Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva succeeded in convincing House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to pull a bill preventing the Tohono O’odham Nation from operating their casino in Glendale, according to The Daily Beast. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks, had bipartisan support from reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, Paul Gosar, David Schweikert and Matt Salmon.
In 2002, Arizona voters approved Proposition 202, the Indian Gaming Preservation and Self-Reliance Act in which Arizona gaming tribes agreed to limit the number of casinos within the state and also within the Phoenix metropolitan area.
H.R 1410, The Keep the Promise Act, was narrowly crafted as a remedy to address claims that are shielded by the Tohono O’odham’s assertion of sovereign immunity. The Congressional bills state that the agreement made between the tribes and Arizona voters would be preserved with the passage of the two bills, until the expiration of the gaming compacts authorized by Prop 202.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had found that the legislation to halt the Tohono O’odham Nation’s West Valley Resort project could cost the federal government in excess of $1 billion. The Tohono O’odham argue that the bill “creates a no-competition zone for the benefit of two East Valley tribes by seeking to prevent the Nation from gaming on its established reservation lands in the West Valley.”
In October 2014, Gosar claimed that Tohono O’odham acted immorally and covertly against its fellow tribes, the State of Arizona and the general public.
In June 2015, the Navajo Nation Council’s Naabik’iyátí’ Committee unanimously approved Legislation No. 0137-15, supporting The Keep the Promise Act. According to the legislation sponsored by Council Delegate Alton Joe Shepherd (Jeddito, Cornfields, Ganado, Kin Dah Lichíí, Steamboat), the Tohono O’odham Nation’s gaming facility is likely to have a negative impact on the revenue gained from the Navajo Nation’s only Arizona gaming facility ― Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort.
“We are protecting our Nation’s investment in gaming and also protecting the image and reputation of Arizona gaming tribes as it relates to current compacts with the state,” Delegate Shepherd said at the time, in reference to approximately $125 million invested by the Navajo Nation for the development of the Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort.