TWICJUN509

TheWeekInCongress.com - June 3, 2009 - The House passed two bills extending Federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina and five tribes in Virginia, but the history of the bills leave passage in the Senate a question mark.

The Lumbee quest for federal assistance, largely to finance tribal schools, began in 1888. Opposition to the aid came from the Department of Interior based on a lack of resources and later during a time known as 'The Termination Era' in 1956 when Congress terminated its relationship with 109 Indian nations. Similar bills passed the House in the 102nd, 103rd, 108th, 109th, and 110th Congress but none were acted on by the Senate. Opposition to the bill holds that accurate tribal rolls have held up the recognition. The bill, HR 31, would cost $786 million through 2014 and passed the House 240 - 179.

In Virginia five tribes are recognized in HR 1385. They are the Chickahominy Tribe, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe. All tribes hail back to the 1600s when they were discovered by early explorers.

Recognition for those tribes has stalled over several Congresses due to a lack of documentation required to validate the tribes' histories. Tribal members were not inclined to traditional public records such as for marriage and most documents were destroyed or modified in an effort by Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, the first Registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912-1947, who "took it upon himself to eradicate the State of Indian residents, not by removing them, but by changing the designation of Indian on birth certificates and through other activities." over the course of 46 years.

Opposition to recognizing the Virginia tribes centered on what is considered insufficient evidence of their numbers and history. Amendments prohibit the use of imminent domain to acquire property to be put in trust for the tribes and narrows the recognition to Amherst and Rockbridge counties, VA. The bill would spend $65 million through 2014 and passed the House by voice vote.

HR 31 Bill report and votes

HR 1385 Bill report and amendments.

AIRLINE SECURITY BILL PASSES HOUSE

New Security Group Will Consider Fees to Cover Cargo Screening

Primarily an airport-related bill, HR 2200 also takes into account issues with surface transportation as well.

The Aviation Security Advisory Committee is established within which will be the air cargo security working group. "The group will aim to find ways to reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies with the screening and inspection of inbound cargo; and consider the potential development of a fee structure to help sustain cargo-screening efforts." Airport perimeter control and security is to be further studied and grants are available for security enhancements.

Surface transportation

The Comptroller General is directed to study terror attacks on foreign surface transportation facilities to determine lessons learned that can be applied in the US.. Tunnel security is to be studied with attention to an inflatable plug technology to prevent tunnel flooding in the event of an attack.

The bill also authorizes the addition of 100 canine teams for sniffing out explosives by the end of FY 2011 and to expand the use of those teams to detect vapor wave trails.

An amendment to the bill establishes a plan and implements a program for screening air passengers with metal implants. Another orders the creation of a 'known passenger credential' with biometric identifiers.

Another amendment would give passengers the option of going through a full body scan machine or a pat-down search also would prohibit the TSA from storing, transferring, or copying the images.

HR 2200 bill report, amendments and votes.

No reproduction, language translation or distribution of all website content without written permission from TheWeekInCongress.com.(TM)

Bills place more defibrillators in schools; Require Notice of Childcare Center Insurance; provide aid to water projects in Arizona and Texas; and expand certain leave for federal employees.

Defibrillators

The Secretary of Education is directed to award matching grants to local schools with which they may purchase automated external defibrillators.

HR 1380

Childcare Liability

To qualify for grants States must show program requiring childcare providers to post notice of insurance.

HR 1662

Water Assistance

$14 million for water recycling project in Arizona.

HR 325

Multi community project around Waco, TX.

HR 1120

Projects added in Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, Hudspeth, and El Paso counties, TX.

HR 1393

Employee Leave

The bill provides that federal employees may substitute available paid leave for any leave without pay available for the birth of a child or placement of a child with the employee for either adoption or foster care.

HR 626

The House is adjourned until Monday, June 8th.

The Senate

is adjourned until Monday, June 8th.