Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership Act of 2011

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COLE. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for those exceptionally generous comments.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 205, the HEARTH Act, by the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich). I want to commend him for bringing forward and working so hard to secure the passage of this genuinely important piece of legislation.

Increased opportunity for economic development in Indian Country is the best way to raise the standards of living for tribal members. This legislation will help break down the barriers to economic development by making needed reforms to tribal leasing regulations.

H.R. 205 will streamline the existing bureaucratic process for leasing tribal trust lands by providing Indian tribes with the option to develop and manage their own surface leasing regimes.

Existing law requires that each lease of tribal surface lands be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The secretarial approval process is costly, time consuming, often results in lost business and economic opportunities for tribal communities, and is far too cumbersome to be helpful to those it's designed to protect. These lease reforms come from a pilot program which implemented this same regime on the Navajo reservation over a decade ago. Based on the success of that pilot, it's only natural that these reforms be available to all tribes.

Under H.R. 205, once a tribe's own surface leasing regime is approved by the Department of the Interior, the tribe can proceed to negotiate, approve, and administer leases of tribal trust lands under its control. Passage of H.R. 205 will enable tribal governments to assume responsibility for the management of their lands, reduce Federal costs and government liability, and encourage more housing and economic development on Indian lands, resulting ultimately in job creation.

This bill has strong bipartisan support, is a priority for Indian Country, and is strongly supported by the administration. It empowers tribes, encourages tribal self-government, decreases the dependency of tribes on the Federal Government, and speeds up economic development in Indian Country.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 205, the HEARTH Act. Again, I want to commend the gentleman from New Mexico for his hard work on this important legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source