Senate Committee on Indian Affairs schedules business meeting

Friday, September 2, 2016  

White Mountain Apache Tribe Chairman Ronnie Lupe. Photo by Tami A. Heilemann - Office of Communications / US Department of the Interior

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has added a business meeting to its upcoming schedule.

Three bills are on the agenda for the meeting next week. They follow:

• S.Con.Res.49, the PROTECT Patrimony Resolution. The Protection of the Right of Tribes to Stop the Export of Cultural and Traditional Patrimony Resolution calls upon the federal government to work with tribes to stop the export of tribal property. The committee has not held a hearing on the bill but the issue has been in the news recently.
• S.2711, the Native American Education Opportunity Act. The bill would divert Bureau of Indian Education funds into an "education savings account" and that money can be used by Indian students to attend a school of their choice. The committee held a hearing on the bill on April 6.
• S.2959, a bill to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in a settlement fund set aside for the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona. The committee held a hearing on the bill on June 29.

The business meeting takes place at 2:15pm in Room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 7. It will be followed by a previously-announced legislative hearing on four bills.

The meeting and hearing are the committee's first since Congress went on recess in July.

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)

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs schedules hearing on four bills (8/29)