyard might have an economic cost when it goes into Federal land.

Madam Speaker, I expect this bill to pass--it passed in the last Congress--but I would hope that all my colleagues would look very carefully and say not all transfers are the same. None of them are the same as naming a post office, although naming a post office after a fallen hero is not without its own merit.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member. I hope that my thoughts, in addition to the kind words said by both sides, will convince us to be united this year. This is an important piece of legislation for a people who have done everything we have asked them to do and more.

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