'A Racial Slur': President Trump blamed for derailing passage of two pro-tribal bills

Wednesday, May 8, 2019  

WASHINGTON, D.C -- The U.S. House of Representatives was scheduled to pass two pro-tribal bills on Wednesday. Then President Donald Trump tweeted about it by using a racial slur and both were pulled from consideration.

“We needed significant Republican support to get these bills approved today, and apparently the president tweeting a racial slur was compelling enough to give them cold feet," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) said this afternoon.

“It’s my intention to move both of these bills forward soon, and we’re currently evaluating our options for other avenues to passage," Grijalva said.

The two bills are:

• H.R.312, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. The bill confirms that the reservation of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is in trust and can't be challenged in court. A similar law was enacted for another tribe in 2014 -- the U.S. Supreme Court later upheld it as constitutional.

• H.R.375, a bill confirming that all tribes, regardless of date of federal recognition, can restore their homelands through land-into-trust process. The bill is known as a "clean" fix to U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which created uncertainty for newly recognized tribes.

The continued attacks on Indian Country and @SenWarren by Trump are disgusting, and Trump's repeated “Pocahontas” racial slur shows he knows nothing about working with tribes.

The American people know this stems from Trump's racist ideology and will not stand for it.

— Raul M. Grijalva (@RepRaulGrijalva) May 8, 2019

"I stand with my friends Bill Keating and Tom Cole in supporting Indian Country, and I have no intention of letting the president’s gutter commentary derail the people’s business,” Grijalva said of the sponsors of the two bills that were pulled.

Rep. William Keating (D-Massachusetts) is the sponsor of H.R.312. The bill has the backing of the entire Congressional delegation in Massachusetts.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, is the sponsor of H.R.375. The bill has bipartisan support.

Earlier today, Trump tweeted: "Republicans shouldn’t vote for H.R. 312, a special interest casino Bill, backed by Elizabeth (Pocahontas) Warren. It is unfair and doesn’t treat Native Americans equally!"

Trump has frequently employed the racial slur to taunt Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), a popular lawmaker who is one of his political opponents. She is now seeking the Democratic nomination for president and has rebuked his use of the name of Pocahontas, a Native woman who was taken away from her people by European colonizers in the early 1600s.

"She never made it home," Warren said of Pocahontas, who was known among her people in the Powhatan Confederacy as Matoaka, and later, Amonute. "She was about 21 when she died, an ocean separating her from her people."

During the last session of Congress, Warren was a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. A new version has not been introduced in her chamber but Republicans and the conservative media have repeatedly derided H.R.312 as a "Warren" bill.

Both H.R.312 and H.R.375 were approved by House Committee on Natural Resources during a markup session last week. The votes on each measure were bipartisan although all the no votes came from Republicans.

Despite the misgivings, both bills were expected to pass the House on Wednesday. They were scheduled for consideration under a suspension of the rules, according to the House Majority Leader's schedule, a process that usually allows legislation to be approved by a simple voice vote.

But Republicans have been forcing roll calls on the few tribal bills that have come up for passage in the chamber so far in the 116th Congress. The tallies have shown that a small but consistent group of Republicans are voting against Indian Country legislation.

Core group of Republicans vote against Indian Country bills (April 30, 2019)
Indian Country's legislative priorities inch forward in divided Congress (April 29, 2019)
'Foxes guarding the hen house': Trump nominee confirmed at Indian Country's most important agency (April 11, 2019)
Indian Affairs hearing turns into Trump administration apology tour (April 11, 2019)
Trump nominee inches closer to top spot at Department of the Interior (April 4, 2019)
House adds more Indian Country provisions to Violence Against Women Act (April 3, 2019)
House moves closer to passage of Violence Against Women Act (April 1, 2019)
House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States takes up Carcieri fix (March 29, 2019)
'What she say, it be law': Tribes protected their women before being stripped of sovereignty (March 25, 2019)
Alaska Natives on witness list for hearing on drilling in Arctic refuge (March 25, 2019)
House set to clear first Indian Country bills under Democratic control (March 22, 2019)
Alaska Natives on opposite sides of energy development in Arctic refuge (March 20, 2019)
'An abomination': Republicans try to strip tribal jurisdiction from Violence Against Women Act (March 18, 2019)
Native women leaders lined up for hearing on missing and murdered sisters (March 12, 2019)
AUDIO: Indian Country leaders share funding priorities with Congress (March 11, 2019)
President Trump releases new budget with cuts for Indian Country programs (March 11, 2019)
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs takes yet another look at 'high-risk' programs (March 11, 2019)
House subcommittee schedules hearing on missing and murdered indigenous women (March 8, 2019)
VIDEO: Rep. Deb Haaland addresses the United South and Eastern Tribes (March 4, 2019)
House Committee on Appropriations welcomes Indian Country leaders to Washington (March 1, 2019)
Bipartisan public lands bill includes provisions benefiting Indian Country (February 28, 2019)