Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger) for yielding and for all her hard work on the committee.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this en bloc package. I particularly want to highlight my two amendments, both of which protect integral Trump administration executive orders.
The first protects Executive Order 13807, which pertains to streamlining environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects. This executive order was the basis for new NEPA regulations that the Trump administration announced just last week.
Mr. Speaker, we need to get back to building things in this country. It seems every week is like groundhog week, it is infrastructure week, but if we are serious about addressing the problems with our aging infrastructure, we must get serious about modernizing outdated processes that unnecessarily slow down infrastructure projects.
Whether it is offshore wind, building electrical transition lines, or building solar energy projects on public lands, outdated regulations cause countless delays and cancellations of these important projects, costing jobs and economic opportunity for our constituents.
My second amendment protects Executive Order 13817, which directs the Federal Government to develop a strategy to ensure a secure and reliable supply of critical minerals.
The facts are, Mr. Speaker, that we are completely reliant on China for 20 critical minerals that go into producing everything from parts for fighter jets to cellphones.
Cobalt is a great example of the dangers of becoming reliant on China to meet these mineral needs. Sixty percent of the cobalt supply is mined in the Congo, where abhorrent child labor practices are well documented, and China now controls at least half of all cobalt production in that country.
Fortunately, the proposed Twin Metals mine would serve as a rare source of domestic cobalt, but, of course, my colleagues aim to shut that project down as well by including language in this bill aimed at preventing this project.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to wake up and face the facts. We must harvest our own domestic resources and ingenuity before it is too late. Our long-term economic, energy, and national security depend upon it, even the climate change the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) talked about.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition, very strong opposition, to this amendment.
The amendment continues the efforts in this House to halt enforcement of a Federal court action on this matter in order to build a massive 400,000-square-foot off-reservation gaming complex for the benefit of Genting, a foreign Malaysian gaming company.
Since we considered this legislation last year, there have been a number of important events, including just last month when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston served a Federal grand jury subpoena to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe last month for a hefty number of documents and financial records.
Yet, here we are once again, misguidedly considering the establishment of two separate reservations for the Mashpee Tribe of Massachusetts.
One reservation will be the town of Mashpee, the Tribe's historic reservation lands. No casino will be allowed within ``the geographic boundaries of the town of Mashpee.''
The other reservation will be 50 miles away from Mashpee in the city of Taunton. This site is not part of the Tribe's historic reservation and was selected by the Tribe and Genting for a billion-dollar casino project because of its proximity to the Providence, Rhode Island, casino market, a 20-mile distance.
There is no reason for the second reservation other than to build an off-reservation casino 50 miles away from where the Mashpee Tribe currently resides.
In 1988, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act with the intent to restrict casinos to Tribes' original reservations in order to protect the States and the rights of citizens of those States.
By placing land in trust for the Mashpee Tribe for gaming in Taunton, this amendment creates an off-reservation casino, which is inconsistent with congressional intent. This is often called reservation shopping, and it is an abuse of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Now, the Tribe's lawyers knew that reservation shopping was a political headache, so they went to bureaucrats within the BIA to obtain the two reservations through administrative action. But let's be honest, this isn't about the Mashpee Tribe. This is about Genting Malaysia. This amendment is really about just a financial bailout for Genting.
The Tribe is swamped with more than $500-plus million in debt to Genting, and there is no way the Tribe can ever pay this back and still make enough money to sustain itself. Genting, therefore, will be the real owner of the project, not the Tribe.
This kind of arrangement, where the creditor practically controls the financial futures of a debtor Tribe, is contrary to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which requires every Tribal casino to be 100 percent tribally owned.
Moreover, the American Principles Project reports on the ties between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, stating, ``The expansive Abramoff investigation uncovered major corruption within the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Its chief, Glenn Marshall, pled guilty in 2009 to multiple Federal charges, including embezzling Tribal funds and campaign finance violations committed while working with Abramoff to secure Federal recognition'' in 2007.
This disastrous project has garnered its broad share of opposition, including President Trump, Democrats, and Republicans. The project is also strenuously opposed by the other federally recognized Tribe in Massachusetts.
For Members on both sides of the aisle, do you really want your name tied to a Tribe that only received Federal recognition in 2007 as a result of shady lobbying by Jack Abramoff? Do you really want to vote for a $500 million bailout for a foreign gaming corporation?
More importantly, while everyone is innocent until proven guilty, prudence suggests that Congress wait until the completion of the ongoing Federal grand jury investigation before acting on any gambling legislation related to a foreign entity and an Indian Tribe that appears to be the target of that investigation.
In short, this amendment attempts, once again, to force an off- reservation casino, bails out a foreign corporation from major financial problems of its own making, undoes the judgment of a Federal court, and contradicts a Supreme Court ruling.
Madam Speaker, I urge all Members of both sides of the aisle to vote against this amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, once again, the facts are the facts. I know there are gut-wrenching applications. I dealt with Tribes my whole life. But the facts are the facts. This amendment is egregious. The facts are the facts.
Two reservational applications is incomprehensible. It violates the very law that we actually passed.
Now, if you disagree with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, be my guest, change it. But that is not what we do. We follow the law. The law is the law.
Madam Speaker, with that, I would ask everybody to vote against this amendment.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source