WASHINGTON – Seven Indian tribes in North Carolina and Virginia would gain federal recognition and become eligible for federal aid under legislation approved Thursday by a Senate committee.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and six Virginia tribes would be eligible for up to $800 million in federal funds under two bills passed by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The bills, which bar the tribes from building casinos, have already passed the House.
Lawmakers said Congress does not have the expertise to determine federal recognition of tribes, but noted that they have faced lengthy delays in accessing federal funding for housing, education and health benefits.
In some cases, it has taken 20 or 30 years for their federal recognition to be processed through the Interior Department and that needs to be fixed, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the committee's chairman.
"The administrative process is broken," he said.
President Barack Obama has pledged support for the Lumbee Tribe, which has sought federal recognition for more than a century. The administration has not said whether it will support recognition of the Virginia tribes.
Regarding the Virginia tribes, Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said "in most circumstances we prefer the uniformity and certainty provided by the existing administrative process."
The six Virginia tribes, which have around 3,000 members, have been seeking recognition since the 1990s. They are the Eastern Chickahominy, Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond tribes.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine told lawmakers earlier this year that the identities of tribal members were stripped away by Virginia's Racial Integrity Act, a state law in effect from 1924 to 1967. Racial identifications of those without white ancestry were changed to "colored" on birth certificates during that period.
There are an estimated 55,000 Lumbee Indians in North Carolina's Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties. Congress has been considering federal recognition for the tribe since before the first bill was introduced in 1899.