Date: 2007-06-07
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I thank my good friend from New York for the time. Madam Speaker. the State of North Carolina formally recognized the Lumbee tribe in 1885. Since 1888. the Lumbee tribe has been waiting for full Federal recognition. Over the years. many bills were introduced in Congress to provide the Lumbees with Federal recognition. but lhese bills never reached the Presidents desk for signature. Finally. the Lumbee Act of 1956 recognized the Lumbee as a Native American tribe but denied them the Federal aid that comes with full status as a federally recognized tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition process is reserved for tribes whose legitimacy must be established. This. however. is not the case with the Lumbees. The Department of the Interior since 1913 has studied the identity of the Lumbee Indians 11 times. and each report has concluded that the Lumbees are a Native American tribe descended from the Cheraw Indians. Furthermore. the Lumbee Act of 1956 actually prohibited the tribe from going through the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition process. Congressional action is thus needed for Federal recognition so the Lumbee tribe can be eligible for the full benefits that they are entitled to. I wish to express my thanks to Mr. MCINTYRE for his strong leadership really on many issues affecting Native Americans as well as other important issues before this Congress and specifically for his perseverance and the brilliance that he has shown in bringing this bill to the floor today. Even though I support the underlying legislation. Madam Speaker. I must oppose the closed rule under which the majority brings forth this bill. One of the central tenets of our friends in the majority of their campaign in 2006 was that they would run Congress in a more open and bipartisan manner. On December 6. 2006. the distinguished Speaker reiterated her campaign promise. She said. "We promised the American people that we would have the most honest and open government and we will." Here we are 6 months later. 6 months later. considering the second closed rule of the day. It seems that the campaign promise was just that. a hollow promise. But this closed rule. the second of the day. is not an isolated incident. obviously. So far in the 110th Congress. we have considered a total of 25 closed rules. 25 closed rules in about 5 months. Compare that to the 109th Congress where at this point we had considered six closed rules. Now. my friends on the other side of the aisle like to refute this fact by claiming that they have offered a number of open rules. but thats not the case. The former very distinguished chairman of the .committee. Mr. Moakley. a Democrat. said. and I quote. "Open rules are silent on the amendment structure." By that definition. the Democrats have offered only one open rule this Congress. The majority on the Rules Committee had the opportunity to increase the number of open. rules to two yesterday. However. they denied a motion that I made to amend this rule and allow an open rule. Not only did they deny our proposal for an open rule. they even denied an attempt to. allow a bipartisan amendment offered by Representative SHULER. that even though I opposed that amendment on the merits. it came to the Rules Committee where Mr. SHULER and Mr. SHAYS sat for a long. long period of time. and then they very diligently and respectfully explained their amendment. I happened to disagree with it. but as I stated in the Rules Committee. as strongly as I disagree with their amendment. I think they should have the right to present it. Yet not only did our friends. the majority in the Rules Committee. decide to close the rule absolutely. they even disallowed the bipartisan amendment by Mr. SHULER and Mr. SHAYS from being considered today by the full House. I think the Democrats should live up to their campaign promises and offer a more open process. I urge my colleagues to defeat this closed rule. while. again. on the underlying substance of legislation. expressing my support for it. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.