House Committee on Natural Resources Passes Bill to Facilitate Economic Development between Indian Nations, Turkey

WASHINGTON, DC — The House Committee on Natural Resources approved H.R. 2362, the Indian Tribal Trade and Investment Demonstration Project Act of 2011. The bill, which is aimed to facilitate economic development by Indian tribes and encourage investment by Turkish enterprises, passed 27 to 15 in the committee on November 17, 2011.

U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) led an effort to amend the bill. U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA) joined him as co-sponsors of the amendment. The amendment would have broadened the scope of eligibility to all foreign nations and added a human rights and religious freedom standard of compliance. However, the amendment was ruled out of order by Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA).

“We thank the efforts of Representatives Sarbanes, Pallone, and Tsongas,” said AHI President Nick Larigakis. “It is unfortunate a majority of the committee did not see the flaws of the legislation, H.R.2362.”

Member Statements

In a statement, Rep. Pallone said, “This amendment will open up the playing field fairly and benefit tribes by having more partners to work with,” said Pallone at the Natural Resources Committee Markup on the legislation. “The Republic of Turkey acts increasingly hostile to U.S. interest and has a long history of human rights violations. Turkey is not a country that should be receiving preferential treatment in any sense and certainly not explicitly approved by this Congress.”

“You can support Indian Country without having to also support a country with a genocidal past that continues to oppose U.S. interests that are vital to our national security and economic prosperity,” Pallone added.

To view Rep. Pallone’s statement, please visit www.house.gov/pallone.

In addition, Rep. Tsongas’ statement can be viewed by clicking here.

The American Hellenic Institute is a non-profit Greek American public policy center that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.

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For additional information, please contact Demetra Atsaloglou at (202) 785-8430 or at pr@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at https://www.ahiworld.org.