Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, self-reliance and self-governance need to be more than liberal buzzwords if we are going to make a difference, if they are going to have any meaning at all. And I find some of the comments of the opposition to be quite rich in contradiction. Unfortunately, they are similar to the comments that President Obama had this morning when he announced his opposition to this legislation, stating that he could not support the bill unless tribal governments adopted his view. In other words, they have to be identical to his views in order to have sovereignty. Well, this isn't sovereignty at all. The President often likes to say that he honors and respects tribal sovereignty. In fact, I heard him say that he respects it as much as any President, right while standing in the powwow grounds in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, last summer. Yet when presented with this opportunity--and it is not the only opportunity we presented, by the way--the Native American Energy Act and gas-gathering pipeline bills have done the same thing, trying to give sovereignty where sovereignty is to be given. And, actually, it is not given to them; it is held by them. So I call on Congress and President Obama to respect the rights of tribes and pass this legislation into law.”