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Senate Committee on Indian Affairs holds first hearing since break

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Harvey Godwin Jr., the chairman of the Lumbee Tribe, will be testifying on S.2285, a bill to extend federal recognition to his tribe. Photo from Lumbee Tribe

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is holding a legislative hearing on Wednesday, its first since Congress went on break seven weeks ago.

Four bills are on the agenda. They follow:

• S.2285, the Lumbee Recognition Act. The bill repeals a termination-era law and extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
• S.3234, the Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act. The bill amends the Native American Business Development, Trade Promotion, and Tourism Act of 2000, the Buy Indian Act, the Indian Trader Act, and the Native American Programs Act of 1974 to provide industry and economic development opportunities to Indian Country.
• S.3261, the Native American Business Incubators Program Act. The bill establishes a $5 million competitive grant initiative within the Department of the Interior to establish or maintain business incubators in Indian Country.
• H.R.4685, the Tule River Indian Reservation Land Trust, Health, and Economic Development Act. The bill places about 34 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in trust for the Tule River Tribe of California. The House passed the bill on July 6.

The hearing takes place immediately following a business meeting at 2:30pm in Room 628 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building. The witness list follows:

Ms. Cheryl Andrews-Maltais
Senior Policy Advisor to the Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Harvey Godwin, Jr.
Chairman, Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Pembroke, NC
The Honorable Kenneth McDarment
Vice Chairman, Tule River Tribe, Porterville, CA
Mr. Derrick Watchman
Chairman, National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, Mesa, AZ
Mr. William Snell
Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, Billings, MT

Note: As of Tuesday morning, the link below for the "Legislative Hearing" hasn't been loading properly on the committee's website. Other pages are loading fine.

Note Part 2: The Legislative Hearing link is loading properly as of Tuesday afternoon.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Notices:
Business Meeting to consider S. Con. Res. 49, S. 2711 & S. 2959 (September 7, 2016)
Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on the following bills: S. 2285, S. 3234, S. 3261 & H.R. 4685 (September 7, 2016)