Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas Equal and Fair Opportunity Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on my colleagues to support H.R. 2208, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas Equal and Fair Opportunity Act.

On March 26 of this year, I introduced this important bipartisan bill with my colleague, Representative Tony Gonzales from the Texas 23rd Congressional District, to ensure that Native American Tribes are covered by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Specifically, this bipartisan bill aims to correct a problem of exclusion that has been affecting only two Tribes in the entire United States--the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas--since 1987, when Congress passed the Restoration Act and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The passage of these 1987 laws inadvertently created uncertainty about which law these Tribes were covered under and what gaming activities they were allowed to offer on their reservations.

Passed in this Chamber during the 116th Congress, this bill offers a commonsense solution that will ensure that the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes are covered by the Indiana Gaming Regulatory Act, which would provide these Native American communities with a critical economic lifeline and an opportunity to recover from the harmful inequity that they have faced.

Simply put, this bill would provide fairness for these two Tribes, like the only other federally recognized Tribe in our State, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas.

I urge my colleagues to join me in protecting our Native American Tribes' sovereignty and ensuring that they have the ability to engage in the same way other Tribes are able to.

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted everyone, but the economic and health crisis has been devastating to our Tribes, and this bill offers an opportunity for them to safely rebuild their economies. The reason our Tribes have suffered so disproportionately is because of long-term disinvestment and generational lack of adequate access to healthcare and economic assistance.

Communities around the country are eager to repair their economies following the impact of COVID-19, and our Tribes are no different. But they need the clarity this bill would provide so that they can better control their economic future.

The parity this bill would create for these Tribes would also create long overdue opportunities for them to succeed by supporting job creation and their ability to generate revenue that would fund new housing, educational programs, and medical facilities for their people and the surrounding communities, among so many other things.

Now, more than ever, more must be done to protect other Native American Tribes, their families, businesses, and their economic prosperity.

By passing this bill, Congress would finally grant the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes the rights, opportunities, and stability they have long been denied.

Therefore, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this important piece of legislation, and I am grateful to the leaders in the committee for their support.

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