WASHINGTON — More than 80 members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina sat Wednesday in the Senate gallery watching lawmakers take a vote that was 137 years in the making.

Senators agreed to recognize the tribe and provide full federal benefits in a 77-20 vote. It’s likely that President Donald Trump will sign the bill they passed into law.

The tribal members gave thumbs up to senators as they waved from the Senate floor. They gave each other high-fives and fist pounds.

“It’s a very surreal moment,” Lumbee chairman and state Rep. John Lowery said at the Capitol on Tuesday. “We’ve been working towards this for a long time, and I’m glad that we’re here. I’m glad that we’re finally at this moment, and I’m thankful for everybody who helped us get here.”

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is located in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties. With around 60,000 members, it’s the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River.

The Lumbee first sought federal recognition through Congress in 1888. That was the process for tribes more than a century ago, and was how the Cherokee received its recognition. At the time, the Lumbee wanted federal assistance for educating children.

But it wasn’t until 1956 that Congress designated the Lumbee as a tribe. The problem, for the Lumbee, with that bill was that it specified it did not provide the tribe any federal benefits.

Federal recognition typically comes with federal benefits, from health care to education to agriculture to economic development.

Since then, the Lumbee have asked for Congress to reverse the decision to withhold federal benefits. The tribe’s leaders have told Congress they believe because this was a congressional act, any other process they sought to gain these benefits would land them in litigation.

But the Lumbee have faced fierce opposition from other tribes, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee located in Western North Carolina, whose leaders have said the Lumbee needed to apply for federal recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Cherokee tribe has also publicly questioned the tribes’ race, culture and historic presence.

“It is important that lawmakers fully understand the implications,” said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band, after it passed the House. “Once recognition is granted without an evidentiary review, the standing of all federally acknowledged tribal nations becomes more vulnerable to political shifts rather than being anchored in history and law. We are asking Congress to scrutinize this and to ensure that decisions of this magnitude remain grounded in documentation and established policy.”

Trump and NC lawmakers work to recognize Lumbee

Rep. David Rouzer, a Republican from Wilmington, introduced the Lumbee Recognition Act both this year and last. On the House floor, last year, he said that a version of his bill has been put forward in the House 30 times.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville who first cosponsored a bill on Lumbee recognition in 2019, put his own version forward in the Senate last year.

It passed the House just days before the end of last session, but the Senate never took it up.

This year, Tillis worked with other senators to include it in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual must-pass bill that sets policy and spending levels for the Department of Defense.

It’s not atypical for lawmakers to slip legislation on other topics into bills they know must pass Congress.

Trump made Lumbee recognition a priority in his second term, ordering his team to find a legal path for the tribe. While the report Trump received on the matter was never released to the public, it is believed that they concluded a congressional action was the best option.

Tillis said less than 24 hours before the bill reached the floor that he was excited.

“After 137 years on their part, about 40 years on Senate members’ part, it’s going to get done,” Tillis said Tuesday.

As he reached his office, wearing a tie from UNC Pembroke, he noticed a crowd of people from the tribe gathered in the hallway. They cheered when they noticed him and asked for photos with him.

On Wednesday, now dressed in a bolo tie, Tillis walked into the Senate gallery for a few minutes to be with members of the tribe as senators cast their votes.

Republican Sen. Ted Budd was also celebrating the bill’s passage.

“For nearly fifty years, the Lumbee Tribe has fought for the same rights and benefits that every other federally recognized tribe receives,” Budd said in a written statement to McClatchy. “Today, with the passage of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, this long fight is over, and the more than 60,000 members of the Lumbee Tribe will begin the process of receiving the benefits they rightfully deserve.”

Members of the Lumbee tribe now await Trump’s signature.

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