Washington, DC— Congresswoman Watson today commended members of the House Committee on Financial Services for voting to cut federal funds to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.  An amendment added to H.R. 3002, offered by Congressman Mel Watt (NC-12) and adopted by a voice vote of the full committee, prohibits any funding to the Cherokee Nation for a HUD demonstration program that guarantees obligations issued by Indian tribes to finance community and economic development activities. 
 
Watt’s amendment restricts the Cherokee Nation from access to funds authorized by H.R. 3002 until such time that the Secretary of Interior certifies to Congress that the Cherokee Nation is in full compliance with the Treaty of 1866 and recognizes without reservation all Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants as citizens of the Cherokee Nation. 

In March 2007, the Cherokee Nation voted to remove Freedmen from the nation.  In May, the Cherokee court readmitted the Freedmen, but on a provisional basis.
 
“The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma’s push to disenfranchise Cherokee Freedmen represents a fundamental injustice that must not go unchecked,” said Congresswoman Watson.  “Nothing less than an affirmative and decisive Congressional response will suffice.  I applaud Congressman Watt for offering an amendment that sends a clear signal to the Cherokee leadership that Congress will not tolerate their attempts to remove the Freedmen.”
 
In June, Congresswoman Watson introduced H.R. 2824, a bill to sever relations with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma until such time that it restores full tribal citizenship rights to the Freedmen.  The bill currently has 21 cosponsors and has been endorsed by the NAACP and the National Congress of Black Women.