or elected as our ranking member of this important subcommittee, the gentleman from new mexico, mr. lujan. mr. chairman, thank you so much for calling this hearing. i ask unanimous consent that my opening statement be made part of the record. >> without objection. >> mr. chairman, this is not a new issue, as you know. we've been through this quite a number of years, since of time of ben nighthorse campbell, when he was a member of this very committee before he went on to become a united states senator. i think with an understanding of the institutional history in terms of our treatment of native american peoples, mr. chairman, you probably, more than anybody in this committee and in this congress, understands and appreciates the problems that the native american communities have had to endure and to go through as part of the history of our country. it's interesting to know, mr. chairman, that our first national policy towards the native american indians was to kill the indians. the only good indian was a dead indian is my understanding of our history. and then the next phase of our histor

mr. lujan. >> mr. chairman, two quick questions. >> go ahead. >> mr. gabaldon, the -- one of the criteria of 25 cfr-83, 83.7g. it states that the petitioner demonstrates that neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of a congressional legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the federal relationship. >> i'm sorry. i didn't hear the question. >> section g states that the -- if you don't meet this criteria, there's no administrative relief. you don't have the opportunity to pursue something administratively. what this states is the criteria is the petitioner demonstrates that neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional legislation that has expressed -- that has expressly terminated or forbidden the federal relationship. would your tribe fall into that? you wouldn't meet that criteria? >> we don't meet the criteria because of the g. that's why we weren't able to use the petition process. >> i think that's important to note as we talk about this. some of the aspects associated with judicial i think re

i commend the member mr. lujan, the ranking member and my

. >> let me welcome mr. lujan and the position he's had. it makes me feel good about that side of the aisle and the people who worked with me over the years. i will miss mr. barnes but i'm confident this young man will fill his shoes. if he doesn't, i'll use the gavel so that will take care of it. welcome. the subcommittee already came to order. the subcommittee on indian and alaska native affairs is meeting to hear testimony on the standards and procedures on whether and how indian tribes should be newly recognized by the federal government. opening statements for the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee so we can hear from the witnesses more quickly. i ask unanimous consent if submitted by the clerk by the close of business today. hearing no objection, so ordered. i ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from virginia, mr. whitman from california, mr. thompson and florida mr. miller be allowed to join us and participate in the hearing. without objection, so ordered. in today's hearing we will hear the perspective of several gr

and i commend mr. lujan, the ranking member, and my friend, mr. young from alaska, for having recognized the justice and the obligation we have to fight for that justice. and i'm going to leave congress this year, after serving 36 years here, but i'm going to continue to fight for indian just a. i just want to commend you for what you are doing. you really are in the right path, and a path that you must continue to pursue. and i thank you very much. >> thank you. mr. benishek. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i certainly appreciate mr. kildee's comments as well. i want to thank the members of the committee who can't afford to testify today. i represent michigan's first district, it's my first term, and we have 15 federally recognized tribes in michigan. and it's been my pleasure to work with, both recognized tribes and with the strides seeking recognition. i introduced a bill. i'm really anxious to learn more about these issues. i'm disappointed that the department of interior chose not to participate today, but i think it's very important that we as a

mr. lujan: mr. chairman, thank you so much. this amendment is straightforward. it's about protecting hunting and fishing, not -- how simple this is. sadly a similar amendment was rejected by the rules committee when we had a similar debate on oil and gas leasing. but i rise in strong support of the grijalva amendment and i urge my republican colleagues to take a step back and consider the true impacts their policies are having on public lands. public lands are just that. lands for the public to enjoy and use for the great benefits that they provide. generations of new mexicans have used our state's lands for hunting, fishing, recreation and grazing. mineral development is important but let's do it where it makes sense. we have seen bill after bill on this floor that are giveaways to big oil companies, mining companies and corporate interests that don't consider the long-term detrimental impacts to wildlife habitat and public use for recreational use. today's bill would require the federal government to maximize the development of mining on public lands and threa

grijalva, mr. lujan, mr. napolitano, mr. costa, we have a very serious problem and i'm really to name it. the problem we have impacted lands across this country is climate change. if you think storms and drop conditions of catastrophic wildfires are random feet prevent coming you are in deep, deep denial. when sigmund freud said a denial come he suggested when people are forced to face unpleasant facts, they are prone to deny the reality of the fact outright. to come them in a may seriousness of the issue. or three, project responsibility of the unpleasant situation of someone else. this is an apt analogy to how the climate deniers have chosen to deal a severe weather events, drought and wildfire. for months the majority has denied that there is a problem. not the majority apparently is willing to accept part of the reality that we are approaching dustbowl like drought conditions and fires are becoming larger and more severe, but they still denied the group cause of the push to the extremes is actually caused by climate chan

mr. lujan: mr. speaker, this republican majority's effort to repeal the affordable care act is bad legislation that would undermine significant advancements to the delivery of health care services to all americans. but let me be clear. this bill would repeal the single most important federal law that governs the delivery of health care to our first americans, native americans. it's an assault on our federal responsibility to tribal communities who without the indian health care system would not have meaningful access to health care services. our republican majority swept the rug out of native american women and took them out of the act to protect them from domestic violence. this act the republicans put before us would hurt people in a very serious way. the act makes possible long-awaited improvements to the indian health care delivery system by providing authority to provide cancer screenings, dialysis as well as all hospice and elder care, recruit more qualified health care professionals, moderniz

well as subcommittee chairman young and ranking member lujan for giving my legislation a fair hearing and moving the bill through the committee. mraker, the bridgeport indian colony is a federally recognized indian tribe with a reservation located near the bridgeport -- near the town of bridgeport in california. the tribe's reservation is approximately 40 acres and was established by federal law in 1974. however, the size of the current reservation is insufficient for the tribe's housing and community development needs. in order to create space for economic development and housing, my legislation proposes to transfer from the b.l.m. to the b.i.a. to hold in trust for the tribe one parcel of land contingent to the tribe's existing area. on this parcel the tribe plans to construct an r.v. park, gas station, convenience store and residential housing for tribal members as well as a recreational center to serve the greater community. mr. speaker, many tribal members have expressed interest in moving back to the reservation if housing and job opportunities can be made available and this bill will create jobs in a part of my district wh