Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Indian and Insular Affairs
Grijalva Bill Reverses Giveaway of Sacred Tribal Land to Foreign-Owned Mining Company – Sen. Sanders Offering Senate Companion
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva today introduced the Save Oak Flat Act, which repeals an unjustified congressional giveaway of sacred Native American land to a mining company called Resolution Copper co-owned by multinational mining conglomerates Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is introducing a companion bill in the upper chamber today. Section 3003 of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the transfer of 2,422 acres in Arizona'… Continue Reading
06.12.17
Ranking Member Grijalva Statement on Zinke Report on Bears Ears National Monument: “Not Worth the Paper It’s Printed On”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's report to President Trump recommending major changes to the protected status and conserved acreage of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument: "The Secretary's report is nonsense. The memo released today doesn't give any accounting of the public comments the Interior Department received as part of this review process. It doesn't reference any maps or specify legisl… Continue Reading
05.25.17
86 Democrats to Zinke: Congress, Not Trump, Controls the Future of Existing National Monuments
Washington, D.C. - In light of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's ongoing review of 27 national monuments across the country, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent a letter along with 85 House Democratic colleagues to Zinke today highlighting Congress' long-established legal authority over national monuments and other federally protected sites. The letter points to the executive branch's lack of authority to rescind or substantially reduce the size of any national monument - the ost… Continue Reading
05.23.17
Hearing on Native American Land Settlements Will Focus on Dem Push for Tribal Equity, GOP Push to Buy Less Valuable Property
Washington, D.C. - This afternoon's hearing of the Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee on the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations - a central feature of the federal government's attempt to correct its historical mismanagement of Native American land - will focus on the split between the Democratic push to fund the program beyond its 2022 expiration date and the Republican effort to spend existing program funds as quickly as possible, often to buy tribes pieces of property… Continue Reading
04.12.17
Ranking Member Grijalva, Center for Biological Diversity File Lawsuit Against Department of Homeland Security Over Border Programs
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today against Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly; Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and CBP as a whole seeking a court order for a supplemental programmatic environmental impact statement for the U.S.-Mexico border enforcement program. If successful, the suit will force a federal assessment under the National Environmen… Continue Reading
03.29.17
Grijalva: Trump Must Explain Why Rural America, not Mexico, is Paying for His Border Wall – And Whether He’s Building it in Mexico
Note: The online version of this press release includes an extended quote from Ranking Member Grijalva. The final paragraph was not included in the originally publicized version. Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today called on President Trump to explain why his budget plan forces rural and Native American communities to pay for his border wall rather than following through on his false promise to make Mexico pay for it. Grijalva also called on Trump to provid… Continue Reading
03.28.17
Grijalva: Trump Order Ending Federal Climate Planning, Opening New Federal Coal Leases is “Major Self-Inflicted Wound”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today called the Trump administration's impending executive order canceling federal climate change planning and mitigation efforts and ending the federal coal leasing moratorium "a major self-inflicted wound" and pointed out that it would likely harm communities, in Appalachia and elsewhere, that the White House has promised to help. Today's order rolls back current rules mandating that federal agencies plan for the realities o… Continue Reading
03.24.17
Grijalva on Keystone Approval: “This Wasn’t Done to Help the Country, It Was Done to Spite Native Americans and our Environment”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today said the Trump administration's formal approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project was a slap in the face to Native Americans and an intentional blow against our nation's environment that would not benefit the American people. "You'd think this administration would have learned by now that you can't govern just by rushing through terrible ideas," Grijalva said. "This wasn't done to help the country. It was done to spite … Continue Reading
03.22.17
Grijalva Presses Bishop to Call Interior Secretary Zinke for Hearing on Department’s Future in Light of Budget Cuts, Other Needs
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent a letter to Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) urging him to call a hearing for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to testify on the future of the Interior Department, in light of the Trump administration's proposed 12 percent budget cut, and on other issues Zinke has yet to address. "Given the lack of detail provided in the President's proposal," Grijalva writes, "it is critical that Secretary Zinke appear before the Committee … Continue Reading
03.01.17
Grijalva to Zinke: Succeeding as Secretary Means Protecting Interior’s Mission and Budget, Staying True to Your Word on Public Lands
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today urged newly confirmed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to reject the White House's threat to cut 10 percent from the Department of the Interior (DOI) budget in fiscal year 2018, to reject extreme proposals to give away millions of acres of public land to state and local entities, and to invest in the DOI mission of protecting our country's natural resources. "Happy talk about making this country great doesn't make up for gut… Continue Reading
02.16.17
Increasing Pressure on Trump, Dems Hail National Congress of American Indians Resolution Predicating Border Wall on Tribal Consent
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Norma Torres, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, today hailed the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) for resolving, at its just-concluded Executive Council Winter Session, to oppose border wall construction on Native American land without tribal consent. The resolution increases pressure on the Trump administration and its Republican allies to explain how they inte… Continue Reading
02.07.17
Senate, House Natural Resource Leaders Blast Dakota Access Pipeline Decision, Stand up for Tribal Sovereignty and Treaty Rights
WASHINGTON, DC - In a letter to President Donald Trump, members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Committee on Natural Resources blasted the Trump Administration's approval of a final easement to build the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and their failure to undertake meaningful consultation with Native American tribes. "This blatant disregard for federal law and our country's treaty and trust responsibilities to Native American tribes is unacceptable. We strongly… Continue Reading
02.07.17
Grijalva on Trump Administration’s Decision to Proceed with Building the Dakota Access Pipeline
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) received a letter today from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army notifying him that the Army will move forward, as soon as tomorrow, with granting an easement to the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline. "Before the Women's March and before thousands of people protested at airports, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies were camping in the freezing cold to defend their rights. The Obama Administration he… Continue Reading
02.07.17
As GOP Votes Down Transparency Rule at Another Committee, Leading Dems Highlight Need to Expose Trump-Style Conflicts of Interest
Note: The headline of this press release has been slightly changed from its original version to reduce confusion. The qutoe from Rep. Bennie Thompson was added to the online version and was not included in the initial release. Washington, D.C. - The Republican majority on the House Committee on Natural Resources just voted down a Democratic proposal to require that hearing witnesses working for the Trump administration disclose financial conflicts of interest before appearing to testify, contin… Continue Reading
01.30.17
In Letter to Speaker Ryan, Ranking Members Grijalva, Pallone Highlight Indian Country Impacts of Repealing Affordable Care Act
Washington, D.C. - In a previously unreleased Jan. 24 letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) highlight the damage to Indian Country should Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and urge the majority to reconsider its plan to eliminate the law. The letter, which chronicles the full range of funding and services at risk, is available at http://bit.ly/2j9wdr7. The … Continue Reading
01.26.17
Ranking Member Grijalva: Regardless of Who Picks Up the Tab, the Price of Trump’s Border Wall is Too High
Washington, D.C. - President Trump yesterday signed an executive order that pursues the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border - a project that would harm wildlife, erode tribal sovereignty, disrupt communities and perpetuate a humanitarian crisis. Despite repeated promises that "Mexico will pay," House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that American taxpayers will pay billions for Trump's wall. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reiterated in strong terms yesterday that his cou… Continue Reading
01.24.17
Natural Resources Committee Democrats Respond to Trump’s Advancement of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva and key members of the Committee released the following statement today on the announcement that President Donald Trump will advance the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines through executive order. Grijalva - who published a Feb. 27, 2014, New York Times op-ed opposing the Keystone pipeline and who met with leaders at the Standing Rock Sioux camp opposed to Dakota Access early last year - has been a leading advocate f… Continue Reading
12.05.16
Grijalva Thanks Obama, Hails Announcement That Dakota Access Pipeline Will Be Subject to Full Environmental Impact Analysis
Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today hailed the announcement that the Dakota Access Pipeline Project - the subject of months of demonstrations that included law enforcement spraying unarmed water protectors with high-pressure water hoses in freezing conditions - will be subject to a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act, which will include a public comment period and a full asse… Continue Reading
11.14.16
Grijalva on Army Corps Announcement of Continued Tribal Consultation on Dakota Access Pipeline: “Send DOJ Observers to the Area”
Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Army Corps of Engineers' new announcement that it will continue consultations with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe before making a final decision on the fate of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. "The Army Corps is right to continue consulting with the Standing Rock Sioux, and everyone who pushed against rubber-stamping this pipeline should feel a very real measure of success and vin… Continue Reading
10.11.16
Grijalva “Disappointed” by Court Ruling on DAPL; Calls on Dakota Access to Voluntarily Halt Construction Until Corps of Engineers Concludes Ongoing Review
Tucson, Ariz. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) reacted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's rejection of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for an injunction to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a nearly 1,200-mile pipeline that would be built near sacred tribal land and put the reservation's main water supply at risk: "While I'm disappointed by the court's decision, I'm encouraged that… Continue Reading