Wes Watkins: “I know the night has been long for all of us. But to my colleagues, let me say this night is not near as long as many…”

“I know the night has been long for all of us. But to my colleagues, let me say this night is not near as long as many years ago when our Native Americans were forced by our government to travel from the east coast over 1,200 miles to the Indian Territory. Those were long winter nights and many of them died. Thirty-seven States have Indian reservations. California has the greatest population of Native Americans. Oklahoma has the highest per capita and the second largest population, but 37 States. This is not a rich bill. This also extends a Native American tax credit, a wage tax credit and also accelerated depreciation. It works. It works because let me say I have personally experienced helping bring industry into those areas, because I was raised with the Native Americans. It is not a rich man's, a rich person's bill. If you have any compassion at all for those who have the worst economic conditions, the highest unemployment, the highest underemployment, the highest outmigration, those with the greatest social problems, of drug problems and also of alcoholism, if you want to lift them up, this can do it. I know because just last Saturday, I broke ground on a $700 million power generation plant that employs hundreds and hundreds of people, many of them with Native American backgrounds.”