Political Quotes

“I have a request for the Indians Affairs Committee to meet today at 2:30 p.m. First, we have a markup in the Indian Affairs Committee. The two bills we are marking up are Democrat-sponsored bills. The first one is Senator Tester's bill, from the State of Montana, which would provide support for Native languages. I guess the summary is that it would support the education of Indian children. I believe it relates to Native languages in that educational capacity. So that is one of the bills, Senator Tester's bill. The other bill we are marking up is Senator Tim Kaine's bill, also a Democrat-sponsored bill. The short narrative I have is this: To extend Federal recognition to the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, the Chicahominy Indian Tribe-Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahonnock Tribe, the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe. The reason that is significant, that is something that both Senator Kaine and Senator Warner--both Senators from Virginia--have been working on for some time. The reason it is timely is that they have Pocahontas's birthday celebration coming up, which I think is going to be a large celebration in the Commonwealth of Virginia. They were hoping to have these Tribes recognized before this birthday celebration for Pocahontas. It is a timely issue. Obviously, we can't advance the bill to the Senate floor unless we mark it up.…”