A Tweet by President Donald Trump effectively ended efforts by the House to pass a bill that would, by Act of Congress put 321 acres into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts, salvaging the tribe’s effort to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton.
Last week Trump’s Tweet erupted: “Republicans shouldn’t vote for H.R. 312, a special interest casino bill, backed by Elizabeth (Pocahontas) Warren. It is unfair and doesn’t treat Native Americans equally!”
The bill is called The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. It was sponsored in the Senate by Warren and in the House by U.S. Rep. William Keating. Both are Massachusetts lawmakers.
The bill was pulled by House leaders on May 8.
“Pocahontas” is the president’s favorite pejorative for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. It is also the name of an historical Indian figure from early American history. He calls her that to mock her claims that she has Indian ancestry in her background, which have been disproven.
U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, who co-sponsored the bill, lashed back at Trump: “We should expect nothing less than this from a man who lies for a living. But this lie is especially egregious because it threatens the very existence of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims to these shores. This is dangerous (once again) & racist (once again).”
Mayor Tom Hoye of Taunton, a longtime supporter of the Taunton casino, because of the economic activity it will bring to his city, told the Taunton Gazette: “I’m kind of speechless. This whole ordeal has just become sad. That’s the president of the United States tweeting about a sitting U.S. senator. It’s unprecedented.” He added, “It’s another slap in the face to Southeastern Massachusetts.”
It is estimated the casino would bring 2,000 jobs and about $15 million a year to the city.
The “slap” had its supporter, though, lawyer David Tennant, who successfully represented several Taunton residents who challenged the legality of putting the land into trust. His efforts are largely funded by Rush Street Gaming, which hopes to step into a casino license in southeastern Massachusetts once the tribe falters.
The attorney said Trump’s tweet was a strong indicator that he would veto the bill if it ever passes the House and Senate.
“I think it’s a fair statement that the president is opposed to special legislation favoring a single tribe that doesn’t qualify under the law,” Tennant told the Gazette.
Despite criticism, the presidential tweet had the desired effect and House Democratic leaders quickly withdrew the companion bills from a vote. Although only for a few days. The bill had previously been fast-tracked for a full House vote last week under a suspension of the rules that would have required a two-thirds vote, and thus bipartisan support.
The tweet served as a warning that the bill might not be noncontroversial after all.
The bill is the latest, and possibly the last effort, to salvage a long-term effort by the tribe to put land into trust. Having been recognized by the federal government in 2007, the tribe forged a partnership with Genting Malaysia, the largest casino developer in the world. It then won a decision by the Department of the Interior in 2015 putting land in Taunton and Martha’s Vineyard into trust.
The tribe broke ground in April 2016, and then a few months later the decision by a federal judge that the department had acted erroneously putting the land into trust broke like a thunderclap over the tribe—halting construction.
The U.S. District Court judge agreed with the plaintiffs that the Department had violated the Supreme Court decision of Carcieri v. Salazar that says that tribes that were not under federal jurisdiction in 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, can’t put land into trust.
The tribe was unable to satisfy this requirement, although the court judge allowed the department more time to come up with another method that would legally allow the land to be put into trust. The DOI admitted defeat last September, and announced that it wouldn’t keep the land in trust—although it hasn’t yet removed it from that status.
If it does, it will be the first time since the 1960s that the federal government has taken Indian land out of trust. That period in history is considered a dark time in Indian Country due to the efforts by Congress to end the reservation system.
The bill would reaffirm the tribe’s status, and most important, end any court challenges to it.
Even before Trump intervened the bill’s chances were iffy. Although it seems to have strong support in the House, where the Democrats are in charge, it seems less secure in the Senate, which is controlled by the GOP, which is less sympathetic toward a bill that would benefit Warren, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.
In fact, some political observers consider Warren’s sponsorship to be a downright liability for the bill. Mainly because of the controversy surrounding her claims to have Indian blood. Which is something that Trump has mocked for several years.
Some Indians feel it is a racial slur to call Warren “Pocahontas,” even though she has been unable to prove any significant Indian blood in her heritage, despite publishing the results of a DNA test. Trump supporters feel that his use of the term serves to attack political correctness, especially since Warren was unable to prove more than a tiny percentage of Indian blood in her heritage.
The DNA fiasco brought considerable criticism for the senator from Native American groups. Some see her championing of H.R. 312 as an attempt to mend fences, especially since the senator has in the past opposed gaming expansion in the Bay State. Although she has spoken in favor of the bill, she has been silent about the casino the Mashpees want to build in Taunton.
The bill’s sponsor, William Keating, says the president’s opposition to the bill is corruption, plain and simple. Matt Schlapp, a prominent supporter of the president, represents as a lobbyist the Twin River Management Group, which operates two commercial casinos in neighboring Rhode Island. Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes, is White House director of strategic communications.
The Taunton casino would be 18 miles from the common border between the states. Rhode Island’s congressional delegation also opposes H.R. 312 because it would create a challenge to casinos that are the third largest source of government revenue for the state.
Trump has a long history of opposing tribal casinos, which he has often seen as competitors to his own commercial gaming interests.
In 1993, five years after the adoption of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Trump testified to Congress, “I love to compete but I like to compete on an equal footing. I’m competing and paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes… My so-called opponent is competing and paying no tax.”
That same year Trump opposed one of the Indian casinos in Connecticut, and testified to a House committee that it out to investigate Foxwoods to see if it was actually being run by Native Americans. “They don’t look like Indians to me,” he said in an interview. “I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.”
Despite that history, Trump has also attempted to make deals with some gaming tribes to manage their casino interests. In one case in the Coachella Valley in California he did strike such a deal, and soon a billboard announced “Where the Donald Meets the Desert.” The partnership lasted only a few months, however.
Meanwhile, Mayor Hoye pins his hopes on the Democrats winning the presidency and the Senate next year. That could revive the tribe’s flagging fortunes.
Some House leaders also expect the bill to be revived in short order, although it will no longer be as a fast-track bill. It will need to move forward under regular order.
Trump’s tweet swiftly brought a rebuke from The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), whose President Jefferson Keel stated: “Yesterday’s pulling of two bills intended to address concerns of tribal nations is unfortunate, particularly if they were pulled in response to a social media posting from our President. Misinformation about tribal homeland restoration legislation yesterday morning serves only to confuse issues of great importance to Indian Country. H.R. 312, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, is not a gaming bill. That bill is a reservation lands reaffirmation bill, meaning it ensures that a federally recognized tribal nation has a homeland for present and future generations. If the President truly cares about equal treatment of Native Americans, NCAI expects the President to issue a tweet supporting a clean Carcieri fix, which would ensure that all tribal nations received equal treatment under the Indian Reorganization Act. Once again, we call on the President to refrain from using Pocahontas’ name in a disparaging manner. It’s insulting, disrespectful, and perpetuates the dehumanization of Native peoples.”
Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell declared, “H.R. 312 is not about Senator Elizabeth Warren. H.R. 312 also is not about the developer that has been kind enough to lend the Tribe money to help us survive the inhumane and disgraceful burden that Rhode Island’s Carcieri case has inflicted on landless recognized tribes like ours,” and added, “H.R. 312 is a deeply honorable legislative effort by both Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives to correct the significant wrongs that have been perpetrated against our Tribe over the years, and to ensure that our people have a chance to be self-sufficient.”
