Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. KEATING. Madam Speaker, I speak in favor of this amendment.

On March 27, 2 weeks after the U.S. Government had declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 virus, leaders of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Tribe that helped the Pilgrim forefathers survive the devastation of illness and starvation in their first winter, received a phone call from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's office.

Now, you would think that maybe they were going to see how the Tribe was doing, a Tribe that is disproportionately affected by the virus. Maybe they were calling to see if they needed any help. Regrettably, that wasn't the case.

In an act with discretionary timing, and one of the most reprehensible acts I have witnessed since I have been here in this Congress, they were informing them that, on behalf the U.S. Government, they were taking away their land, their buildings, their medical center, and leaving them in financial ruins.

Now, fortunately, the D.C. Circuit judge rebuffed this unconscionable act, calling it arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, and unusually so, calling it an abuse of power.

Now, due to the close relationship between the White House and the lobbying group that is dealing with this, this could rear its ugly head again.

This amendment is different than the three that we passed before, in terms of legislation. It is much more narrow. All it does is make sure the Tribe, the Tribe which helped the Pilgrims survive their first year, is allowed to do so themselves in the coming year.

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