Republican lawmakers included controversial provision in 3,000-page bill

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has I have never been much of an ally to Native American tribes, who regularly try to cut their federal funding and strip protections from culturally important public lands.

But there is one exception: the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina.

In January, one of his first actions as president was to order the Secretary of the Interior to present a plan to grant the Lumbee Tribe full federal recognition, which is currently recognized only at the state level. In November, when Trump officially recognized Native American History Month, named a tribethe Lumbee, as proof of their commitment to supporting the tribes.

“I love the Lumbee tribe,” Trump said while signed his proclamation in January. It was clear why he liked them too.

“They were with me the whole time. They were great,” he said. “North Carolina. Lumbee Tribe.”

The Lumbee tribe, a huge group with about 55,000 members, was all in favor of Trump in the 2024 election. Just before the election, the tribe’s official Facebook page posted a photo of its president, John Lowery, along with Donald Trump, Jr. Its members overwhelmingly voted for trump and arguably helped him win this crucial swing state, a detail that did not go unnoticed by the president.

Their support for Trump bore fruit this week, when lawmakers added language to a rapidly evolving defense bill to grant full federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe. The tribe has been fighting unsuccessfully for this recognition since 1888, as it would give them access to millions of dollars in federal funding for Native health and education programs. It would also elevate the tribe to the status of one of 574 federally recognized tribes nationwide.

The defense bill passed the House on Wednesday and is scheduled to pass the Senate on Monday. It could be on the president’s desk in a matter of days. Incredibly, Trump highlighted the Lumbee Tribe as a key priority in the defense bill, in the official White House statement. Administration Policy Statement released last week in support of the bill.

“I am deeply grateful to President Trump for his longstanding advocacy for the Lumbee Tribe and for working in both chambers of Congress to provide the full federal recognition and rights our people deserve,” Rep. Mark Harris (R.N.C.), who led the issue in the House, said in a statement.

Neither Lowrey nor the Lumbee Tribe responded to requests for comment about being on the verge of federal recognition or what role Trump played in making it happen.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

But the inclusion of the Lumbee provision in the defense authorization bill, a measure that sets defense policy and authorizes annual funding levels, comes in the face of strong opposition from dozens of tribes that have been locked in a bitter and complicated fight over the legitimacy of the Lumbee Tribe.

The Lumbee provision has nothing to do with defense issues, but lawmakers routinely include all sorts of non-defense issues in this bill for quick passage. While there are no senators who openly oppose the Lumbee tribe In participating in this bill, some are frustrated to see the Lumbee receive special treatment in a 3,086-page bill that does not include any of their tribal priorities.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairwoman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that there was a “very negotiated process” to add elements to the defense bill, and that she hoped to include “many of the other less controversial issues” that were important to tribes.

“We weren’t successful at that,” Murkowski told News themezone, “which was disappointing.”

One of the president’s priority bills, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, which would create a commission to investigate the ongoing effects of the federal government’s horrific previous policy of forcing Indigenous children to go to white assimilation schools, didn’t make the cut for the defense package.

North Carolina lawmakers have played hardball for years to try to gain federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, and in the process have angered their colleagues. Senator Thom Tillis (RN.C.), who has led the issue in the Senate, has been blocking tribal bills from other senators and judicial candidates to pressure them to support his Lumbee bill. His predecessor, former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), did the same.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is one of the senators with a tribal bill that has been stalled by Tillis’ efforts. Its measure, Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Lawwould place 40 acres of land at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre into fee-restricted status, ensuring the land is held by the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes.

When asked his opinion on the inclusion of the Lumbee provision in the defense package, he emphasized that he has never fought against federal recognition of the tribe. He just wanted his tribal bills to pass too.

“We’ve had a very important bill, allowing our Native American tribes to recognize the issue of Wounded Knee,” Rounds said Wednesday. “All they want to do is put that land in trust so it can be protected for posterity. And there are two tribes working together to achieve that. It’s all for the best.”

He said he didn’t know how many tribal bills had been shelved over the years by North Carolina senators, expressing agitation.

“Look, there was nothing wrong with these other proposals, but they’ve been held hostage,” Rounds said. “I don’t agree with that, but that’s the reality we face.”

Both Murkowski and Rounds said that now that the Lumbee issue is moving forward, they hoped the Senate would finally take up some of the other tribal bills that Tillis has been blocking. That played out Thursday night, when 12 tribal bills, including Rounds’ Wounded Knee bill, passed unanimously in a big block.

But most of those bills still won’t become law. Only two of the 12 have already passed through the House, meaning the other 10 still have to pass through that chamber.

And Murkowski’s bill wasn’t included in that mix either.

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North Carolina lawmakers have introduced bills to recognize the Lumbee Tribe. more than 30 times since 1988, but none have become law. Their path has been complicated: A 1956 federal law, the Lumbee Act, partially recognized the tribe but denied it access to federal benefits available to other federally recognized tribes.

Senators said Tillis deserves the most credit for finally making this happen.

“This is his legacy,” said former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), a close Tillis ally who was in the Senate on Tuesday.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the top Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and a supporter of the Lumbee Tribe’s efforts, said Tillis played a larger role than Trump in securing this Lumbee provision in the defense bill.

“This is 100% Thom,” Schatz said.

Tillis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

But not everyone agrees that this is simply the product of long negotiation and dedicated advocacy. There’s a reason the Lumbee have been fighting for this for decades, and critics of the tribe’s efforts to secure recognition are furious to see them take advantage of the defense bill, saying it’s only happening because of the current president.

“One hundred percent, this is Trump,” said a former Lumbee opponent familiar with the tribe’s history of fighting, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “The fact that there is no other Indian bill indicates that it is not being treated as an Indian bill. It is being treated as a Trump priority.”

Dozens of federally recognized tribes oppose The Lumbee will ever gain full federal recognition from Congress. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the only federally recognized tribe in North Carolina, has led more than 100 tribes in an effort to block the passage of any bill that would grant recognition.

Because? They Claim The Lumbee Tribe Is Not A Real Tribe And Would Probably Not Gather the strict criteria required by the Department of the Interior’s federal recognition process that other tribes have gone through to obtain recognition. They warn that if federal recognition is granted to the Lumbee Tribe without meeting these requirements, it opens the door to other groups who claim to be tribes, without evidence, thus weakening the sovereignty of each tribe.

The Lumbee Tribe does not have a treaty relationshipfor example, or a tribal language. Other tribes have disputed their ancestry from a historic tribe, a requirement for recognition in the Department of the Interior review. Lumbee ancestry claims have changed over the years, from claiming ties to the sioux to the cherokee to the croat tribes, which has angered those tribes and othersas they take their own identity and tribal history very seriously.

The Lumbee tribe says the attacks it has faced are misleading since its members are survivors of a diverse mix of tribes and non-tribal groups, which should not be used against them. They cite evidence of links with a Cheraw settlement in 1754 in North Carolina, and point to research on tribal membership based on notable surnames. Lowery, the tribe’s leader, has suggested that the real reason the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opposes their tribe gaining recognition is linked to economic interests in the state, like casinos.

the lumbee has followers also in some tribes, including the Catawba, Mashpee Wampanoag, and Oneida of Wisconsin. There’s also the argument that the Interior Department’s requirements are flawed, something Schatz, a Hawaii senator who represents Native Hawaiians, has said. saying he believes.

In short, it is an incredibly sensitive topic for a wide mix of tribes. The National Congress of American Indians, the country’s largest and oldest Native organization representing tribes, did not respond to requests for comment on its position.

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This ongoing conflict is coming to a head now that the Lumbee Tribe is on track to receive federal recognition through legislation, which is another way tribes can seek federal recognition, a process that is faster and less intensive than through the Department of the Interior.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, for example, is outraged by the rapid events of the past week.

“We are deeply disappointed and alarmed to see the inclusion of Lumbee recognition language in the National Defense Authorization Act,” Michell Hicks, the tribe’s principal chief, said in a statement provided to News themezone. “A national defense bill is not the appropriate place to consider federation recognition, particularly for a group that has not met the historical and legal standards required by sovereign tribal nations.”

Hicks was infuriated that the Lumbees used what he called a “procedural shortcut” to seek recognition through Congress, which he said dangerously injects politics into a necessarily strict review process.

“Once recognition is granted without a review of the evidence, the position of all federally recognized tribal nations becomes more vulnerable to political changes rather than being anchored in history and law,” the principal chief said.

But some senators have taken umbrage at the idea that the Lumbee Tribe would do well by going the legislative route. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing last month specifically on federal recognition of the Lumbee, which included testimony from Hicks and Lowery. Without naming names, Schatz grew testy over claims that the Lumbee Tribe is essentially cheating to gain recognition.

“You might think we should defer to the administration, but we don’t have to,” Schatz said to no one in particular, facing Hicks. “Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution gives us this authority.”

“Some of the organizations that have strongly opposed Lumbee recognition have made announcements about ‘circumventing the administrative process’ and ‘undermining the tribal recognition process’ by going to Congress,” Schatz said. “My own opinion is that this is a congressional authority, that the [Interior Department] has ruined this generation after generation, and it is time for us to make a decision.”

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These tensions will still be there after Trump signs the defense bill that includes the Lumbee provision, which is almost certain to happen in the coming days.

Some tribal leaders sarcastically described the “cold comfort” They gain knowledge of how much federal money the Greater Lumbee Tribe will receive, as their own tribes remain underfunded. The federal government has chronically underfunded tribes, and the Lumbee Tribe would be the largest federally recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River, giving it an outsized role.

It is unclear how much federal funding the Lumbee would be eligible for, but previous Congressional Budget Office estimates have ranged from $300 million to $700 million more than five years.

“We look to the Committee to verify all calculations and ensure that our Treaty obligations are met regardless of other policy options Congress may make regarding the recognition of a new and very large tribe,” said J. Garret Renville, chair of the Coalition of Large Tribes. wrote to the Senate committee last month.

This coalition, which represents 52 federally recognized tribes that govern large territories of 100,000 acres or more, also condemned Tillis in its letter, saying he “grotesquely defames tribal leaders” in a speech in the Senate gave while blocking the Wounded Knee bill.

Lowery noted that he is not ready to put the fight behind him either. In a post from Thursday On social media, he urged members of his tribe to “never forget” how they have been treated by the Eastern Band Splinter Group, an apparent reference to a faction of the state’s Cherokee tribe.

“There should be no easy conversation about ‘working together’ or ‘reconciliation’ with those who have spent a generation undermining our identity and dignity,” the Lumbee tribal chairman said.

“We do not hate them or wish them harm. But we must be wise,” he added. “A snake may shed its skin, but it’s still a snake, and the Lumbee have been dealing with the bite for more than 30 years. Our future leaders must carry that understanding forward, always.”