the treaties are the supreme law of the land.

we are in effect the 'Indian Committee' in the Congress.

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.

The Treaty of Detroit guaranteed you the right to fish in perpetuity, and perpetuity means perpetuity.

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 sovereignty.

Sovereignty is not just a theoretical thing, it is a practical thing.

I hope that your underlying attitude in implementing this bill would be one of streamlining, so money would not be lost.

This law was written for a very important reason: respect for the first Americans.

I am very happy that we are having this hearing. It is very important that the Federal government carry out its responsibility, I think both legal and moral responsibility, to make sure these sites are respected and cared for, protected…

H.R. 3697 and H.R. 3742.

I have introduced the Fast Track to College Act with my Senate colleague Herb Kohl.