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WASHINGTON (AP) – Seven Indian tribes in North Carolina and Virginia would be federally recognized under legislation passed by the House on Wednesday, but they would not be allowed to build casinos.

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and six Virginia tribes would be eligible for up to $800 million in federal funds for housing, education and health benefits under two bills passed by the chamber. Both bills passed the House in the last Congress but stalled in the Senate.

President Barack Obama has reversed from past presidents and pledged to support recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, which has sought federal oversight for more than a century. He has not said whether he will support recognition of the Virginia tribes.

There are an estimated 55,000 Lumbee Indians in North Carolina’s Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland counties. Congress has been considering federal recognition for the tribe since before the first bill was introduced in 1899.

The legislation would allow North Carolina to continue to have jurisdiction over all criminal offenses on tribal land and would not permit the tribe to own or operate gaming facilities there.

The Lumbees are recognized by the state and were partially recognized by the federal government in 1956, but at the same time Congress denied the Lumbee benefits given to other American Indians.

“What Congress started Congress should finish, that’s why we are back here today,” said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., the bill’s sponsor. “It’s time for discrimination to end and for recognition to begin.”

Other tribes, including North Carolina’s Eastern Band of Cherokee, have for years questioned the Lumbees’ ability to trace members to a historic tribe.

With dollars tight for Indian programs, recognition for new tribes could mean less money for others. Opponents to the legislation, including several North Carolina members who represent the Eastern Band of Cherokee, said the bill would give special recognition for just a few tribes who are circumventing the standard recognition process through the Interior Department.

Obama, who campaigned aggressively in North Carolina and eventually won the state, promised federal recognition for the tribe on the campaign trail, and his Interior Department reiterated that promise in a hearing earlier this year.

Interior’s Deputy Assistant Secretary George Skibine said in March that “there are rare circumstances when Congress should intervene and recognize a tribal group, and the case of the Lumbee Indians is one such rare case.”

The bill’s Senate prospects are unclear. Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., have both expressed support for the bill.

The six Virginia tribes, which have around 3,000 members, have been seeking recognition since the 1990s. They would also be prevented from owning or operating casinos under the legislation. They are the Eastern Chickahominy, Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Monacan and Nansemond tribes of Virginia.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine testified in support of their recognition earlier this year, saying the tribes were integral in the success of the British settlement of Jamestown in 1607, and hence the founding of the United States.

Kaine also noted that recognition has been difficult to obtain because tribe members’ identities were stripped away by Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, a state law in effect from 1924 to 1967. The racial identifications of people who weren’t of white ancestry were changed to “colored” on birth certificates and other documents during that period.

Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, support the legislation and have introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

The Virginia tribal bill was passed on a voice vote. The Lumbee legislation passed 240-179. That bill was almost tabled on a procedural vote, but several Democrats changed their votes at the last minute, saving it.