GEOFF BENNETT: The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina got a major boost this week in its decades-long fight to become a federally recognized tribe.

President Trump yesterday signed a presidential memo directing the secretary of the interior to submit a plan for full federal recognition of the tribe.

That status would unleash hundreds of millions of dollars in support for the 60,000-member Lumbee.

Their chairman, John Lowery, joins us now.

Thanks for being with us.

JOHN LOWERY, Chairman, Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, how confident are you that this action by President Trump will finally result in the recognition that your tribe has sought for more than a century now?

JOHN LOWERY: Well, we are very confident.

As you may know, we have been through the United States House numerous times over the past decade, and we have always seemed to come up short on the - - in the United States Senate.

And we have never had this level of support directed from the White House, from the president himself.

And so we feel like, with him weighing in, with him letting Congress know that he would like to see us have full federal recognition, we feel like this will help us to finally cross the finish line and get this bill passed in both houses of Congress and send to his desk.

GEOFF BENNETT: Why have previous efforts fallen short?

JOHN LOWERY: We have been on this road for a long time.

During the '50s, during the 1950s, the United States was trying to get out of what they call the Indian business, and they were terminating relationships with tribes.

And so we actually got caught up in that.

Because of that, we have been in this legal limbo now.

We have had a lot of support from different congresspeople in the past.

And so it's just a lot of work trying to get this bill passed.

GEOFF BENNETT: How would full federal recognition change the day-to-day lives of your 60,000 members?

JOHN LOWERY: Well, we have a tribal government now that is set up and we have a budget of over $40 million.

We already get some funds from different programs like HUD and energy and youth.

And so what we will be able to do is access additional programs, additional services.

We will be able to access programs within Indian Health Service, within BIA.

And there's also programs in other departments, Department of Transportation, USDA, Department of Energy.

We will be able to access those and we will be able to take those programs and provide them to our people.

So, we're definitely looking forward to being able to access those programs, access those sites for tribes and to put them in good use for our people.

GEOFF BENNETT: I want to ask you about the potential politics of this, because, just before he signed the order, President Trump had this to say: DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I love the Lumbee Tribe.

They were with me all the way.

They were great.

GEOFF BENNETT: So he's suggesting there that the tribe backed his candidacy.

Is that the case?

And do you have any concerns about partisan politics potentially becoming mixed up with this quest for federal recognition?

JOHN LOWERY: I do not have a thought process that partisan politics can play a part in this.

Our tribe, I think as a whole, if you look at the vote statistics, I do believe that our people did vote for President Trump over Vice President Harris.

But, at the end of the day, I do not think partisan politics will play a role in this.

Our people have been politically active for years.

We voted for candidates from both parties.

We have had President Obama say he supported us, President Biden, President Trump.

So we have had people on both sides of the aisle all the way at the top who have said that they support us.

GEOFF BENNETT: What would full federal recognition mean to you?

JOHN LOWERY: You know, we are very strong and resilient people, and our ancestors worked hard for us just to be here today.

And we have stood the test of time.

We have been through colonial times.

We have been through sickness.

We have been through war.

We have been through the Civil War era.

We have been through the Jim Crow South.

We have even fought the KKK.

And we continue to stand here.

We continue to stand firm.

There's nothing that we cannot do as a tribal people.

And so I'm proud of us.

I'm proud of what our ancestors have been able to do.

And I will say this.

Right now, we are pretty much treated as second-class natives.

and with our full federal recognition, we will no longer be second-class Natives.

And, to me, that's the biggest fight is that the United States government will finally officially recognize us as who we are.

And that's why we're still here fighting this fight to ensure that not another Lumbee passes away as a second-class Native.

GEOFF BENNETT: John Lowery is chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

Appreciate your time this evening, sir.

JOHN LOWERY: Thank you very much.

I appreciate you.