House Approves Nolan’s Bill to Aid Grand Portage Chippewa

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The U.S. House today approved by voice vote a bill by U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan to rectify a 14-year-old Congressional mistake and permit members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to exclude up to $2,000 dollars in treaty-related payments from the State of Minnesota from their taxable income.

The measure – officially titled the “Grand Portage Band Per Capita Adjustment Act” (H.R. 3608) – would ensure members of the Band maintain their eligibility for federal assistance and benefits they are being denied because their income, without the deduction, is too high.

In prepared remarks delivered before the vote, Nolan explained:

“In 1988, the Grand Portage Band and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa entered into an agreement by which they would relinquish certain harvest rights and privileges accorded under the Treaty of 1854 in return for annual per capita payments from the state of Minnesota.”

“In the year 2000, Congress passed the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act – which stipulated that a portion of these per capita payments should not count as income for Band members.”

“The problem was – the legislative language included only the Bois Forte Band. The Grand Portage Band was inadvertently left out.”

“And as a result, many members of the Grand Portage Band have been denied financial assistance and other benefits they are entitled to because their income appears higher than the law permits.”

“So this bill simply corrects the mistake by amending the Act of October 9, 1973 to allow members of the Grand Portage Band to exclude up to $2000 in certain per capita payments from the state of Minnesota from their taxable income. It’s the correct and fair thing to do.”

Terming the bill “another step toward restoring the letter and the spirit of the (broken) 1854 Treaty between the federal government and the Chippewa of Lake Superior,” Nolan went on to relate how, in 1852, Chief Buffalo of La Pointe at age 92 led a delegation of Indians on an arduous land and water journey to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Millard Fillmore and pave the way for the Treaty to stop the removal of the Lake Superior Chippewa from their homes.

A bust of Chief Buffalo of La Pointe greets Members of Congress as they enter the House Floor Chamber from the west front.

The bill must still clear the Senate, where Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are shepherding the companion measure, and be signed by the President.