Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 740 - Pueblo of Isleta Indian Tribe

(House)
(Skeen (R) NM and Schiff (R) NM)

The Administration opposes H.R. 740, which would confer jurisdiction upon the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to hear, determine, and render judgement on any pre-1946 land claims of the Pueblo of Isleta Indian Tribe against the United States.

The bill would in effect grant the. Tribe a legislative waiver of the statute of limitations for such claims. In 1951, the Pueblo Isleta Indian Tribe filed aboriginal land claims with the Indian Claims Commission. After a decade of litigation, the Federal courts ruled against the Tribe. Now, some 40 years after the closing of the statute of limitations, the Tribe seeks, through passage of this bill, to reopen already settled land claims. There are no extraordinary circumstances to justify further litigation or an exception to the long standing Executive Branch policy against waiving the statute of limitations for these types of claims.

H.R. 740 would: (1) set an undesirable precedent in reopening court decisions that have gone through the full judicial process; (2) be unfair to those tribes that brought timely aboriginal claims; (3) inevitably provide an incentive for other tribes to request the reopening of claims; and (4) set a highly undesirable precedent by authorizing the award of five percent interest on claims of aboriginal title.

Pay-As-You-Go-Scoring

H.R. 740 would increase direct spending and is, therefore, subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA). The U.S. Court of Federal Claims would determine the liability of the United States to make payment to the Tribe. As the Court must also determine the amount of this payment, the amount of direct spending for such a payment cannot be determined at this time.