U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Legislation to Pay Owed Interest to Shoshone-Paiute

Washington, D.C.--Legislation backed by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (both R-Idaho) to allow the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley to receive more than $5 million in interest owed to them from the 2009 Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act unanimously passed the U.S. Senate.

“The Senate’s unanimous support for 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.  “I urge the House of Representatives to quickly take up the measure and send it to the President to be signed into law.  This error must be corrected expeditiously.”

“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ water rights settlement mistakenly excluded interest payments, which unfairly cut these communities short,” said Senator Risch.  “The passage of our legislation is a good step in correcting this error and provides the Tribes the proper interest they are owed.”

“On behalf of the Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, I want to thank Senators Cortez Masto, Crapo, Rosen and Risch for their work on behalf of the Tribes in securing Senate passage of S. 950,” said Tribal Chairman Brian Mason.  “This legislation will restore the value of the trust funds provided to the Tribes to the level intended by Congress in our 2009 congressionally approved water settlement, and is an important step to fulfilling the economic potential of the Duck Valley Reservation.”

Interest payments are commonplace in Indian water settlements but were inadvertently left out of this one.  The bill, if signed into law, will correct this oversight and allow the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation to collect the full amount they are owed from the federal government.  The reservation is split nearly evenly in half along the border of Nevada, with the northern half of the reservation in the southern part of Owyhee County.

The bill, S. 950, was introduced by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) on March 22, 2023, with both Crapo and Risch as original co-sponsors.  Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) also co-sponsored the measure.

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