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Citing a 200-year-old treaty, the Cherokee Nation has asked to join Congress.

The Cherokee Nation hopes to send a representative to the House, claiming a right to a congressional delegate is enshrined in the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota.

“As Native issues continue to rise to the forefront of the national dialogue, now is the time for Cherokee Nation to execute a provision in our treaties,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. declared in a press release. “The Cherokee Nation honors its treaties with the United States. Whether the United States will likewise honor its promises to the Cherokee Nation is a question that only its elected leaders can answer.”

The Cherokee delegate nominee is Kimberly Teehee, the Nation’s vice president of government relations. She previously worked as a senior policy advisor on Native American affairs for the Obama administration.

The Cherokee Nation is the largest Native American tribe in the U.S., with more than 370,000 members.

Should the U.S. honor its earlier treaties with the Cherokees?

On the Radar

Bernie Sanders' $16T Green New Deal

2020 presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has unveiled a $16.3 trillion energy and climate change plan.

Some of Sanders' Green New Deal proposals:

• 100% renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030 and complete decarbonization in the U.S. by 2050.
• Declaring climate change a national emergency.
• "Massively" raising taxes on the fossil fuel industry and "investors’ fossil fuel income and wealth."

Joshua Freed, vice president for clean energy at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, said "Sanders plan appears to be big, but it’s not serious. We need to have every option on the table.”

Do you support Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal?

Under the Radar

U.S.-Japan Trade Deal

President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the G-7 summit that a “very valuable” trade agreement between the two nations “is done in principle."

At a press conference, Trump said that “we’ve agreed to every point and now we’re papering it and we’ll be signing it at a formal ceremony.” Abe added that they would task their teams with accelerating the remaining work “so as to achieve the goal of signing this agreement on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September.”

Japan has said it will lower tariffs on imports of American agricultural products, such as beef, pork, dairy products, wine, and ethanol. It will also buy substantial amounts of corn from the U.S. to alleviate a surplus caused by the trade war with China. In return, the U.S. will allow up to 3,000 tons of Japanese beef to be imported without tariffs.

Should the U.S. finalize this proposed trade deal with Japan?

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should Patients be Protected From Surprise Medical Bills?