Christopher Shays: “I totally trust and understand his sincerity, but everything he said there are significant answers to. And all he has…”

“I totally trust and understand his sincerity, but everything he said there are significant answers to. And all he has done is raised even more questions. He is basically saying to pass this bill and rush it through the Senate real quickly so we can have this be part of the celebration. How clever were these six tribes to decide that this is the way they would get it through and bypass the Bureau of Indian Affairs process. With this legislation we are going to create six independent nations within our Nation, and we are now going to go back to bypassing a process and just deciding here in this Chamber. I have no way of knowing if each of these are a legitimate tribe. There is no way for us in this Chamber to know it. We did that before Republicans were elected, and we stopped the process because we saw bypassing the Bureau of Indian Affairs process was corrupting. It was corrupting because it meant that if you had the influence, even if you didn't meet the standards of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, you could become a tribe. The fact is that my colleague has said he has dealt with one of the objections. What you have done is dealt with the objection so the bill can pass. But gambling will be alive and well.…”