Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), who is the principal introducer of the House companion bill. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I thank my classmate from Hawaii, who is overseeing this legislation on the floor today. I thank the chairman of the full committee as well as the subcommittee chair and the members of the Natural Resources Committee for their unanimous support of H.R. 733, the House companion to S. 199, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act. I want to thank Leech Lake's Tribal leaders personally for entrusting me with the responsibility of advancing this bill as the sponsor in the House and introducing the bill in the way they wanted it to be introduced so that they could have negotiations to move this language forward. I am proud of the ability that we all had in working together to make today a reality and that we will be voting on this final version of the bill. As I said, it has passed through the Senate, and it passed through the Senate unanimously. I look forward to seeing this legislation signed into law. Join me in voting today to restore the land that was illegally taken from Tribal nations by the Federal Government during the allotment era. Today we, collectively--the U.S. Congress--have an opportunity to correct a past injustice by returning the land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe that the Federal Government sold without the consent of the rightful owners, to have it returned to them.…”