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[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 151 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 151

To repeal the Bennett Freeze thus ending a gross treaty violation with 
 the Navajo Nation and allowing the Navajo Nation to live in habitable 
  dwellings and raise their living conditions, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 1999

 Mr. Hayworth introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To repeal the Bennett Freeze thus ending a gross treaty violation with 
 the Navajo Nation and allowing the Navajo Nation to live in habitable 
  dwellings and raise their living conditions, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Navajo Nation is one of the largest and most 
        economically depressed Indian reservations in the United 
        States;
            (2) the Bennett Freeze, named after former Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs Commissioner Robert Bennett, was administratively 
        issued in 1966 to restrict the Navajo tribe from constructing 
        and repairing their dwellings on land that was subject to a 
        land dispute with the Hopi Tribe;
            (3) the Bennett Freeze has affected 1,500,000 acres of 
        land, approximately 9 percent of the total acreage of the 
        Navajo Nation, covering 10 chapters and affecting nearly 8,000 
        people;
            (4) only 3 percent of the families affected by the Bennett 
        Freeze have electricity and only 10 percent have running water;
            (5) since 1966, the population has increased by 
        approximately 65 percent in the Bennett Freeze area, forcing 
        several generations of families to live together in dwellings 
        that have been declared unfit for human habitation;
            (6) members of the medical community confirm that 
        overcrowding and the absence of running water, refrigeration, 
        and adequate sewage disposal adversely impact the mental and 
        physical health of Navajos residing in the Bennett Freeze area;
            (7) the Bennett Freeze has halted essential construction, 
        including power line extensions, waterline extensions, road 
        improvements, and community facilities improvements;
            (8) when the Bennett Freeze was temporarily lifted in 1992, 
        an ambitious $20,000,000 construction plan for new dwellings 
        was proposed that would have raised living conditions and 
        increased the economic viability of the Bennett Freeze area, 
        however, the plan did not become a reality because a Federal 
        judge reinstated the freeze;
            (9) the Federal Government has not taken the steps 
        necessary to end the Bennett Freeze in this already 
        economically depressed community; and
            (10) the Bennett Freeze is a gross violation of treaty 
        obligations to the Navajo Nation.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE BENNETT FREEZE.

    Section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531 (25 U.S.C. 640d-9(f)) is 
repealed.
                                 <all>
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