{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-wounded-knee-memorial-bill-passes-us-senate", "Johnson\u2019s Wounded Knee Memorial Bill Passes U.S. Senate", "2025-12-12", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), passed the United States Senate by unanimous consent. The bill now heads to the president\u2019s desk.\n\n\u201cNearly 135 years after hundreds of lives were lost in the Wounded Knee Massacre, the time is now here to properly memorialize the lost and preserve the land,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI look forward to seeing the president sign this into law to ensure the land remains sacred for generations to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe thank the Senators Thune and Rounds and Congressman Dusty Johnson for their leadership and support in helping us protect our sacred site through the passage of the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act,\u201d said Ryman LeBeau, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. \u201cThe U.S. Cavalry shot at and murdered more than 350 unarmed Lakota babies, girls, boys, women, men, and elders at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The U.S. Cavalry stopped our people out on the high plains as they were seeking peace, surrounded them with guns and cannons, disarmed them, opened fire, and murdered them. Today, we stand to acknowledge the atrocities committed against the Lakota people to continue to heal, to protect, to educate, and most importantly, to ensure that we never forget the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn behalf of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, I am pleased that today the Senate passed the Wounded Knee Massacre site bill, a bill that passed the House earlier this year,\u201d said Frank Star Comes Out, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe. \u201cIt is now poised to become an Act of Congress: an important Act that will preserve the memory of the Wounded Knee Massacre and the legacy and sacrifice of our ancestors. Significantly, it also promotes tribal self-determination and allows us to protect our Wounded Knee site in perpetuity. We thank Representative Dusty Johnson as well as Senator Rounds and Majority Leader Thune for getting this bill through both chambers of Congress. It is fitting that this action comes as we prepare to commemorate the 135th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29th.\u201d\n\nAfter months of working in coordination with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Johnson introduced the legislation last Congress, which passed the House unanimously but was not voted on by the U.S. Senate. Johnson reintroduced the bill in January 2025 and it passed the House later that month.\n\nThe identical Senate companion bill is led by U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).\n\nWounded Knee Massacre Background:\n\nIn the late 1880s, a movement called the Ghost Dance swept across the nation. Indians believed that this dance would give stolen land back to the Indians, bringing about a renewal of Native society. Indians would join together, wearing shirts they believed would protect them from bullets, to dance for this renewal, all at the protest of the federal government.\n\nOn December 29, 1890, a group of Lakota Indians led by Chief Spotted Elk had made camp near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, U.S. Army 7th Calvary troops were sent to disarm the Lakota. A struggle occurred between the U.S. Army and some of Chief Spotted Elk\u2019s band \u2013 a majority of which consisted of women and children. A shot rang out, and the U.S. Army opened fire on the largely unarmed group, massacring an estimated up to 350-375 Lakota Indians. Twenty-five U.S. soldiers also died.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnsons-wounded-knee-memorial-bill-passes-us-senate"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9298010263592005, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}