House votes to give tribes in Maine benefits of federal law

By The Associated Press

The U.S. House has approved a bill that would allow Native American tribes in Maine to benefit from federal laws going forward. The bill was attached to a defense bill approved Thursday and won’t change the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 to which tribes are bound. But it would update federal law to allow future laws passed by Congress to apply to the tribes. The proposal faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Tribes in Maine said they deserve to be treated the same under federal law as 570 other federally recognized tribes.