Political Quotes

“With all due respect for my good friend from Virginia, this is about recognition of American Indians who were here long before we were. We have seen delays, and yes, there may have been some that maybe have been misused, but that does not excuse the inactivity of an agency that had the responsibility. All this bill does is try to expedite the process so that delays do not occur. Let us not kid ourselves. There are those in this body that do not like American Indians. There are those in this body, in fact, that look upon them as the less of all minorities and have no recognition nor standing in our society. Their lands were stolen, their lands were taken, their lands were sold, and as long as they are down in the dumps, then that is where a lot of people want them to be. I think it is very unfortunate, very unfortunate that the gambling issue has been brought into this arena at this time. That is another act, an act that was passed by this Congress overwhelmingly. An act that has been used, yes, adequately in many areas, and in fact, honorably in a lot of areas. If there has been some wrong or injustice that occurred, then that is the responsibility of law, the responsibility of enforcement officers, the responsibility, yes, of this Congress, if it is necessary. But to say that this is an attempt to take and legalize and further spread gambling is incorrect.”