"I first of all would like to thank the gentleman from the Interior Department for his testimony."
"Just as an aside, my father lived in the area of where your reservation is, Buckley, Michigan."
"I am part of that trust responsibility. The trust responsibility is not just with the executive branch of government."
"I want to just make the point that, as the witnesses here testified today, many tribes were unrecognized in 1934 because of harmful Federal policies."
"We are not saying by any means there is no need for a solution. Let us just make sure it is the right solution that respects the needs of citizens and communities and towns and cities and states as we..."
"the treaties are the supreme law of the land."
"we want to be fair and abide by the Constitution, abide by the treaties."
"we are in effect the 'Indian Committee' in the Congress."
"we hope this Committee can move us toward that justice."
"Your abiding interest in justice for our Native Americans certainly reaches back to at least the 33 years that you have been in Congress, and the Indians have benefitted from your sense of justice."
"I think we have to recognize that. We are not talking to some corporation, or the Elks Club, or the Knights of Columbus, but we are talking to sovereign nations and their rights under their sovereignt..."
"I hope that your underlying attitude in implementing this bill would be one of streamlining, so money would not be lost."