The House failed to pass a contentious and heavily lobbied bill Monday that would block construction of a controversial casino in a Phoenix suburb.
The local battle among a handful of tribes has featured some of the highest-paying lobbying contracts on K Street in recent years, as the state’s tribes fight over a facility that could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.
House GOP leaders brought the bill to the floor under a fast-track process typically reserved for noncontroversial measures. The bill narrowly fell short in securing the necessary two-thirds supermajority to move forward under the procedure in the 263-146 vote.
{mosads}The bill is meant to settle an ongoing dispute that has fired up Arizonans amid debates over promises, Tohono O’odham, an American Indian tribe allegedly made and the principles behind Indian casinos. It would prohibit the Tohono O’odham tribe from proceeding with the ongoing project to build a casino on a piece of land it owns just outside Glendale, Ariz.
The Gila River Indian Community and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community — two other Arizona tribes that own competing casinos — have spent more than $14 million on lobbyists in recent years to oppose the project.
They say it violates promises the Tohono O’odham made to Arizona voters in 2002 when the state put into place its current gambling rules — that it would not build a casino in the Phoenix area.
“This bill merely restricts the ability of tribes to game on the very lands on which they themselves agreed they would not game,” said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), the bill’s sponsor, who represents the district where the casino would be.
But the Tohono O’odham said it made no such promises. It’s won over a dozen court battles in the ongoing fight to block the casino, since federal law generally allows casinos on Indian land.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the bill, if enacted, would “forever be a black mark on the dealings with Indian nations.”
“I believe that this bill, H.R. 308, is going to have serious ramifications for this Congress if it is passed and fever were to become law. The precedent set here is a dangerous precedent that extends beyond the one tribe that is being targeted now,” said Grijalva, whose district includes a large part of Tohono O’odham’s land in southern Arizona.
Republican leaders elected to put the bill on the House floor under suspension of rules, a fast-tracking process that greatly limits debate and is almost exclusively reserved for non-controversial bills like ones that name post offices. The bill’s opponents, like Grijalva, have vocally objected to the rules suspension.
Complicating matters further is the potential cost of the bill and the fact that there is nothing to pay for the cost. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said it could cost up to $1 billion, since Tohono O’odham has made clear its intent to sue the federal government if the bill passes for taking away its right to build a casino without compensation for doing so.
CBO specifically declined to say whether it believes Tohono O’odham would win such litigation.
“CBO estimates that possible compensation payments from the government could range from nothing to more than $1 billion; however, we have no basis for estimating the outcome of the future litigation,” it said.
The bill’s supporters are doubtful that the tribe could win a court fight, and the House Budget Committee said the uncertainty precludes it from assigning a budget score to the bill.
“The Budget Committee has determined for the purposes of budget enforcement that there can be no definitive score applied to the bill,” a spokesman said. “A lack of score does not necessarily mean a lack of cost or an increase in spending. It only means there is too much unpredictability to make a determination.”
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee passed a similar bill in May.