The Senate Judiciary Committee has now “marked up” (amended) an immigration reform bill introduced by a bipartisan “Gang of Eight” in the Senate. As the Senate bill goes to the floor for debate and votes, the House will follow soon with its own action on a collection of smaller bills. All of these bills offer a mixed bag of compromises. As the debates and the amendment processes continue, some parts get worse, some better. FCNL’s brief analysis of the overall Senate bill (S. 744) as introduced is available on our web site here.

It would be reasonable to assume that Native Americans, as descendants of “first Americans,” have little to do with immigration reform legislation. But these bills will touch everyone – and Indian country and native people will be affected in some particular ways.

Sealing the Border

Over the past two decades, the U.S. has poured a huge amount of federal resources into border enforcement. All of the requirements that Congress has set in past legislation have been met, including the building of 97% of a 670-mile fence on the southern border (with some parts through tribal lands), and the fielding of 21,400 border protection agents. Border enforcement has been enhanced by video surveillance, helicopters, drones, night cameras and other military equipment. Although unauthorized migration across the border has dropped to a 40-year-low, many in Congress still feel that not enough has been done. So the new Senate proposal includes many border provisions.

Employment Verification System

The bill would require all employers to use an electronic system to verify that each new employee is authorized to work in the U.S. This requirement would apply to people born in the U.S. as well as to those who hold a work visa. The system (not completely set up yet) would enable employers to match photo-IDs with records held by the Social Security System. So far, the system is still plagued by errors, with a small percentage of citizens being told they’re not “in the system” and a larger number of people without work authorization being approved. Tribally issued identification documents would be accepted, provided that they meet certain criteria. The Secretary of Homeland Security would be directed to consult with tribal governments regarding special rules for compliance by Native American employers.

Profiling

The bill strengthens prohibitions on stopping people, requesting identification or proof of citizenship, or searching their vehicles or their personal property based on race or ethnicity. An amendment added in Judiciary Committee would put some teeth in the prohibition by allowing the Attorney General to refuse to reimburse jurisdictions for immigration-related arrests and detentions if there is reason to believe that the local law enforcement agency is engaging in “unlawful conduct” (including profiling).

This complex legislation will have to go through several more steps before it is final, and then various federal departments will have to write regulations, create forms, set up commissions, train personnel, and phase in various requirements. But this week’s work by the Senate Judiciary Committee was illuminating in its emphasis on closing the border, enforcing the law, and restricting the rights of low-income immigrant workers, while simultaneously trying to attract high-skilled employees, investors and travelers. While there’s much that’s good in the bill, there’s even more that needs some fresh thinking.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

Sally Jewell was confirmed on April 12 as the 51^st (and first woman) Secretary of the Department of the Interior, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On May 15, Secretary Jewell testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on her views and priorities relating to Indian affairs. Within her first month, Secretary Jewell had already met with a group of tribal leaders to hear their concerns and priorities. She described her previous work as a commercial banker with Alaska Native and tribal groups in the Northwest, and emphasized that this experience underscores her commitment – and the Administration’s – to honoring trust and treaty responsibilities and the government-to-government relationship. She highlighted:

Senators’ questions reflected their respective priorities: Chairwoman Cantwell asked about the economic development impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Carcieri – which has hindered the Secretary of the Interior’s ability to take land in to trust for tribes. Vice Chairman Barrasso, echoed by Senator Fischer, was particularly interested in oil and gas development, while Senator Franken asked questions about renewable energy development on tribal lands. Senator Schatz expressed the need for a government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians. Senator Johnson (SD), who serves as Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development, asked questions about improving Indian housing conditions. Senator Hoeven, whose Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota have been experiencing a boom from energy development, was interested in the Interior’s Department process for issuing regulations on hydraulic fracturing (or fracking). Senator Tester talked about the importance of funding rural water projects and addressing wildfire risks on tribal lands. Fires – with resulting flood damage – were also a concern raised by Senator Udall (NM). Senator Heitkamp spoke about law enforcement and implementation of the special tribal domestic violence criminal jurisdiction provisions of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization. Finally, Senator Begich echoed the Secretary’s emphasis on the havoc that climate change is visiting on Alaska Native communities.

Additional information about the hearing, including the webcast, is available here.

The Secretary’s testimony is available here.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On April 26, two North Carolina representatives introduced legislation which would recognize the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina as an Indian tribe, making its members eligible to receive funding from various federal programs, including programs operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service (H.R. 1803). (Because the Lumbee have been recognized as a tribe by the State of North Carolina since 1885, members are currently eligible to receive services for certain programs administered by the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Agriculture.)

Lumbee members, who number some 55,000, have been pressing for federal recognition since 1888. Although Congress enacted legislation recognizing the Lumbee in 1956, the Act also inexplicably denied tribal members the privileges and immunities, financial benefits and services that are afforded to other federally-recognized tribes due to their status as Indians. When the Lumbee submitted a petition in 1989 to the BIA, seeking full federal recognition, the Department’s Solicitor General issued an opinion which stated that, because of language in the Lumbee Act of 1956, the Tribe could only be recognized through an act of Congress, not by going through the BIA’s administrative process.

Lumbee recognition bills have been introduced in every Congress for decades now, and the House passed legislation similar to H.R. 1803 in both 2007 and 2009. The Lumbee Recognition Act would also authorize the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for the Tribe, and would prohibit the Tribe from conducting gaming activities.

Federal recognition legislation has also been introduced in the 113th Congress for the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa of Montana (S. 161) and the Muscogee Nation of Florida (H.R. 323).

In addition to legislative recognition of tribal status, the BIA has an administrative process to recognize or acknowledge Indian tribes. See fact sheet on administrative tribal recognition here.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

Early in his first term, President Obama promised tribal leaders that the federal government would consult with tribal governments on a regular basis. Echoing the actions of President Clinton in 2000, President Obama required cabinet agencies to adopt procedures for consultations with Native American tribal leaders on federal laws and programs that affect tribes, their lands, and their members. All of that could go away if a new president took office with different priorities or a different understanding of the government-to-government relationship.

Representative Raúl Grijalva has introduced a bill to codify (write into law) the consultative practices that began with President Clinton. H.R. 1600 is the “Requirements, Expectations, and Standard Procedures for Executive Consultation with Tribes Act” – the “RESPECT Act”. The bill would require federal agencies to set up processes for “meaningful and timely” consultation with Indian tribes before undertaking activities that may have a substantial direct impact on their lands or interests, or on the relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. The bill would also require consultation regarding activities on federal lands that border with Indian country. The language on consultation tracks closely with the language of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the U.S. government signed in 2010.

The bill would require recognition of tribal self-government and sovereignty, treaty rights and other rights, and streamline processes through which Indian tribes apply for waivers of federal requirements. The bill would create a cause of action in civil court for tribes that allege that a federal agency is not following the requirements of this bill.

H.R. 1600 was introduced on April 17 with no co-sponsors, and has been referred to the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Want to help? Write to your own representative to encourage him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 1600.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

One third of tribal homes in rural Alaska lack a flush toilet and running water. The children there must carry out buckets of human waste along with the garbage as part of their daily chores. This is called “severe structural need” – 25% of Native Americans live in housing with severe structural needs.

Native Americans comprise 1% of the general population, but make up 8% of the homeless population. A tradition of taking in family members who would otherwise be homeless probably keeps this number down somewhat – but such generosity can also lead to overcrowding. On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, families of six often live in one-bedroom apartments. About 64,000 individuals in Indian Country live in overcrowded conditions.

On April 10, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing to bring attention to this dire situation, identify barriers to housing development, and discuss possible solutions. The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) was a major topic at the hearing. NAHASDA, due for reauthorization in September this year, provides federal funding for American Indian and Alaska Native housing assistance programs.

Rodger Boyd, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Native American Programs in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), testified at the hearing about the successes of the Native American housing programs authorized by NAHASDA. The largest of these is the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program, which provides formula-based grants to tribes and tribally-designated housing entities to design and implement housing programs that will address the particular needs of the tribe. Since the IHBG’s inception in 1998, 35,000 affordable housing units have been constructed or acquired by the tribes and tribally-designated housing entities, and 65,000 units have been rehabilitated. HUD also offers several loan guarantees that tribes can use for affordable housing projects and to help finance mortgages. Mr. Boyd emphasized at the closing of his remarks that much more needed to be done, and Congress should appropriate the necessary funds to meet the housing needs of Indian Country.

Cheryl Causley, Chair of the National American Indian Housing Council echoed Mr. Boyd’s sentiments. In her testimony, she explained the four broad reasons for the housing crisis in Indian Country: federal delays in providing necessary approvals and funding, lack of technical capacity, lack of physical infrastructure, and weak tribal economies. In addition, Annette Bryan, Executive Director of the Puyallup Nation Housing Authority, identified overlapping administrative requirements for certain federal funds as a barrier to effective housing programs. For some projects, a tribe might seek several sources of funding from different agencies – each of which has its own set of accounting and review responsibilities; the cost of handling the requirements takes up money that could be used more efficiently to provide housing.

Each of the witnesses stressed the importance of reauthorizing NAHASDA. The IHBG program is one of the federal government’s most successful Native American programs – in large part because it offers tribes the opportunity to determine for themselves what will work best to meet their needs. Several examples were offered of tribes’ innovative use of funds, especially in the construction of environmental and energy efficient housing that earned LEED and Energy Star certifications. These successes, the witnesses said, attest to the possibilities for Native American housing if Congress provides sufficient funding to help tribes meet the pressing housing needs of Indian Country.

A video of the hearing and written testimony from the witnesses is available here.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On May 9, Senator Cantwell, Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, along with Vice Chair Barrasso and other senators, introduced legislation which would amend the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to facilitate further self-governance by Indian tribes (S. 919). Under the very popular and successful Tribal Self-Governance Program, Indian and Alaska Native tribes assume the duties of the federal government for implementing certain programs within the Department of the Interior (such as the operation of a fish hatchery or managing road maintenance). (This is also true of programs in the Department of Health and Human Services, but S. 919 applies only to the Interior Department.)

In order to participate in the Tribal Self-Governance Program, a tribe must be able to demonstrate financial stability and financial management capability through audits, and undergo a planning phase. Certain responsibilities that the federal government may not legally delegate to a tribe remain with the Department of the Interior.

More than one-half of the funds appropriated for the Bureau of Indian Affairs are provided directly to tribes and tribal organizations through Self-Governance compacts (as well as through grants and similar Self-Determination Act contracts) to directly administer programs and services for their citizens. The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to select up to 50 new Indian tribes per year to participate in the Tribal Self-Governance Program. Similar legislation was passed by the House in the 111th Congress, and was proposed again in both the House and Senate during the 112th Congress.

Read the text of S. 919 here.

Return to the index of the May 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

April 2013

In this edition:

Budget Hearings for FY 2014
Congress starts tending to the seasonal task of hearings with federal agency representatives to learn the details of funding recommendations and needs for FY 2014.

Examining the Native American Energy Act
On April 26, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee held a hearing on legislation to facilitate the development of energy on Indian lands, with a heavy emphasis on non-renewable sources.

Supreme Court Hears Indian Child Welfare Act Case
On Tuesday April 16, the Supreme Court heard the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, which challenged the core principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act and of Indian law generally. FCNL submitted an amicus brief on the case.

World Conference on Indigenous Peoples
Several preparatory conferences have been convened or scheduled ahead of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in September, 2014. Participants in this meeting will focus on best practices for implementing the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in their own countries.

Or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
fcnl.org/issues/nativeam/nalu_apr_2013.pdf

The United Nations will host a World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in September, 2014 in New York. Participants in this meeting will focus on best practices for implementing the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in their own countries.

Several preparatory conferences have been convened or scheduled, with a recent North American planning meeting occurring in California in late February. Participants and observers are encouraged to study reports prepared by a group known as the “Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” This group of five experts within the U.N. Human Rights Council offers the Council advice on assessing and improving the realization of the rights of Indigenous People. In September, 2013, the group will report to the Human Rights Council, at the Council’s request, on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Watch for the Spring 2013 edition of FCNL’s Indian Report which focuses on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Return to the index of the April 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

With the cherry blossoms waking up Capitol Hill, appropriations committees and subcommittees and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee are tending to the seasonal task of hearings with federal agency representatives to learn the details of funding recommendations and needs for FY 2014.

On April 24 and 25, the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies held two full days of hearings to receive in-person testimony from some 85 American Indian and Alaska Native witnesses. These tribal elected leaders, national and regional tribal organizational spokespersons, and Indian school representatives came from across the United States. Their testimony reflected the diversity of tribal nations.

In these hearings, as in the December 2012 consultation with the President and cabinet members, tribal leaders spoke about the fallacy of imposing the sequester mechanism on the nation’s prior obligations to Indian Country. Part of what the nation owes is its debt to tribes in exchange for the land on which the national economy is built.

Dr. Heather Shotton, for example, testified on the state of Indian education which, she said, is in “an ongoing state of emergency.” She pointed to large disparities in academic achievement, reading and math scores, record low graduation rates, low college attendance. One of the promises not yet honored is to provide education for the children of the people who ceded their land.

Most of the witnesses spoke about a line item with the non-descript name, “contract support costs,” which was changed and not fully funded in the President’s budget. “Contract support costs” are the funds transferred to tribal governments to cover the administrative costs of the federal programs that the tribes operate on behalf of the federal government. The reimbursement is calculated according to what it would cost the federal government to operate the program if the tribe had not taken it on. The president’s budget does not request the total needed to administer the programs, and changed the way these payments would be calculated, without consulting with participating tribes.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Hearing

Also on April 24, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held an oversight hearing on the President’s FY 2014 budget request for tribal programs. Witnesses included Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dr. Yvette Roubideaux for the Indian Health Service, President Jefferson Keel for the National Congress of American Indians, and Board Chair Cathy Abramson for the National Indian Health Board.

President Keel emphasized that “leaders of tribal nations call on decision-makers to ensure that the promises made to Indian Country are honored in the federal budget.” President Keel pointed to a particular need for funding to replacement unsafe schools – which was not included in the President’s budget. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools are one of two federally funded schools systems. The other is within the Department of Defense; these schools received a $30 million increase in the recently passed FY2013 continuing resolution, while the “replacement schools” line in the BIE budget was zeroed out. Keel spoke of unsafe schools, infested with rodents and covered in lead paint and exposed asbestos, and marked by water leaks, buckling walls, and mold.

Echoing the pleas of the tribal leaders in the House hearing, Attorney Lloyd B. Miller testified for a coalition of tribal contractors, noting that, as recently as 2012, the Supreme Court affirmed that federal agencies do not have an option to underpay the contracts they made with tribal governments. These are debts, not discretionary payments.

Speaking for the National Indian Health Board, Cathy Abramson delivered a stark picture of the effects of budget cuts in Indian Country. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, with 110 suicide attempts in the last 100 days, the tribe is unable to hire the two mental health professionals they were trying to hire.

Testimony and a web cast of this hearing are available here.

Return to the index of the April 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On Tuesday April 16, 2013, the Supreme Court heard the case of Adoptive Couple vs Baby Girl, which challenged the core principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and of Indian law generally. FCNL and other faith groups have strongly supported ICWA since the late 1970s, when we worked for its passage in Congress.

FCNL was joined by other faith groups in submitting an amicus brief for the Supreme Court case, supporting the placement of the baby girl with her father, a member of the Cherokee nation. Read the brief here and find other information on the case here.

Return to the index of the April 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On April 26, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee held a hearing on the Native American Energy Act (H.R. 1548), introduced on April 12 by Subcommittee Chairman Young (AK). The bill is similar to legislation approved by the House Natural Resources Committee during the 112th Congress to facilitate the development of energy on Indian lands, with a heavy emphasis on non-renewable sources.

The Native American Energy Act includes language related to timelines for review and approval of appraisals; the imposition of certain limits on environmental reviews of major federal actions on Indian lands; a prohibition on the collection of fees on an application for a permit to drill for oil and gas; bonding requirements; a tribal biomass demonstration project; authorization for the Navajo Nation to issue mineral leases without federal approval; and blocks the Department of the Interior’s rule regarding hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) on Indian trust land.

Chairman Young, the author of the bill, emphasized that all of the items in his legislation were requested by tribes. More information about the hearing can be found here.

Return to the index of the April 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

FCNL was joined by other faith groups once again in submitting an amicus brief for the Supreme Court case, supporting the placement of the baby girl with her father, a member of the Cherokee nation. Read the amicus brief here.

The Indian Child Welfare Association has provided a useful fact sheet on the Indian Child Welfare law. Read more here.

Get Monthly Native American Legislative Updates.

President Obama Signs Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization
President Obama signed the reauthorization of VAWA into law at a ceremony at the Department of the Interior on March 7. Tribal governments will now begin the implementation process for the provisions affecting Indian Country.

Tribal Leaders Discuss Priorities for 113th Congress with Senate Staff
On March 7, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a listening session to hear from tribal leaders about priorities for the 113th Congress and to receive leaders' recommendations for what the committee should be doing for the next two years.

Sequester and Indian Country
The across-the-board spending cuts (also called "the sequester") that took effect March 1 will have a big impact on federal programs in Indian Country. Most Indian Country programs are discretionary spending, a budget category that has already seen previous reductions.

New Indian Affairs Legislation
Several bills of national tribal significance have been introduced in the first months of the 113th Congress, including a fix to the Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, a Native languages preservation bill, and more.

House Hearing on Indian Health
On March 19, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment held an oversight hearing on Indian Health. The hearing focused on the progress made in improving Indian health outcomes, and next steps.

House Hearing on Indian Education
On February 27, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment held an oversight hearing to discuss the state of Indian education. They highlighted an upcoming study of the Bureau of Indian Education, which the subcommittee initiated after a hearing held almost exactly a year earlier on Indian education.

Upcoming Indian Affairs Hearings
April 24 and 25 are "tribal witness days" before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment, when the panel will receive testimony from tribal leaders and representatives about the FY 2014 budget requests for programs affecting Native Americans.

Inter-agency Action Plan on Sacred Sites Released
On March 5, four federal agencies and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation released an action plan to implement the Memorandum of Understanding they signed in December to strengthen the protection of Indian sacred sites.

First Presidential Disaster Declaration for a Tribe
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is the first tribe to be granted a declaration of a natural disaster after the Sandy Relief Act amended the Stafford Act to allow tribes to seek the declaration directly from the President instead of their respective state governments.

Rosters Finalized for Native American Committees for the 113th Congress
The first several weeks of the new 113th Congress were spent largely with committee organizational matters – including deciding which members will serve on the various congressional committees and subcommittees and the rules of the committees for the 113th Congress.

Or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
fcnl.org/issues/nativeam/nalu_mar_2013.pdf

President Obama signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law at a ceremony at the Department of the Interior on March 7. The reauthorization includes long-sought provisions that recognize the authority of tribal governments to arrest and prosecute non-Indian perpetrators who commit domestic or sexual violence against an Indian woman on a reservation. It also includes new provisions to ensure that services for domestic violence victims are provided to all victims regardless of sexual orientation or immigration status.

President Obama emphasized the need for expanded tribal protections, saying, “Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people, and all women deserve the right to live free from fear. And that is what today is all about.” Jefferson Keel, President of the National Congress of American Indians, echoed Obama’s sentiments, saying, “Today represents a historic moment in the nation-to-nation relationships between tribes and the federal government. Now that the tribal provisions have been enacted and protection for all women reauthorized, justice can march forward.”

Tribal governments now begin the process of amending their legal codes to reflect the changes mandated by VAWA. Staff at the Department of Justice have met with tribal leaders about the implementation of these changes, which will take effect in two years.

See a video of President Obama’s remarks and the signing of the bill here: http://bit.ly/Y4zshp

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On March 5, the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation released an action plan to strengthen the protection of Indian sacred sites. This action plan builds on and would implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) these same five entities signed last December, called “Coordination and Collaboration for the Protection of Indian Sacred Sites.”

The action plan to implement the MOU includes a mission statement that commits the agencies to work together to improve the protection of and Native American access to Indian sacred sites; a list of actions these agencies will undertake together; a commitment to consultation with Indian tribes in developing and implementing the actions outlined in the Plan to ensure meaningful strategies for protecting sacred sites; the establishment of a standing working committee of staff from the participating agencies and others to carry out the MOU; and a commitment from the agencies to designate senior level officials to serve on a Core Working Group, which the Department of the Interior will chair. The text of the action plan is available here: http://on.doi.gov/10ahdp3

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On February 27, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment held an oversight hearing on Indian education. Almost exactly a year earlier, Chairman Mike Simpson noted, the subcommittee asked then-Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk about per-student spending at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). BIE is the agency responsible for administering Native American schools, and is within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The exchange led the subcommittee to request a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of BIE.

Fast forward from the 2012 hearing to the one held last month, in which the new Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Kevin Washburn, and George Scott, from the GAO, testified on the state of Indian education, and the preliminary results of the study. The main findings thus far are that a high turnover rate in BIE leadership and fragmented administrative functioning within BIE both hinder progress in addressing the problems in with Indian education.

The third witness, National Indian Education Association President Heather Shotton, testified that chronic underfunding of the BIA and BIE creates severe infrastructure problems and safety hazards in Indian schools. She also highlighted the need for collaboration not just between government agencies, since Indian education is administered by both BIE and the Department of Education, but with Native Americans themselves. She also noted that the BIE spends millions contracting with outside sources for training and professional development, when it could contract with Tribal Colleges and Universities, who have valuable cultural expertise.

However, Washburn described in his testimony significant efforts underway to improve the BIE and Indian education. The BIE has held several consultations with tribal leaders about Indian education, which have resulted in changes to agency policy. Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have been directed toward school renovation and repair projects. And the BIE has entered into several agreements with other agencies to avoid duplicating services and reduce redundant administrative functions.

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

Sequester Hits the Reservation

New York Times Editorial, March 20, 2013: http://nyti.ms/YqyMlW

In Montana, an Indian Reservation’s Children Feel the Impact of the Sequester Cuts

Washington Post, March 5, 2013: http://wapo.st/11pI9Wj

Report on the Progress of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians

Indian Health Service 2011 Report to Congress: http://1.usa.gov/TBmPHY

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

On March 7, during the National Congress of American Indians’ annual winter conference in Washington, DC, when many tribal representatives were in the nation’s capital, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a listening session to hear from tribal leaders about priorities for the 113th Congress, and to receive leaders’ recommendations for what the Committee should be doing for the next two years.

Almost every tribal elected leader who spoke mentioned the sequester and their deep concern about the impact of funding reductions on tribal programs. Many leaders spoke in appreciation of Chairwoman Cantwell and other Committee members for their support of the tribal jurisdiction provisions in the recently-enacted Violence Against Women Act reauthorization. A number of leaders stressed the importance of enactment of a “Carcieri fix” to address the Secretary of the Interior’s ability to take land in to trust for tribes. Other issues mentioned were jobs creation, holding funding for Indian programs “harmless” and sparing them from cuts in the budget, sacred sites, implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, and reauthorization by the 113th Congress of two Indian laws:

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.

April 24 and 25 are “tribal witness days” before the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, when the panel will receive testimony from tribal leaders and representatives of tribal organizations about the FY 2014 budget requests for programs in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and others.

Return to the index of the March 2013 Native American Legislative Update.