September 21, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 163 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages H4565-H4566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  NULLIFYING SUPPLEMENTAL TREATY BETWEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND 
       CONFEDERATED TRIBES AND BANDS OF INDIANS OF MIDDLE OREGON

  Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 832) to nullify the Supplemental Treaty Between the United 
States of America and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Indians of 
Middle Oregon, concluded on November 15, 1865.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 832

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. NULLIFICATION OF TREATY.

       The Supplemental Treaty Between the United States of 
     America and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Indians of 
     Middle Oregon, concluded on November 15, 1865, and entered 
     into pursuant to the Senate resolution of ratification dated 
     March 2, 1867 (14 Stat. 751), shall have no force or effect.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
New Mexico (Ms. Haaland) and the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Cheney) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New Mexico.


                             General Leave

  Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New Mexico?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, S. 832, introduced by Senator Merkley of Oregon, will 
nullify the supplemental treaty of 1865 between the United States and 
the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Indians of Middle Oregon.
  The Warm Springs Confederated Tribe signed a treaty with the United 
States in 1855 in which they relinquished millions of acres of their 
land but reserved the Warm Springs Reservation for their exclusive use, 
as well as off-reservation fishing, hunting, and gathering rights.
  After the treaty's signing, the Tribes maintained their accustomed 
practice of traveling regularly to the Columbia River to harvest 
salmon. However, non-Indian settlers in the area convinced the Oregon 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs to pursue efforts to keep the Tribes 
away.

[[Page H4566]]

  As a result, in 1865, a small number of Warm Springs members were 
fraudulently made to sign a supplemental treaty that claimed to strip 
the Tribe's off-reservation rights and to prohibit their members from 
leaving the reservation without a written permit issued by the Federal 
Indian agent.
  Both the Indians of the Warm Springs Reservation and the United 
States Government recognized that this was a deceptive action and have 
consistently ignored the 1865 agreement while also reaffirming the 
Tribes' off-reservation treaty rights. Passage of S. 832 will finally 
officially correct this historic injustice and nullify the 1865 treaty.
  Madam Speaker, I thank and congratulate Senator Merkley for his work 
on moving this bill through the Senate. I also want to thank our 
colleague from Oregon, Representative   Greg Walden, for his work on 
the House version of the legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I urge quick adoption of this bill, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 832.
  As my colleague has described, the bill would nullify an 1865 
supplement to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. It 
was signed after the original 1855 treaty.
  This supplemental treaty further restricted the rights of Tribal 
members to the extent that, among other things, they could not leave 
the reservation without written permission from the Federal agency 
superintendent.
  According to the Tribe, this supplemental treaty was in response to 
non-Indian settler concerns with Tribal members using their usual and 
accustomed areas to hunt and fish.
  The State of Oregon has indicated it has no intention of enforcing 
this antiquated and discriminatory treaty, but it does remain on the 
books, Madam Speaker, and I support the Tribes' request to have it 
struck.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the sponsor of the House companion of this 
bill, Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Walden, for his 
efforts to see this offensive provision removed.
  Madam Speaker, I urge the adoption of this measure, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Haaland) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 832.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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