Text of Senate Amendment 6081

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Record: Senate Floor
Section type: Amendments
Chamber: Senate
Date: June 24, 2026
Congress: 119th Congress
Why this source matters: This section came from the Senate floor portion of the record.

Readable version of the official text

SA 6081. Mr. PETERS (for himself and Ms. Slotkin) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1__. KEWEENAW BAY INDIAN COMMUNITY LAND CLAIM

SETTLEMENT.

(a) Findings.—Congress finds that—

(1) the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is a federally

recognized Indian Tribe residing on the L'Anse Indian

Reservation in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the

State of Michigan;

(2) the Community is a successor in interest to the Treaty

with the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake

Superior, made and concluded at La Pointe of Lake Superior

October 4, 1842 (7 Stat. 591) (referred to in this subsection

as the “1842 Treaty”), which, among other things,

guaranteed the usufructuary rights of the Community over a

large area of land that was ceded to the United States, until

such time that those usufructuary rights were properly and

legally extinguished;

(3) the Community is also a successor in interest to the

Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and the

Mississippi, made and concluded at La Pointe September 30,

1854 (10 Stat. 1109) (referred to in this subsection as the

“1854 Treaty”);

(4) article 2, paragraph 1 of the 1854 Treaty created the

L'Anse Indian Reservation as a permanent reservation;

(5) pursuant to article 13 of the 1854 Treaty, the 1854

Treaty became “obligatory on the contracting parties” when

ratified by the President and the Senate on January 10, 1855;

(6) in 1850, Congress enacted the Act of September 28, 1850

(sections 2479 through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43

U.S.C. 982 through 984)) (commonly known and referred to in

this subsection as the “Swamp Land Act”), which authorized

the State of Arkansas and other States, including the State

of Michigan, to “construct the necessary levees and drains

to reclaim” certain unsold “swamp and overflowed lands,

made unfit thereby for cultivation” and stating that those

lands “shall remain unsold at the passage of this act”;

(7) following enactment of the Swamp Land Act, the State

claimed thousands of acres of swamp land in the State

pursuant to that Act;

(8) between 1893 and 1937, the General Land Office patented

2,743 acres of land to the State that were located within the

exterior boundaries of the Reservation;

(9) the right of the Community to use and occupy the unsold

land within the Reservation had not been extinguished when

the United States patented the Reservation Swamp Lands to the

State;

(10) in 1852, Congress enacted the Act of August 26, 1852

(10 Stat. 35, chapter 92) (referred to in this subsection as

the “Canal Land Act”), to facilitate the building of the

Sault Ste. Marie Canal at the Falls of the St. Mary's River,

to connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron;

(11) pursuant to the Canal Land Act, the United States

granted the State the right to select 750,000 acres of unsold

public land within the State to defray the cost of

construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal;

(12) the State identified and selected, among other land, a

minimum of 1,333.25 and up to 2,720 acres within the exterior

boundaries of the Reservation;

(13) the Department of the Interior approved the land

selections of the State, including the Reservation Canal

Lands, after ratification of the 1854 Treaty;

(14) the Secretary noted that the approval described in

paragraph (13) was “subject to any valid interfering

rights”;

(15) the 1854 Treaty set apart from the public domain all

unsold land within the Reservation to the Community as of

September 30, 1854, which preceded the date on which the

State established legally effective title to the Reservation

Canal Lands;

(16) the Community made claims to the Department of the

Interior with respect to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the

Reservation Canal Lands, providing legal analysis and

ethnohistorical support for those claims;

(17) in December 2021, the Department of the Interior

stated that “We have carefully reviewed pertinent documents,

including the Tribe's expert reports, and have determined

that the Tribe's claims to the Swamp Lands and Canal Lands

have merit”;

(18) the United States, through the actions of the General

Land Office, deprived the Community of the exclusive use and

occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation

Canal Lands within the Reservation, without just compensation

as required under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment

to the Constitution of the United States;

(19) the loss of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the

Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation has—

(A) impacted the exercise by the Community of cultural,

religious, and subsistence rights on the land;

(B) caused a harmful disconnect between the Community and

its land;

its economy within the Reservation; and

(D) had a negative economic impact on the development of

the economy of the Community;

(20) certain non-Indian individuals, entities, and local

governments occupy land within the boundaries of the

Reservation—

(A) acquired ownership interests in the Reservation Swamp

Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands in good faith; and

(B) have an interest in possessing clear title to that

land;

(21) this section allows the United States—

(A) to secure a fair and equitable settlement of past

inequities suffered by the Community as a result of the

actions of the United States that caused the taking of the

Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands

without just compensation; and

(B) to ensure protection of the ownership of the

Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands by

non-Indian occupants of the Reservation, through the

settlement of the claims of the Community to that land, and

through that action, the relief of any clouds on title;

(22) a settlement will allow the Community to receive just

compensation and the local landowners to obtain clear title

to land, without long and protracted litigation that would be

both costly and detrimental to all involved; and

(23) this section achieves both justice for the Community

and security for current landowners through a restorative and

non-confrontational process.

(b) Purposes.—The purposes of this section are—

(1) to acknowledge the uncompensated taking by the Federal

Government of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation

Canal Lands;

(2) to provide compensation to the Community for the

uncompensated taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the

Reservation Canal Lands by the Federal Government;

(3) to extinguish all claims by the Community to the

Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands and

to confirm the ownership by the current landowners of the

Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, who

obtained that land in good faith;

(4) to extinguish all potential claims by the Community

against the United States, the State, and current landowners

concerning title to, use of, or occupancy of the Reservation

Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands; and

(5) to authorize the Secretary—

(A) to compensate the Community; and

(B) to take any other action necessary to carry out this

section.

(1) Community.—The term “Community” means the Keweenaw

Bay Indian Community.

(2) County.—The term “County” means Baraga County,

Michigan.

(3) Reservation.—The term “Reservation” means the L'Anse

Indian Reservation, located in—

(A) T. 51 N., R. 33 W.;

(B) T. 51 N., R. 32 W.;

(D) T. 50 N., R. 32 W., W\1/2\; and

(E) that portion of T. 51 N., R. 31 W. lying west of Huron

Bay.

(4) Reservation canal lands.—The term “Reservation Canal

Lands” means the 1,333.25 to 2,720 acres of Community land

located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation

that the Federal Government conveyed to the State pursuant to

the Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92).

(5) Reservation swamp lands.—The term “Reservation Swamp

Lands” means the 2,743 acres of land located within the

exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Federal

Government conveyed to the State between 1893 and 1937

pursuant to the Act of September 28, 1850 (sections 2479

through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 982 through

984)) (commonly known as the “Swamp Land Act”).

(6) Secretary.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary

of the Interior.

(7) State.—The term “State” means the State of Michigan.

(d) Payments.—

(1) Transfer of funds.—As soon as practicable after the

date on which the amount authorized to be appropriated under

paragraph (3) is made available to the Secretary, the

Secretary shall transfer $33,900,000 to the Community.

(2) Use of funds.—

(A) In general.—Subject to subparagraph (B), the Community

may use the amount received under paragraph (1) for any

lawful purpose, including—

(i) governmental services;

(ii) economic development;

(iii) natural resources protection; and

(iv) land acquisition.

(B) Restriction on use of funds.—The community may not use

the amount received under paragraph (1) to acquire land for

gaming purposes.

(3) Authorization of appropriations.—There is authorized

to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out paragraph

(1) $33,900,000 for fiscal year 2027, to remain available

until expended.

(e) Extinguishment of Claims.—

(1) In general.—Effective on the date on which the

Community receives the payment under subsection (d)(1), all

claims of the Community to the Reservation Swamp Lands and

the Reservation Canal Lands owned by persons or entities

other than the Community are extinguished.

(2) Clear title.—Effective on the date on which the

Community receives the payment under subsection (d)(1), the

title of all current owners to the Reservation Swamp Lands

and the Reservation Canal Lands is cleared of all preexisting

rights held by the Community and any of the members of the

Community.

(f) Effect.—Nothing in this section authorizes—

(1) the Secretary to take land into trust for the benefit

of the Community for gaming purposes; or

(2) the Community to use land acquired using amounts

received under this section for gaming purposes.

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