The House bill that would put land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts is coming up for a vote of the House Committee on Natural Resources this week.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act would undo the effects of federal lawsuit that forced the Department of the Interior to reverse its 2015 action putting 321 acres into trust. This was the result of a federal lawsuit by residents of Taunton, where the tribe wants to put a $1 billion casino, the First Light Casino.
The plaintiffs won on their point that the Interior action violated the Carcieri v. Salazar ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that says that tribe’s that weren’t under federal jurisdiction in 1934 can’t put land into trust. This stands as the first time since the infamous (from a tribal point of view) period of the 1950s and 1960s when the federal government was withdrawing recognition of tribal reservations until stopped by the courts. This time is known among tribes as the Termination Era.
Supporters of the bill, including its sponsor Rep. William Keating, earlier tried to fast track the bill under a suspension of the rules, but didn’t succeed.
During the first hearing on the bill Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell testified that the Interior Department’s negative ruling would devastate the tribe’s finances, since the tribe has been financially supporting by Genting Malaysia, which partnered with it to build the casino.
Since that time the tribe’s finances have decline stilled further after Genting withdrew its support. Currently its only efforts on the tribe’s behalf is to pay for lobbying Congress.
Opponents of the tribe, represented by Attorney David Tennant, are seeking an invitation by the House committee to testify. “It is a highly controversial and misguided piece of legislation,” Tennant told South Coast Today. “It’s not for Congress to step in and undo a final judgment,” although Congress certainly has the legal authority to do so—and has done so before.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate some wonder where that chamber’s sponsor of the bill, Elizabeth Warren has gone to. The Senator spent many months pushing the bill, something that critics at the same said was a way of drawing attention away from the controversy of her claimed but not proven Indian ancestry.
She was co-sponsor of the bill a year ago. But this year her office says she is not sponsoring any legislation or commenting on the bill. This inaction on the bill goes in tandem with her recently announced candidacy for president.
InsideSources quoted an “industry source” last week, “She’s been waved off. Everyone knows it’s her bill, but they (the Mashpees) don’t want her anywhere near it.”
InsideSources reports that this is part of a strategy of the Democratic party leadership in the House to pass the bill with minimum fanfare and under the radar.
Another source told NHJournal, “She may be silent now but Warren’s 2020 campaign team will be celebrating if they can get this win.”
But standing athwart this effort and holding up a stop sign are two representatives from Rhode Island, who say the bill would legitimize an effort of a tribe similar to one they fought in their state. And which, coincidentally, resulted in the very Carcieri v. Salazar decision that was used against the Mashpees.
Rep. David Cicilline commented, “This bill is bad for Rhode Island. I have strongly communicated to my colleagues my State’s concerns and opposition to this bill.”
