Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 984, the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 will extend Federal recognition to the Chickahominy Tribe, the Eastern Chickahominy Tribe, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe. My district, the First Congressional District of Virginia, includes the historical tribal areas of several of these tribes. The six tribes are culturally and historically significant to the Commonwealth of Virginia and to the story of America itself. Ancestors from these tribes populated coastal Virginia when Captain John Smith settled at Jamestown in 1607. They were also the first of the American Indian tribes that entered into peace agreements, actually entered into peace agreements with the Crown of England because United States, at that time, was not formally a nation yet. So they were peace-loving even before the United States came of age. Also, the connections that these tribes have with the Nation and the settlement of the Nation are extraordinarily important. If you go back in time, you know that six of these tribes were part of the Powhatan Nation.…”