Lumbee Chairman John Lowery testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Nov. 5, 2025. (Photo from senate.gov)
The Senate approved federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina on Wednesday as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, following passage by the House last week.
In a vote Wednesday, a broad bipartisan coalition of senators approved the bill in a 77-20 vote, following a 312-112 vote in the House last Wednesday. The bill now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, where he can now deliver on a pledge for recognition that he made during his campaign stops in North Carolina in both 2020 and 2024.
The Lumbee are set to become the largest federally recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River with more than 55,000 enrolled members and only the second with full federal recognition based in North Carolina after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
While North Carolina recognized the Lumbee in 1885, Congress declined to grant recognition for nearly 140 years, with more than 40 bills that would have recognized the tribe failing in the House or Senate. A 1956 act passed during the Termination Era prohibited the Lumbee from receiving any of the rights and benefits associated with recognition, which is now set to be overturned by the 2025 bill.
Lumbee recognition has long been a controversial issue among recognized Native American tribes, with more than 100 opposing the passage of the Lumbee Fairness Act and about 235 supporting it.
Speaking before a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs last month, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks called into question the historical and genealogical claims of the Lumbee, arguing that the tribe at first claimed to be Cherokee in the early 20th century before taking on their present identity.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) (Photo: Senate.gov)Lumbee historians say the tribe came to be after survivors of conflicts with European settlers from several different tribes, including the Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan peoples, made the wetlands surrounding North Carolina’s Lumber River their new home. Among the historical moments the tribe celebrates is a 1958 standoff with the Ku Klux Klan in Robeson County, in which hundreds of Lumbee chased a mob of 50 Klansmen out of the town and thwarted a white supremacist rally.
At the congressional hearing, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a longtime backer of Lumbee recognition, said the close-knit community, historical presence, and vibrant cultural traditions of the tribe speak for themselves.
“I invite anyone with doubts to visit Robeson County, Hoke County, or Scotland County, go to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, founded by and for the Lumbee people,” Tillis said at the hearing. “You’ll see the rich Lumbee culture, their deep roots in North Carolina, and their extraordinary contributions to our state and our nation.”
Tillis, who led the Lumbee Fairness Act this year alongside North Carolina Republicans Sen. Ted Budd, Rep. David Rouzer, and Rep. Mark Harris, celebrated the bill’s passage in a statement Wednesday.
“President Trump traveled to Robeson County and pledged to get federal recognition done. He kept that promise and showed extraordinary leadership,” he said. “With the Senate passage of the NDAA, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina will now achieve full federal recognition and access to every federal benefit they have earned and deserve.”
Praise for the passage of the recognition bill came from both sides of the aisle in North Carolina. Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who sponsored a previous version of the bill when serving in Congress, joined in the celebration in a statement on social media.
“The Lumbee Tribe has finally been officially recognized by Congress and they’re set to receive the full federal benefits that come with that recognition. This is a milestone more than a century in the making,” Jackson said. “I thank the bipartisan coalition that got this over the finish line.”
In a video posted shortly after the vote Wednesday, Lumbee Chairman John Lowery praised the bill’s passage.
“God is good, and without him, we would not have achieved what we have today,” he said. “I can proudly say that I am the last chairman that’s had to come to D.C., fighting, pushing, and advocating for our full federal recognition.”
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