▶ 0:01:58e e
▶ 0:02:50committee will come to order good morning and welcome to the first of our public witness hearings dedicated to American Indians and Alaskan native programs uh this will actually be I think the largest number of tribes we've had in to testify before us and we're very proud that I think 98 tribes or over 100 tribes are coming in to speak with us today and I'd like to welcome all the distinguished tribal leaders and and uh elders and leaders here today this year we have an unprecedented number of requests oh you wrote that in the so I
▶ 0:03:20guess I didn't need to say that requiring us to expand to a third day to accommodate around 100 tribes and tribal organizations these hearings are incredibly important and we appreciate the opportunity to hear from so many tribes and organizations across Indian Country Indian country has been and will continue to be a bipartisan priority of subcommittee we have two we have the ranking member and former chairman and the former chairman before that we all work together on uh on tribal issues uh it's one of the areas that's kind
▶ 0:03:50of bipartisan which is kind of nice I look forward to continuing to work with ranking member pingry to expand the committee's efforts to strengthen our federal commitment to honor our treaty and trust responsibilities with American Indians and Alaskan natives thank you uh thank you to all of our Witnesses for appearing before the committee and sharing your concerns and personal perspectives on these important top topics in terms of hearing Logistics I will call each panel of witnesses to the table one panel at a time each witness will be given five minutes
▶ 0:04:20to present testimony the full testimony the full written testimony will be included in the record so please don't feel pressured to cover everything in five minutes we will be using a timer to track progress with each Witnesses when the light turns yellow the witnesses will have one minute remaining to conclude their remarks when the light turned Reds I'll have to ask the witnesses to stop so we can REM we can remain on spe schedule especially with all the tribes that we have coming in for the next three days we'll hear from every witness on each panel before members will be provided the opportunity
▶ 0:04:50to ask questions because we have a full day ahead I request that we keep uh we try to keep things moving so we can stay on schedule and respect each other's time I also want to note that committee rules prohibit the use of outside cameras and audio equipment during these hearings the hearings can be viewed in its entirety on the committee's website and an official hearing transcript will be available at go gpo.gov with that I thank all of uh you for being here today and I'm happy to yield now to our distinguished ranking member for any remarks she
▶ 0:05:20may make uh thank you thank you Mr chair um and good morning uh I Echo the chair's welcome to this first day of public witness hearings on tribal programs under the jurisdiction of the interior and environment appropriation subcommittee and appreciate the chair scheduling an extra day so we could accommodate the requests I want to thank everybody for traveling to Washington to testify before the committee the Trump Administration is only been in office for a few short weeks yet they have Unleashed chaos and disruption into indigenous
▶ 0:05:50communities and created anxi anxiety and uncertainty for tribal members over their employment status the continuation of critical Healthcare and educational services and in some cases have even challenged their citizenship I hope our Witnesses today will use this hearing as an opportunity to sound the alarm on the devastating impacts of this administration's policies I hope you will shine much needed Spotlight on the damaging impacts that freezes on federal hiring Federal funding the termination
▶ 0:06:21of probationary employees and the federal hiring frees have already had and will have on the lives and livelihoods of tribal Nations and Indigenous communities around the country I look forward to hearing about what is happening in your communities the needs and challenges facing Indian country and your priorities for programs in the interior Bill our discussion today will allow your voices to be heard and will help to inform us as we finish the fiscal 2025 funding bill and then begin developing the fiscal 2026
▶ 0:06:51Appropriations bill with that I yield back to Chairman Simpson thank you ranking M finger we can now begin with our first panel Donna Thompson Vice chair of the Fort Hall Business Council of the shanic tribes and chief Allen chairman of the cordelan tribes Donna Flor yours thank you good morning my name is Donna Thompson I am the vice chair of the Fort Hall Business Council of the Shon banic tribes of Idaho and first of all I want to thank chairman Simpson who is our representative for his long-standing efforts
▶ 0:07:21on behalf of the shanic tribes and Indian Country to help uphold the trust and treaty with the recent actions taken by the administration we are greatly concerned for the funding for tribes is at risk and that the federal government's ability to fulfill the treaty and Trust responsibilities will be hindered by current hiring restrictions and the ongoing firing of federal employees I respectfully urge
▶ 0:07:52this subcommittee to take action to ensure there are no disruptions to tribal program funding and to protect the Federal workers supporting Indian country today I will focus on one protecting funding for IHS and Bia two increasing law enforcement funding and three funding drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs the tribes appreciate the inclusion of advanced Appropriations for IHS in the last few appropriation bills
▶ 0:08:22and request that this be continued we also request that a similar provision for the Bia to be included to provide continuity for programs such as law enforcement further we respectfully request that all funding for IHS and Bia be made mandatory however as a first step it is critical that contract support costs be made mandatory now additionally Congress has chosen to use Medicaid to help meet the trust responsibility
▶ 0:08:53to provide Health Care approximately 50% of tribal members on our reservation are are enrolled in Medicaid re reimbursements are critical for tribal health and IHS clinics while we understand that this subcommittee does not have jurisdiction over Medicaid any Cuts will have significant negative consequences for Indian Health System we ask that this sub subcommittee work to ensure that Medicaid funding is protected for
▶ 0:09:23tribes turning to law enforcement we appreciate the subcommittee's attempt to increase funding however much more needs to be done under Bia guidelines our Police Department should have 25 officers but due to severe underfunding our department has currently nine officers this means that only one or two officers Patrol our 550,000 acre reservation covering four counties at any given time this is a serious
▶ 0:09:53Public Safety problem for our reservation it also creates a huge strain on our officers with many getting burned out and leaving for other agencies with less stress and better pay and benefits last year the Bia issued a report on law enforcement showing that funding needs across Indian country are over 1.7 billion but the Bia is funded at just 256 million this massive underfunding for law enforcement
▶ 0:10:24is leading to dangerous conditions on our reservations we ask the subcommittee to provide law enforcement funding at the level of need in the Bia report moving to infrastructure our drinking water and wastewater infrastructure is undersized and outdated our water pressure is often low and doesn't meet firefighting standard and residential Wells are running dry further the majority of our the pipes in our drinking water and wastewater systems are in very poor
▶ 0:10:54condition while water towers need to be replaced and lift stations added this poor infrastructure limits our ability to construct new housing and create Economic Development unfortunately there remains a severe backlog of drinking water and waste water projects in Indian Country we ask for significant funding increases for IHS sanitation projects and for epa's drinking water and clean water Indian set aside programs
▶ 0:11:25finally I want to thank chairman Simpson and this subcommittee for your continued efforts to help our tribe to reclaim the gay mind Superfund Site we ask for your continued support for report language directing the BLM to work with the tribes on a Reclamation study and thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you Chief floor is yours good morning Mr terman
▶ 0:11:55and ranking member P thank you so much for uh having me my name is Chief Allen I'm chairman of the corane tribe I've had that uh I've had the opportunity and the awesome responsibility to be the chairman for the Coran tribe for U in leadership for about 20 years now and I I take that job really um um I don't take it lightly I want to thank you guys for your guys' dedication but also want to thank you guys for your leadership that's what we need today today we need leadership we need leadership and all of our
▶ 0:12:25Congressional folks to to to stand up for all this chaos you know and and if you look at any Fortune 500 company in this country you you cannot run a company with that much chaos you can't cannot lay off thousands and thousands of people without having some kind of U uh without the levy breaking and uh you know you're going to hear from a lot of tribes this week you know a lot of these we're sophisticated we're we are you know we we're we're the second largest
▶ 0:12:55employee in North Idaho we employ you know over 50 00 employees uh you know uh and only 40% of that is Native Americans we employ we're here for the for the the greater good of our community in our state of Idaho uh our Medical Clinic was one of we were the very first ones to open in uh the early 90s and it was um a landmark U joint effort not only for the tribe but for the community as as well and we allow uh non-members to come there and
▶ 0:13:26uh provide a service so not only you know that the new Administration when when they're doing all these cuts and things it's not only affecting our tribe it's affecting our community you know communities that you know have the same goals that we have you know we all want that American dream we all want to live in this country you know that white picket fence we all want our kids to go to school we all want our kids to go to you know Ivy League schools or you know whatever that dream is and you know for and so all I'm asking
▶ 0:13:56is for leadership for us to uh come together and work this out you're going to hear a lot about I don't want to repeat all these things about you know trust responsibility we're gonna you know obviously that's you know first and foremost and and we have that you know but I just wanted to say maybe give examples of that for example why you know why laying off a thousand people is going to hurt you know like with the Department of interior or you know we need we one part of my mission as coring tribe is we
▶ 0:14:26I've been buying back land you know uh you know with in our reservation and I think we're you know up over 100,000 acres now we're I think we're the second largest land owner in cookney county in benan County um but you know we can do all that stuff but we have to wait we have to wait for all these federal employees who it's just the way the system was it work is set up you know with that trust responsibility you know like I said it's insulting a lot of times because you know we lot of tries have moved Beyond you know that you know Big
▶ 0:14:56Brother you know you know sign off Authority and all things we need you know we we need so if we're going to cut them we're going to need something to to fall back on that you know and historically our everything we you know that my colleague talked about you know IHS viia law enforcement department of education um uh uh the Department of Justice everything has always been historically funded you know at a lower level
▶ 0:15:26than than need to be and so tries have been sophisticated enough to come up and you know try figure some of that out and you know and work you know work with that so with that I'm going to yield my rest of my time again thank you guys so much for having me here today thank you guys so much for your leadership and I would uh stand for any questions you may have thank you uh both for coming and testifying it's a long way from Idaho but it is going to be like 40 degrees in Idaho this uh today which is amazing you know but uh I
▶ 0:15:56appreciate your testimony uh Believe Me Chief we're not uh we're not you're not any more concerned about what's happening in any country with these uh unprecedented number of layoffs and stuff and how it's going to impact the tribes and we've been trying to seek out the information to find out stuff but when you say that uh dreams of going to an i Ivy League school I will tell you that University of Idaho and Boise State and Idaho State University are just as good as any of them so so uh it's not the
▶ 0:16:26you don't have to pay the huge cost of the ivy Le School you get just as good education but anyway thank you for your for your comments uh as I said we share your same concerns and Donna you and I have talked many many many times uh she's 12 miles from where I grew up so we uh we know each other well and we talked about a lot of those issues we'll keep working on uh those things that you've uh identified and uh it is uh meeting the the trust
▶ 0:16:56and treaty responsibilities we have is taking more and more of the budget that's okay uh that's a commitment that we have to have to face uh we wish we could do it tomorrow but we're making progress in the right direction uh and we're going to continue to do that uh because I think within this committee it's as I said the one area that we are all agreeing on is that we need to we need to seriously face these issues last year when we held a missing and murdered indigenous women uh hearings I think it was
▶ 0:17:27uh enlightening to many of us uh of the issues that are faced there and as you said got nine officers you should 25 guess where criminals go exactly where you only got nine officers instead of 25 so will will work with you to do that and the other issue when you're talking about law enforcement is if you look at Fort Hall I suspect the same thing is true uh with the other tribes the nesp and and coural lanes and the Cy is that you hire an officer you train him
▶ 0:17:58and as soon as they get good and trained and on the reservation they go to a higher paying job 10 miles down the road at poell in Blackfoot or something like that somehow we got to change that you know and uh uh that's something that we'll be working on with you in consultation with you how we address this so thank you for both for being here uh representative pingry thank you very much thank you Mr chair and thank you both for your testimony it's nice to have the uh two of the tribes from the chairman State here to begin with and I can see that uh you all work closely together and
▶ 0:18:28and I know he has a strong commitment to ensuring that much of this funding is available and I'm sorry about this year and the chaos that you're facing um you know usually we have the chance to focus on those very things that you all mentioned around um the law enforcement and you know many of the things that are ongoing concerns that I know we all want to work harder to increase the funding and to have this whole other layer of the unpredictability of the layoffs or where cuts are going to be made or other funds um is just
▶ 0:18:58added to the frustration so thank you for for talking a little bit about that when you were mentioning um uh the amount of land you've been able to purchase which is impressive and that's that's great for your tribe that you're um increasing your land Holdings um we we were referring to like people at the BLM that have to work on the transfer you were sort of saying have you encountered any of that now I guess I'm kind of curious from either of you um what already have you encountered that we might be able to push back on our work on in terms of you know lack of Staffing where you can't get the information
▶ 0:19:29or other uh portals that have been blocked to you thank you um ranking member pingre um I guess one of our areas is uh transferring the the land feed to trust because it has to go through the Bia and some of our um Acres it's taken years and it still isn't there to go from fee to trust and that's one of the are is that we have a
▶ 0:19:59concern with and then finding out that they've um terminated some of the regional and Central staff members which we were working with on those it's just going to take that much longer so thank you the that's one of the main thing for us is um like if a private if I sold land I can just go put up for sale and sell land it's easy uh but as a tribe if we go buy land we have to go
▶ 0:20:29through all those red tape and we have to get um appraisals done especially if we buy it from other traval members we got to get appraisal done and you know we're not about to stand here and you know try to rip our travel home travel members off you know we're pay fair fair market value just like you know that that's what you know sure and so that's the big issue for us is running it the Via so far behind on appraisals uh getting these done at a timely matter and I'm about trying to get the job done now you know and uh because you can't sometimes
▶ 0:21:00you can't wait you know if you you have a piece of land that you know you got a thousand acres you know for us we have a lot of Timber and so we're trying to buy a lot of these uh old Timberlands back for some of these logging companies and to just that red tape is is it's annoying it's like I said we've been doing this a long time and what better people to know than than us you know to have that that you know that that you know as you know my ancestor would say the the great white grandfather from Washington always you know putting
▶ 0:21:30a thing in it and so so that's our biggest thing and uh just I also wanted to say that what we do at C Lane has always been about working together for the community as a whole like talk about law enforcement I I feel bad that you guys only have N I think we have 14 officers you know and our land is a lot smaller than uh your reservation but but we what we implemented was we cross adverti for both counties you know with ctin County Bena County um because when I was uh growing up you know we we
▶ 0:22:00saw you know we you can't always pick who who you fall in love with and so some of our women were falling in love with non-tribal members and you know it was like a safe zone so you know if if a woman got beat you know we we didn't have no jurisdictions so so we that's why we cross advertised with the county so we could go into you know and arrest I think bad people are bad people you know no matter what color they are and they need to be arrested and so that's what we did and so so all these Cuts also
▶ 0:22:30affects that so if you cut our law enforcement it's going to hurt Cy County and benan County because they're going to have to patrol our area now you know so it really does it really is a a wide net that it catches you know so it's not just tribes it it's hurting our whole Community as a whole and you know both counties crony County and and Bena County you know up north thanks Mr M
▶ 0:23:02thank you Mr chair and to you and to the ranking member thank you for your understanding that I have other duties as a ranking member throughout the day but I will be here and my staff will be here the entire time um I hear you even though I come from what's considered a metropolitan area I was on a city council where we had eight officers yes it was three square miles but we were very densely populated with everybody driving through all the time and knowing how hard it was on our officers and to and to keep and
▶ 0:23:32retrain uh people constantly because the bigger cities right next door to us had more officers more opportunity for time off more flexibility for vacation all those kinds of things and it really does impact your communities when people don't um feel that um that they know the people providing the service it's not just having the call answered but it's also having those relationships when they go in on the call um I want to just comment on on the EPA uh portion
▶ 0:24:02of what you said with clean clean water and super fund sites and all those other kinds of things you know in honor as the chair said to honor our trust and treaty um responsibilities I know this committee is very mindful of the Cross tabs that go into the EPA the forest service even relationships with the Park Service BLM and the more that you can help us with examples know that the chair and the ranking member are going to do their level best to make sure that um these
▶ 0:24:32issues get addressed uh promptly and efficiently the last thing I would say Mr chair and I know this will come up again 50% of your community members if I heard you correctly because I wrote it down so I want to make sure I have it right I'll rely on um medic Medicaid for their health care through trust and responsibilities um and so here again again when the Medicaid cuts are talked about and how it's done I don't want
▶ 0:25:03anybody to have their Medicaid uh but but you also have trust and treaty responsibilities where we haven't lived up to Our obligation uh in the past or in the present so um thank you for bringing bringing that up and I think you're going to share a lot of things that when I am not able to hear I'm going to hear from the other tribes so thank you thank you Mr chair thank you and again thank thanks to both of you for coming out and testifying and sharing with us your uh
▶ 0:25:33vision and concern of what needs to get done and I will tell you when you talk about the great white father in Washington and stuff I will tell you we're not the great white father in Washington uh in fact I've become more and more convinced that uh This Is Your Land you need to be able to do what you need to do but you need the resources to do it so appreciate it thank you for being here thank you you bet uh Stacy Shepard Audrey Lee and Mike
▶ 0:26:04uh on the next panel
▶ 0:26:36is that a beaded tie let get that water CU you're up first go Stacy uh you're up first uh
▶ 0:27:06I know that uh chairman Cole was GNA be here he'll be here as soon as he can but he's being held up he's a responsible individual it has a lot of things to do yeah I know it's but anyway uh we'll introduce him when he comes in so go ahead Stacy well halito and good morning thank you so much for having me I serve the T Nation is the executive officer of member services uh so chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to
▶ 0:27:37provide testimony on behalf of the choon nation of Oklahoma's education programs which are a very high priority for our tribe the Chon nation is the third largest federally recognized tribe in America with approximately 225,000 members uh covering about 11,000 U miles uh in Southeastern Oklahoma we priori education as a vital tool for empowering Our Generations future Generations strengthening our communities and preserving our cultural heritage access to
▶ 0:28:07Quality education especially in rural areas remains a critical need for our students as they face unique challenges such as limited resources Geographic barriers and disparities in funding we recognize Public Schools as a heart of the rural communities which is why our school of Chaka language partners with local school districts across the Chaka Nation reservation a to preserve our native language uh the CH to language courses have been taught to at least 1100 students both native and non-native our chalk
▶ 0:28:37to Nation Head Start program provides early childhood education and support to hundreds of students laying that strong foundation for lifelong learning about two-thirds of our students who are uh in the Head Start are choah tribal members so we're trying to ensure that a majority of our youngest Learners receive culturally enriched high quality education in this program plays a vital role in preparing children for academic success by fostering cognitive social and emotional development investing in Early
▶ 0:29:07Education Head Start help strengthens families and communities while preserving choah traditions and values for future Generations the chalk ton Nation substantially sub supplements The Limited Federal funding available for Head Start education has always been the Cornerstone for tribal members and our values um after the removal and resettlement in Oklahoma the first thing we did uh our ancestors did was to establish schools and churches so decades later Jones Academy our Bureau of Indian education
▶ 0:29:37residential school was founded in 1891 and continues to serve as a beacon of opportunity for Native children dealing with family hardships today it provides education and support to 147 students from 28 different tribes and was one of the few biee residential schools to remain open during the covid-19 pandemic pic remarkably for two consecutive years 90% of the Jones Academy graduating seniors have enrolled in college trade school or military with a 70%
▶ 0:30:07continuation rate because of the federal funding of Jones Academy has been inadequate the chalk tation has substantially supplemented that funding in recent Years also the Johnson Ali the jom program serves a total of 13,43 students providing vital education support and resources such as school supp tutoring cultural enrichment and this funding plays a vital role in bridging those gaps and resources ensuring that they have the tools they need for academic success but since inflation
▶ 0:30:38those uh that that funding has been eroded and so the value of the federal jom funding over the years uh the chalko nation has felt compelled to provide additional tribal funding support for our elementary and secondary schools our vocational rehabilitation program has assisted 148 students with two to tuition and job placement providing crucial support to help them achieve their educational and career goals with a modest annual funding amount of two thou
▶ 0:31:09$211,000 Vocational Rehabilitation continues to remove barriers to education and employment empowering native students to reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to their communities tribally funded programs such as the choon nation posy summer school program we collaborate with school districts uh in our reservation to offer a 23 day summer learning program during this time oh okay thank you
▶ 0:31:3933,000 students have participated in posi when they have completed if they've been through the posi in four years they are reading on third grade level and I will add something here there are many states in the United States that determine number of prison beds based on a child's third grade reading score we have the data to back it up we're doing research with Oklahoma State University it's the state of Oklahoma should follow and what we're doing Career Development 6,640
▶ 0:32:10tribal members with Career and Technical Training to help individuals gain the skills knowledge and resources needed to advance in their careers ultimately contributing to a stronger more skilled Workforce so as we look ahead continued Federal investment in Indian education is essential to ensuring that Native American students have that fair shot at the American dream strong education systems are critical for healthy tribal Nations and Rural communities and while the subcommittee I know is facing competing priorities and challenges funding support
▶ 0:32:40for Education should not be sacrificed for the sake of other goals the Chon nation of Oklahoma is requesting that you fund these programs like jom voke rehab bie funded schools like Jones Academy and the efforts of tribes to work with local public school districts to increase the quality of Ed ational opportunities Yak thank
▶ 0:33:16you oh sorry thank you okay good morning good morning I will start with my name is Audrey Ros Lee I'm the second Chief for the sack Fox Nation and I'm honored to be here so on behalf of principal Chief Randle Carter and the citizens of the sack Fox Nation home of Jim Thorp Olympic gold medalist for the 1912 P pentathlon and decathlon medals it is a privilege to stand before you today and submit our tribal priorities for Bia IHS biee and EPA budgets the unique political stance between the US and Sovereign
▶ 0:33:46tribal Nations is solely based on the contribution of eoy the Confederacy of Nations and development of the US Constitution and to reaffirm the continuing government toover relationship between Indian tribes in the US as established in the constitution in 2025 we celebrate 50 the 50th anniversary of Indian self-determination and educ education assistance Act of 1975 signed by President Richard Nixon the first acknowledgement by the United States government that tribes were capable of managing
▶ 0:34:17federal funds and programs in 1983 President Ronald Reagan issued an IND IND Indian policy statement which reaffirmed the government to government relationship between the US and federally recognized tribes the policy emphasized tribal Tri self-governance and local control over reservation Affairs why pledging to assist tribes in strengthening their governments removing Federal imped Ms to tribal self-determination essentially promoting a policy of self-governance for tribes without the threat of
▶ 0:34:47termination in 1988 President George H bush signed Public Law 10472 which broaden the scope of the se s s isaa allowing tribes more flexibility to determine our own priorities and allocate Federal resources where they are needed the most at tribal level the sack and Fox Nation has pioneered the self the self-determination and self-governance agenda for the past 50 years but current Administration actions threaten our
▶ 0:35:17Collective progress and warrant immediate intervention by Congress the nation reminds Congress of the statutory language required consultation with tribes prior to ex Ive action will impact tribal programs and tribal funding we seek your assurances that Federal funding for tribal programs is not paused reallocated reclassified or deprioritized when implementing any executive orders to other administration of priorities Congress needs a remedy that will reascended
▶ 0:35:47board Personnel cuts the solution of federal agencies with severely impact the US government fulfilling the trust responsibilities and treat treaty obligations to tribes and Native citizens tribal programs services and functions and activities must be exempt from recessions sequestrations and government operation shut shutdowns the sack Fox Nation strongly requests that you protect the policies and have strengthen and have strengthened the tribal Federal relationship and support tribal
▶ 0:36:18self-determination and self-governance I bring forth three tribal specific budget requests for our nation the first one being a $ 6.52 million request to fully fund f fund operations and maintenance of the sack Fox Nation Juvenile Detention Center this will allow our Juvenile Facility to run a at full capacity provide all the necessary care and services even though the nation continues to receive and use federal dollars to address the issues of juvenile delinquency and detention for tribes in the Southern Plains
▶ 0:36:48region and Eastern Oklahoma region we have never received sufficient funds to operate the facility at its fullest number two a $3 million request fund the tribal General general assistance program with EPA the nation is requesting that Gap be less restrictive competitive and provide more funding for Staffing Gap lacks uh flexibility and fails to meet the needs of tribes including adequate funding sufficient techn technical assistance to assist tribes to a full fulfill the
▶ 0:37:19responsibility specifically for the nation EPA does not provide adequate oversight as our federal trustee for oil or any environmental incidents that impacts our reservation in citizens for decades we have been impacted by industrial negligence and lack of Abandonment for the removal and decommission of abandoned Wells mines pipes cables and other remnants related to oil spills and can contamination Footprints across the nation's jurisdictional
▶ 0:37:49lands which span across Three Counties the nation needs funding to conduct planning and to develop our infrastructure to prepare for oil spills contamination and environmental emergencies that continue to damage our community and citizens in the in the past we have been severely disregard and remain vulnerable to Industry aftermath across 21,000 Acres of allotments 800 acres of tribal lands in 2022 the most recent possibility the worst oil spill at Skull Creek released
▶ 0:38:19about 300,000 gallons of oil into the creek and compromised thousands of animals fish trees and many other natural resources with that being said in closing I thank you for allowing me to speak this morning so thank you thank you uh Mike I still think that's a great tie thank you Mike do goose hello and good morning uh chair Simpson ranking member pin green and honorable members of the subcommittee
▶ 0:38:49thank you for the opportunity uh given to me to testify today my name is Michael natches and I serve as the UAB band representative of the UN Indian tribe business committee our reservation is in northeastern Utah and it is the second largest in the US uh we cover roughly four and a half Acres uh with within our exterior boundary we have about 2700 members of the tribe and about half of our members do live there on on the reservation uh I'm here today to talk about uh one one of the topics
▶ 0:39:20is on Indian energy and Indian energy development um I'm here today to ask the subcommittee to direct the Bia to use what will soon to be FY 26 appropriated money in an effort to turn over control of our Ute Indian energy development leases uh Business Development agreements and related documents to our tribal government under a federally approved tribal energy development agreement the the Tera these teras were authorized and conditioned by Congress over 20 years ago after years of hearings and and studies
▶ 0:39:50doing this will improve tribal oil and gas oversight bringing it back to the local tribal level while also saving taxpayers money unfortunately previous administrations have not gotten around to approving our our terara agreement we believe that this is because we produce oil and gas rather than other forms of of clean energy and I'm here today to ask that you help us correct that while some federal assistance still needed tribes like mine have outlived the need for the current level of federal
▶ 0:40:20recognition the ud Indian tribe takes the idea of tribal oil and gas oversight very seriously our people people live near our oil production Fields they develop right within within our reservation and uh you know we we raise our children there we have we have our families that work there and um the air the water animals Flora um those are all of our treaty assets and we take the protection of those extremely seriously um I used to be in the air quality uh world
▶ 0:40:50and so I I know firsthand that energy development can be done cleanly um and we know that this will take time so I'm asking you to ensure that those federal employees at the Bia the BLM and honor stay in place and are fully funded just this past week we lost seven of the eight people who help us secure those Federal approvals at the agency level we need those employees back immediately our tribal energy production cannot afford to become an unintended consequence of national budget cuts and terminations
▶ 0:41:21the oil and gas sector on the ENT or reservation produced 643 billion indirect revenues to local state and federal governments and generated 8,300 direct indirect and induced jobs and a half a billion dollars in total labor income shutting down the key essential workers that are necessary to maintain and develop her energy resources shuts down not only the United States and Utah's ability to maintain energy dominance this is not a tribal issue it is an American issue
▶ 0:41:51and the lack of adequate Staffing and budgetary support undermines National Security interests and impacts the en environment by pushing that energy development to other areas of the world where Environmental Protections do not exist it is therefore critical that we get support we need to ensure our energy resources can continue to be developed and maintained uh the other other issue I have here today is funding for Bia law enforcement and also our detention staff additionally as many tribes have testified the
▶ 0:42:21Bia and its office of Justice Services lack the funding necessary to fulfill the US treaty and Trust responsibilities in the area of law enforcement and Public Safety on average we have a total of three Law Enforcement Officers per shift to patrol and respond to 911 calls on our 4 and a half million Acres the UT tribe is already contributing over 50% of the funding for the police force with our tribal funds even then answering a 911 call can take up to an hour and our officers operate without backup funding for detention Services
▶ 0:42:52is also significant inadequate the UT tribe was forced to build its own 36 million dollar Detention Center because of a lack of Bia construction dollars now getting Bia to fund its operation at the intended level has proven almost impossible today the Bia continues to ship our tribal detainees off the reservation to county jails where it rents insufficient bed space tribal members are sent away from the reservation to county jails and the Bia pays County Detention facilities every two weeks diverting funding to
▶ 0:43:23facilities additionally prisoners are often released from jail or not picked up on on warrants due to the lack of space and additional costs of housing them off our reservation this creates a public safety issue for our tribe and it makes no sense in conclusion Congress must uphold its trust and treaty responsibilities to the UT Indian tribe and other tribes as well chronic underfunding of programs supporting Indian tribes continues to plague our ability to develop our resources promote our economies and provide safe communities thank
▶ 0:43:53you thank you Mike uh before we continue with question uh I'd like to recognize the full committee chairman uh Tom Cole from Oklahoma and thank him for joining us today as the first Native American to serve as chair of the Appropriations Committee and a member of the chicksaw nation uh he continues to be one of the biggest Champions obviously in in Indian country and has educated a lot of us to the needs in Indian Country so I'd like to yield to Chairman Cole for his remarks well thank you very much Mr chairman and before I go to my prepared remarks I
▶ 0:44:23want to make uh two or three offthe cuff comments first it's Wonder F to be back in this room uh I I love this room I love the subcommittee uh it was the first subcommittee I got to serve on when I came to Appropriations in 2009 you were the ranking member and then became the chairman and you know for good or ill most of what I know about being a chairman I learned from you sitting at this table so uh if I ever make a mistake you can blame Simpson but if I ever do anything right you can give him the credit too
▶ 0:44:53and I want to compliment chairman Simpson and my good friend ranking member pingry this committee on Indian things and this began a long time ago and under you and Moran and I saw it with Cal and Betty McCullum uh on Native American issues we really do try to work together we really try to find common ground and we all recognize that we have treaty and Trust responsibilities that we have not historically done a very good job of keeping uh and so this committee has led the way and
▶ 0:45:24done a lot in the law enforcement area recently that's your joint I know priority because I've had both of you come and speak to me if you could give us a little extra money we'd spend it where you wanted to go in Indian Country uh and U this committee is uh also uh and made steady progress It's its problem is limited resources but on Indian Health whole variety of things and those have been always done in a bipartisan manner so again all of you that serve on this committee I want to thank you for doing it uh because I think it's an extraordinarily
▶ 0:45:54important committee and I think it's worked extraordinar well we have a lot of things on this committee subcommittee that we disagree on might be EPA it might be climate change what what there's plenty of things to disagree about this is not one where we disagree this is one where we try to find common ground and work together and I can tell you both sides of the aisle push for more resources to get here uh I got to add in a personal State pride note Stacy when I walked in first thing the chairman said boy her testimony was fantastic she's really great I said well
▶ 0:46:24yeah she's chock T that's like almost the chick all so yeah but I was as I say I'll talk to Chief baton and let him know you really hit it out of the park for him when the Chairman's pleased with your comments and uh and I and again I appreciate all of you coming and chairman I want to thank you and it's a long-standing tradition this committee there's not very many committees that take three days of testimony because they want to hear from their constituency and and the people that they represent and under Democrats
▶ 0:46:54and Republicans alike this has been a kind of Hallmark day and the committee learns so much when you take the time to come and testify uh and so we're really pleased that you took time from your schedules to come and your tried for supporting of sending you here I know this is not an easy Endeavor but it really helps the Congress of the United States do the right job so again I want to thank the chairman and ranking member pingry and good morning uh thank all of you for being here this week and for taking
▶ 0:47:25the time to testify on important issues affecting your communities as an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma tribal issues have always been at the Forefront of policy decisions I make as a member of Congress and as a member of this important committee I have been and remain committed to ensuring the federal government upholds its trust responsibility to Native Americans to provide basic services and resources throughout Indian Country I'll add we've made significant progress in housing
▶ 0:47:55uh in roads in the last couple of years and again I compliment uh well I guess you know I got to be the chairman of thud when we made our first move but I compliment chairman warmac for continuing that and adding on the housing and Road front and uh his colleague formerly uh Mike Quigley now chairman klyber but uh or former whip klyber but the point is we're working together on those issues not just in this committee but in a variety of committees I have been in contact and to your
▶ 0:48:25point uh uh Mike um with agencies in the White House to ensure our responsibilities to tribes are fully and understood across all facets of the federal government and sometimes people just don't get it I they quite often come from places that don't have a tribal presence they don't know much about the issue I am pleased that secretary bergam actually issued an order that anything in interior that was dealing with Indian tribes the money was to flow there was to be no interruptions it's my understanding that
▶ 0:48:55secretary Kennedy has done the same thing in HHS obviously we got a problem on the energy front which you quite rightly point out uh and we'll try and work on those as well uh you know this is U again these are important treaty and Trust responsibilities uh the United States needs to fulfill and our commitment is to work with you and our colleagues across the a to make sure that those are are kept I look forward to hearing the testimony from each of you I'm sorry I missed yours
▶ 0:49:25Stacy but uh I got a little bit of yours Audrey but uh I got all the mics and I'll be here for a while and we do keep track of of you know what tribe coming in to say or coming in have to say and so again just thanks for taking the time it's really an important thing and I look forward to a good three days yeah of hearings uh on these issues and uh believe me it will guide what we do I think on a bipartisan basis so thank you again Mr chairman you'll back thank you uh
▶ 0:49:55chairman Cole and thank thanks for being here I know that uh you have one of those jobs where you have a lot to do and uh you're probably requested in about 12 different places right now for for various meetings but thank you for being here I know that this OB obviously is a very important subject to you as it is to this committee but thank you all for your testimony and uh uh as you said Mike uh losing some of these people that are necessary to continue your operations is of concern to all of us and it's uh something that we
▶ 0:50:25we will be working on uh and trying to make sure that that doesn't impact what happens on tribes but Stacy I gotta tell you your testimony was spoke to my heart it is uh education is uh in fact I'm gon to run it off and spread it around a little bit if you don't know but I've often said that I mean we have problems getting doctors and dentists and nurses out on reservations and stuff like that in the long term the only way you're going to solve that is to educate the members of your tribes
▶ 0:50:56and send them to colleges at uh University of Idaho or Boise State or Idaho State University I understand that there are some potentially other good colleges across the country but those three kind we talked about this earlier but uh anyway to educate them send them to medical school and stuff 90% of them will come back to the reservation and serve uh serve the members uh on the reservation of the tribes and stuff and that that's the long-term solution
▶ 0:51:28uh so I I really appreciate your testimony and stuff so I don't really have any questions but uh Miss pingry thank you Mr chair thank you Mr Cole for being with us today and all your um support for Indian Country thank you to everyone who testified today I uh I'm I'm of course partial to Maine we'll get to hear from them next but U my partner grew up in Gore Oklahoma so I've had a chance to visit a few of the tribes and uh seen um some of the great work that goes on down there Miss Shepard your uh talk about education
▶ 0:51:58was really informative and I agree with the chair it it um could inform a lot of our public education the work that you're doing and I also know so many of the tribes are working hard to preserve the native language and the way you're doing it from the very beginning really is extremely impressive so thank you for that um M Le uh appreciate your remarks about or chiefly second chiefly um about the EPA and the important role in in uh dealing with cleanup so um we'll try to follow up a little more on that that and we are concerned about um some
▶ 0:52:28of the lack of availability of access to EPA um and uh to you chairman natches um right yeah councilman uh sorry about this loss of personnel that's really severe and as you talked about um you know being able to move forward on some of that decision- making you know however the decision is going to come down you want to get it done and um so we can probably follow up and try to figure out uh if those are positions
▶ 0:52:58that could be reinstated because seven out of eight does not seem like a good management decision and parallels much of what we've seen of sort of arbitrary loss of personnel and firing um and we know throughout all Indian Country programs we've already had Personnel shortages it takes way too long to get a decision or to get the work done so um that's just outrageous we we'll try to figure out how we can help with that but thank you all for your testimony really appreciate you being here today y that e
▶ 0:54:12just really quick um to uh our distinguished chairman uh Cole uh when Miss Shepard was testifying she talked about the remarkable work that the tribe has put in their on dollars to keep head start and other things going and and how it's huge dividends uh Johnson Ali was mentioned but you know Esther Martinas and some of the native language things all reside a lot of them in the Department of Education so I'm just going to put another thing on
▶ 0:54:42your on your plate uh that as you're talking to uh counterparts in the White House our trust and true the obligations in the Department of Education which they're talking about totally dismantling need to along with for all our children in our country and need to be held harmless you uh first of all misley I am so sorry that I came in in the middle of your testimony and sat next to you and then moved I was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and I
▶ 0:55:13missed the mark by a mile um and I apologize to all of you that I came in and I'm I'm also going to have to leave I have to be in another hearing right now um but Mr chair or councilman sorry uh I support your goal of prod producing more energy in the unab Basin and I'm sure you know that the the governor of Utah's number one initiative right now is more energy production in Utah so I look forward to working with your council with the governor's office and with the rest of the Utah delegation to help make sure that we're
▶ 0:55:43producing reliable and clean energy in Utah thank you for being here I really am sorry that I have to leave I would love to sit here but we have a wild week going on around here this week I yield I it is a wild week and it's like I've got an energy and water committee going on right now that I'm just not going to make it but there are hearings going on all over and I know Betty has a classified hearing that she's got to be in and other things so there will be members popping in and out and everything but I will tell you this I do take the testimony
▶ 0:56:13home and read it and that's all included in the record and stuff like that so I appreciate that Tom did you have yeah just a quick I was going to before Celeste left I and say when have we not had a wild week around here in a while but uh I do want to make one quick comment uh because Stacy I read your testimony last night and I've had an opportunity to visit the language School uh and I got to tell you guys it's the most remarkable thing I've ever seen it's one of the best public tribal Partnerships I've ever seen
▶ 0:56:44I mean you know where you've got literally speakers in one place and you're telecommunicate connected to I think it's over 100 Schools or something like that is it are8 schol our res yeah yeah it uh it is amazing it is amazing and one of the best uses of dollars to preserve the language and uh
▶ 0:57:14you know restore the culture that I've ever seen so uh you know those of you that represent tribes you ought to send their people that are concerned about the language issues down to the chak TOs and let them show them what they're doing and I guess there's been a pretty good reception in the public school system about having this service available
▶ 0:58:12and0 well I just want to add this is another um honestly example of if you help tribal Nations succeed economically they take the dollars and invest them back in their own people because it's not a federal program this is a program that the chalk toss fund with their money that they earn in their Enterprises uh and I'm very proud of that too I mean it doesn't mean we should ever be short on pushing the federal government to resend it or to fulfill its responsibilities but when you see a
▶ 0:58:42tribe step up and say this is important to us culturally historically uh we're going to spend our money on this uh and I you know choc do do on Healthcare they do on a whole variety of services they take federal dollars and then add to them out of their their Enterprises and again I would invite you all you go see their headquarters by the way uh it'll put about any tribal headquarters I've ever seen and complex it it is a remarkable Testament to initiative and Enterprise and reinvestment in your own people so
▶ 0:59:12well done you'll back thank you chairman thank you all for being here but uh yeah the tribal I've been down uh and spent uh quite a bit of time actually with the sh banic tribe in Fort Hall and they're doing native language stuff and it's fascinating to go into this class with these first and second graders when Chief was there yeah yeah it was uh it's fascinating to watch this stuff and we can't we cannot afford to lose uh these native languages
▶ 0:59:42and stuff and that means it's a concerted effort to keep them keep them alive and stuff so proud of what you do and I do you have do you interact with other tribes that want to
▶ 1:00:19yeah what's for help us some ofs thank you thank you all for being here today I appreciate your testimony we now have uh Kirk Francis Corey Hinton Brian Harris and John Johnson
▶ 1:01:21Kirk you're excellent no jokes about M potatoes today nothing like that first of all it's that's an well good morning everyone uh Mr Simpson ranking member penre it's a honor to be here my name is Kirk Francis I am the tribal Chief at panop Scot Indian nation in the state of Maine uh this committee has always been gracious with your time and I appreciate you
▶ 1:01:51continuing to hold these witness days I'd like to begin by asking this committee to work with the agencies within your jurisdiction to clarify that Federal programs funding and employees related to tribal nations are not diversity equity and inclusion programs or environmental justice programs and should not be subject to Workforce reductions funding Cuts or hire INF freezes our political government- toover relationship with the United States is enshrined in the US Constitution treaties
▶ 1:02:22Federal statutes and has been consistently confirmed by the United States Supreme Court we have had numerous instances in the past month where our federal funding has been paused and our federal points of contact are either gone or are being told they cannot talk to us one of the more egregious impacts on us was our inability for several weeks to access our own trust funds that are managed and held in the department of interior accessing these funds is usually a quick and simple process but the recent changes
▶ 1:02:52resulted in us having to go through extra steps and review which delayed our access by several weeks I am happy to report that we finally did receive access to these funds late last week but it provides an example for why there needs to be clarification to agencies to exempt Indian country from these new actions and cuts as the committee considers funding levels for fiscal year 2026 I want to share some quick thoughts about the Indian Health Service and the EPA we are always concerned
▶ 1:03:23about funding levels for the IHS this committee has been strong advocate for increasing funding for the IHS and we hope that you can continue the your strong advocacy however much of the recent increases in the IHS funding have gone towards fulfilling legal obligations such as contract support cost costs and 105 L leases for fiscal year 2026 we asked the committee to try and increase funding for more primary and preventative healthcare services this is particularly
▶ 1:03:53important given that life expectancy of native Americans has decreased by over six years in the past decade the EPA is also incredibly important for the pcot nation since our people continue to hunt and fish on a regular basis and rely on traditional P plants and medicinal for medicinal and purposes we also have a thriving small business economy with many of our citizens being professionally licensed Recreation guides and we participate in sustainable Timber harvesting the various programs
▶ 1:04:23at the EPA help mitigate past harm caused by the federal actions or inactions that allowed pollution to our lands Waters and natural resources some of these programs are specifically designated for tribal governments While others have a larger applicant pool where tribal governments must compete with non-native entities for this funding as the committee determines epa's funding for fiscal year 2026 we ask you that you consider doing the following one protect and increase funding for long-standing tribal programs at the EPA
▶ 1:04:54and two urge the agency to work with tribal governments to protect discretionary grants that have been awarded to us but have been paused because those grants are funded by the inflation reduction act or bipartisan the bipartisan infrastructure law I want to provide the committee with an update on our Public Safety and law enforcement crisis we discussed last year unfortunately we continue to struggle at one point our Police Department was down to only having our chief of police who had to take
▶ 1:05:24an and Patrol duties but for his 24 years of service with us and his ability to triage funds and work long hours we would have had to close our Police Department additionally we ran into several problems with the Bureau of Indian Affairs when we tried to contact contract with the local Town's Police Department to help fill our gaps until we recruit and train new officers which is underway the biia informed us that we could not use federal funds to pay for a contract with a local town because those officers
▶ 1:05:55were not trained by the federal government Additionally the Bia said it could not temporarily transfer Federal officers to our tribe because we are governed by a restrictive Settlement Act and that requires our criminal law to mirror state law essentially the Bia said federal law enforcement officers could not be transferred to us because they are not trained by the State Police Academy the inflexibility of the Bia required us to shift fronts from other departments utilize our own General funds and this contract is in place today to provide Public Safety
▶ 1:06:25for our community we are not the only tribe that has encountered this problem given this we ask the committee to include language in your report for FY 2026 that directs the Bia to consult with tribal governments on ways to increase flexibility and how we use our funds for law enforcement and Public Safety lastly as you know funding for tribal courts remains at at critically low levels and we continue to encourage the committee to find ways to increase funding for our courts these courts are on the front lines of our B ATT
▶ 1:06:55against illicit drugs most of our child welfare cases for example invoid uh involve some type of opioid abuse and our court systems operate with an annual shortfall of more $500,000 I again want to thank you all for your time today I'm happy to answer any questions and thanks for allowing me to be here Thank you Kirk I appreciate it Corey you're next thank you very much Mr chairman Mr Cole yeah it's my first time I'm here
▶ 1:07:26thank you for bearing with me I'll try again um Mr chairman uh Mr Cole Madam ranking member thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today my name is Corey Hinton I'm an attorney for the past maati tribe I'm here to testify on behalf of Chief William Nicholas who's unable to be here today I'm also a citizen of the tribe and so it's a tremendous honor to be able to serve my people and to be able to testify on their behalf here today I'd like to begin by briefly commenting on the significance of the trust relationship to my people the past maati people where I come from where proud to be American
▶ 1:07:57our Chiefs signed the first ever American treaty the Treaty of Watertown just days after the Declaration of Independence was signed 1776 The Declaration of it it of Independence and its idealistic recitals of equal rights for men were read into the record of our treaty negotiations our ancestors survived the tyranny of European Kings and far-flung monarchs and just like John Hancock wanted his blown-up signature to meet to make a statement to the king our establishment of diplomatic
▶ 1:08:27ties with the United States of America in that moment was more than just words on paper it was emblematic we did not want to speak French or worship a king and so we placed our faith in a young idealistic American democracy in that treaty our respective Nations promised peace and friendship in exchange for diplomatic and Military Support to the Americans we honored that treaty and we sent hundreds of our past MCA Warriors to serve under the command of General George Washington
▶ 1:08:58our past MAA patriotism forged what is now the United States of America in part and we're deeply proud of these contributions we sacrificed to help build this country and our citizens have considered continued to serve admirably in in the Americans Armed Forces ever since that day the past Madi tribe like our fellow abanaki Nations and many other tribal Nations view our relationship with the United States is something greater than Democrats or Republicans Party politics or shifts in Dem in domestic priorities we don't celebrate one party
▶ 1:09:28or another we America we celebrate our continued treaty relationship with the United States would still stands despite a Civil War and two world wars we help found this country we fought in every war since then and we're damn proud to be here today these sacrifices were born out of our shared relationship that exists between my nation and yours it's one that the United States was sound in in recognition of and it's one that this Congress has continually reported for the past 50 plus years as the current federal
▶ 1:09:59era of promoting self-determination has continued we've endured so much since 1776 yet here we are aiming higher to achieve better outcomes for our people Beyond this historical context I would like to identify and emphasize two particular funding priorities for the P mua tribe at Indian Township Public Safety and greater support for Children and Families since the pandemic our police department and our child and Family Services departments have struggled similarly to the panapa nation
▶ 1:10:29to stay staffed and to stay operational understaffed police departments and child and family service departments leave people at risk the safety of the people suffers as a result our chief William Nicholas who's unable to be here today is a career cop to this day he still takes shifts puts on the badge gets in the patrol car to ensure that our officers have backup and are not working too many overtime hours the dedication of that man is incredible but it's not sustainable to expect the chief of a tribe who runs a Sovereign Nation to
▶ 1:10:59also take shifts in a squad car whenever the need arises for that I would respectfully ask that this Congress consider increasing funding to support Bia police officer Recruitment and Retention to help to help continue improvements to Public Safety and policing in our communities similarly our child and family Welfare Services departments are in major need of additional support particularly for equal related matters our current child and Family Services departments have over 90 Active cases with a staff
▶ 1:11:29of less than three and I say less than three because two are full-time and one is a department head who also has to administer Department responsibilities these staff members are responding 247 to child safety calls which us usually involve substance use and very frequently uh lead to risks or directly involved domestic violence we frequently have young people using drugs and alcohol who are in need of emergency intervention however we lack the resources to truly provide emergency intervention 247 responses
▶ 1:11:59particularly the children who are most vulnerable and our staff are not always capable of providing emergency intervention even when they are able to be there on the spot as a result some children are not always getting the proper protective care that they need and some of our children are falling into the state system as a result I would therefore respectfully ask that you consider increasing funding to the bia's equa programs and Child and Family Programs as a part of this appropriation process to help improve outcomes for our past Makati children I
▶ 1:12:29thank you for your Kwan thank you Cory John is it on you hear me okay Nal mwag and Duna good morning members of the subcommittee I'm John Johnson Senior president of the laca flambo bandana Lake Superior chipa Indians I am serving in
▶ 1:12:59my third term as president I am joined by members of the tribal council we have traveled a great distance from our homeland WIS swagan in in Wisconsin to be here thank you for the invitation to testify before I summarize our funding needs I want to put our trib's request in context our ancestors and each succeeding generation of tribal members have fully honored our treaty obligations to the the United States our veterans have served the nation's armed forces they have
▶ 1:13:29fought bled and died for the United States in all its Wars your funds represent a portion of the United States trust responsibility to tribal veterans their families and the tribes Federal Appropriations in the interior spending Bill have nothing to do with Dei initiatives and everything to do with honoring that trust responsibility firing Federal staff who serve us and oversee our 638 contracts and cutting our federal Appropriations
▶ 1:14:00as government waste will harm tribal members and members especially in Rural America please stand up for Rural America and push back against the false narrative who will answer the phone if Bia region and agency offices are gutted Federal Appropriations spell the difference between the success and failure of tribal programs which in turn directly influen the health and safety of our tribal members and non-tribal members in
▶ 1:14:30our community our tribe is the largest employer in several several Wisconsin counties that border our reservation we are not here for a handout we are here to remind Congress of our tribes treaty sacrifices that bestowed blessings beyond measure on the United States and its citizens the United States promised to provide services we now provide many of those services are ourselves within the funding of this subcommittee please do not cut our 638 contract funding
▶ 1:15:00cut Bia and IHS funds and you cut us crime unemployment rates and substance abuse will increase on our reservation and surrounding non-tribal communities we are interconnected real America sinks or together last July the house passed a $ 38 billion interior appropriation measure that provided key increases for fiscal year 2025 that tribes requested in the last year's hearing
▶ 1:15:31please build on that find appropriation measure it included significant increases to Bia Public Safety and Justice programs to help tribes hire more tribal police officers and investigators significant increases to biee funded programs significant increases to IHS budgets sustained funding from the Great Lakes restoration initiative and Bia and EPA funds granted by the Great
▶ 1:16:01Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission gwick of which our tribe is a member gwick funding is critical to maintain healthy habitats for Fish Wildlife and agriculture for 11 tribes in Wisconsin Minnesota and Michigan in our seated territories please Safeguard Appropriations benefiting gwick I conclude with the following request promote OTE tribal language initiatives within Bia and biee funding to help educate proud
▶ 1:16:32competent native youth address pay disparities for Tribal Police Officers by passing the funding the parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act so we can retain law enforcement officers and address the lack of infrastructure funding to provide Wastewater systems treatment facilities for existing and future tribal homes hom s and a lack of robust funding for specialty care services such as neurology and oncology that
▶ 1:17:02drain purchase referred care budgets too quickly access to Specialty Services like the ones mentioned above provide treatment and care for tribal patients with life-threatening illnesses tribes ensure more IHS facilities and service funds to meet our needs our tribe has traveled here to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem today we fail you fail we work together we rise together
▶ 1:17:32it's not the bad people that will ruin the world it's the good people that are going to let it happen B which thank you I appreciate that John Brian good morning chairman Simpson chairman Cole ranking member um pen green and other members of the subcommittee uh so this is my second time uh testing testifying before y'all and I appreciate y'all having me back and so uh with that uh as you know
▶ 1:18:02uh my name is Brian Harris and I am the newly elected chief of the katab nation I'm a year and a half into my first uh term and I'm honored to be here today to speak on behalf of my people um and to highlight some of the the areas that I find that's uh in desperate need and and the need to continuing to be funded as you've heard already heard here this morning and one of those is the Indian Child Welfare Services one of the most pressing concerns of the Kataba nation and as you've heard uh throughout here this morning it's through all it's through all nations and I can't
▶ 1:18:33a year and a half in I sit here and I cannot believe that the issues that we have not only in the state of South Carolina but in North Carolina as you know we are federal recognized there as well and the cases of IA that uh that most of these um bureaucrats and these state and local governments find they don't have to abide by it's it's appalling and I don't understand where we're failing on that and so the Indian Child uh welfare act titled two grants these grants support traval and issues established Child and Family Service programs and of course as you know eal was enacted to
▶ 1:19:03protect the well-being and the best interest of Indian children and uh currently the fiscal year appropriation for this program is only $16 million I mean we got money we got $25 million going over to uh tribes in in in Central America but we can't fund our equal programs at home so uh the welfare assistant child assistant payments these programs provide temporary financial assistance uh for fer care uh placements helping to ensure that our children have safe and stab environments during times of Crisis the physical 24 uh 2024
▶ 1:19:33appropriation for welfare assistance which includes child assistant payments of only 78,2 194,000 Social Services Social Service children to our Elder and families this funding supports productive services for atrisk Children and Families offering preventive services that can reduce the need for out of home placements the physical year 2024 appropriation for social service was only 52 million that's grossly underfunded and one of the ways uh the kabin nation um through the grace of GL God and the
▶ 1:20:03blessing of having revenues we've had to subsidize these programs uh with our uh revenue from our gaming facility and we're glad to do it but we need some help you know because we we that that little bit of money uh even though people think it's a lot it does get stretched really thin and so we uh we want to support our programs with this um so the Indian Act of six uh 630 Authority this allows tribes to contract with the federal government to Min to administer child welfare programs directly ensuring that culturally
▶ 1:20:33appropriate services are delivered efficiently whether they're not equ also reaffirms the inherent rights of tribal Nations to that's better to involved in in child welfare matters involving their citizens it ensures tribe can advocate for the best interest of their tribal members and protect their tribal children uh which in the state of South Carolina it's failing and in North Carolina so the fiscal 20 uh fiscal year 2024 appropriation for tribal government activity which includes this program was 398
▶ 1:21:04m987 th000 so we' like to see an increase of that if you will the T initiative while not a line item in the appropriation the initiative has been instrumental in fostering holistic cultur grounded Service delivery continued support for this initiative strengthens tribal families and promotes self-sufficiency this program is supported through annual appropr Appropriations language rather than a specific funding line so hope that we can get that fixed so
▶ 1:21:34back on the same subject my next one is the recommendation regarding the Carlile Indian industrial school I spoke about this last year you know we have uh a lot of um of uh family at that school that need to be repatriated back through uh to their respective uh reservations and for the second year of course as I stated I uh appear before you to call attention to the painful and unresolved Legacy of the Carlile Indian industrial School while progress has been made just a little bit not a whole lot much more remains to be done
▶ 1:22:04to ensure the native children lost at Carlile are finally returned home to their reservation and families the Injustice was committed under uh the federal government's uh assimilationist policies remember it was uh kill the Indian and save the man that was her motto um continue to affect native communities and we must take further action to to bring accountability and resolution to this long-standing issue for the Kataba Nation this issue remains particularly personal one of our own Wade SS was sent to Carl
▶ 1:22:34as a young boy in 1903 less than five months after his arrival he died from complication associated with the vaccinations and so his grave like many others was mismanaged over the years especially when the US Army re relocated the burial sites in 1927 without uh um contacting any of the na native families and so struggling to reim their ancestors and pride them with proper Barrels in their homelands and uh so when we thought we located uh we there of course as I testified last year it was a remains of a 12-year-old
▶ 1:23:05child he wasn't even in the grave that was marked and we still haven't uh had any U resolution as to where he's at we can't get him uh to talk to us and so for that reason to address these ongoing concern I urge Congress to take the following action clarify nagra's uh applicability to the US Army make them do the right right thing Congress should amend nagra to explicit state that it applies to all federal agencies including the Department of Defense and the US Army removing any ambiguity that
▶ 1:23:35allows agencies to claim uh exceptions uh direct Appropriations for repatriation efforts Congress it allocate specific funding to facilitate the re uh patriation of Native American remains from military control sites ensuring that Financial constraints do not obstruct for compliance also if the Congress could do this as well you have to be a family member to ask for the repatriation of the remains we need it to change to say Native American
▶ 1:24:07tribe respectfully mandated a review of federal policies on Native American cemeteries a government-wide review of policies govern Native American cemeteries under Federal control particularly those tied to board and schools should be conducted to promote accountability and adherence to repatriation obligations and enhanced enforcement mechanisms strengthening neas enforcement provision should be a priority including imposing penalties on federal agencies that U fail to comply so that tribal nations are not forced into lengthy legal battles
▶ 1:24:37to reclaim their ancestors and at least 1.5 million should be dedicated to NACA enforcement codified timelines for repatriation congress should establish clear timelines for repatriation requests under ncraa and so our our um Journey for weight areas is been many years and we still haven't had any results in finalization on that and mandate annual reporting on compliance by federal agents to prevent um indefinite delays as I just stated expand tribal consultation requirements legislation
▶ 1:25:07should require agencies such as the Army to consult with tribal Nations before any excavation relocation or repurposing of sites containing na Native American remains ensuring that tribal voices are Central in decision-making process all right so so with that being said um the one of the last things an immediate crisis has averted this highlights the vulnerability of essential service to Poli decisions that may not fully consider the unique obligation the federal government holds towards native
▶ 1:25:37tribes to prevent similar situation in future I recommend that Congress uh does the follow imple Implement protective measures for essential tribal Services enact legislation safeguards critical service such as Healthcare education law enforcement enhanced consultation protocols mandate the federal agency engage meaningful And Timely consultation with tribal Nation before implementing policies that could affect the delivery of services in the inan country and lastly a firm commitment to trust and treaty obligations reaffirming the federal government's dedication upholding its trust and treaty responsibility providing consistent and adequate
▶ 1:26:08funding and support for programs serving Native American countries thereby revenging future disruptions caused by administrative actions so and by adopting these measures Congress can help ensure the stability and the reliability of essential service for tribal Nations honor the commitments made through treaties and Trust responsibilities I think that was fast enough for you I appreciate it thank you Brian I know that five minutes doesn't seem like long enough but as I said we uh we do take the testimony it's all of the testimony is in the record and we do take it and read
▶ 1:26:38it actually so I appreciate all of you being here and your uh and your testimony uh very interesting Cory and a lot of the things he had to say so I appreciate that and I look forward to working with you as we try to solve some of these problems that obviously are cross Indian country and have been forever but is there any is there any books about your tribe's history I'm kind of a reading nut so I I I could definitely uh direct you to some things I just want to say that when they were
▶ 1:27:08past maati Warriors they were always standing next to pavot Warrior is that right she well you are pavot but so there's uh that's a good one on on December 24th 1776 you'll like this the day before George Washington sailed across the Delaware River to surprise the British he wrote a letter to the P MCA Chiefs you can find it in the Library of Congress website and it just talks about hey we signed this treaty where are those Warriors you guys promised me and then the Warriors followed and this stuff
▶ 1:27:38is it's been written on Senator Collins has a great job of commemorating wabanaki contribution to the American Revolution I think every summer so there's a lot of great great stuff I'm a I'm a history buff so call anytime we can chat about it so if if you if you come across any books that have the history I would like to know that CU I I read all this stuff believe it or not maybe I need to get a life I don't know but but I enjoy history and stuff and uh I when you were mentioning your your tribe and the and uh the early history of
▶ 1:28:08it I thought man would be an interesting book to to read so if you come across to you let me know okay I'll send something along okay thank you all for uh being here uh Shelly thank you well uh thank you to all of you but especially to our our two main tribes for being here really appreciate apprciate your testimony um I appreciated too that you were here to remind our uh colleagues of the important role that main tribes played in the Revolutionary War and uh really our country owes a lot to them and also uh others of you have mentioned service throughout times tribes
▶ 1:28:38really uh tribal members play an important role in all of our military uh including up to today thank you Chief Francis for reminding us that um there are serious issues going on right now with the layoffs and the you know inability to access funding tribes are not de I environmental justice under the EPA many of these sort of buzzwords that get thrown around um should not cover our tribal and treaty responsibility um and I think it's important for our colleagues to hear that because although everything we do is you know underfunded
▶ 1:29:08and inadequate through here we depend on those portals being open at the DHS and the EPA and you know Health and Human all these things are really vital funding sources and we have been hearing really since um inauguration about portals being closed and in ability to access that funding so thank you for continuing to remind us of that and I think all of us have to stay vigilant about making sure that our other agencies that we don't have oversight um are not shutting off funding or inadequately doing any of that and same with the 638
▶ 1:29:39Cuts I've heard worry about that so we want to make sure um and the only other thing I I just want to touch on I know we don't have a ton of time but you know we talk a lot about law enforcement it seemed like it was the theme of of last year's hearings now we have you know a little bit more to talk about with these other layoffs and cuts but um just a reminder that you know most recent Studies have shown we need over a trillion dollars to adequately fund the needs of Indian country and it's less than 300 million um so with Chief Cole here today uh it's
▶ 1:30:09just another chance you know maybe this is the year we could bump that up a little bit more I know we're trying um you know whether it's in the court system or law enforcement I had the chance to visit with you earlier I guess that was this summer and um you know just see one one chief of police doing all of the work and the way you've described sort of this bureaucratic back and forth I mean if we're going to clean up some bureaucracies you know do you have Federal training or state training and you can't use these PE I mean it was mindboggling so um I think we can all work
▶ 1:30:39to include some of that language in there and then just push a little harder there because when you actually have a solution to something the idea that you know there's any blocking going on just for a bureaucratic argument that state and federal training aren't the same and you know that's l chis and of course to have you know your own Chief having to fill in Patrol Duty uh with all the other responsibilities the chief has um also ludicrous same with uh IA that came up quite a bit not enough funding there and this this could be a good year to bump that up a bit these things are all
▶ 1:31:09you know tied together between law enforcement and and adequate support so um obviously there's a million things you guys brought up during your testimony we could keep talking but um I think we could try to focus on some of those and thank you again so much for being here thank you for the the the good dose of main history and we'll make sure that the chair has a stack of books to read uh to inform us all but thank you all for your testimony thank you shy I appreciate it and uh uh
▶ 1:31:40terman Cole I yeah he never hears from me or you about yeah I I I was gonna ask my good friend the gentle lady from May she is my good friend last time you asked me for more money did you get it yes sir okay you did uh you know so I just want to make that point and uh and I was happy to do that uh because look I I value this committee both the chairman the ranking member honestly my good friend the ranking member has been chairman here before I know what a record on Native American issues is across her career
▶ 1:32:10so U this is a committee I trust if you give more money it's going to get to where they tell you it's going to get to uh couple things uh to and then then a couple quick questions but um number one and I say this I'm not pointing partisan fingers in any way shape or form this committee did a really good job in we did get an extra money last year and they put it exactly where they said and it was an Indian Country uh right now that Bill is hanging fire because we have not passed the we passed the bill across
▶ 1:32:40the house floor thanks the chairman here uh never got uh never we didn't s get a single Appropriations Bill across the floor of the United States Senate last time not one dealing with anything so our bills got across the floor and we're in negotiation now and we are at a point where we have no disagreements on money right now we'll just tell you that uh so if we can come to a larger deal there are other issues that are Beyond money we can come to a larger deal what the hard work of this
▶ 1:33:10committee did will happen and those additional funds will will be there if we can't then we won't and we'll be flat funded for another year and you'll fall a little bit further behind and I'm really worried that that could happen and again I don't blame anybody for this there's nobody on this committee that has anything to do with this um and U but my fellow appropriators Democrat and repu our job is to fund the government uh our job isn't to pass all the laws and everything else it's to fund the government and but we're caught up in disputes
▶ 1:33:41Beyond simply funding that get in the way of larger negotiations I actually think my fellow appropriators on both sides of the aisles and both Chambers have basically done uh most of their work uh uh but we need some help in other parts of the Congress and from the administration to actually get to a final solution and I can talk to all of you about that I will say on a number of the issues uh is it Chief or chairman Harris I'm sorry Chief Harris that's what I thought uh just so you know and and
▶ 1:34:11this committee is a funding committee so a lot of what you talked about which I agree with 100% And by the way our former Congressional colleague and and former Secretary of interior Deb Howen did a great job in in finally getting some recognition of carile there's actually a memorial going there for the trauma that you talked about uh very movingly uh so I know there's an effort to try and address those sorts of issues uh but you know in terms of this committee
▶ 1:34:41they don't have jurisdiction to do things with the US Army they don't fund the US Army uh and honestly you know probably the right place for that legislation to direct them would be either the interior subcommittee or the house armed services committee uh and again I know they'll raise those issues to their colleagues uh but you know we're basically a funding operation we don't have the ability in this committee Congress certainly has the ability to do what you're talking about and we need to to do
▶ 1:35:12that um and at least there's an awareness and I think again secretary Howen the former secretary Howen deserves a lot of credit for that she's did some amazing things both in Congress and and secretary uh to everything from missig and murdered indigenous women to uh the the schooling issue the boarding school issue to things like this she was a champion across the board to help us remember what sometimes a very painful history to remember but you're
▶ 1:35:42right to bring it up and you should use every form you have and this is an appropriate form I'm just telling you to defend my colleagues up here there's a limit to what they can do the jurisdiction that they have uh and they've done done a good job on a bipartisan basis with the resources that they have and believe me they never stop asking for more uh which is exactly what they should be doing uh so that's number one number two a couple of you mentioned you were one of them I think uh Mr hon you did as well but the number you mentioned EA I'm really
▶ 1:36:12interested in that we have the same kinds of issues in Oklahoma I think you're exactly right about the funding and exactly right about what is quite often an adversarial relationship with state and local officials who are not sensitive to the fact that you're talking about our heritage our future our culture our children uh and there's an appropriate role here for congress into play uh you know some people keep trying to push us out of
▶ 1:36:42that role I'm very pleased that we've maintained it but it needs to be better funded if you have some specific suggestions for uh you know legal we we've had efforts to you know get rid of that quite frankly and I'm glad on a bipartisan basis those have been resisted by Congress we want to keep that jurisdiction we want to keep tribes involved in determining the future of their children we've had court cases uh where uh states have gone to court to try and overturn EA and so far we've been
▶ 1:37:12successful in defending that because again we think tribal communities have a legitimate role in determining the future of tribal children that's their future so if you've got spefic specific changes in the law I'm not going to ask you for them today but I would invite you uh to let us know what they are there are advocates for EA on both sides of the aisle uh across Congress and last thing I would tell you on on a lot of these kinds of issues uh honestly there's not much partisan
▶ 1:37:42difference I mean i' I've always said tribal issues are not about partisanship they're really about two things almost every issue gets down to one of two things and the first one is tribal sovereignty do you respect it or do you not do you understand it's part of the law of the land in the Constitution or do you not uh and the second is the trust responsibility which the United States government willingly assumed uh usually in exchange for lots of land uh and reduce jurisdiction on the tribes part and
▶ 1:38:12I don't find those tend to fall very much along conservative liberal Republican Democratic lines they really are deep constitutional issues and and uh our biggest problem here tends to be a lot of our own members particularly if they're not fortunate enough to come from states that have substantial tribal presence uh don't know much about it I mean they're not opposed they just don't know if there's not an Indian Community in your area then you're not likely to know nearly as much about it
▶ 1:38:43as if you come from Oklahoma or Montana or Wyoming excuse me or you know certainly Maine uh now I I'll conclude with one other remark I can't say very much about the Revolution cuz we fought with the British uh we thought it would be a really good idea to stop the whites at the Appalachians uh you know so we were on the quote unquote the wrong side uh but uh I'm certainly proud of you that uh that did and um you know both of you speaking that
▶ 1:39:13issue much more importantly mentioned the enormous contribution Native Americans continue to make have made throughout their history to uh the United States military in terms of the Rus service in tribal communities is enormously higher than any other ethnic or racial uh group in the country not to disparage anybody's uh you know ancestors or contemporaries who put on the service of the uniform of the United States and going to Harm's Way to protect all of us but I'm particularly proud of the Native
▶ 1:39:43American tradition all kinds of tribes All Over America have this uh and it's a it's to be you you guys are to be commended for bringing it up reminding the rest of us and uh uh the rest of the country and certainly in honoring your veterans and we do have a a deep obligation there uh so I always like to say nobody's fought against with and for the United States of America more than Native Americans we've done them all uh and uh but
▶ 1:40:13mostly with and mostly for uh and uh again your tribes are be commended for continuing that service so thank you again thanks for being here thanks for the Indulgence Mr Soo do you have any questions thank you uh one clarification did I hear you right when you did you say that the life expense life expectancy
▶ 1:40:43of Native Americans has decreased by six years in the last DEC in the last 10 years yescott for example I'm I mean I'm here today um after burying one of my classmates on Saturday so we're still averaging around mid-50s yeah it's thank you all for being here uh interesting something that's just not right anyway thank you all for being here we appreciate your testimony
▶ 1:41:14look forward to working with you to solve these problems thank you you bet uh we now have Kathleen wooden knife and Frank star comes out that's it
▶ 1:42:13Kathleen you're first no my name is Kathleen wooden knife my Indian name is red haill woman and I greet you all with a handshake and a heart um I am the great granddaughter of Peter Stan who was a survivor of the Wy Massacre of 1890 my great grand grandfather's birth
▶ 1:42:43name was kills the horse and stands for himself and I just want to introduce that part of my family to you all and thank you I normally speak from my heart if i speak from my heart we'll be here all day and um so I'm going to speak with what was prepared for me with our within our culture our ancestors they always took their time to talk they always took their time to make decisions with a time limit I'm not going to be able to do that today so I will read to you what we've prepared for my testimony for today
▶ 1:43:14chairman Simpson ranking member pingre and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to speak today on the critical needs for enhanced funding for Indian country federative recognized tribes are facing increasingly difficult choices due to persistent underfunding and Indian education Healthcare and law enforcement these challenges are further compounded by the unpredictable freezes on federal funding with restrict restrictions on access to ESS essential resources while tribes welcome
▶ 1:43:44fiscal accountability we urge Congress to ensure that funding decisions are made with transparency and consistency not through arbitrary actions that jeopardize our communities Congress support for co- stewardship and tribal land transfers this Administration and Congress have put a priority on reducing the federal footprint for tribes in rural parts of the country this provides a unique opportunity for a win-win situation we currently have a federal state code stewardship
▶ 1:44:14agreement and would like to propose that any excess fun excess Federal lands be transferred back to the tribes especially for lands that border territories with our Indian Health Service the underfunding of Indian Health Services has resulted in millions if not billions of dollars in shortfalls tribes have left are left with an impossible decision covers these deficits from our own budgets or lose critical Health Care Services alog together
▶ 1:44:44in the facility that is on our reservation I worked at at one time I am a former federal employee we have lost a lot of our Direct Care and a lot of our patients are sent to other hospitals um throughout South Dakota and this really affects our families because in our culture we all travel together we support each other and not having these services within our facility it it causes a big hardship on our families because they
▶ 1:45:14have to be sent to other parts of the reservation or off the reservation um the Supreme Court's decision decision in theera versus San Carlos laat tribe made it clear that IHS must meet its financial obligation to tribes yet despite the legal precedent tribes are still forced into litigation to recover what is rightfully owned owed while tribes must still fight for discretionary spending the IHS need-based funding is estimates north
▶ 1:45:44of the $50 billion far greater than 7 billion in flat funding Congress has appropriated over the last two years we Ur Congress to fund the Indian student equal Equalization program to at least million law enforcement Services the Department of Justice requires that there be 2.8 officers per 1,000 people to maintain effective law enforcement in rural areas yet our tribe is funded for only one
▶ 1:46:15quarter of that standard our law enforcement department is responsible for over 26,000 people across 1 million Acres yet we only have 24 funded positions and just 17 officers currently employed the result of Public Safety crisis that is devastating our communities overwhelming our health care our education system and stiffling economic growth we have no officers for our federal state federal schools a b estimate 93 million
▶ 1:46:45a year needed we request Congress to support the Tribal Law Enforcement and parody act which would extend Federal injury death retirement and pension benefits to our tribal officers a critical need for Recruitment and Retention of tribal officers our tribal law enforcement department has to cover a large land base and the furthest Community from our law enforcement Services is 110 miles way with a large land base
▶ 1:47:15it's really hard for them to cover all the communities you have maybe two or three Patrol officers on a a night shift or per shift and it's really hard we have a lot of methan and alcoholism that um requires both law enforcement and our health services because a lot of the those that are arrested have to be taken to our Health Service before they can be taken to jail to make sure that they are safe to be incarcerated and so it's really hard um we
▶ 1:47:45don't have adequate equipment we don't have adequate vehicles and so it makes it really hard for us to have safety for our people our responsibility as tribal leaders is our next seven generations and the safety of our communities and our people which is very difficult to do lacking the resources so we do ask um for an increase and funding for our law services so in conclusion because I'm
▶ 1:48:15watching the little clock in front of me so I'm kind of starting to rush through um the challenges we face whether in Healthcare education law enforcement or Economic Development are not new but they are urgent we request the federal government to honor its commitments and ensure the tribes have the resources necessary to provide for our people finally the interior budget is less than 5% of the federal federal government's budget please do not let the cuts affect Indian Country on be behalf of Indian Country I urge this committee
▶ 1:48:45to act decisively the time for change is now yesterday we read that the in the credit C cards would be cut to $1 where they could use the credit card for law enforcement Services the credit card amount would be reduced to $1 that would have a bad impact on us because you have to have that credit card in order to have gas to get to all the areas throughout Indian Country so I just wanted to mention that it wasn't a part
▶ 1:49:15of this but it was something that I seen this morning I have a lot more to say but um oh you're giving me two more minutes yeah thank you very much um because I also wanted to touch on the Bureau of Indian education funding the funding disparity in Indian education is staggering for the past two years Congress has flat funed Indian students at only 1.6 billion which is an average of 6,910 per pupil while state funded students receive
▶ 1:49:4616,803 per student yet just two weeks ago the house oversight committee held a hearing in which this Administration admitted to a $6.6 billion backlog in school construction and 1 billion backlog in school operation and maintenance at St Francis Indian school we receive just over 9 million in student funds far short of what is needed worse yet these funds are being stretched beyond their intended purpose covering areas like school facilities student nutrition and school security that are already underfunded
▶ 1:50:17The Chronic underfunding of Indian education is unacceptable if we are serious about the future of in country we must invest in our students thank you thank you it uh president Frank you're up good morning did you hear me good morning um chairman Simpson and ranking members you uh I want to
▶ 1:50:47start off by saying uh um my name is uh Frank star comes out I'm the current um president of the oglalas tribe um I'm also um a veteran a Marine combat veteran of the United States Corps um has served in Operation Desert Shield Desert Storm and also operation restore hope magad disu Somalia uh I serve
▶ 1:51:18uh the country proudly as as a machine gunner and a Marksmanship instructor and I'm and I'm very proud of what I did for this country um but also I'm also proud of what I did for my own people and what I'm currently um this is my second term in office I just started my second term and you know I came here to
▶ 1:51:48uh tell you like it is uh for for us in Indian country you know my tribe uh has 54,000 uh membership and growing on a 3.3 million acres and I know some of you've been um here to witness my last testimony because I recognize some of you you know a
▶ 1:52:18lot of things uh that are happening on our reservations and I want you to know that you know we have two uh challenges as been tribal leaders we Mo we we man our own government and we have to figure out things we have we're huge tribes for large uh landbased tribes we have a population and the large area
▶ 1:52:48that cover as far as roads schools things like that and on top of that we have to come here and fight for funding for our people and that's the important thing you need to know the challenges we face because we Face challenges every day you know my tribe we have uh over 66 programs that are uh tailored
▶ 1:53:19to to meet the needs but as you know the the funding is just not there one thing I like to also mention is you know I came here to speak on treaties because treaties you know article six are the supreme law of the land and today in this current Administration I believe those uh treaties are being
▶ 1:53:49violated and challenged today with this Administration and I like to see that change you know it affects our people when you take when we're threatened uh with uh reduction in force as far as those those basic treaty needs that um are obligated to us such as
▶ 1:54:20bie those are treaty rights and you need understand that those are a violation of treaties and today we have membership here there it it's it's critical if it it's detrimental to our programs our people and when those programs are affected It ultimately
▶ 1:54:50it causes death and that's what we're seeing here because when you take away those employees from those programs our people have nothing uh to go or to look forward to to seek help you know um I've received a lot of calls you know from uh government employees from the Bia
▶ 1:55:20uh Department of interior um IHS employees all asking the tribes to fight for him stand up for him that's what we're here for uh today to to ask you you know I've been coming um for a few years now and and voicing my concern and I want to tell you something nothing's
▶ 1:55:51changed changed and I hear the ranking members here tell us that they are aware of the treaty treaty obligations not being met but we're not doing anything about it why is that you know I fought for my country because I believed in my country
▶ 1:56:21now I'm for my people and I believe in my people need to be heard what are we going to do about our treaty obligations that are so severely underfunded and one thing I want to out and this this kind of made me curious is is the root of the problem with our law enforcement I came and advocated Time After Time my first Administration and now rolling into
▶ 1:56:51my second second Administration or treaty obligations and that is law enforcement we had to take the government to court because of U the lack of a treaty obligation in law enforcement and as you heard here from else we're severely underfunded but we're not doing anything about it and one thing is and
▶ 1:57:21and I noticed is decision to let doj law enforcement grants expire in the late 90s is a big factor of this and why are we so underfunded why are we we only operating at a um 15% is beyond me you know what
▶ 1:57:52I talk to my congressionals and they tell me that there's an increase in law enforcement but to large tribes that doesn't matter that's pennies for us it don't even come close we need large uh landbased treaty tribes we need a separate uh we need to separate from tribes you cannot put us together as
▶ 1:58:22one and call it good tribes are different and as if as you can see and and I'm not going to read all my D data because because you have it all and just like I told uh secretary Garland in the last Administration you have all our dat and I was upset because he came to listen to us and and
▶ 1:58:52here our problems but the oldal Sue tribes D are sitting on his desk and now I was going to kill I'm not goingon to go there because there's no action I see no action and that's why I'm here today I I also want to mention you know
▶ 1:59:24some of the things you know that that are that that need to be addressed is IHS our Educational Department and transportation I I just want to mention those things because you know freezing our grants is a violation of treaty rights so we need to do something about that and uh our education department is where is it's it's it's uh we're
▶ 1:59:54threatened and uh we you'll hear that testimony on Thursday from uh one of our experts for Indian Country Mr cilia fire thunder so thank you for listening to me thank you Frank I appreciate it and first let me say thank you for your service to your people and thank you for your service to our country uh very much appreciated and respected uh we have been Tom and I and I can't remember who I think Betty was the ranking member at the time uh McCollum
▶ 2:00:25and uh we've been and visited uh I think all the reservations in in South Dakota and uh very interesting and so forth but when you say you're here fighting for funding for your tribes for their treaty obligations and and that kind of stuff the the people in Congress that are doing the same thing are sitting at this table and we will continue
▶ 2:00:55to do that and while it may not seem that there is happening we've actually made some pretty good progress in moving Us in the direction it's not going to happen that it's going to occur overnight what matters in this world is what direction you're headed and we are headed in the right direction long way to go yes I agree but we're going to do all we can to make sure that we can meet those obligations that uh I think most of us at the stable field that we have and I'm
▶ 2:01:25certain that you feel that we have and so we're going to continue to fight for for those things in Congress so but I understand where you're coming from don't disagree with with uh when you have obligations you kind of sit there and go why should it take any time at all to uh to meet those obligations because obligations it is challenging sure if I may respond to that um you know
▶ 2:01:56we don't expect it to happen overnight we expect you to um listen to us and give us some kind assurance that these things are happening uh to hear us out to come visit our tribal Nations to experience firsthand these are third world country that we live in you know we didn't ask for this way of life yeah we were forced we we went and we did not surrender we signed peace agreements
▶ 2:02:26that's right thank you thank you Frank I appreciate it very much and thank you Katherine for your uh for your testimony uh Shelley yep thank you very much thank you for your testimony and thank you uh for your service and thank you both of you for uh standing up for your the people you represent and the tribal and treaty obligations and I um I wholeheartedly agree that we are not meeting those obligations we haven't been meeting them before and we're facing another crisis um with the Staffing cuts and the funding cuts that
▶ 2:02:56have already happened with uh blocking many of the sources of tribal funds um at the Bia but also beyond that and so you're right to talk about another crisis and uh right to talk about the Deep inadequacy of the amount of funding that Congress provides so I I am also concerned um the priority of this new Administration coming in will be uh sending more money to the Border sending more money to defense tax cuts uh which many of us won't agree with and it seems to me in
▶ 2:03:26those priorities one of the priorities should be adequately funding our treaty and tribal obligations and when we talk about things like law enforcement and the Deep inadequacy of how much money that we send or education or Indian Health um we have to make sure that there aren't Cuts experienced there to fund those other priorities of this Administration I think that's Our obligation in this committee and and uh I know I for one will be wrting back and I agree with the chair this is a committee that works hard to increase that funding but
▶ 2:03:57we're usually only able to do so with such small increments it's barely barely felt and as you said with um tribes with big numbers and big amount of land um it really doesn't make a dent so you have my commitment to keep working with you and I really appreciate that you're here today and really sounding an alarm thank you for that
▶ 2:04:29I just want to say one last thing I have um I've sat on Tribal Council for seven years and I'm first the first female president for our tribe and I've made history I want to remain optimistic that this committee can make changes because in the past when I first became a tribal council representative I did give testimony on behalf of the Indian Health Service and it did help so I'm going to remain optimistic that listening to us today that we could move forward in a good way into the future for our people because
▶ 2:05:00as a compassionate woman I stand strong for our tribe and I thank you for today thank you before I move on to the next panel I did want because we're hearing a lot of this today and rightfully so it's obviously of concern to everybody and it's concern to both Republicans and Democrats in this thing but first of all the funding Frees we're continuing to monitor the administration's actions related to the funding Freeze from my conversations with the administration I understand that all annual discretionary interior
▶ 2:05:31Appropriations funding for the Indian Health Services and DOI Indian Affairs has been unfrozen I'd note that there is still some inflation reduction act and infrastructure investment and jobs act funding that is frozen within Indian Affairs and the agency is working to diligently to get all those funds unfrozen the subcommittee is monitoring ing the situation very closely and we'll continue to work with the agency to address these issues we understand the impact that it will have in Indian Country the agency layoffs and
▶ 2:06:01resignation uh resignations and retirements and we understand that the department of interior there were several Indian Affairs Personnel that fall under the probationary category that were fired however we have confirmed that none of those Personnel were law enforcement for the Indian Health Services the layoff uh the layoff offer was quickly reent Ed so IHS did not lay off any employees because of this initiative as with most agencies Indian Affairs and Indian Health Services do expect there to
▶ 2:06:31be some people that will be deferred uh take the Deferred uh resignation offer to retire before the end of the year while we are hoping that staff retention is not impacted this type of thing is not completely out of the ordinary during a change in administrations but having that I understand concern that is out there and rightful concern we're trying to make sure that it doesn't impact Indian Country so we're going to do all we can to make sure that happens Frank did you want to say something yes real quick
▶ 2:07:01you know um and thank you for reading that I also read that but I wanted to put it on record that um this this uh needs to be addressed and and and thank you for reminding me that uh reminding all of us for the for that okay reassurance thank you for being here today and testifying and beautiful country up there yep we need to get back there it's been before Co that we were out there so yeah
▶ 2:07:31thank you thank you uh we now have uh Ryman leau Janet alry don't know if I pronounce that okay just like it spelled you'd think I'd figur that out huh afternoon when Montana
▶ 2:08:48thank you for being here uh Ryan Ryman first these uh these on yep okay right uh I'm Ryman La I'm the chairman of the sh tribe and in our language I said I welcome you with a a good heart shake your hand with a good heart and I I thank the committee um chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and the other committee members um
▶ 2:09:18and I want to thank you for having these hearings and uh inviting these tribal leaders into to testify and I'm glad we you heard from olala and Rosebud and you're now you're talking to shine River and sing rock you know we all have large land base um which is a blessing for us and shine River actually has the the largest uh land base of the Sue Nations we the fourth largest tribe in in land base wise and indan Country and with that we
▶ 2:09:48uh experience barriers um because of that you know that we're blessed to have that but with that comes um issues like with um with law enforcement uh law enforcement is a very vital uh program for our people the um current number of Law Enforcement Officers is 16 and that's just not enough to cover the reservation and you've been there uh Mr Simpson and Mr Cole and um and you've come out
▶ 2:10:19to shine rer and you've seen how vast and big is is is the size of Connecticut and with those 16 officers only three of them uh per shift uh and that's due to the the Bia funding uh they they just not enough to fund our our our law enforcement and I know the other tribes have similar issues when it comes to law enforcement and we and we do agree uh throughout our region that we need more officers Tribal Police Officers to cover our reservations
▶ 2:10:50um so that that's an issue um a priority for us to to uh to to hold another priority is is the um a new school we have we're we're right now we're on top of the list for a new school uh with with bie Bureau of Indian education and it's due uh our our school is uh in tough shape there were times um when the boiler went out the kids had to wear their jackets to to school all day
▶ 2:11:20um base heaters were brought in but things like that happened um the school is uh over 60 years old and it was not built by the Bia it was built by the um Army Corps of Engineers when they flooded us off our lands um along the Missouri River so it's uh it's time that the the bie gives us a new school and we need $53 million to build that school currently we before the freezes our our treasure was able to download
▶ 2:11:50our um to gather uh draw down All the Monies for for the the design which was $26 million very expensive design um due to the inflation and uh current costs of uh of the planning and architecture engineering so um so anyways we have um part of it planned uh we need to we have the money now to continue that that planning and finish the design so um so we're looking forward to that and I know the other
▶ 2:12:21tribes uh have needs for new schools as well so uh the N the magic number for construction is $53 million um Indian Health Service you know we we need to see more programs that focus on prevention of of all the sicknesses that currently turn fatal on us there's heart disease there's lung disease there's cancers there's diabetes uh curosis all these illnesses can be prevented um with the proper programs place
▶ 2:12:51and the proper funding for for that uh we have issues with alcohol uh drugs uh we're going to start our own uh Treatment Center this spring uh nine men uh nine women uh treatment center with the uh with the detox medical detox built in so uh but we we do need a dedicated um funding for treatment and funding for health and wellness centers we're working on creating our own Health and Wellness Center and we just
▶ 2:13:21need dedicated funding for that uh through IHS um the housing where we are we Face uh a lack of housing throughout our region uh at shine River we're at 628 um more houses is needed um and we we know that the um the Appropriations Committee uh DOI viia has the the housing Improvement program which is which is really a great program for tribes our tribe
▶ 2:13:51included so we could use that increase in funds for that program um and we we're uh you know currently uh I know they they probably told you but the riffs the department of efficiency um is is causing a lot of havoc and uh issues with uh with our programs with our Indian programs um the United States fulfills its trust and treaty obligations through both Direct Delivery
▶ 2:14:22of tribal programs and services and through provision of federal funding to tribal Nations and tribal uh organizations serving tribal Nations so when they when they do these Cuts these riffs these uh layoffs of probationary employees whether it's at Hol internations University or or at sippy um or or anywhere in the bie OR Bia that that is uh creating issues with the federal government in carrying
▶ 2:14:52out its treaty and Trust responsibility to tribes so we need these programs uh hopefully you can exempt them from from what is happening now so we thank you thank you appreciate that Janet you're up hey honey wash please forgive me I have getting over a cold so my voice sounds really terrible terrible today but um I want to appreciate the
▶ 2:15:22committee and um for all my relatives that are coming today to testify I think I see a lot of themes or a lot of uh issues that are basically the same but I'll read my testimony because I think it's important to do that um but good morning chairman Simpson and ranking members of the subcommittee my name is Janet alyam the chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sue tribe I'm honored to provide this testimony on behalf my ancestors
▶ 2:15:52are people back home and for generations to come staning Rock signed treaties with the United States in 1851 and 1868 today we have more than 16,000 members with about half living on our reservation our 2.3 million acres is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined but after Decades of chronic underfunding we lack the basic infrastr structure law enforcement Health
▶ 2:16:22Care Social Services veteran services that every government needs we paid for these programs and services through the lands and resources we seated in treaty our treaties brought peace and we were promise services and protection it is time for the United States to live up to its treaty and Trust responsibilities my testimony focuses on law enforcement Healthcare but I need to start start with the administration's Reckless firing
▶ 2:16:53of Bia bie IHS staff that provide programs to our services to members the subcommittee must stop the irresponsible management of the United States treaty and Trust responsibilities Indian programs must be exempt from firings Bia bie and IHS employees touch every part of our lives and every tribal project they are already on underfunded and understaffed each each employee
▶ 2:17:23is already doing the work of four people losing just one federal employee can bring our government to a halt or threaten life-saving health care we agree that reforms are needed but firing the staff that serve our tribes without any consultation or plan violates the United States treaty and Trust responsibilities funding and Staffing in in programs and services must be mandatory treaty programs and Services cannot be subject to changing Politics
▶ 2:17:54the federal government is already failing to provide law enforcement and Health Care promised in a treaty I'll start with law enforcement our people do not feel safe in our homes our communities are overrun with drugs and the violent crime that comes with drugs criminals and drug cartels know that we don't have the resources to fight back the subcommittee must increase law Bia law enforcement budget by three to five times and this funding must get to large land-based tribes like standing
▶ 2:18:25Rock we have only seven Patrol officers we are authorized 30 Patrol officers but subcommittee does not provide the funding we need most of the time we only have one or two officers on duty covering the area of two small states to solve this problem we need a second Bia Police Academy in the Great Plains we need homegrown law enforcement currently the only Bia Police Academy
▶ 2:18:55is in the southwest this is too far away and cannot keep up with the demand the subcommittee must fund the creation of a new Bia Police Academy in the Great Planes to address the shortage of law enforcement our officers are exhausted and feel unappreciated which leads to burnout po morale turnover and making the problem even worse in addition to police officers our Bia Detention Center is more than 60 years
▶ 2:19:25old and needs to be replaced anywhere else in the United States this facility would be condemned on our reservation it is our only option just last week the boiler stopped working it was 39 degrees below zero our judge was forced to release 39 nonviolent detainees the rest ofes were about to get bused to another facility more than three four hours away when we finally got the heat back on at 2: in morning
▶ 2:19:55just like our detention our hospital is also 60 years old it is the oldest facility in the Great Plains and likes La lacks life-saving equipment found at every hospital so I guess I I want to ask that the subcommittee take bold action to address the chronic underfunding of basic infrastructure and services the subcommittee should make funding for Indian programs and services mandatory exemp Bia Bia and IHS for
▶ 2:20:25these Reckless firings and fulfills full Staffing these programs and services were secured by our ancestors and treaties with the United States and these commitments must be fulfilled I want to thank you for allowing me to testify it's my first time then I get a cold that's the way it always works out isn't it I I I loved how you all talked about a little history and um I love how president wood and I SP said she
▶ 2:20:55speaks with her heart I I got the chance to speak at her inauguration and I told her because she was saying she gets nervous I said always just speak from your heart that's what our people need to hear our people just need to hear the truth and always showing compassion is is the best way and I appreciate the committee's compassion because I do believe that you are working hard and compassion is basically putting yourself in the other person's shoes so I am so appreciative that
▶ 2:21:25you have done that the history though is I am the first elected woman of Standing Rock Sue tribe but we had the first woman um of the chair of Standing Rock in the 50s was a woman and she was appointed by the Bia to a one-year term and so whenever I have uh get discouraged I think of um Josephine Kelly um in the 50s who was uh the first chairwoman
▶ 2:21:56and I can't complain because she only has only given one year to do what she needed to do and advocate for her people so I I'm grateful and honored to be here so well thank you and thank you both for uh bring here uh when we were out there and visited the the reservations in South Dakota it was uh I mean these are land these these are large land reservations and stuff in fact it was just a few months before we got there that
▶ 2:22:27uh I'm not sure if it was Rosebud or or uh the other reservation that uh that an officer was called to a violence actually got in a WQ and died getting there but it was a domestic violence call would have been 45 minutes to an hour before he could get there and he was obviously driving too fast on the roads that were you know uh trying to get there but you know 45 minutes to an hour later it's over
▶ 2:22:57yeah uh it's kind of like why go then you know it's just shows the lack of of officers that we have on these large landbase uh tribes as well as other tribes but uh you particularly see it on on some of these tribes but in Eagle bew it was there uh I when we were there there was a problem with the the pumping station and stuff they got that all fixed and okay thank you that was the they couldn't build more houses cuz the pumping station had Frozen during the winter and all that kind of stuff yep exactly
▶ 2:23:27yeah and um we got it running and um we have plenty of water now we just need the the home sites the hookups yeah and the the funding to to uh make those houses build those houses so well thank you for being here and thank you for your testimony uh sure but Sunday I had meeting with the FBI told was going to be here was here we had a situ and
▶ 2:23:58well they have to work seven days AEK just like so I sat down with the FBI but the stories I heard that sent to
▶ 2:24:36is y well thank you sh yeah thank you both for your testimony and and you know really reminding us of the challenges of a state where um there's so much land area in particular with the tribal uh jurisdictions and how hard that is to cover uh I hope we can do everything we can to get your school across the Finish Line we we've heard a lot of talk already today and we know how important education is and having those facilities where a kid feels like I'm in a school I'm respected because this is
▶ 2:25:06good facilities and good equipment I think makes a huge difference in the quality of their education as well as making sure you get adequate teachers um and congratulations on your role uh first woman in that job many of us know what it's like to to push forward as a as a woman um in roles that haven't been taken before but yours is particularly dramatic and I'm sure uh that the woman who served for one year would be very proud uh you know to know you're there today and that you know it says a lot that you were uh put there elected by the people who you
▶ 2:25:36represent and that they have great faith in you and you've both uh testified very movingly about really how dire the situation is uh you know year after year we are reminded on this committee that we just don't come close to meet the need particularly on things like law enforcement and Indian Health and I think with the current challenges and the chaos that's going on with the the firings or the you know portals that aren't available for funding that should be there uh you know some of it will be able to work through and I think the advocacy of this committee will go a long way with the
▶ 2:26:06new secretary just reminding him that these are treaty and tribal obligations we can't be cutting this personnel and I thought it was particularly uh meaningful that you said you know just sometimes one person and people think well what's one person you know we got to fire thousands in the one person might be the one that you know you have the contact with and helps you to make sure you get that Grant or that funding and and we need to be reminded of that that each one of these positions is vital most of the Departments are already dramatically underst staffed
▶ 2:26:36and so to lose more is is just wrong so thanks for spending your time with us today thank you for being here we appreciate your testimony I look forward to working with you thank you appreciate it you bet next we have uh Steven pronounce it for me say it again wha okay okay I don't blame you for not trying to I was gonna
▶ 2:27:06say I would destroy it if I tried Charles Martin Erica Pino Cecilia Flores SC over one
▶ 2:27:37want to shift over oh Stephen you're first all right thank you uh a little nervous here first time doing it um so uh all right well good morning uh honorable chairman
▶ 2:28:07Simpson ranking member pingry members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today inan Steven Ora uh my name is Steven Ora and I'm the poovi of the bishop P TR tribe poovi means chairman um our community is one of the many pyute tribes Across the Nation before the Colonial period we controlled vast stretches of land in California Arizona Utah Nevada and Oregon our Sovereign control over much of that land was lost but our cultural
▶ 2:28:37ties to the plants animals and changes of the Season remain strong as they ever were today my 200 uh 2,200 plus tribal members are still connected to the land and water of the Eastern SI Nevada mountain range uh Bishop P tribe is the seventh largest tribe in California even though our trust land is limited to a fully developed approximately 900 Acres adjacent to the city of Bishop our elders still visit the sacred sites we
▶ 2:29:07lost in Ino County and this year in the Nevada uh national forest and on lands owned and managed by the BLM our relationship with the forest service and the BLM is cordial and but the time has come for that relationship to evolve president Trump has put a priority on reducing the federal footprint for tribes in rural parts of the country this provides a unique opportunity for a win-win situation tribal governments as independent Sovereign nations are
▶ 2:29:37in a perfect position to receive manage and where appropriate develop excess federal land near the bishop P reservation we have identified more than a few dozen Parcels of land that are excess access to the needs of the Department of interior or the forest service now is the time to move this land out of federal control and put it back into the hands of the original stewards of the valley our people are good stewards of the land we live in balance with nature we protect the culturally significant animals in
▶ 2:30:07our on our land including pahave vichi that's bear tahita deer and pugu fish and we proactively manage the forest so that wildfires do not devastate our community to put it bluntly treble management of this land would be better for our community the bishop P tribe and I suspect many other tribes Across the Nation would happily take control of marginal Federal lands and put them to beneficial use We Stand ready on our own to
▶ 2:30:38own that land in fee or preferably in trust and so I look forward to working with the new Administration to facilitate land transfers along with the land water is a priority for the bishop P tribe the five Owens Valley pyute tribes have a water settlement assessment team and we are working diligently toward a settlement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power I ask that the committee continue to fund this important work I I also want to thank the committee for its support of Tribal
▶ 2:31:08Law Enforcement in the pl 280 States I commend the decision to include a pilot program for tribes impacted by this law but urge lawmakers to go further all tribes deserve the ability to protect our citizens from violent crime um I also wanted to speak to um Early Head Start funding it is crucial to maintain funding or to increase funding to these uh to these tribes or tribal organizations uh situated in a rural area it's really really hard to remain
▶ 2:31:38competitive um to keep uh Staffing at a sufficient level to meet the needs of our our children so uh if we're able I urge Congress everyone to uh maintain the funding or increase it by doing so we are placing that investment in the future of our um our kin um our future um and that's uh really at the heart of Education in my opinion in addition I also urge lawmakers to adopt inclusive definitions that recognize tribes tribal organizations
▶ 2:32:09and urban urban Indian organizations as part of a unified IHS tribal 638 and urban Indian Health programs itu the syst system of care with my remaining time I want to address the funding freeze when the United States enters into agreement to provide appropriate funds it is critical that the administration lives up to that commitment nothing less than American people's faith in government is at stake here I understand that this Administration has different priorities than the last one that's no
▶ 2:32:39surprise the American people elected a new president from a different party there was an expectation that things would change but withholding funds that were duly awarded is punishing Grant recipients for paying playing by the rules and that needs to stop finally I want to acknowledge the words of secretary berham um that he mentioned tribes are not part of Dei and that's important to reiterate tribes are governments just like States and counties are governments the department of interior and Department of Health and Human Services have clearly stated
▶ 2:33:09there will be no categorical repudiation of funds for tribes but other departments within your jurisdiction have not so we urge them to take that into serious consideration and please continue the work with the administration on this issue thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to working with you manuu that means thank you thank you Stephen I'm just gonna go down the line if that's okay Cecilia hello my name is cilia I'm the current chairwoman for the Alabama Texas we're located in
▶ 2:33:40East Texas of Houston about an thank you for the opportunity thank you for the opportunity to um testified today and um on behalf of the Alabama CAD tribe of Texas I wish to address a matter that our tribe our tribal nation has been trying to resolve with the Bureau of indn and Affairs the United States Department of interior since 2013 it is not a trivial matter because it involves a tri our trib's ability to receive federal funding to support our Tribal Law Enforcement
▶ 2:34:10activities to protect our tribal Nation I would like to briefly review our history of our trib's federal recognition in 1850 in the 1850s the Texas legislature passed legislation authorizing the purchase of land to serve as home for both the Alabama and the Chada tribes of Texas in Texas in pop County Texas those lands form our original reservation and we currently occupy those lands today we currently have approximately 11,000 acres and
▶ 2:34:401,435 tribal citizenships on May 29 1928 Congress passed legislation granting Federal recognition to our tribal um people however the tribe's Federal recognition was shortlived on August 23rd 1954 our federal recognition was terminated and Trust responsibilities was transferred to the state of Texas in 1983 the Texas Attorney General for the state issued an opinion that stated that it was unconstitutional
▶ 2:35:11for Texas to have a trust responsibility with our tribe and that the tribe was merely an unincorporated association under Texas law with the same legal status of other private associations in 1987 the federal recognation was restored to the Alabama kashada tribe now the issue at hand prior to 19 uh 2013 My Tribe received 630 638 funding to support our law enforcement efforts in that year
▶ 2:35:42regional administrator uh Regional director for the Southern Plains Bia office informed our tribe that it is his belief that there was no Federal Criminal jurisdiction on our reservation land therefore he concluded that our tribe was ineligible to receive 638 funding to support our Tribal Police Force such a statement was all the more remarkable because at the time of the passes of our restoration act the general accounting office confirmed that U the US would maintain concurrent jurisdiction on the Alabama koted tribe
▶ 2:36:13at the trib's request the regional director asked for the solicitor for an opinion regarding whether there was concurrent Federal Criminal jurisdiction on our tribes land and as I sit here today over 11 years have since we we have made this request the office of solicitor has yet to issue an opinion as directed by our restoration act and was allowed under the 1968 version of public law 280 Congress specifically carved out civil and criminal jurisdiction
▶ 2:36:43over gaming matters in our restoration act making such matters the exclusive jurisdiction of federal of the federal government under these facts the state of Texas Assumption of civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Alabama kashad tribes trust land does not preclude the United States from exercising concurrent criminal jurisdiction over crimes occurring on the reservation under either the general crimes or Major Crimes Act it is worth noting that the restoration act which also restored Federal recognition to Thea delar peblo
▶ 2:37:14in El Paso Texas also placed the Pueblo under in 1968 version of public law 280 and the Bia Southwest Regional Office has deemed the publico eligible for 638 law enforcement funding and the peblo is receiving such funding to date the solicitor's office still has not issued an opinion and to the question of 638 funding for the Alabama Kash tribe of Texas law enforcement and it has remained unresolved we have grown we in we
▶ 2:37:44in trying to resolve this matter with the Bia and the solicitor's office and we now ask Congress to take appropriate action to secure funding and support of our law enforcement efforts on behalf of the Alabama kashada tribe of Texas I appreciate the opportunity to raise this issue with the committee and appreciate your consideration for our requests thank you thank you cilia I appreciate Charles uh good morning uh chairman Simpson ranking member pingry committee members my name is Charles Martin I'm chairman of morang Bandon Mission indion located in
▶ 2:38:14Southern California to begin I want to emphasize again as as Stephen had mentioned emphasize the difference between tribal programs and prefer preference from Dei initiatives uh programs of serve tribes are a fulfillment of a legal treaty and Trust obligation that the federal government must uphold they are not diversity initiatives based on race but legal obligations that have been upheld for centuries at every level of our judicial system and that was recently uh a Thea case that that went before The Supreme Court was a recently
▶ 2:38:45uphold in that you know the tribes are not just a race of people we should not have have to remind the federal government of these responsibilities but the funding free and more recently the firing uh probationary federal workers serving tribes has uh necessitated these comments I encourage subcommittee and Congress to include language in this year's appropriation bills that specifically exempt tribal programs from funding freezes hiring freezes and and sequestration tribal communities have faced and survived countless attempts to erase our culture
▶ 2:39:15and our governments and the consequences of these actions are still being felt today Congress passing and child welfare act to stabilize our communities and keep native childrens within their culture today it is the gold standard of child welfare laws and we ask Congress continue to fund the Child Welfare act and Social Services grant program such as the IND child welfare act grant program the Bia welfare assistance program and the B Social Services Program these programs provide assistance to families so that they can be reunified when appropriate and even directly
▶ 2:39:45prevent the separation of Indian families in the first place the morong tribe is proud to be a self-governance tribe either compact compacting or contacting uh Contracting nearly every aspect of federal government services to the tribe unfortunately the funding the tribe receives provides uh less than 1% of our governmental budget this is wly inadequate we are fortunately able to supplement the funding with other federal grants as well as uh from our own tribal government general fund but not all tribes are able to do this
▶ 2:40:16and especially not at the outset of transition to sou governments uh we we we are blessed and uh we appreciate that and to to the extent that we can uh Advocate uh for smaller tribes that don't have well we Morango is always going to step forward and say hey you know what uh there are a lot of tribes out there that still need these the these These funds Congress needs to specifically increase Baseline tribal program funding to both meet its treaty and Trust obligations and allow more tribes to utilize self-governance
▶ 2:40:46program next I would like to uh talk about the Tribal Law Enforcement funding in public law 280 States although the goal of public law 280 was to improve Public Safety on tribal lands Public Law 280 only made the problem worse by creating unfunded mandated on states without any real oversight from the federal government where public law 28 was implemented bi chose to defend defund Tribal Police this has resulted in Patchwork of Public Safety Services on tribal reservations uh what is wrong I can tell you from experience that we don't
▶ 2:41:16provide emergency services to our citizens and many people visiting our reservations annually uh visiting our and no one will um I you know I'm currently uh uh working with the the state of California uh to do training on public law 280 it's just as simple as training uh to know how to uh deal with with with the the culture and uh and the members uh uh on tribal property so uh we are working on that uh but uh you know again that always
▶ 2:41:46you know even with the local sheriff's uh it you know funding becomes an issue because training costs the other thing is uh uh tribal court uh court orders uh you know not being honored uh you know outside of the reservation you know if you got a tribal court those are just simple things we supported the language included in the fiscal year 2023 Omnibus and seek to provide funds to tribes the Bia has forgotten but I am here to tell you that you need to go further every tribe must receive some Bia law
▶ 2:42:17enforcement funding so that they can Pro protect our people if the Bia won't allow allocate the money to keep us safe you need to force them to do it to that end I ask you set a minimum allocation of half million dollars for each tribe within the Bia public uh safety line item uh lastly I call on Congress and the committee to fully fund contract support costs and 105 leases and move them out of the discretionary budget of mandatory the courts have already ruled that Congress is required to fully fund these
▶ 2:42:47accounts and as a result these in I'm saying e up 85 to 90% of uh funding increases provided to tribal programming over the past decade this is a this is another one that's been one in court and and it's it's uh yeah it goes without saying that means that while Congress can brag about increasing funding for tribes reality is that we're not even keeping up with inflation shifting these payments to the mandatory budget would alleviate the parental use and is long overdue thank you for the opportunity um I would also like to uh
▶ 2:43:17uh mention the uh direct pay program program that was created by the Department of Treasury a great program um it it really uh allows us to uh do things you know for infrastructure I think at the end of the day we are faced with the same problems that you guys have funding infrastructure on our on our in in the native Community if we don't have you know a way to uh you know generate uh those revenues for infrastructure needs such as roads and and and such um you you you're really
▶ 2:43:47Tire hands so thank you appreciate it thanks Charles Erica good afternoon uh chairman Simpson and distinguished members of the committee my name is Erica capino and I have the honor of serving as the tribal chairwoman for the hamul Indian village of California an honor I've held for over 10 years first woman elected for my tribe thank you for the opportunity this morning to testify on critical role of federal funding in supporting our tribe and tribal citizens
▶ 2:44:18I've submitted written testimony that details the history of our tribe and the United States's trust responsibility to tribal Nations as the basis for the federal funding our tribe receives I plan to focus my remarks this morning on the importance of federal funding and the way it profoundly impacts the tribe by providing a few examples first as a government we are planning now for an increased impact of unique challenges facing the tribe due to our location in Southern California the recent Wild
▶ 2:44:49fires plaguing the region one of which put our reservation in dangerous proximity to evacuation call attention to this issue the tribe is using federal funds to investigate our current infrastructure and significantly improve the resilience of our electric grid allowing us to better withstand natural disasters ensure more reliable power access and create potential economic benefits by mitigating disruption to critical services within our community scarce water resources are also an issue that has long
▶ 2:45:19impacted Southern California we use federal funds to support Water Management projects that ensure water is conserved and used efficiently and to work to reduce the risk of drought and flooding as the original stewards of this land we know how best to manage it as was said earlier maximizing resources and benefiting the greatest number of people should Federal funding that supports these efforts be paused delayed or eliminated the tribe could no longer be proactive about the unique challenges we
▶ 2:45:49face as noted previously Federal funding is necessary for provision of critical services for our tribal members a key example is Healthcare American Indians face the worst Health outcomes in the United States from life expectancy to the rate of common ailment such as heart disease and diabetes the tribe is part of a seven- member tribal Consortium the southern Indian Health Council that provides holistic care to tribal members and their surrounding
▶ 2:46:19anybody have a Kleenex the surrounding um Community advancing physical mental and spiritual well-being Federal thank you very much Federal Federal resources at Southern Indian Health Council receives are critically important to meeting the needs of the tribal Community we use funding and Technical Support diligently to improve health outcomes of communities we serve any cause or
▶ 2:46:49elimination in funds for American Indian Healthcare would our ability to provide Essential Health Care Services thereby exacerbating the already poor health outcomes of American Indians this is truly a life or death situation finally I want to stress the role that Federal funding plays in meaningful consultation which is a core component of its Sovereign to Sovereign relationship with tribal Nations the state of California has the fifth largest case loadad of missing and murdered indigenous persons
▶ 2:47:19of any state in the country I've long been a life I've been a lifelong vocal advocate for ensuring that tribal communities have access to adequate tools and resources to protect our own people including through the enforcement of tribal laws uh given our proximity to the international border with Mexico we're 30 minutes from the border it is even more critically important in short we must ensure that our tribal law enforcement agencies
▶ 2:47:50and other tribal organizations I feel like a hot mess this morning with this I apologize and our tribal organizations are best equipped to provide support and resources to victims and their families our communities need to be educated on the importance of safety for themselves for their family and for our people there are many barriers to recognition of Tribal Law Enforcement Authority and access to relevant databases helpful in performing their responsibilities by Federal funding programs aimed
▶ 2:48:20at eliminating these deficiencies we can ensure that Federal and tribal law enforcement agencies and governments can meaningfully consult and collaborate to combat the mmip epidemic I have pride for my tribe not just for our heritage and culture but also for our resilience our strength as a Sovereign Nation I would be remiss not to recognize that our successes were not without their challenges and we continue to face barriers to achieving self-sufficiency today we appreciate the work of
▶ 2:48:50the subcommittee to break down these barriers I appreciate the time and the opportunity to provide testimony about the importance of federal funding in Indian country and I have provided just a few examples of how Federal funding supports our tribe through the impact is profound I'm happy to answer questions you may have thank you thank you all for your testimony today and uh working with us try to solve these problems uh I will tell you what really frustrates me and it's something I've been
▶ 2:49:20trying to learn about for the last 20 years I guess uh but when we started holding hearings on the MMI uh W uh yeah uh women it really came to a head and I it is frustrating as hell for me and I realize not all tribes are the same you know you got the Navajo tribe and you have the the Jamal Indian village not the same they're different they have different needs etc etc and I realize that all across
▶ 2:49:51the country but damn it there needs to be some consistency in law enforcement across tribes and what we heard during that hearing was uh well we're not sure who has jurisdiction there and you know etc etc and it is frustrating to figure and and I'm not suggesting that that we blow the whole system up and fig but we need to sit down and figure out how we're going to solve this jurisdictional issue and
▶ 2:50:21and my uh my personal feeling is is that these are your tribes your your uh reservations you have the right to do what you want to do as long as you have the resources to do NE go recently um we had a girl go missing and and she ended up being U murdered uh and uh but it was really really more of a lack of coordination
▶ 2:50:51on the different police agencies so Morango has a police agency reached out to the sheriff you know because we we contract with the sheriff but the incident didn't happen on the reservation so you know it it it happened outside of the reservation um but the family had contacted uh uh you know the police department it happened in another city um at the end of the day it it again it's just a lack of Co cooperation but we're getting there and I and I think it's similar to what we did with the equa
▶ 2:51:21act and and I when I say similar uh at the end of the day you just need to start collecting data to make sure that agents agencies are working together um and that uh when you got that data said well clearly you guys ain't working with the tribes and that's that that that would be the impetus for hey you know what uh we've asked you to work with the tribes we got the data that shows you're not working with the tribes what's the problem yeah well and it's also
▶ 2:51:51it when you go around from reservation to reservation it depends on the relationship sometimes that they have with County officials and I've seen some County officials that are going ah they're not trained and we're not going to give cross jurisdiction with them or anything and others that work real great uh but somehow we need to solve this problem if we're going to and I'm I don't think it's any uh buddy or agency's fault
▶ 2:52:21it is just how things have developed over the years and we need to reexamine if that's the best way to do what we're doing it's just like i' I've had many tribes come to me and talk about you know we could do a better job of uh delivering Health Services if you directly fund our uh our uh tribe instead of going through IHS and I brought that up with several Tri and it that might work better for sometimes and others Maybe not maybe they don't
▶ 2:52:51have the in infrastructure to do it but is it a is it a way to look at see if we're doing the best we can with the resources we have and stuff I don't know but it's I I'm one of those guys that's not afraid to look at different ways of doing things because oftentimes we're just kind of stuck with what develops over the years uh and it is uh it's a fascinating subject but it's something that I think is part of the answer of solving a lot of these uh a lot of these problems you know based on that comment we provide real real real real estate services
▶ 2:53:22uh we Morango provides Real Estate Services for other tribes yeah um and it's you're right uh there are some of the smaller tribes that don't have the infrastructure the technical uh uh expertise to be able to perform those functions but given the you know there are different tribal agencies and and and chairman Pinto chairwoman Pinto here um you know it's it's her organization is evolving as well you know would be able to provide those Services if the in the event that the the federal government would you know want
▶ 2:53:52to contract with her like the federal government contracts with Morango to provide those Services I I think there's a way of doing it I to your point we just haven't sat down and uh contemplated or you know or uh you know gone through you know the ideas to to get there yeah and I and I appreciate that and it's believe me I'm not sitting here suggesting I have all the answers because I don't have any of the answers you all have the answers it's whether we can sit down and talk about it and see if there's a better way to do things maybe there's
▶ 2:54:22not I don't know but anyway thank you all for being here today Shelly yep uh yeah I Echo uh the Chairman's thoughts and concerns and thank you all for taking the time to talk about the unique issues of of your own tribe I uh I was interested in your thoughts about the you know some of the public lands that could be turned over to the tribes and I always think that's a a positive move as you talked about sort of the stewardship and particularly um Wildfire prevention all those things so uh you know I'd like to sort of learn
▶ 2:54:52more about what roadblocks you're facing and um what's standing in your way anything you want to just come in on now we can do some research on it too yeah no uh no problem um so back in the day I'll say um the bishop height tribe had um about over 60,000 acres and it was removed out of the tribes Hands by executive order in the early 30s or so um however we have established a co-management agreements with BLM on those Chalk Bluff area and we managed
▶ 2:55:23an endangered species the Owens Valley pupfish we were able to transplant them back to Bishop P tribe reservation through a safe harbor agreement which we uh was able to get accomplish and executed April of 2024 we did a welcome home ceremony of the fish did all that we had us Forest Service BLM officials there um so that right there is a testament to how we're able to successfully manage our homelands already and you know given the opportunity if we if we're able to get land you know uh
▶ 2:55:53as we all mentioned here we've been here for uh since time in Memorial and uh we are able to manage you know these lands uh in a in in a competent way before the government got involved at any point so um yeah we we've done it through co-management and we'll continue to do that but uh the tribe and speaking to capacity uh you know I think that the best way to address all of it is to you know give funding directly to the tribes because um capacity is an issue but um if
▶ 2:56:23the tribes have that resource and they're be able and they can work toward becoming self-sufficient they can build their capacity up so I think that would be the best way to approach that thank you thank you member pingry there are more and more tribes out there trying to do co-management agreements with the federal government Chalo is is one of them um so it's it's it's it's it's a concept that that beginning to uh get get legs um and I know that the tribes would would love
▶ 2:56:53to work with the federal government on co-management agreements yeah maybe this is a Time particularly with with the Staffing cuts and the lack of funding you know it's sort of a good argument for um why not do more of that and appreciate that and thank you for the unique issues you're facing in Texas and I know you got some language in this Appropriations Bill if we can never get it over the finish line but maybe we can just help to get that resolved so that you have the law enforcement that you need so yeah every everyone of you had interesting testimony thanks for talking about
▶ 2:57:23that and a little bit about the health Consortium you're doing with other tribes and that's also a unique and interesting um you know arrangement we could learn more about so thanks for all of your time appreciate it very much thank you thank you Bia
▶ 2:58:03yes wanted it writing I know govern's bad I just hate to hear it's this bad C thank you Mr chairman and thank youall for being here and on a much larger issue first uh the six years of decrease in life expectancy is worse than any other ethnic group in the country I think I sent the Artic after he after uh Kirk mentioned that then I looked it up and it's atrocious 71.8 in 2019 down to 65.2 which is five years
▶ 2:58:33less than the next worst ethnic group on life expectancy which means it hit more Indians than anybody else killed more Indians than anybody else and uh and and it's and it's truly tragic uh and uh so you know and part of that you know Health isn't just having a clinic or a Hospital health is the the opportunities that exist for employment and the stress that's related to the lack thereof
▶ 2:59:04uh the the despondency of the missing and murdered indigenous people uh the the fear that exists every day that the understanding that you don't know if you're going to be safe every day um and so it encompasses all those things and I like your idea of I mean uh Erica and Charles you both have casinos in your communities that no doubt help and I'm not going to assume how much uh having been stationed in California I've been through all three of your uh loc your reserv
▶ 2:59:34Bishops are one of the prettiest places in California in my opinion and Drive by hamu all the time living in San Diego uh I've never been to Bango but uh but you know they they have the ability to have a population Center Closer by to help with that that Health than does the Alabama Casada and which is still trying to get on a step equal to to others so uh I I appreciate all you're you're doing to come here Mr chairman under your leadership this uh this hearing has grown
▶ 3:00:05from I think 60s something last year to 98 this year and that means that we're making progress and and has been addressed earlier it's never fast enough because these treaties have been around for 150 years and to your point the opinion of taking 11 years what in the hell takes 11 years to get an opinion on is is it really that hard the the cuts to the hiring freezes of law enforcement when you've got candidates is a problem the Law Enforcement issue alone and and another time when we have more
▶ 3:00:35time uh I would like to find out from various tribes whether or not because I don't know I don't have any tribes in my district whether or not there's a a cultural barrier to a desire for members of the community to serve in law enforcement or not and I'm sure it's it's not a one-sized fits all but if that's a problem if that's a problem and and it's a rhetorical question doesn't need an answer today but if there's a problem how do we overcome
▶ 3:01:05that and help so that the law enforcement does come in a way that is that is that eliminates this mmiw problem mmip problem uh and and allows Health to overall improve because the people know they're protected that's a basic right of everybody to know they live in a safe community so thanks again for having us the the the first half of the first day and and more days to come so thank you thank you thank you all for being here I will say
▶ 3:01:37before there's a a lot of uh people that aren't familiar with Indian issues and so forth like this committee is and stuff that you talk to them and they'll say well they got casinos they can take care of it you know and all that kind of stuff they don't realize that a not every tribe has casinos no and B not all casinos are the same if you go to chickasa Nation their casino is very profitable and stuff because they're on the highway to Dallas you know there are Tom coals yeah yeah but if
▶ 3:02:07you go to if you go to the Prairie Winds Casino uh out in on uh what is it Lone Pine at Rose Bud one of the one of the Reser they're you got a drive to get to that so they're not going to have the same same effect and stuff so that's not the answer I think that you're right but it's not the answer to solving these problems and it doesn't relieve us of our responsibility under under the law so I thank you all for being here today and your testimony it it always Sparks interest in our brain and thought aha
▶ 3:02:37that's what's going on so I appreciate it I apprciate you y thank you uh and this will uh we will adjourn the morning session uh of this one and we'll be back
▶ 3:03:08at 1:30 is that right oh we got a vote series ah V till 13 push now
▶ 3:03:41come we're scheduled we're scheduled to reconvene at 2:00 because of because of votes so so we will adjourn the committee stands adjourn