Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I rise to introduce S. 3685, The Department of the Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act of 2012. I am proud to introduce this bill and I am thankful for the cosponsorship of my friend and colleague, the Vice Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Senator Barrasso. The Department of the Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act of 2012 is an important next step in our Federal policy of recognizing and supporting tribal self-governance. Our country's Native peoples have always had the right to govern themselves. When the earliest explorers arrived in the New World, they recognized the sovereignty of the Native peoples they met. Soon after, European colonial nations began entering into treaties with Indian tribes as they expanded into the American continent. It is clear, from the terms of the Constitution, our Founding Fathers understood the sovereign authority of tribes, and their capacity to be self-governing. From our earliest days as a Nation, we entered into treaties with the Indian tribes, just as we did with a diversity of foreign nations, governing issues such as trade, peace, and other relations. With our westward expansion, and as public sentiment and Federal policy objectives turned to Manifest Destiny during the 19th century, Federal policies toward our Country's first peoples changed, and the movement to remove and assimilate the Native peoples began.…”