Political Quotes

“I thank very much my very good friend Chairman Rahall. He has shown a lot of courage and also caring and sensitivity to the situation that confronts these particular Indian tribes. I see my good friend Mr. Scott from Virginia, as well, who will speak to this and my good friend, the ranking minority member, Mr. Don Young; and I thank him for stepping up on this, too. I know that his words are deeply felt, and his support is deeply appreciated. I also want to compliment the staff on both sides. They have done the research. They have provided the accurate information; and without that, there would be a lot of misimpressions that would be going around the floor that could defeat this bill; but the facts are on our side, and that is because particularly the very good, hardworking staff has made sure that the facts have become public. Let me share some of those facts with you. The argument is going to be used that these tribes should go through the regular process at the BIA, and the argument will be made that this just opens it up to gambling and there is going to be another issue in terms of the corruption that is inherent within casino gambling and so on. The fact is that it would be virtually impossible for these Virginia Indian tribes to provide the documentation that the Bureau of Indian Affairs requires.”