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PDFFrom IndianCountryToday:
The American Indian Empowerment Act is going nowhere in Congress, but its sponsor, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), is still fighting for a plan that would upend the current federal-tribal trust status quo, and put tribes in control.
Young’s legislation would allow tribal nations to request from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior that tribal land be taken out of trust status and conveyed directly to them. Interior currently holds approximately 56 million acres of lands in trust for tribes and Indians, and in many circumstances the department gets to decide if a tribe’s plans for how to use that land are appropriate.
Young’s bill would convert federal trust lands to what’s known as a “restricted fee tribal land status.” This means the land would be protected against alienation and taxation. And the legislation would still ensure that lands retain their Indian country status, including the ability of Native nations to pass tribal laws on the land and conduct other related business.
It’s a bold proposal, one that would fulfill some major tenets of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that call for Native empowerment on land and resource ownership. Problem is, few members of Congress support the bill, and Interior Department officials are lining up against it. Even some tribal leaders are worried about the possible ramifications.
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