A bill in the House of Representatives sponsored by Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah would strip the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the authority to recognize Indian tribes and would reserve that authority to Congress alone.
Currently the House Committee of Natural Resources is holding hearings on the Tribal Recognition Act of 2015.
Last week Nicholas Muilane, a selectman from the town of North Stonington, Connecticut, told the committee that his town, along with several others in the state that are neighbors of Foxwoods Resort Casino, “have experienced virtually all the problems” that the act would address.
Bishop introduced his bill in reaction to the BIA’s recently published Indian recognition regulations. Critics of the Obama administration feel that it has been too lenient in recognizing new tribes.
BIA head Kevin Washburn has accused Republicans on the committee of “statements and questioning that harkened back to the termination era.” That is the period of the 1950s and 60s when the federal government made an effort to assimilate tribes and to abolish reservations.
Last week Rep. Raul Ruiz of California declared, “This bill will weaken tribal self-determination and consolidate that power in the hands of a few politicians.”
Brian Patterson, president of the United South and Eastern Tribes, told the panel, “In addition to concerns related to the political process, it is essential to recognize that the United States Congress and numerous courts have repeatedly acknowledged the Secretary of the Interior’s authority to extend recognition to tribal nations.”
Connecticut’s congressional delegation and Governor Dannel Malloy had been very critical of the new recognition rules until they were amended to make it nearly impossible for tribes that had previously been denied recognition to reapply. The state has two tribes whose recognition it has fought to prevent them from building more casinos in the state.
