Melvin Watt: “I did not choose the timing of this. This bill is on the floor today. And if my amendment is not on the bill, who knows…”

“I did not choose the timing of this. This bill is on the floor today. And if my amendment is not on the bill, who knows when there will be another opportunity to deliver this message and to create an impediment pending the outcome of the litigation. So I am perfectly content with the current status of the events in the sense that the court has said to the Cherokee Nation in a temporary injunction that you cannot exclude the Freedmen from the Cherokee Nation. As long as that court order stays in effect, I consider that we are at the result, which is the appropriate result. But if by chance 6 months down the road, 3 months down the road, 2 months down the road, a contrary set of circumstances exist, either the court withdraws its temporary restraining order or rules in a way that I don't think with any kind of justification it can rule against the Cherokee Freedmen, then this language will be in the bill and would appropriately have been put in the bill today.”