Ensuring Fairness and Integrity in Federal Tribal Recognition

Floor Speech

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Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, this year's NDAA strengthens America's military readiness. It invests in cutting-edge defense capabilities. It ensures our servicemembers have the training, tools, and support they need to confront the growing threats that we face at home and abroad.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong opposition to the NDAA provision that seeks to circumvent the established merit-based process for Federal Tribal recognition and instead grant unchecked Federal recognition to the Lumbee community.

I am proud to represent North Carolina's 11th District, home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a sovereign Tribal Nation whose culture, language, and history are a treasure not only to the State of North Carolina but to the United States as a whole.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee are the descendants of those who fought to remain in their ancestral homelands in the face of forced Federal removal. By contrast, it must be noted that the Lumbee community has no treaties with the Federal Government, no reservation land, and no common language.

As Members of Congress, one of our most solemn responsibilities is to ensure that laws are applied fairly, objectively, and consistently.

For over 40 years, the Department of the Interior through the Office of Federal Acknowledgement has carried out a rigorous merit-based process for determining Federal Tribal recognition. This process was created by Congress to prevent political favoritism or arbitrary decisionmaking as it requires careful documentation and verification, including proof of Native American ancestry.

Bypassing this process, as is suggested through this NDAA, by including the Lumbee Fairness Act as an amendment, sets a dangerous precedent. It would invite other groups with unsubstantiated claims to sidestep this process and seek recognition through political channels rather than merit. That undermines the integrity of the recognition process, and it threatens the credibility of Indian Country as a whole.

The OFA has found that some petitioning groups consisted entirely of individuals unable to demonstrate Native American ancestry, not a single person. Recognizing these groups would be a disservice to legitimate Tribes. In the case of the Lumbee, this amendment would in one stroke create the largest Tribe in the country, granting immediate access to already overstretched Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service resources.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I am proud of the work that we have done to provide robust funding for the Indian Health Service and other critical priorities for federally recognized Tribes in the fiscal year 2026 Interior appropriations bill.

If the Tribal population eligible for these services suddenly grows by tens of thousands of people, many of whom have no native ancestry, resources will be spread too thin, and the Tribes with established rights will suffer.

That is the crux of the issue. If the Lumbee had a case that could withstand the scrutiny of the OFA process, they would go through the OFA process as set out by law. But as they know, it won't hold up under a deliberative process. They sought special treatment through the legislative shortcuts, despite opposition from more than 140 federally recognized Tribes from across the country that have stated the integrity of this process must be preserved, and I agree. Recognition should be earned on the merits, not granted through politics.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this provision and uphold the process put in place by Congress decades ago to ensure fairness and integrity in Federal Tribal recognition.

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