A great thing happened recently for Indian country. President Obama signed into law on September 26 the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act. This law will amend the U.S. tax code and ensure that Indian people do not have to pay taxes on most benefits that they receive from their own tribal governments. This legislation was pursued by individual Indian nations, including my client the Lummi Nation, and eventually supported by over 20 national and regional intertribal organizations. It is a testament to strong tribal leadership, dedication to a just cause, and collaboration amongst my colleagues in the tribal lobbying community to work together for tribal interests that made this legislation a reality.

But it might not have happened if we had fallen prey to the partisan politics of Democrats vs. Republicans that plagues the U.S. political system.

What should we learn from this success? If we focus on people rather than parties in the U.S. political system, I believe that Indian country will be better off in the long run. There are champions for Indian people in the Congress who are both Democrat and Republican, just as there are antagonists for Indian people on both sides. But these differences seem to be more issue focused rather than broad philosophical disagreement about tribal issues.