LUMBERTON — Despite legislation for federal recognition having passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Lumbee Tribal Chairman Jimmy Goins says the fight for federal recognition is far from over.

“We are facing the hardest fight ever in our effort to obtain federal recognition,” Goins told Lumbee Tribal Council members Thursday. “It’s good that the bill is out of committee, but when will it get to the Senate floor? There is no time table ... We are going to have the hardest fight we have ever had. I thought some of the tribes (opposing federal recognition) would back off, but they haven’t. I’m frustrated.”

Passage of the bill would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to the Lumbee Tribe. Although the tribe would be prohibited from building casinos, it would be eligible for health care, education, housing and economic benefits currently received by other tribes recognized by the federal government.

The bill was jointly introduced in the Senate early this month by North Carolina’s U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat. It was passed out of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Oct. 22.

Goins made his comments about federal recognition as he urged Tribal Council members to move forward with economic development, which he contends is the key to a bright future for the Lumbee Tribe.

“If we don’t take steps toward economic development, we will be a lost tribe,” he said. “Politics cannot become involved in economic development.”

Sylvia Pate, director of the Regional Center for Economic Development & Professional Development at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, briefly outlined for council members a recently completed strategic plan for guiding the tribe’s economic future. The study was funded by a federal grant.

Pate urged council members to thoroughly read the plan that is designed to help the tribe determine what it wants to do in terms of its economic development and what it wants to do to help tribe members with their economic development. The study includes an analysis of the tribe’s economic strengths and weaknesses, and identifies threats to economic development that the tribe can expect to encounter.

Goins told the council that serious attention must be given to economic development, and that the council must lead the effort. He also told council members that there is very little money available from outside sources to fund economic development projects.

“I hear people say that there will be money available when we get federal recognition, but what if we don’t get the recognition?” he said. “In that case, you will have to be the recognition ... We have to get moving. People have to have a job ... . We can’t depend on federal recognition.”

In other business, the Tribal Council on Thursday:

— Passed an ordinance to become effective in February that will require the tribal chairman to hire a tribal administrator. The tribe has been served by an interim tribal administrator for the past three years.

— Passed a resolution supporting language in state statutes that give the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs the authority to appoint members to the N.C. Indian Cultural Center board of directors. The resolution also affirms Wendy Moore-Graham as a Lumbee Tribe representative on the board, and requests the N.C. Attorney General to resolve issues pertaining to the legitimacy of the center’s board. A lawyer for the Cultural Center board has filed a petition alleging that the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs tried to install another board to oversee the facility.