A new era is definitely underway in Washington. There’s more bluster from the White House and some hurried activity in Congress (but that part is not new.) One dawning realization is that things really can’t change overnight – not for the better, and not for the worse.
New health care laws cannot be written in a day, and so there will be conversations and debates about how any new plan will work (or not.) Decisions to cut “trillions” over ten years have been made before and, when they turn out to be completely unworkable, those decisions are delayed into a vague undefined future. Some changes – like turning a hostile eye to refugees – can be made with the stroke of a pen. But many are not wholly within the power of the president – they’re going to take work, on all sides.
Here are some stories for the beginning of the 115th Congress: updating the federal response to Standing Rock, counting the ways that health care reform may (or will) affect Indian Country, checking in on a very complex “budget and reconciliation” process, and cataloguing some of the bills that have already been introduced. Read all the articles together here, or select your favorites below.
Watching Congress on Native American Issues
Selected bills from the 115th Congress of interest in Indian Country