Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) reintroduced the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act. This legislation will allow the Tribes to finally collect over $5 million in interest they are owed for their 2009 water rights settlement. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) are cosponsors of this legislation.
“It is absurd that the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation have had to go nearly two decades without millions of dollars in interest they are owed,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “My commonsense, bipartisan legislation fixes this years-old oversight and secures funding that these Tribes deserve.”
“This much-needed fix takes the next step in upholding the federal government’s full interest terms of the 2009 settlement with the Duck Valley reservation,” said Senator Crapo. “The Senate unanimously advanced the measure in the last Congress and must do so again expeditiously. The House should follow suit so we can correct this error as soon as possible.”
“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation deserve the millions of dollars in interest they are owed,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to help introduce this bipartisan legislation to ensure they finally receive this payment after a nearly twenty year delay.”
“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ water rights settlement mistakenly excluded interest payments, unjustly cutting these communities short,” said Senator Risch. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing legislation to correct this error and provide the Tribes the proper interest they are owed.”
Senator Cortez Masto has long been a champion for Tribal communities. Last year, the Senate passed both her legislation to make it easier for Indian Health Services to recruit and retain doctors and her legislation to strengthen Tribal public safety. She repeatedly called on the Biden administration to do more to address the epidemic of violence against Native women and girls, including securing federal funding to protect Native communities, urging the administration to draft a plan to address this issue, and requesting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the federal response to this crisis.
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