Political Quotes

“this amendment is of great seriousness to this body. I hope all of my colleagues pay attention to the words that will be spoken today. I will be the first one to say that the presentation by Congresswoman Pryce and the presentation by Congressman Solomon is from their hearts, and I will say they are very sincere attempts to undo what I believe is a trust authority of this Congress to the American Indian tribes. I want to stress that. Only the Congress has a right to decide who is an American Indian or what is a tribe, and no other legal entity or judicial body has that authority, and that is our trust responsibility. What the amendment that has been put in this bill through the rules, which was in fact unanimously with one dissenting vote eliminated in my committee, does is take away that trust responsibility of this Congress to the American Indians. Again, we are breaking a commitment and a promise to the American Indian people. Keep that in mind. We were told, and Members held up their hand and swore to uphold the Constitution, and this is breaking the constitutional law, so keep that in mind. But more than that, I helped pass ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act. In all the years, in 15 years, there have been 40 cases such as Ms. Pryce's and Mr. Solomon's, and I will agree they are atrocious cases. But we have tried and we were working and we will continue to work to solve this problem legislatively.”