VIDEO: ‘The Network Working Against the Lumbee Tribe’

According to Tillis, the Eastern Band is using gaming revenues to fund lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. He claimed the money was being used to oppose federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe, a state-recognized group in North Carolina.

“Well, I just happen to be spending a lot of quality time with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, debating why they’re spending all this money that they’re making off of gambling, trying to prevent a tribe that has been denied recognition for 130 years from getting recognition in the state of North Carolina,” Tillis said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

During his remarks, Tillis displayed a poster titled “The Network Working Against the Lumbee Tribe.” It included the seal of the Eastern Band and the photo and name of Wilson Pipestem, a prominent lobbyist who has worked for the Eastern Band.

Despite the presence of the imagery, Tillis referred to Pipestem as “William,” repeating a slip-up he made on the floor of the U.S. Senate on November 21, 2024.

The poster also featured the logo of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, along with the name of Ben Barnes, the chair of the organization and the chief of the Shawnee Tribe.

Tillis is the sponsor of S.521, the Lumbee Fairness Act. The bill would extend federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, whose leaders have been trying to gain acknowledgment as an Indian tribe for more than a century.

The Eastern Band, the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and numerous other tribes and tribal organizations have been calling on the Lumbees to go through the federal acknowledgment process at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Lumbees are instead pursuing recognition through an act of Congress.

The Senate hearing, titled “America’s High-Stakes Bet on Legalized Sports Gambling,” did not feature any tribal or Indian Country witnesses.

Senate Committee on the Judiciary Notice

America’s High-Stakes Bet on Legalized Sports Gambling (December 17, 2024)