Providing for Consideration of HR 1294, Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2007

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1294, THOMASINA E. JORDAN INDIAN TRIBES OF VIRGINIA FEDERAL RECOGNITION ACT OF 2007

* Mr. COLE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1294, the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2006. This is a bill that is long overdue and provides an opportunity to right an historical wrong.

* As clearly outlined in the language of this legislation, these six tribes are of great historical significance. These tribes were some of the first Native Americans to come into contact with European settlers, and save for the active cooperation of these tribes, a number of the first English settlements in America may not have survived.

* Having clearly impacted the course of our Nation and having endured in a country of drastic change and challenges for four centuries, I am pleased to support a bill that will provide these six tribes federal recognition at long last.

* Mr. Speaker, the only reservation I have with this bill is the fact that it prohibits every single one of these tribes from gaming. For if indeed this bill passes ``into public law, these tribes should be afforded every right they deserve as a sovereign entity as granted to them under the Constitution of the United States. These tribes should not have to bargain away any one piece of their sovereignty they have sought to preserve in order to receive federal recognition. This diminishes the tribes, and places them at a lesser status than states and other tribes. In the future, I hope that Congress recognizes that it is not fair to blackmail tribes into giving up part of their rights in order to provide them sovereignty.

* With that said, Mr. Speaker, I recognize that these tribes negotiated with the House and the state in which they reside and ultimately agreed to this prohibition on their right to engage in certain forms of lawful economic activities. Therefore, although I fear the precedent this may establish, I honor the settlement reached between the House, the state of Virginia, and the tribes, and urge my colleagues to support passage of H.R. 1294.

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