'2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back': Oklahoma-Based Tribe Trying To Get Congress To Fulfill Nearly 200-Year-Old Promise

‘Two steps forward, one step back’ would seem to accurately describe the progress an Oklahoma-based tribe is making to get Congress to fulfill a promise made nearly 200 years ago. 

The 1835 Treaty of New Echota, under which the Cherokee Nation was forcibly removed from its ancestral homelands to present-day Oklahoma, stated the tribe “shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same."

Congress has yet to make such provision, despite persistent lobbying in recent years by Cherokee Nation leaders and the tribe’s selection, in 2019, of Kimberly Teehee to serve as the delegate.

A House Rules Committee hearing three months ago showed strong bipartisan support for seating a delegate, but no further steps were taken before the end of the 117th Congress, meaning advocates must now retrace some of their steps in order to get members of the 118th Congress on board.

"The hearing was a good place to start," said Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK4), "it was the first time these issues have been litigated at a committee hearing since--in history."

Cole, who was then the ranking member of the Rules Committee and now is its chairman.

There are several issues that members are concerned with that came up in the hearing: the fact that the Cherokee Nation's chosen delegate, Kimberly Teehee, was selected by its council and not through popular election; that Cherokee citizens -- who are American citizens -- already have representation in Congress based on the congressional districts in which they live; and the likelihood that seating Teehee would open the door to similar claims by other tribes.

"There are answers to all of these questions," Cole acknowledged, "but you’re going to have to persuade Congress...I think there’s some interest in it on both sides of the aisle… [but] I know there are doubts on the Democratic side, I know there are doubts on the Republican side."

Cole said making this a reality will take a major educational effort for members of Congress.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. said they'll do what it takes.

“Reeducating people is just part of the way things work up here,” Hoskin said in an interview last week. “I think [new leadership will] be receptive as they get to know more about it.”

Hoskin said they've answered those questions that came up in the November hearing: it's their prerogative to select the delegate as they see fit; there would be no dual representation, as the delegate would be representing a sovereign government, not individuals; and no other treaty, he says, is as clear in authorizing Congress to seat a tribal delegate.

"I think they’ll be receptive as they get to know more about it," Hoskin said. "I mean, I think when you talk to Republicans or Democrats and you break it down, this is about a very basic idea—should America keep its promise or not? Did it always intend to keep this promise? I think that speaks to a lot of members of Congress, irrespective of their party."

Cole said, for this truly to go anywhere, the authorizing legislation will likely have to start, not in the Rules Committee, but in committees of jurisdiction—either Natural Resources, where he said most Native American legislation originates, or Judiciary.