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▶ 0:05:07committee will come to order good morning and welcome to the second day of our public witness hearings for American Indian and Alaskan native programs I want to welcome all the distinguished tribal elders and leaders here today and thank our Witnesses for appearing before the committee to share their concerns on these important topics in terms of hearing Logistics I will call each panel uh of witnesses to the table one panel at a time if I can turn my page ah each witness will uh have five minutes to present testimony the
▶ 0:05:37full written testimony will be included in the record and believe it or not we actually do read those so uh they will be in the record so please don't feel pressured to cover everything in five minutes we will be using a timer to track progress of each Witnesses when the light turns yellow the witness will have one minute remaining uh to conclude their remarks when the light turns red I will ask the witness uh to uh stop uh in order to remain on schedule and respect everybody's time we'll hear from every witness on each panel uh before members will be provided
▶ 0:06:07an opportunity to ask questions because we have a full day ahead I request that we try to keep things moving so that we can stay on schedule uh and respect each other's time and we will have because there are hearings in committees all over right now in the Appropriations Committee we will have members coming in and leaving and coming in and leaving and all that kind of stuff so I think Betty has to go to a hearing that uh yeah in 15 minutes uh uh I also want to note that the committee rules prohibit the use of outside cameras and audio
▶ 0:06:37equipment during these hearings the hearings uh can be viewed in its entirety on the committee's website and an official hearing transcript will will be available at gpo.gov now I'm happy to yield to my ranking member for any remarks she may wish to make uh thank you very much Mr chair thank you for holding these hearings thank you to everybody who came yesterday and all of the witnesses who will be for with us today uh for traveling a long distance and for taking your time to be with all of us I just want to say briefly what I said yesterday the Trump Administration is only been in
▶ 0:07:08office a few short weeks yet there they have created chaos and disruption into indigenous communities created anxiety and uncertainty for tribal members over their employment status the continuation of critical health care and educational services and in some cases even challenge their citizenship I hope our Witnesses today will use this hearing as an opport Unity 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
▶ 0:07:38that the freeze on federal funding the termination of probationary employees and the federal hiring free are already had and will have on the lives and livelihoods of tribal Nations and Indigenous communities across the country yesterday's hearings provided a lot of important information and I look forward to hearing about what is happening in your communities the needs and Challen Alles facing Indian country and your priorities for the programs in the interior Bill our discussions will allow your voices to be heard and will help inform us
▶ 0:08:08as we finish the fiscal year 2025 funding bill and then begin developing the fiscal year 2026 Appropriations Bill thanks again for being here with us today and I yield back to Chairman Simpson thank you uh let's begin with our first panel Charles myON Harry come on down
▶ 0:08:39yeah you're all governors all right I use the first names because I can usually pronounce those right and the others I'm not too good at pronunciation so anyway if I call you by your first name that's okay uh so we'll start uh har you're
▶ 0:09:14first s good morning chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and members of the committee I am Governor Harry a Antonio Jr of the P of Laguna a ferally recognized Indian tribe 45 miles west of Albuquerque New Mexico we call ourselves go hu which translates to Lake people the hu have lived on our lands going back centuries long before European contact thankfully we did not suffer displacement displacement like other native people I am here with our elected leadership to ask for funding so that kit kanu will
▶ 0:09:44continue to thrive on our homeland for many more Generations we make our requests not just because KU hu need it we make them on the basis of the federal government trust responsibility Supreme Court Trust Doctrine states that if the United States has Authority over Indian tribes it also has the obligation to protect Indian people and other and their resources there have been times that the federal government neglected its trust obligations as a consequence go hu lost vital resources and suffered bad Health we also make
▶ 0:10:15these requests on the basis of K kanu's status as United States citizens established by Congress over 100 years ago K kanu are have proudly served in every us conflict since World War I the patriotism and sacrifice of K khu as US citizens justify these requests finally we make these requests to support Laguna's efforts at self-determination and self-sufficiency with the support of Congress and the president we can make that goal a reality ironically a shrinking water supply threatens
▶ 0:10:45the existence of K hu the lake people for centuries our ancestors built and maintained massive Rock and Earth dams to store thousands of acre feet of water for our use over the last 100 years Stream flow and our main resource our main source of water dropped to one/ Tenth of its historic flow largely as a result of over appropriation Upstream by Junior water diverters for uses including uranium Mining and energy production the federal trustees failure to protect our legal right to life sustaining water imperils our
▶ 0:11:15culture and our way of life and our very existence in 2022 after Decades of litigation to recognize and protect Laguna's time immemorial water rights the parties reached a settlement agreement Congress can remedy the neglect of trust responsibility by providing money to develop reliable sources of wet water through enactment and funding of the real San Jose and real hus water settlements act this fund-based water Settlement Act enables go count to develop alternative sources of water supply to sustain our people without shutting
▶ 0:11:45off Junior Upstream water users passage and funding of the water settlements act should be a high priority because of the cost of wet water in our erit landscape will only increase over time if this legislation is not passed and funded now another matter of high importance is the reauthorization of the radiation exposure compensation act or R ra reauthorizes authorization addresses the cancerous and other diseases suffered by Americans who worked in the US uranium industry or who innocently live downwind
▶ 0:12:15from US nuclear testing sites as passed last year by the Senate with strong bipartisan support the reauthorization of R would extend funding for six years expand coverage to uranium workers exposed after 1971 and include Downwinders the P of Laguna was the site of the world's largest open pit uranium mine Laguna people helped to defend the United States by extracting the raw material to make us nuclear weapons but our people pay their for their patriotism with their health as a consequence of the
▶ 0:12:45Cold War Laguna and other uranium industry workers and bystanders innocent bystanders um forfeited their Health Training TR treating these illnesses taxes are already Rin Indian Health Service resources Congress cannot ignore or forget these unsung Patriots for the sake of squeezing the budget we submitted written viewpoints regarding several other programs that require sustained Federal funding we ask you to remember that federal funds appropriated for the benefit of Indian tribes
▶ 0:13:15are not gifts or diversity programs rather they are the United States fulfilling its trust obligation honoring American citizens and Patriots and promoting self-determination and self-sufficiency tribally thank you for allowing me to testify today on these topics I hope that as you exercise your Congressional responsibilities you remember to help better future unfold for the K hu other tribal peoples and all Americans thank you sir thank you Harry Aon you're next sir uh Mr
▶ 0:13:45chairman uh Simpson ranking member agreed and subcomittee members oops um yes can you hear me now y um uh we'd like to uh take this opportunity to share our funding priorities for the uh fiscal year 20 TI uh federal budget my name is myON armo and I am the governor of Santa Ana peblo in New Mexico we're a community of about uh 900 plus and growing um my name is um ho Chana
▶ 0:14:16and in in my native language Caris I'm from the eagle Clan and so we're here today to talk about our issues here today I going to say Mr chairman we are in unprecedented times I ask that your committee and others other committees monitor this administration's actions given the brevity of the extent of executive orders poses and grant funding firing of employees Etc okay first I would like
▶ 0:14:46to emphasize that recent Federal actions a great potential for causing long- lasting harm across Indian Country the United States holds unique trust and treaty obligations to tribal ations that are fulfilled in part by the Direct Delivery of tribal programs services and provision of federal funding to tribal governments and tribal organizations serving um tribal Nations any federal program or funding delivered to tribal Nations is provided in furtherance
▶ 0:15:16of the United States obligations however the effectiveness the effectiveness of United States towards fulfilling its trust and treaty obligations is fundamentally dependent on federal employees which help in Indian Country Federal Employees necessary for the functioning of tribal programs and the dispersement of the federal funds to tribal nations are a critical part of fulfilling the obligations of the United States terminating terminating federal employees who serve these agencies will devastate
▶ 0:15:47the delivery of vital services to Indian country today we are very concerned that termination of nearly a thousand employees of the Indian Health Service was under consideration under consideration we are grateful that the Indian voice of Indian country was heard leading to the recision of these planned terminations however the Indian Health Service which has been woefully underfunded over the many years should be allo allocated additional resources instead of facing
▶ 0:16:17Cuts because it is a critical agency to not only fill fulfilling the United States obligations to the tribes but also providing life-saving services and improving the Health and Welfare of our tribal citizens very important uh San ano has been advanc has been in advance negotiations with the Indian Health Service for the construction of a new Indian health facility on our reservation lands this is
▶ 0:16:47a new facility is not only desperately needed for the health of the community but for um a powerful engine for economic activity and and employment the pleo and the surrounding Community would be tragically impacted if this project were to be upended due to actions by the federal government the peblo strongly urges the committee to defend Indian program funding and imp implementation of such funding by federal employees across
▶ 0:17:18the federal government including the Bia bie IHS the peblo emphasizes that the federal government should seek to retain and further recruit federal employees handling Indian Affairs issues in the Fulfillment of the United States trust responsibility and the well-being of its citizens we understand that the current Administration wants to improve the federal government's operations and promote efficiency through reducing a bloated a bloated Federal bureaucracy
▶ 0:17:49and waste and misuse of federal funds however the government's efforts to fulfill this its trust obligations do not represent a bloated Federal bureaucracy instead it is starving from chronic underfunding over the many many years and this is taken a toll on tribal communities federal agencies serving tribal Nations have rarely been fully staffed which has hindered their effectiveness further funding for Indian programs provided by Congress only makes up a tiny fraction
▶ 0:18:20of the overall federal budget and has been insufficient to fulfill the federal government's obligations Mr chairman members of the in closing I urge congress with all the emphasis all the emphasis that I can muster here today to uphold its unique trust and treaty obligations to tribal Nations through adequate funding services and Staffing which honors tribal Community communities as the original the original sovereigns and inhabitants of this land
▶ 0:18:51the United States fulfillment of this solemn responsibility is unlike any other function served by the federal government and should not be Deed by blind push to downsize government generally in the hopes of promoting efficiencies Mr chairman we look forward to working with President Trump's Administration and I feel strongly we the tribes pblos and Nations throughout the country would be a good resource for him we could we could help one another thank you all for taking these
▶ 0:19:21issues seriously and I will come any questions you might have and Mr chairman if I could say one more thing I'm also the chairman of the 10 southern governors in New Mexico which represents uh 10 pblos in southern in the Middle Valley uh of of the middle Grand Val middle Rio Grand Valley um it's their same concerns I don't speak for them but they all have the same concerns on what's going on uh we're uh just um just perplexed by the issues that are are happening
▶ 0:19:51so Mr chairman I hope that you'll take our concerns and uh help us going forward and as I said we're we're glad to work with the the um president's Administration thank you sir thanks May Charles thank you chairman Simpson and ranking member pingry and subcommittee members for the opportunity to share our funding priorities for the fiscal year 2026 federal budget and for your support for many Indian Country programs my name is Charles Riley and I'm the governor of the publo of akum in New Mexico
▶ 0:20:22in my written testimony I set forth specific recommendations and requests but at this time I would like to speak more broadly and welcome any questions first the akma people are an ancient people akma Sky City has been our Mesa toop home for over a thousand years making it the oldest inh inhabited community in the United States as represented by the canes we carry given to us by Abraham Lincoln we share a unique government toover relationship with the United States the Lincoln canes were specifically presented to the every
▶ 0:20:52publico Governor over 150 years ago to acknowledge our sovereignty over our lands and our people this cane is a physical embodiment of the recognition of our status and the commitment of the United States to protect and respect our Sovereign rights as well as to support the well-being of our communities and pursuant to Federal responsibility in addition we also carry canes presented by the Spanish crown and The Mexican government in acknowledgement of our sovereignty and like other tribes we express
▶ 0:21:22our appreciation to those members of Congress and agency leaders who have stepped up to ensure that our relationship is respected and our communities insulated from the harmful Federal funding freezes terminations and similar initiatives second our water settlement was recently reintroduced and we asked this subcommittee to support full funding for Indian water settlements which promote Economic Development and water security for the future third in 2020 president Trump successfully facilitated
▶ 0:21:53the returns of numerous ancestral publico human remains and asso at ferary objects from Finland president Trump also played a integral role in pushing the Safeguard tribal objects and patony or stop act across the Finish Line in Congress consistent with those actions of the president we ask this subcommittee to provide additional funding for the support of the Native American Graves protection and repatriation act as well as funding for the implementation of the stop back
▶ 0:22:24and additional funds for tribal historic preservation offices these f funds are needed to ensure the protection of our land's most sacred and historic objects and ceremonies fourth we appreciate the acknowledgement that the Indian Health Service requires Advanced Appropriations and we call on the subcommittee to support permanent Advanced and full appropriations of the IHS as well as an increase in funding for the special diabetes program for Indians to account for inflation we
▶ 0:22:54will also like to take this time to acknowledge and thank secretary Kennedy for send in IHS layoffs the publo emphasizes IHS should not be subject to layoffs for many publo citizens the IHS is the only accessible healthc care provider and has long been stretched thin due to underfunding and understaffing we urge this subcommittee to provide the IHS with the funding and security needed to provide for Health Care Indian Country depends on we also request support
▶ 0:23:24for smaller IHS hospitals such as the AKA canito Laguna Indian health facility which provides critical Health Care Services to the Pao of Laguna akima as well as emergency services to the traveling public along the I40 Corridor our PUO has a rich history of service to our country including veterans who served in World War I and in each campaign since including our own Aqua code talkers of World War II that were recognized by the United States in
▶ 0:23:552013 our veterans rely on both IHS and Veterans Administration fifth we request that this subcommittee provide funding for a comprehensive Resource Management plan for the BLM Farmington field office the current plan is severely outdated and does not reflect the modern Technologies or techniques and an update is needed to ensure protection of our cultural sites around choco Canyon finally we know that the administration and this subcommittee are well
▶ 0:24:25aware of the severe law enforcement needs in Indian country increased law enforcement for Indian country is imperative to keep our people safe this concludes my testimony thank you for your time more topics and more detail can be found in my written testimony and I'm happy to answer any questions I would also like to invite you all to up to Aca to come see our our our Villages and our plos yeah um on uh on the ground is is is something much much different than seeing in the pictures Absol
▶ 0:24:55along with chairman chairman myin or governor in A Mir I sit on as a secretary for Southern Public Council and great well thank you and thanks for your testimony and thanks for being here today uh couple of first of all I agree with you on ship hos they're very important uh for the preservation of of these things and uh for the repatriation I don't is that a is there a bill that hasn't passed yet or something that needs to get done stop back the stop Act was
▶ 0:25:25was passed that's the funding for it and the regulation have not been finished okay yeah that needs to get done uh in fact I've written letters when we've seen them in in the office I shouldn't say I've written I've had the staff write them because they write better than I do uh about uh when we see articles in the newspapers about uh remains that are in some Museum in New York or whatever and stuff wait a minute guys we thought there were Smithsonian
▶ 0:25:55at first but they say no we're we're respectful of the law you know and so they need to be returned that's that's obvious this is a a broader question though cuz and I apologize for not being as smart on this as I should be you're all poo yes different bands yes different reservations right different Comm is the water rights settlement that you talked about is that uh first of all does that need legislation to pass I
▶ 0:26:26know it's already been uh it's already passed yes no no no it's being reintroduced it's being okay it it needs to pass what what is the uh assuming it passes what would be the uh would be the funding that where the Appropriations Committee I'd like to know what we're getting into and literally water right settlements uh across the Indian country are going to be huge yes uh in the Years coming up so does this just affect your reservation or does it affect all of them it affects
▶ 0:26:56both Laguna and nakam Laguna okay we we're neighbors right beside each other out in New Mexico okay that Upstream from us so we're the last one in line if you will yeah I know how that goes Mr chairman there's also uh the peblo of Zuni uh who has a water settlement here in DC uh local agreement and legislation there's also um uh Oka wing and parties in the uh northern part of New Mexico in the Aragon case their um legislation and local agreement
▶ 0:27:26is here as well and so we're looking to your community or your committee here to help support these um water settlements very important to to the state of New Mexico there's also my PUO in the Middle Valley the middle real Grand Valley uh we're just now um starting up our negotiations um with cooch peblo Kwa peblo Santana San felipi Isleta and Sandia pblos we'll be starting up that negotiation process in
▶ 0:27:56the very near future okay so these are very important um water supplements for state of New Mexico across the country for IND across the country yes I was just talking with Fort bellnap tribes and they got a huge settlement that it's going to cost us I think over a 10e period billion billion.
▶ 0:28:15three yes like that and what I'm trying to get a handle on is and a lot of these settlements are going to be coming down as they rightly should for me the question is okay how are we going to fund them okay because settlement doesn't mean anything if you don't get the money front it you know so uh and I'm trying to figure out how how we can plan on this so that we could actually do a legitimate funding of it once uh once we get them but there's going to be a lot of them and it's going to be one of the the biggest driver in our interior bill right now is
▶ 0:28:46Indian Country Indian Health Services Indian education uh Indian law enforcement and stuff and we keep we're not there yet by a long shot but we obviously this is something that we need do and uh we've been working on it in a bipartisan uh manner when uh Shelly was chairman of the committee she worked with the Republicans on it is a Indian country is a is a bipartisan issue but that's the biggest part of our budget and now we're going to
▶ 0:29:16get water right settlements on it and pretty soon it's going to eat up the rest of the budget unless we can figure out a way to get it funded and that kind of stuff so that we don't uh end up uh C in the forest service to where they don't have any employees or BLM or any of the other agencies that also get funded on our bill but our first responsibility frankly is we got treaty and Trust responsibilities if you have mandate so anyway I appreciate you all being testif I want to get out there and see this please come on out I will come visit us
▶ 0:29:46as well I will do and you're members of your committee please come on out it's it's as Governor said um it's different boots on the ground you see it yeah versus looking at at it in a book or in a picture absolutely that always works better see it in person y appreciate it Miss pingry yeah and thank you I'll just Echo um um what the chair said and I really appreciate his giving some kind of more Global thought to these water settlements you're right um we've heard about others yesterday and they're obviously just going to continue in the you know sort of
▶ 0:30:16fight for water out west uh something we don't understand in New England but uh you know we we respect how critical it is out there and why we've always wanted to a big pipe from the Great Mr chairman Mr chairman I spoke to two ladies from Michigan one one time uh during New Mexico's legislative session two ladies walking around uh west of the capital I said ladies may I help you you look lost and they says oh no we're looking for the capital I said it's right in front of you right there please come in and there's a lot of Art in there and I said by the way where are you ladies
▶ 0:30:46from they go from Michigan such a deal I have for you too this is what I told them how about getting some of your water from the Great Lakes to New Mexico oh exploitive no there you have it I know well we'd be much more charitable if you need our water but it's just a logistical challenge to get it there but anyway I do think it's one of the key responsibilities of this committee going into the future to figure that out I appreciate many of you have mentioned the concerns
▶ 0:31:16you have with uh making sure that this Administration doesn't take the wrong tack on you know thinking that tribes are Dei or making cuts and and I I thank you all for speaking up because I think as you said some of these um cuts are being reversed but we also have to stay vigilant um there's so many little places that you go to funding at HHS or EPA or other places and so please continue to keep us informed just so we can help you push back on that um and and again I
▶ 0:31:47I uh concur with the chair on nagpra if there's if there areas we're not doing sufficient funding I think we've turned the corner on people understanding how critically important that is but um um it sounds like there's some legislation that hasn't passed here yes I know that so um the one other thing I wanted to ask you about was the ra the r radiation so have have there been some funds made available and then there you said it hadn't been reauthorized so I just want to know where that is are people currently getting the assistance that they need for radiation exposure or
▶ 0:32:17not let me refer to my no no okay so not not at all all right um well we can look into that obv it's very important for our people because right now they're they're really suffering bad so we need you know we need to that's a that's a very serious issue yeah all you all know about our your famous uranium hit and so yes it's just you know those things we never thought of at that time you know uh that the government you know knew about those things but W didn't let us know about that and there are so many stories
▶ 0:32:47like that we have to go back and write those wrongs and make sure people have the ability to get taken care of with their Healthcare needs and it's not only the native communities around there but the surrounding communities of Grants and bua San Rafel Milan it's affected that whole area in there um the reason why we would really like to push the water right settlement is because much of the alaer has been used to do mining I I heard him say that and it's like kind of adding ins salt to the injury already they get the water and they've injured and we're such in this
▶ 0:33:18New Mexico is one of these one of the most with the state with the most with the with the most scurity I guess or guess I don't know how to say that scarce water supply right and so you know there's only one more acord that actually Aqua would like to tap into but we need that settlement in order to make uh our future stable as far as water goes yeah that totally makes sense well I really another word there's there's another mind caught laara on the Northwest Face of Mount Taylor is about to go into
▶ 0:33:48production you know so it's doesn't stop I see you know that's how critical it is for all of us in the region so we appreciate some help okay thanks hopefully hopefully the chair will uh get it all fixed lay off no we'll we will work together to do whatever we can and and you know certainly visit if that's an opportunity thanks okay thank appreciate it and again thank you all for being here to testify one question I and this can be a
▶ 0:34:18simple ask or it doesn't have to be long but you mentioned IHS and how important it is to the I've had several tribes this not coming from me uh it's not coming from the president or Doge or anything else but several tribes over the last year have said to me you know we could do a better job of delivering Health Services if you would directly fund our people instead of going through a IHS where they take money out their share whatever you know before it gets down done so we could do a better job and deliver more services to our
▶ 0:34:48people is that a common feeling or and I suspect it's different from tribe to tribe whether they have the infrastructure to be able to do it that way or not I don't know know but I think it's a question if we can do more with the dollars that we're using hey why not do it so I've I've just been asking that in general and if uh you have any thoughts on that well there's the uh 93638 process that we've used in our for our new Clinic yeah and we get directly funded from
▶ 0:35:18IHS so that that's helping a lot okay so we could do that with other other programs that we have that'll be great you know to to do that just to go ourselves self-governance is what I know the United States looks for native tribes to to do self-sufficiency type type thing so uh but that'll be very helpful you know we can well I and I'm not trying to criticize IHS uh by any such I'm just you know been there yeah it's uh you need to look at sometimes other ways to do things and see if it makes sense it might not
▶ 0:35:49I don't know say it's not my idea it all depends on the community there's some communities that can afford to take over IIs supplement the funding and then make it better there's other other tribes that just aren't there yet and we don't have the funding one of the reason why one of the reasons why IHS gets criticized so much because they've been historically underfunded and under staff they can't provide the health care that they should because of those two factors now at sometimes
▶ 0:36:19um like we at AA are looking at taking over what's remaining of the hospital and it's not a whole lot it went from a full full um full hospital to just basically a clinic and and you know in the middle of the pandemic IHS was going to shut it down yeah I mean those are the reasons why we're almost compelled to take it over yeah it's not that you know we don't believe that the funding or the Staffing or the service can be there it's almost that we're compelled to simply because
▶ 0:36:49like I said we're underfunded and underst staffed for Santa Ana um this new um IHS facility that we plan on having on our lens um it's it would be a boon to the um Community uh the IHS facility in Albuquerque is willfully um um old uh I understand it's probably going to be re modeled to some extent but this um new facility on Santa Ana lands would be greatly um
▶ 0:37:20uh helping the entire community in the Albuquerque and um sandal County areas so um uh we have a small a very small uh Clinic the the community has always been concerned that doctors and staff nurses are not available like the entire week it's like Monday Tuesday Friday at certain time only at certain times yeah we have people with diabetes Mr chairman members diabetes
▶ 0:37:50is rampant everywhere in New Mexico in Native communities and uh for Santa Ana we just um uh my brother and I here um uh Governor Montoya um past weekend we had some ceremonial dances at our old village and we had people that went down due to low blood sugar we had to call EMS and so we want to get out to the community to try and have our community members take care of themselves and um make sure that they um Nutri
▶ 0:38:20nutritional needs are met uh someone reaches out to them with um how to care for themselves if they have um issues in their limbs and that sort of thing so it's it's it it's pretty bad so this new facility would be good good for us and we're already we're already filling the uh advantages of direct funding uh with our clinic and we're great having great results and it's it's we're all for it you know and so but also to mention the bie uh Bureau of Indian education right now we're looking at a brand
▶ 0:38:50new uh um early childhood and Head Start facility that we uh looking for funding now as well as our uh Laguna rainbow Center that's our elderly nursing home and it's needing replacement for gosh early 1970s was when it was built and uh right now uh La early last year we had a a flood that came through after heavy rain and it flooded that whole area and uh and then water was coming in they're ceiling so uh we're looking for funding for those those types of
▶ 0:39:20facilities so we you know we'd appreciate any any help you guys can give I know there's a lot in your plate but you know I appreciate it thank you for being here today to testify uh did you have anything no sir we can take everything uh that you need and take it out of the Montana tribes because ziny gave it all beautiful country indan Wars are the wars anyway thank you all for being here today I appreciate it thank you have
▶ 0:39:50a good day you too yes sir thank you look forward to working with youe members in there's um a copy of our um um testimony outside so if you we should take a look at it okay thank you thank you sir okay uh next we have Chuck hosin Jad cheddar and Rodney Butler you there's there's two names
▶ 0:40:20I got right okay
▶ 0:40:51was trying to locate jadev but I've already gotten us behind by asking too many questions so he's stuck in traffic I understand that believe me should be like 10 minutes out he said yeah uh and Idaho we don't call that traffic call it a parking lot Chuck you're first well chairman Simpsons uh Simpson member pingry uh and Congressman zeni uh and and the entire subcommittee on behalf of the Cherokee Nation uh we
▶ 0:41:21appreciate the time I'm principal chief of the Cherokee Nation uh Mr chairman my greatest responsibility uh is protecting our 7,000 square mile reservation and defending tribal sovereignty the Cherokee Nation has exclusively governed uh the Cherokee Nation reservation since we were removed uh to what is now Northeast Oklahoma in the 19th century under the mcgurt decision from the Supreme Court of the United States and other decisions we continue to exercise that jurisdiction across the reservation we maintain cross
▶ 0:41:51deputization agreements with every law enforcement agency uh within our boundaries we prosecute thousands of cases a year we we put a blanket of protection around everyone we take this serious we understand in that regard the impact of every dollar we spend not only on law enforcement but on every aspect of what we do as a government from housing to education to notably healthc care where we run an excellent Health Care system and to the comments you made earlier we do it directly
▶ 0:42:21with resources from the Indian Health Service whether it's the dollars that we generate or whether it's dollars appropriated by this Congress we take all of them serious we want to be good stewards of every one of those dollars in fiscal year 2026 uh the subcommittee has lots of opportunities uh to exercise authority over SP federal spending on Indian Affairs and there's a great deal of of course scrutiny on all federal spending uh there's a few things this subcommittee can do first
▶ 0:42:52you can embrace the ongoing campaign against wasteful spending we need to reject uh calls for redundant programs they need to push back against the establishments establishment of programs that just duplicate what's already happening that's in the Indian Health Service in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other agencies and the second thing the subcommittee can do is uh to engage in the appropriate oversight of agency decisions particularly within the Indian Health Service and I want to direct your attention to
▶ 0:43:22the purchase and referred Care Program which is formerly known as Contract Health and the joint venture construction program in recent years the Indian Health Service has disregarded local decision makers Congressional intent uh and stood up parallel programs that's simply a waste of federal health dollars tribal Health dollars which of course we know are very precious uh the backdrop to all this Mr chairman and members is that the chokee nation runs a
▶ 0:43:52Comprehensive Health Care system I think it's the best in Indian Country we're moving towards a system of Wellness that we think ought to be the best in the world but we have a an excellent system we provide that Health Care to every beneficiary within our service area within our reservation that's every member of every ferally recognized tribe regardless of what tribe they're in so for FY 26 we'd ask the subcommittee
▶ 0:44:23to reject uh additional IHS demand demands for the so-called new tribes funding additional funding this would be if the IHS does it the fifth year in a row they've tried to add funding to fund a tribe that's not new that's been around for about 70 years the subcommittee should also guard against wasting these limited dollars by funding Services again in an area where we already fund all of these Services if any taxpayer in the country any member
▶ 0:44:53of this Congress was interested in wasteful spending it would be where the IHS tries to stand up to tribal Health Systems in a country in which we need to spread those dollars equitably and recognize where there is excellence and there is Excellence within the Cherokee Nation reservation by our health system the intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes has already spoke out on this issue so I direct your attention to a resolution that calls on Congress to closely scrutinize
▶ 0:45:24IHS funding decisions and request and to ass ensure that Appropriations are used effectively and in alignment with the healthc care needs of tribal Nations that's the five large tribes in Oklahoma speaking out on this issue so we ask the subcommittee to consider these programs and other agency requests to ensure that officials are spending the dollars wisely third the subcommittee can continue to do what it's done such an excellent job of and I want to express my appreciation for the dollars that have been appropriated
▶ 0:45:54for those tribes that are embracing ing all the opportunities under the mcgurt decision that is a decision that changed the landscape of law enforcement in Indian Country in Oklahoma and within the Cherokee Nation reservation we have substantial needs and we're meeting them with our own dollars but these dollars appropriated by the Congress uh $130 million that the house included in fy2 have been spent wisely and helps us create that blanket of protection and justice for everyone within our reservation
▶ 0:46:25so we'd ask that you maintain that funding uh in FY 26 and finally yes we're concerned about waste Fraud and Abuse I flagged that but when it comes to freezing funding reducing funding reducing Staffing for these agencies that goes to the core and it concerns me that goes to the core of the trust responsibility so we would ask the committee to help us guard against that so we can run efficient programs but not short change the Cherokee Nation the rest of Indian Country be glad to yield for questions thank you appreciate
▶ 0:46:55hne thank you Wei Su greetings chairman Simpson ranking member pingry congressman ziny and distinguished members of the subcommittee Natasa Rodney Butler and I proudly serve as the chairman of the mashing Tucket peat tribal Nation a community located in our homelands the oldest continually occupied reservation in the United States established in 1666 located in present day South Eastern Connecticut in addition to being the chairman of my nation I also serve as president of the Native American Financial Officers Association I'm a member of the treasury tribal advisory
▶ 0:47:26committee as as well as serve as a board member for the United South and Eastern tribes the National Congress of American Indians and the Indian gaming Association I want to Again Begin today by underscoring several fundamental truths tribal nations are and always have been inherently Sovereign governments we govern our lands and we provide services aimed at keeping our communi safe the United States has a trust in treaty obligations rooted in the United States Constitution that it fulfills through both the Direct Delivery of tribal programs and services
▶ 0:47:56and Provisions of federal funding to tribal Nations and tribal organizations serving tribal Nations the federal employees necessary for the functioning of those tribal programs and dispersement of those tribal funds are a critical part of the trust and treaty obligations as you consider Federal funding priorities Indian Country must be protected from spending cuts and funding for tribal programs cannot be considered discretionary to this end I want to thank chairman Cole for reiterating this important point in his recent letter to om highlighting that the Govern government
▶ 0:48:27to government relationship between tribal Nations and the United States and the need to honor the trust responsibility with these principles in mind I'd like to raise for your consideration several matters that are particularly important for the mashaka pat along with the balance of Indian Country first I would like to highlight the importance of federal support for Tribal Law Enforcement the mashanta pat tribal Nation like many has worked diligently to create a safe and secure Community for our citizens however funding shortfalls leave us confronting a persistent
▶ 0:48:57challenge in recruiting and retaining police officers when competing with our state or Municipal counterparts particularly regarding benefits and resources putting the safety of our citizens and many guests at risk in 2024 the Bia office of Justice Services released its report to Congress on public safety and Justice programs in Indian Country the findings of this report reveal among other things that funding for Public Safety and Justice Services in Indian country meet only 12% of the actual need and puts our community commities at
▶ 0:49:27significant disadvantage when it comes to protecting our citizens in the 118th Congress the house committee on natural resources passed HR 4524 the parody for Tribal Law Enforcement Act with bipartisan support we urge this Congress to take up and pass similar legislation that will enhance the operational capabilities of tribal law enforcement agencies ensuring they have the necessary Authority resources benefits and training to protect our communities second the 105l leasing program established under the Indian
▶ 0:49:57self-determination and education assistance act allows travel Nations and travel organizations to lease their own facilities to the federal government for the efficient delivery of services this program strongly supports self-determination and is a critical Avenue for ensuring that travel Nations have the financial resources needed to manage operate and maintain infrastructure that serves our communities this program launched in Earnest under President Trump's first term and has continued to flourish uh significantly since then and I give a special thanks to
▶ 0:50:27secretary Zin at the time for launching that program remember that it's a good one though mandatory by law These funds are currently included in the discretionary budget where they are subject to annual caps forcing hard choices across agency budgets for nearly a decade the Appropriations Committee has recognized the need to reclassify these accounts as mandatory keeping these costs under discretionary funding has stifled IHS and Bia budgets completely disregarding the rising medical inflation and growing tribal populations we we are calling for mandatory
▶ 0:50:57funding for 105 L leases in the Bia bie and IHS budgets our third priority relates to the Department of Treasury we urge Congress to make the treasury's office of n tribal and Native Affairs permanent and to continue working collaboratively with the treasury tribal advisory committee these entities are essential for providing technical assistance and guidance and supporting tribal Nations and in accessing tax incent incentives and economic development tools that benefit all economies not just tribal economies
▶ 0:51:28they also play a crucial role in ensuring appropriate tribal consultation on tax and economic policies and facilitating government toover engagement lastly we call on Congress to support legislation that would create tax parity for tribal Nations seeking to diversify our economies and invest in our communities we know this is a top priority for president Trump and tribes can't be left out this time around some key Provisions include treating tribal governments the same as States for key tax purposes including excise tax
▶ 0:51:58Bond issuances pension plans General W welfare benefits and charitable organizations also creating an annual New Market tax credit for low-income tribal communities and increasing the the effectiveness of the tribal low-income housing tax credit program on behalf of the mash and Tucket Pat tribal Nation I say kapatos I thank you all for your time and consideration today we stand ready to work with you the admin and this Administration to advance these priorities and uphold the trust and treaty responsibilities that are the Bedrock of the federal trbal
▶ 0:52:28relationship will Mo be well thank you I appreciate your testimony and uh have to get down and see the health clinic Cherokees are delivering and stuff but uh you bring up an issue that several tribes have brought up and it's one I grew up on the outside the the southern border of my town that I grew up in was the Fort Hall Indian Reservation with the showbands and uh for years I've wondered how do we get police off officers to stay there because
▶ 0:52:59they come and they and they get trained they go through the same training that our state police officers go they come and they work at Fort Hall and pocatella is 25 miles away blackf foot's 20 miles away and as soon as they they get on and everything then they end up uh going to one of these communities because of better pay and benefits and everything else that's something that's got to be addressed and it's not just police officers firefighters and other uh professionals that uh that we need to be able to attract
▶ 0:53:29to the reservations and stay there interesting issue though yeah yeah J what we've seen across Indian country is in particular it's the benefit portion of it and access to the uh federal pension program as other Federal officers have have access to would make a world of difference for us in recruiting and retaining qualified police officers on our lands yeah absolutely Miss pingry yeah thank you both for your testimony um chief husin nice to see you again I had the opportunity to to visit
▶ 0:53:59in Oklahoma and see the health clinic and um uh you're not exaggerating it was one of the most impressive health clinics I've ever been in Native American or not was down on a family vacation um and I also recall that you were just getting started with a medical school um interested to know how how's the progress going with that that seems like a really unique opportunity to uh train people in the medical profession who might later go on to work in another tribal Community or in another facility ities so how has that been going thank for the question yeah it's incredible
▶ 0:54:29and so here's what we did we had a partnership with Oklahoma State University we built the medical school they are operating the medical school they they now saw the first graduating class uh nearly a year ago so last may now this is important across the country less than 1% of med school graduates are Native American that graduating class was 20% and then it gets better because that is nestled in a rule setting it's nestled in I think the best in tribal Healthcare we're flipping the script
▶ 0:54:59on what worked against us which is med school students from the urban areas where we need schools difficult to retain attract and retain but we're growing them so to speak in this setting and it's working well so far we're very excited about it thank you for the question oh that's great no I do appreciate the the commitment You' made to that and it really is benefiting everyone else as well um and nice to have a New England tribe visiting us here today as a mayor absolutely yeah yeah I know you're a really important
▶ 0:55:30tribe for the region and um I thought it was interesting the the law enforcement question how much land do you actually have that so uh unlike uh my good friend Chief Hoskins uh we reside on 1600 acres in Southeastern Connecticut I mean colonization Connecticut isn't a small amount it's not a small amount in Connecticut but it's not like uh your fellow tribes in Maine that are sitting on tens of thousands of acres and so um but we are responsible for roughly 10 million visitors a year that travel through M and so the police force that we
▶ 0:56:00have is larger than the community per se needs given the small population but given our breath of reach over you know non-natives uh it's certainly nowhere near the levels it should be and and as the chair uh chairman pointed out we are constantly recruiting they get post certified through the state and immediately move on uh and leave mash and Tucket for better paying jobs especially in a state like Connecticut where there are good wages but I can imagine you have law enforcement concerns being where are and uh you know we certainly know from our state since we are traditionally
▶ 0:56:30not a gaming State we send a lot of buses of people to Connecticut thank you to visit your Casino um the one other thing maybe if you could follow up I thought it was uh interesting to think about in our coming tax bill where um tribes aren't getting the benefits of some of the tax Provisions so um maybe you could send us some more detail on some of the areas that you think we should be vigilant about making sure get it's covered because I think that's that's a good opportunity for economic development and opportunities so um thank you very much much thanks both of you for being here thank you just a curiosity what do they call the medical school
▶ 0:57:00is it the University or uh Oklahoma State University Medical School or it's Oklahoma State University College of osteopathic medicine at the Cherokee Nation all right cool that's but that's uh that's really good to know because I've mentioned with the other tribes that I've been meeting with this week and stuff that the only way you're going to solve the problem of getting teachers getting Medical professional having been a dentist in the real world getting dentists out on some of these
▶ 0:57:30reservations you got to educate the kids and get them into Medical School 90% of the time they'll come back to to their uh reservation to to serve and stuff I that's exciting to hear thank you if I could add one thing there's a program OSU has that we host which is called operation orange orange is the school colors but it it's just what you said so it's middle school students coming in to see what they could be you know the old saying you can't be what you can't see well they can see it and they're going to be the doctors of
▶ 0:58:00Tomorrow FAS Mr ziny thank you Mr chairman and good to see you again I remember the scar tissue uh for remember uh the state of Connecticut wrote Department of interior letter that says on the casino if we approve it it's done if we don't approve it it's done it's it's out if we don't say anything it's already approved and just so you know and you hear it from me is that if it's off
▶ 0:58:31reservation uh I think you should be handled just like everybody else uh you're free to buy Apartments you're free to buy casinos and stuff like that the from my perspective when I secretary trust properties on is on the reservation off reservation you're free to do whatever you you desire because you're a citizen like everyone else so that's the decision and it was it was I remember the scar tissue yeah yeah but but good to see you again always but my position is is remain unchanged is is as a Sovereign Nation you're free
▶ 0:59:01to to buy apartments and businesses and stuff like that anywhere you want without without penalty y so I I don't think interior should say yes or no off reservation that's that's not interior's job so thanks thank you thank you and thank you for both uh for being here today and testifying we appreciate it very interesting thank you thank you all right have a good day we're now going to go to uh panel number three
▶ 0:59:31with an addition jadev is that how you pronounce your name okay uh you'll be up here Michael Hicks Cheyenne Robinson Victoria it's Michelle sorry we were trying to decide whether that was Michelle or yeah I understand
▶ 1:00:13that okay cool at the Cherokee Nation that's good good morning how you doing yeah that's good that's so exciting yeah congratulations on that yeah nice to see you morning Victoria was there a okay John Dev you're first I understand you got caught up in traffic crazy isn't it yeah I understand believe me turned out to be an hourong Drive rather than
▶ 1:00:44yeah thank you so much for working me working with me so chairman uh ranking member penry and all members of the subcommittee thank you for this opportunity to tell testify I serve as ambassador of the Mogi Creek Nation the fourth largest tribal nation in the United States the Mogi Creek Nation reservation spans over 3.2 million acres is home to well over 1 million people and covers eight full counties and parts of three more in Eastern
▶ 1:01:14Oklahoma Mogi Creek Nation represents the interests of over 100,000 and R tribal citizens and many more native and non-native citizens who call a reservation home my nation has a long history of shared and Cooperative governance with the United States as one of the three separate sovereigns in shrined in the United States Constitution Indian tribes received funding not because we are the benefactors of any polit uh particular party political agenda instead
▶ 1:01:44we receive funding because our cooperative and collaborative relationship with the United States goes back to the signing of the US Constitution indeed one of the very first things that George Washington did as president was to sign a treaty with my nation the Mogi Creek Nation because of that treaty and hundreds more the United States gained a territory to govern none of the policies executive orders or mandates issued by the current Administration should be interpreted as requiring any agency
▶ 1:02:15to forsake the United States constitutional commitments to travel Nations if any tribal funding or programs are going to be cut truncated or eliminated those eliminations should only come as the result of actual consideration of the particular funding stream or program being cut Cuts or freezes at DOI HHS dot or any other department that helps administer this nation's solemn treaty and Trust responsibilities to Indian nations threatens to prevent native children from
▶ 1:02:45being busted to their schools native prisoners and federal jails from eating meals and our roads from being paved weakening travel Nations makes Americans of all Stripes less safe and erodes the foundations of our great Country Federal funding for Education Health Care Land Management cultural preservation and tribal Economic Development constitutes a critical lifeblood across Indian Country it should not be restricted without careful and considerate thought following our nation's historic victory in the United
▶ 1:03:15States Supreme Court in Oklahoma versus mcgurt in 2020 when the Supreme Court affirmed the continue existence of our Mogi reservation the Trump Administration made commitments and took significant steps to ensure that our Tribal Law Enforcement victim services and other agencies that protect Public Safety were fully funded since 2020 the nation has entered into 64 cross deputization agreements with City governments Municipal partners and state agencies
▶ 1:03:46we have expanded our police force from 30 officers in 2020 to 125 officers as of 2024 the nation has received over 4500 criminal referrals from non-indian governments referred over 4,300 criminal matters to non-indian governments and issued over 1,800 civil and criminal sanctions for violations to meet the 380 per increase in the MCN court docket the nation using federal dollars previously appropriated by this committee
▶ 1:04:17along with a significant amount of tribal dollars has invested heavily into the administrative and physical infrastructure of our court systems likewise detention facilities have high operation costs due to staffing needs liability space requirements and required medical facilities for example for a government or private entity to construct a new 1,000 bed facility which is needed in our part of Oklahoma the estimated cost would range from 100 to $150 million and this does not
▶ 1:04:47account for the ongoing cost of annual operations finally based on FY 24 funding levels there exists a funding shortfall of of over $12 million for MC's Agricultural and natural resources programs and functions therefore the nation would request that the house retain existing funding mechanisms and could consider increasing capacity building funds to support Land Management and development activities today we ask Congress to appropriate mandatory
▶ 1:05:17funding to ensure that the promises made in the treaties our nation signed with the United States are fulfilled and not forgotten funding Tribble Nations is not a Democrat thing it's not a republican thing it's an American thing and America cannot be great if America breaks its fundamental promise she made to travel Nations that made the sovereignty of the United States possible it is with that understanding that we appear humbly before you today asking the United States uh to commit to fully
▶ 1:05:47fund tribal Nations thank you very much appreciate the opportunity to be here thank you she on the guy appreciate the opportunity to be here chairman thank you m Congressman ziny thank you Congress pingry I've traveled all your territories and you guys have some wonderful hot springs in in Southern Idaho I took my family through there a few years ago you also probably have some of the best bead work at the Shon
▶ 1:06:18banic tribe and again I've I've hunted in both your States I won't disclose the tribes that that are that but beautiful beautiful ter teritory and so thank you for the opportunity to be here uh it is a pleasure and I also want to say thank you for uh you know back in the fall obviously we had a a significant damage to our area with the hurricane Helen and I know there's been a lot of efforts to help you know our tribe is U was a central Hub to you know to to a lot of that support and we forwarded over $10
▶ 1:06:48million of water uh supplies medical supplies uh all all elements to help our neighbors we had substantial damage we didn't lose any lives but our neighbors did and uh you know the damage is just Indescribable but thank you you know for your for your help uh just a little bit about Eastern bound Cherokee uh we're located in Western North Carolina uh and we are a 16,000 plus member tribe um we are the Cherokees
▶ 1:07:18uh that uh remained in in the Great Smoky Mountains we resisted the removal in the trilers and so we reside on again 56,000 acres of land and you know for centuries um you know the Cherokee people have fiercely protected our separate cultural identity uh without question it's important to us we have a living breathing culture with a unique spoke spoken and written language uh and you know we know there were times uh you know of of the boarding schools
▶ 1:07:48to where harm uh was applied uh you know to our Nations uh and you know a lot of trauma was in Cur but you know we we we have survived and now uh as I go through some of the detail I'll describe one of the facilities that we have a a a Language Academy that is teaching language Cherokee language as the first language and so again just uh proud of our um as I think about you know where we are and I've been I've been doing this a long time I'm in my fourth term
▶ 1:08:19been working for the tribe for a long time I'm a 31-e uh sub uh CPA so I've played with numbers a lot my life and you know glad to be here to hopefully uh you know make our tribal government stronger but you know I'm concerned about the issues uh you know for uh our native uh uh native tribes and Alaska Nation especially around this diversity Equity inclusion um we are sovereign Nations and again I want to be clear about that you know and you know I
▶ 1:08:49come before you today to ensure that you know there were solemn promises to our Nations uh you know between this government and you know we uh I'm requesting today that uh again you know redefining does not impact Sovereign Nations and the government to government relationships um we uh we feel strongly about about that obviously and again we just appreciate you know the respect of uh of who we are and you know is it's
▶ 1:09:19great to hear some of the other leaders this morning which you know I've known for for a long time just talking about you know water RS and you know what we're trying to protect and you know there there's a lot there's a lot here um we we employ about 6,000 employees in Western North Carolina and uh I don't want to I don't want to argue with with with Chief uh Chief Hoskins with Cherokee Nation but we have a great uh health system too and I want to tell you about it um he's uh he he's done he's done a wonderful job and they they've done some some great
▶ 1:09:49things in in the state of Oklahoma so I I give them credit for a lot of that uh we um uh you know we also have a uh a hospital facility that is has been renewed just a few years ago but we've expanded that hospital to not just be your normal Pharmacy and you know just general services but we have a lot of physical therapy services we've included um uh an extension around Mental Health Services we're all dealing with mental health you know in in in our areas you know uh drug related
▶ 1:10:19Etc of course we all we just finished a new senior service it's 100 bed Senior Services uh that you know provide wonderful wonderful care to our people we also operate a number of other Community Health Services various Recreation programs uh in Cherokee we have about 250 mies of roads that that we uh manage roads and of course the water and sewer uh Broadband we we own over 350 miles of broadband in Western North Carolina and you know we've been in that that business
▶ 1:10:50for over uh over 20 years now of course home ownership is is something that's big for us and of course Public Safety with my travels uh you know as as being Chief or you know with with being in in business um you know Public Safety is is a major issue in Indian country and you know I've done a lot of travel out in the planes especially and law enforcement you guys were speaking of early it's just something that you know has to you know uh remain a priority um and you know as I was speaking earlier just about the uh
▶ 1:11:20The Language Academy we we have 60 students in our Language Academy we also teach it in our in our schools which is a bie school we are a 638 school we manage uh the resources that come to the schools so we try to minimize your your point earlier and and try to you know be as efficient as we possibly can and so again we're proud of you know teaching our language we're proud of our culture we're proud of our history and we don't want to get caught up in this this new definition and again I know I've I've said that a couple times you may you may hear it some more
▶ 1:11:50but it's important to us we also operate our own uh daycare system systems uh and uh and and secondary schools in addition to a court system we uh within our court we have a 100 bad jail that U has been in place about 10 years and uh again we're uh we're very proud of that I know I'm limited to on time here so I'll I'll hurry um it's important that we continue to fund the ba uh I I uh have been talking with our superintendent
▶ 1:12:20we have about 1,400 students in our school system um do a wonderful job they meet all the all the standards and you know in the state of North Carolina uh that that you that are required but you know our our school is beyond just just being a you know a um uh you know a learning institution it's it's a historical institution it's a cultural institution and that's important to us and uh again we uh uh you know proud of proud of that facility um
▶ 1:12:51we also um again with with our health facilities you know IHS funding is important to us we are a compact at hospital so in other words we're at the third level of of funding to where uh you know the federal funding flows down but we have our own Hospital Authority we have our own board we have our own CEO that manages that facility and so it does minimize you know some of the the bureaucracy if you will um in addition to you know we live in the Great Smoky Mountains and we're we're we're in a beautiful
▶ 1:13:21territory similar to you guys and uh you know keep keeping making sure the air the water you know the land is pure is something that's extremely important us so you know EPA fund and things of that nature um and as I close here today uh again I thank you for for all your work and as you go into the you know the budget Cycles just keep keep these these priorities in mind uh and one one last point is uh you know we think there are some efficiencies within uh you know various
▶ 1:13:51agencies uh there are uh some State groups in the of North Carolina uh that are not fairly recognized that are receiving substantial funds and we think that is concerning uh they found loopholes within the within the systems and uh we think you know as you guys go through this uh evaluation process that that would be beneficial to take a take a peek at you know some of these funding levels that are not supporting friendly recognized Tri but it's state recognized groups uh that
▶ 1:14:22that are achieving some of this funding and it and it's substantial dollars so thank you for your time uh and uh we appreciate the opportunity to be here good morning chairman Simpson riking member pin GRE and members of the Sub sub committee my name is cheyen Robinson I have the honor of serving as a secretary of the Omaha tribe of Nebraska um I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony regarding fiscal year 26 budget Appropriations for
▶ 1:14:52Indian Health Service Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian education I come to you today as an elected leader of my tribal nation whose government toover relationship with the United States is rooted in our Sovereign status and formalized through our 1865 treaty The Chronic underfunding of IHS Bia and biie undermines a solemn promise and directly impacts the health and Public Safety of our tribal citizens while the Omaha tribe has many critical needs we are focusing on a couple priorities for fiscal year 26
▶ 1:15:23uh a 3.2 billion plus up for Bureau of Indian Affairs specifically office of Justice Services 26 million for an Omaha tribal Justice Center 500,000 for a planning investment for the Omaha tribal Justice Center and4 million increase to the expand the tiah initiative in support excuse me in addition to Omaha tribe individual priorities we also support the advance appropriation for Char of programs and services through fiscal year 27 funding mandatory
▶ 1:15:53contract support cost in section 105 Lisas additionally exempt agencies for reduction and force to ensure that there is capacity to staff and carry out trust and treaty obligations in a series of treaties with the with the United States col meeting in the 1865 the Omaha Nation seated millions of Acres of the richest Farmland in America in exchange for treaty and Trust obligations surrounding education housing continued self-government Law and Order and the promise of a liable tribal
▶ 1:16:23community these contractual agreements were not acts of government sponsorship but legal binding obligations based on our political classification as a distinct Tribal Sovereign Nation to the extent of our health education employment housing facility maintenance and need indicators these trust and treaty obligations are not being met the Omaha tribe of Nebraska fully believes that these that funding these treaty based Appropriations and the establishment of a comprehensive multi-purpose Omaha Nation Justice Center will address a multitude
▶ 1:16:53of critical needs and I want to give some perspective on ground level and what we deal with on um on the imaha tribe reservation the tribe's current Correctional Facility is antique just like many other throughout Indian Country the jail is dilapitated unsafe and ill equipped to manage the needs of individuals with substance use disorders and mental health issues and in general the fit in all crisis the Omaha tribe is requesting the subcommittee to explore opportunities within the budget reconciliation process
▶ 1:17:23to address law or issues within Indian Country including correction facilities in congruence with President Trump's Law and Order and border security priorities additionally we request that you direct in report language the planning of new institutions programed to work with the Omaha tribe of Nebraska to begin phase one of the planning process in closing we support Indian Country priorities in Indian Health Service Bure of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian education a reduction in force is an
▶ 1:17:54arbitration of of treaty and Trust obligations and further reduces our already deficit capacity provide to provide needed services to our tribal citizens we urge you to provide stability in this uncertain budget climate and on behalf of the Omaha tribe we thank this committee for holding this hearing we look forward to working with uh you in the future and um you can find further details of our ask in my WEA good morning my name is Victoria
▶ 1:18:24kitan I have the honor of serving as the chairwoman of the Wago tribe of Nebraska I would like to start by thanking this subcommittee for being a good partner to Indian country and your fiscal 25 increases and we're pleased that uh many of the things we were here last year advocating for made it in through those increases so thank you for listening that brings us to our 26 priorities and we encourage the subcommittee to increase funding for the Bia Public Safety and Justice programs the Bia law enforcement staff shortages and
▶ 1:18:54over insufficient level of police services has been a long-standing issue on the Wago reservation we currently have two correction officers for the Wago police department and two positions that remain vacant previously the Bia positions were left vacant by district intentionally the tribe eventually learned that those vacant positions were absorbed without consultation and no longer exist in our budget so the failure for the Bia to provide sufficient law enforcement staffing
▶ 1:19:24has has be uh our tribe has become reliant on Tribal Police Officers as well as correct um conservation officers you know they're supposed to be looking out for the lay of the land and we have to bring them to um patrol for safety the lack of adult and juvenile detention facilities at Wabo is further contributing to our serious public safety concerns the closest detention facilities are located on the Omaha reservation and in thirston County however the bi often does not have active contracts with those facilities or those facilities do not have availability
▶ 1:19:54we heard from um my colleague here that um their their jail needs repairs and and is um Antiquated and so we utilize that jail as well but without a local Bia contract with jails such as the H nation and thirston County our law enforcement are forced to drive five hours round trip to detention facilities and so when we don't have boots on the ground and we have to drive distance to um put people in uh Corrections it's it's an issue the
▶ 1:20:25lack of local Correction Facility contracts allowing existing contracts to expire and continually failing to provide adequate law enforcement is unacceptable the tribe fully supports the increase of criminal investigations and police services and detentions Corrections in in the FY 25 legislation and encourage the same increases for 26 next the tribe encourages subcommittee to increase funding for mental health programs at IHS tribal members throughout IND country are struggling with serious mental health issues and often face burdens
▶ 1:20:55in receiving life-saving care the the hospital uh 12 Clans Unity Hospital in Wago is unable to provide that necessary treatment so they need to be transferred to a higher level of care and um that are equipped to handle those emergencies for 35 years the IHS has been receiving funding to address these situations but the tribe hasn't been able to access these funds as a result of the e8th Circuit Court of Appeals 1978 decision in white B califano Congress has been appropriating funds to IHS since 19 90 to
▶ 1:21:25pay for involuntary commitment of reservation Indians and state mental facilities up until 2023 the tribe was unaware of those funds known as the califano fund since that time we've been working with IHS to clarify eligibility and the parameters around that Fund in August 2024 IIs confirmed that all Great Plains tribes within the eight circuit are eligible for the califano fund but um The Proposal is to utilize area shared methodology which the tribe is okay with but
▶ 1:21:56um we've been cut out of that 1.75 million fund for 35 years and um So based on our rough calculation we'd received 75,000 annually this is you know among 17 tribes so there's $2.5 million at the Wago tribe was cut out of over 35 years and so we're encouraging the subcommittee to provide substantial increases to that funding as well as um overall funding for the califano fund finally the tribe encourages the subcommittee to increase funding for tribal colleges and universities
▶ 1:22:26enrollment at Little Priest tribal College also known as lptc has doubled in the last four years spring enrollment was at 225 the highest enrollment our graduation rates have increased programs have expanded from 6 to 12 programs but um much like many infrastructure in Indian Country it's Antiquated um 20 to 70 years old improvements and repairs on campus are necessary to have a a adequate um learning environment and so um the museum Student Services food service building
▶ 1:22:56administration building was built in 1954 and it's actually um a former um orphanage you know like these buildings have been repurposed this wasn't you know built to be a college so um we have a master plan and we hope to expand that to adjacent 10 Acre Site and so um that's an estimated $60 million project but with these increased costs for all these construction projects we really need the this subcommittee to continue to promote that growth and fund
▶ 1:23:27um funding to increase for tribal colleges and universities facilities Improvement and repair so the Wago tribe appreciates this time we come every year this is a great opportunity just to have some FaceTime and share um the programs on the ground on my reservation that are impacted by these increases and are um harmed by decreases so thank you for this opportunity thank you and thank you all for being here today it's a good time for us too not just for you but it's a good time for us to get to learn what's going going on uh out in Indian country and stuff
▶ 1:23:57you got a great representative that uh I talked to several times when the hurricane hit up there and stuff to see how you all were doing and and uh he kept very good track of what was needed and stuff so Congressman Edward is doing a wonderful job for us very proud of anyway thank you all for being here today I appreciate it very much shell yeah just uh reiterate that thank you all for um you know all of your testimony different issues but many of which we've been hearing about certainly on law enforcement um um and it was a good reminder that uh you
▶ 1:24:27know we often talk about the lack of uh law enforcement personnel and the difficulties there but it's also the facilities like um detention facilities and we have to make sure that we're investing enough in that and that the wait time isn't forever to get those things um fixed in repairs and it's interesting to hear from the Oklahoma tribes how the mcgurt decision has perhaps put a little bit more um cash infusion into that obviously not as much as you need I don't discount that because the you know the change in the jurisdictions um just that you said you had 64 cross
▶ 1:24:58um agreements you know with uh local communities that's that's huge to get all that negotiated but impressive to see that you're uh doing that and that you have the number of officers that you do but clearly it shows that you know little bit of money can make some of these things start working but um I know we'll hear from the chair that we haven't done enough for the mgur settlement so that that will certainly um get our attention and also tribal colleges yeah I think another really important we talk a lot about you know the value of getting and education and make sure that bie facilities have enough but tribal
▶ 1:25:29colleges are really important and our hearts went out to everyone in North Carolina so thank you for the good work your tribe was doing to help your neighbors that that was very impressive and and many of the other things you have going on are are great to hear about so appreciate thank everybody I was just gonna say that you got the right chairman of this full committee to get MC yeah AB absolutely oh and chairman Rik member to kind of dovetail on that just briefly I think everybody
▶ 1:25:59in this room and certainly the the uh committee recognizes the importance of these Congressional hearings I just want to put one last uh ex exclamation point on that uh we talked about one of the very first treaties that the United States entered into being the Treaty of New York in 1790 with Mogi nation that was on the heels of the ratification of the Constitution as we know it today and as we know that Constitution was um an improvement on the Articles of Confederation
▶ 1:26:30that distributed Authority among the colonies in terms of their their work with various tribes that caused issues and that relationship with tribal Nations was one of the things that was centralized under the new constitution for a reason and later case law namely the Marshall trilogies further clarified that Congress has the pre ENT role in engaging with tribal Nations uh certainly with respect to the Judiciary
▶ 1:27:00and the Executive Branch the plenary authority of Congress and its responsibility to uphold treaty and Trust responsibilities is Paramount so Appropriations hearings such as this are absolutely fundamental because it's Congress who can really play the long game look at things like mcer look at things like education and really fund fully fund for the longterm term for long planning that was recognized by our founding framers in the Constitution as we know it today and so
▶ 1:27:30your work today is Solemn in that regard to uphold the foundations of this Republic thank you appreciate it jff sir thank you all for being here today we appreciate your testimony we appreciate the work you do out there we look forward to working with you uh to solve some of these problems appreciate it no I'm fine uh next we got uh darene David and Cynthia
▶ 1:28:01I can actually pronounce the last names yeah I could look like like I knew what I was doing yeah oh yeah thank you
▶ 1:28:31for being here uh daring long huh so anyway uh you're first go ahead OTA good morning chairman Simpson ranking member pingre and distinguished members of the subcommittee on behalf of the anate community of the Artic slope Tribal Council I want to thank you for this important opportunity to discuss our appropriation priorities for FY 2026 with you my name is Dorian levit and I serve as the icast Tribal
▶ 1:29:01Council secretary and director of Natural Resources icass is one of two federally recognized Regional Alaskan native tribal governments in Alaska that provides services to more than 13,47 icast tribal members about half of whom are also duly enrolled in the native Village tribes of anuic atas Barrow kovic Nuit Point Hope point lay and Wayne wri Ania
▶ 1:29:31community of the Arctic Slope is a landless tribe with a service delivery area larger than the state of Minnesota located in America's Arctic which makes delivering Services challenging and costly we are faced with unique obstacles weather location a changing landscape Reliance on planes and barges to ship in basic supplies food food lack of redundancy in critical Broadband infrastructure Workforce and housing shortages and much more for
▶ 1:30:02this reason we are here today to highlight three appropriation requests in addition to those in my written testimony first we ask the subcommittee to fully fund the Bia and provide additional earmark funds to end iic's 30 plus years of flat inadequate funding for the past 30 years icas has received little to no increases in our federal funding and of the funding we receive there is often not enough dollars to make an impact on our communities Beyond paying salaries or portions thereof for staff
▶ 1:30:32who are doing the best they can with the limited resources available to them with the resources Congress provided to us to respond to the covid-19 pandemic iastate strategically bolstered our governance infrastructure improved the delivery of our services and hired additional staff to manage the increased workload however this funding will run out by the end of 201 26 forcing icast to look at other innovative ways to offset our Revenue this should not be our sole responsibility
▶ 1:31:02your trust obligation requires you to provide meaningful services to our people and we need your support to fund long-term solutions to underfunding second increase funding for social services and IA this funding is critical to supporting the next generation of iast families that struggle with economic social mental and physical health heal ailments iast currently only receives enough funding to pay our employees that serve the village of the Native Village of Point
▶ 1:31:32lay with high mortality rates in our Arctic communities our funding is not enough to provide the critical services our youth and families need if we truly want to put an end to inter intergenerational trauma Congress must dedicate additional dollars to support these families third provide resources for building necessary br redundancy many federal programs supporting Broadband development and deployment do not support building necessary redundancy to accomodate for the realities
▶ 1:32:03of our region on June 11th 2023 SE ice severed the undersea fiber optic cable which connects the Arctic Slope to internet and cell phone service coverage because of the lack of redundant Broadband infrastructure there are outages across the entire Arctic Slope icast tribal members were not only disconnected from community Comm unication with the outside world but more importantly they were unable to access critical Services needed for everyday life such as medical and Public Safety
▶ 1:32:33phone stopped working Hospitals and Clinics suffered from unusable medical equipment local flights were stopped and sadly a young child died because the family was unable to call Services in January 2025 CCE once again damaged the subc fiber optic cable causing wides widespread Internet outages in Alaska while icast tried to apply for funds through the tribal Broadband connectivity Grant we were unfairly denied because ntia deemed our service
▶ 1:33:03area served the US Department of Agriculture reconnect Broadband program also deems our area served I can tell you first how firsthand we are not adequately served we need this subcommittee to provide additional dollars through DUI to ensure there is necessary Broadband redundancy in our region so we can promote the well-being of our tribal members K thank you thank you good morning thank you chairman
▶ 1:33:44Simpson okay let's my name is shout gatz my English name is Cynthia Peterson and I serve as the president of the aat kinket tribe for over 34 years we have provided services to our citizens while uplifting our community's cultural social and economic well-being we have 820 citizens and our traditional territory in the aatat burough encompasses nearly 10,000 square miles we sincerely appreciate your recent historic investments in Indian
▶ 1:34:14Country to build off these victories we urge you to remember that your trust and treaty responsibility to tribal Nations exist irrespective of Congress a separate goal to balance the budget I offer the following recommendations for FY 26 the IHS has long been unders sourced yet its funding is constantly interrupted earlier this year tribal health programs like ourselves feared that our desperately needed funding was Frozen when the OMB issued a
▶ 1:34:44memorandum pausing federal financial assistance this uncertainty greatly impacts our care we respect the efforts of Congress to balance the federal budget however the IHS budget is so small that it cuts do not result in Federal Savings but they do devastate our citizens we urge Congress to permanently exempt the IHS from budget cuts sequestrations recessions and funding freezes
▶ 1:35:15while Medicaid is not within the purview of this subcommittee we ask you to protect our access to it our fac facilities get 30 to 60% of funding from Medicaid but we only account for.
▶ 1:35:302% of the total program spending in other words cutting tribal access to Medicaid would not save Federal money but it would force us to roll back the care we do provide we implore Congress to exempt Services received through IHS and tribal programs for from Counting towards any funding cap as was done in 2017 we continue to advocate for advanced Appropriations and support your proposal to expand to health care and sanitation
▶ 1:36:01facility construction we appreciate the subcommittee's commitment to fully funding CSC and Section 105 L leases but we are concerned that they are still within discretionary Appropriations despite their oblig obligatory nature here they continue to take up a larger percentage of overall IHS and we are very worried that Congress will cut into other tribal programs to pay for these increases especially after
▶ 1:36:31the Bara ruling to protect all IHS funding we urge you to enact mandatory Appropriations for CS C and 105 L leases in recent years the cost of air travel in Alaska has skyrocketed to unsustainable levels given how often our patients must fly to receive any health care indeed in FY 23 the Alaska tribal Health System overspent its PRC allocation by $44
▶ 1:37:01million we therefore urge you to allocate an additional 50 million to the Alaska area for PRC we support moving away from competitive grants for Indian Country Grants unfairly pit tribes against each other for resources we all deserve the federal trust responsibility does not require that we clear obstacles to see Services provided to our citizens tribes must divert limited staff to apply
▶ 1:37:32for these federal grants and comply with their requirements thereby diluting the usefulness of the resources instead we request widespread flexible formula based funding across all of our programs we appreciate congress's investment in IHS sanitation fa facilities through the bipartisan infrastructure law which has funded over 200 projects in Alaskan native communities yet with multi-billion dollar backlog and growing inflation funding
▶ 1:38:02to close out the list is insufficient and many facilities are left unsafe we recommend increases for health care and sanitation facilities construction over the last 60 years chap has provided critical Health Care to rural communities in Alaska the IHS insufficiently funds the Alaska area to operate chap including for training and certification we ask for recurring operational funds for this program
▶ 1:38:32tribal programs are chronically understaffed due to underfunding and remoteness we thank the subcommittee for proposing a 12% increase to the hospitals and health clinics account and urge you to dedicate resources for Staffing for staff housing Alaskan native community rely on sdpi to address alarming rates of sdp's success rests on his flexibility
▶ 1:39:03to incorporate cultural and local needs while we understand it's not within your jurisdiction we ask you to support permanent reauthorization at a minimum of 200 million with a self-governance option finally we have been devastated by an ongoing opio opioid epidemic yet fun remains extremely Limited in fy4 Congress only appropriated $2 million that's less than $1 per IHS
▶ 1:39:34patient for detoxification Services we urge you to increase resources for Health thank you so much for your consideration I look forward to our continued partnership goodness ches you chairman Simpson ranking member pingre and members of the subcommittee it's my honor to be here today will how you I'm grateful for this opportunity
▶ 1:40:05my name is David Boxley I'm a simpan of laku wolf Clan I'm a me councilman of the Met Catan community in 1891 the United States established the beautiful Anette Islands Reserve in southern Southeast Alaska and in doing so created a sacred trust relationship between us I've traveled a long way in at Great expense to ask Congress to increase its financial support to help us fulfill congress's intent that the reserve will serve as my people's permanent home to build a brighter self-sufficient future for the Next Generation
▶ 1:40:35we appreciate your recent historic investments in Indian Country which reflect the United States sacred trust and treaty responsibility to tribal Nations and a recognition of the substantial needs of Indian Country we ask you today that you permanently exempt the IHS and Bia budget from any cuts sequestrations recisions and funding freezes Indian Country programs that my tribe relies on have long been underresourced and just weeks ago we feared that our desperately needed funding was frozen by the OM although their me Memo was walked back my
▶ 1:41:05people were afraid for their future and that kind of fear is a powerful enemy to progress we need your help I offer the following specific recommendations for 26 increased funding for our programs is crucial due to escalating drug use like fentanyl coming in from neighboring catch again our Social Services Program fire department and Emergency Medical Services desperately need support and Foster Care placements are at an all-time high we're grateful for and urge you to enact the proposed $300 million
▶ 1:41:35increase to the Bia for FY 26 we also request advaned appropriation for the Bia full Advance Appropriations for the Bia would lead to better stability and improve everything overall while funding stability is a reasonable goal for any responsible government it also instills what is perhaps most a most important attribute of good governance a sense of hope and optimism among its citizens art tamis Creek Hatchery the largest Native own hatchery in the nation is on track to rival the output of the largest hatcheries in Alaska
▶ 1:42:06providing not only economic and food security for our people but the entire region as well we appreciate the proposed increase to The Fish Wildlife and park subactivity and ask you to ensure its enactment into law the Pacific salmon treaty was negotiated between the US and Canada to prevent over fishing we thank you for for proposing a 1.6 million increase for this program also we need a tagging trailer to Monitor and man manage the populations our sole source of Municipal Water is the Chester Lake Reservoir maintained by a dam
▶ 1:42:36constructed in 1985 heavy rainfall causes often causes overflow which results in a loss of water supply that is most valuable during drought conditions we need to raise the dam in additional 15 ft to increase our resiliency especially in times of drought we received an email last night that we are technically in a drought at the moment Noah informed us of that we urge the subcommittee to allocate more funding to the safety of dams and Dam maintenance accounts our community is currently working to revitalize our endangered Heritage language some Alek we have
▶ 1:43:06received and are grateful for language grants but this funding is not guaranteed year after year it is unreasonable to expect meaningful progress toward language revitalization in a single year especially with a limited availability of fluent speaking Elders which is a direct result of US Government school policy we ask you to initiate a direct sustained funding model for Native languages as part of our compacts I'd like to Echo Yak Tat's uh words about Medicaid and contract support cost 105l leases it's um
▶ 1:43:37an interesting coincidence that we're sitting here together the yak tat clink people and simn have had a long relationship I'm honored to be testifying at the same time um so we implore Congress to exempt Services received through IHS and tribal programs from Counting towards any funding cap as was done in 2017 um and we urge you to enact mandatory Appropriations for contract support cost and 105l leases metler Catlin have the fortitude to withstand the challenges that face us but we need Congress to stand with us we need
▶ 1:44:07funding increases to fulfill congress's intent our ancestors showed their faith in the United States promise to protect and secure our new home when they raised the Star Spangled Banner on that Sandy Beach in 1887 today I have the same Hope and Faith that congress's intent in 1891 will be fulfilled when we recommend increases in Baseline funding to IHS and the Bia we are asking in the context of the trust relationship between metat and the United States I come before this esteemed committee today and hope that Congress will invest in our future that our trust relationship
▶ 1:44:37will grow stronger and that together we will bring prosperity to our whole region what is good for met laata is good for Alaska and what is good for Alaska is good for America I'm go wam thank you for your time and attention and for listening thank you uh a quick question carry 15 FTS a lot to on on a dam to raise who who runs it down is it Bureau rack who who who who uh manages the dam the last uh information I received was that the safety of dams had been the ones that we'd been in contact with but we
▶ 1:45:07we run it as far as I know okay um we've done uh there have been engineering studies to say that 15 fet was the the optimal amount for what we needed to do right our ranking member the General woman from Maine thank you very much sir uh thank you so much for your testimony and thank you all uh everyone comes a long way but we know the alaskans come a particularly long way so appreciate that um when you were talking about Broadband redundancy that's something I haven't
▶ 1:45:37really thought about much um and also serving on agriculture you know I've been involved in the USDA funding and then the funding through here and I represent Maine so Broadband Avail availability is a big issue to us as well uh nothing like Alaska but you know very rural state so when you talk about redundancy what what's the preferred sort of second method I'm very familiar with the damaging of undersea cables since that's also an issue in our Coastal state but where do you go for the redundancy um
▶ 1:46:08so a new community of the Artic slope has applied for the FEMA brick Grant to provide that redundant line um that will go from they call it gmt2 which is near noit two barrel that will provide that redundant line but um so it's an overground it's over yeah overground and it kind of just sinks into the tundra and it's about a 40-year um life expectancy got it but right now because and I've seen that you know people often argue about what is adequate coverage
▶ 1:46:38but you're saying you know you have to deal with the fact of no coverage so right now it's not it's not allowed redundancy isn't allowed in either of those programs yeah um the NTI ntia Grant we applied for said um we we are served the USDA said we're served as well yeah yeah so that's something we could certainly look into thank you uh and again you know so many of the issues that you brought up and and again I think a couple of you talked about Medicaid we have to make sure that Medicaid funding isn't cut because it's that's
▶ 1:47:08often an under a little understood fact that a lot of the IHS funding actually comes through Medicaid um and it is shocking to think that there's a dollar per person for detox that doesn't even that's not even a real number so yeah and know how much the you know drug issue has hit Indian country as well as so many of our rural communities um and the one thing that you brought up so do you not have access you said you don't have a permanent home is it did I misunderstand that
▶ 1:47:38yeah and when Congress uh established our Reserve in the the wording of our establishment it says to make a permanent home for the met atlin so that that's what I was referring to okay congress's intent when we were founded got it got it all right well thank you all very much for your testimony really appreciate you being and I just say that I I appreciate the long distance uh a long ways ways to come but it emphasizes the point it's a long ways between places in Alaska
▶ 1:48:09yeah so I the air travel issue that you mentioned and moving patients sure that's very real oh well yeah for the King Cove needs a road okay uh next panel
▶ 1:48:43please um Mr Lewis has to have to leave really quick right Mr Lewis I'm sorry to hear about the issues on the reservation we'll put you first and when y can head out I'm sorry to hear the so our next panel and um
▶ 1:49:13is a chairman governor governor uh you I know you have a appointment will let you go first and go right into it sir the mic is yours thank you Mr chair uh thank you to to the committee uh for giving me this opportunity uh I am Steven Ro Lewis governor of the hila River Indian Community uh and I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify uh on behalf of the community today
▶ 1:49:43uh today I'm joined by councilwoman n Salia from our District 4 and councilman Joseph Manuel Jr from our District 3 hila River Indian Community Council now I've always appreciated the opportunity to testify here in front of the Interior appropriation subcommittee on our funding needs I know there is Never Enough funding to go around but this subcommittee has consistently taken the time to set aside several days to hear Indian country's tribal funding priorities now it is the process that starts the funding
▶ 1:50:14decisions for tribal programs Staffing and priorities for this Administration I want to apologize in advance again thank you to the committee members and to my fellow tribal leaders on this panel I need to leave immediately after my remarks because I have to catch the earliest flight out of DC to be back in my community to unfor unfortunately address some public safety issues that are occurring but I feel compelled today none nonetheless based on the events in my community and based on the meetings that I've had this week at federal agencies and
▶ 1:50:44here in Congress to use my time to speak directly to all of you about how the actions that are being taken here in Washington DC are impacting our community as I'm sure they're impacting tribal communities across Indian Country Now what we are experiencing now are real needs at home life and death brings concern no real fear to our community about what is happening here in Washington DC now there are several
▶ 1:51:14uh sectors of the public that may be app plotting the slashing of federal funding because they have been convinced it is fraught with waste and abuse there are those who now see federal employees as the new enemy people who don't work and only seek out federal jobs to carry out a political agenda I doubt you will hear a tribal leader argue that the federal government can't be more made more efficient or that there aren't places where Cuts could be made after all we
▶ 1:51:44have been dealing with the federal government longer than any other group in this country but what I want to say is the current approach this chainsaw approach is not going to bring efficiencies it's not going to find billions of dollars in savings by indiscriminately cutting employees without a thought to how that will Impact Services this will not make government more efficient and effective because it is only creating a federal Workforce that is paralyzed
▶ 1:52:15by fear these actions are destabilizing and they bring uncertainty members of the committee respectfully what I want you to know is that these actions will have a disproportionate impact on Indian Country I've often said that the government toover relationship is only as strong as our federal partner and right now there is real concern that the federal side of this partnership has the potential the real potential of being dismantled now at a time when
▶ 1:52:45I need to call on the federal government to provide Public Safety resources for my community I don't know if the Staffing or resources will be there members of the committee respectfully at a time when our tribal healthc care outcomes still lag behind that of the general population our Indian Health Service Personnel are worried about whether to complete an email detailing what they worked on last week and wonder whether it will lead to their firing now at a time when my community continues
▶ 1:53:15to work on addressing the drought on the Colorado River employees with years of experiencing uh of experience addressing these tribal water rights and Water Resources in the west don't know if they will have jobs in a month at a time when our veterans need continued Services they wonder if the cuts at the VA will impact their ability to access benefits and get the care they need at a time when our community built two new schools in partnership with this committee
▶ 1:53:46to improve the educational outcome of our students our teachers and parents are worried that the bie program programs May face significant Cuts this is not anecdotal this is real this is happening right now again there are re reforms that can and should be made members of the committee but they must be made in a way that offers Insight consultation with tribal governments and dignity and they must
▶ 1:54:16be made by those who have the experience and the knowledge of tribal programs funding and Staffing decisions for IND programs should be made by this committee respectfully which has the jur the jurisdiction over these important decisions now members of the committee chairman zinki I have personally heard all of you educate others about the sacred trust responsibility toward tribes you make sure new members to the committee understand that the political relationship
▶ 1:54:46with tribal governments is one that cannot be negotiated away I know that the funding G means we make are hard fought and I know that some years when major Cuts happen elsewhere that you work to minimize the impact on Indian country and I will wrap up to say that it is up to this committee to make those decisions within the jurisdiction and authority and provide my people with the certainty that they deserve the certainty that the essential programs that they rely on won't simply be cut by 50% without due consideration by this committee
▶ 1:55:16certainty that our tribal sovereignty will be upheld and honored and as I mentioned at the outset I must leave leave right away to get back to my community to address a public safety crisis that has arisen I should have left last night but I felt it was critical that I speak to all of you about these concerns on behalf of my community and our members thank you for allowing me this time today Mr chair can I just you go ahead if you want no go ahead I I just want to thank you for staying um I'm so sorry about the crisis you have to go home to face and my my sympathy to everyone
▶ 1:55:47in your community but um also thank you for your thoughtful remarks and for taking the time to talk to us about our important responsibility well Al that and I wish you safe travel sir thank you thank you uh are you let's see Mr chairman Clark good morning good morning my name is Chairman Clark of the walapai tribe um Mr zin ziny zin ziny I would like to first thank you for
▶ 1:56:17what you've done for the water rights uh I I know you've uh done much for Montana and once a year I do travel to Montana to visit so I'll talk about good to be here um like I said my name is Chairman Clark with representing the walapai tribe and the walapai people I know many are joining us right now and viewing this and I I am here to talk about the water rights Settlement Act of 2022 um I like to thank each of the committee
▶ 1:56:47members that are here and what what you do the importance that you do for us in Indian country uh my prayers are with Governor Lewis and his community and safe travels uh to Governor Lewis and all that are here I I am brought uh I have brought my team from the walapai tribe I'm joined here by Council councilman uh Imus councilman corta and councilwoman habon along with my executive team as well um as I said here to represent the walapai
▶ 1:57:17people and talk about the Settlement Act of 2022 now what's different about this water right settlement it's public law it came from the 117th Congress and it is a public Public Law 49 and it's been quoted as to be one of the most pristine settlements in water rights uh it's an historic settle uh settlement and worked upon many decades from prior leaders
▶ 1:57:47and um with your help as well um 312 million of the water rights infrastructure trust fund uh for the development of this very crucial we're going to talk about a little about fiscal year 2025 and the Appropriations Bill to be fully funded uh this settlement is to be fully funded by April 19th I believe April 15th of 2029 we are definitely here
▶ 1:58:18in move and strong support of the funding now in a worst case scenario let's say this goes to a CR for a long term it's very important that this is funded for the W WPI trbal settlement why why I bring that up is because the work that has been done throughout the years throughout the decades for this historic water settlement could just evaporate
▶ 1:58:48in 2029 if it is not funded now let me describe about the walapai tribe if you have not been to the walapai tribe I invite you to come visit us Northwest Arizona Wy tribe and the reason I'm going to bring this up we are very proud that we employ we are the second highest employer for Mojave County in Arizona thank you to the Grand Canyon west without the water settlement moving forward we're not able
▶ 1:59:19to do the infrastructures and create more jobs and economics for not only the county of uh Moab County but the State of Arizona so with that said there's some concerns that I do have many years ago 50 years ago and I'm aging myself as well I'm I'm at that age as well 50 years ago they put in the piping and along the way we've had some many concerns in our community that we've lost water
▶ 1:59:49we've come up with strategic ways to to uh address that um but it's very important 50 years of that piping now there is other other concerns small Wells outside the reservation that provide for our ranchers and Wildlife this is not for human consumption it's only potable water for the animals and that that's the one of the biggest concerns that we have is with the West water
▶ 2:00:20in the community as I mentioned earlier uh about the concerns of the loss of water for many days that we had um that was from the truck in aquafer but what the real point of being here today is asking the and along with the walapai people asking the subcommittee to help fund this as I stated something different it's public law as I stated it's public law 7 17-34
▶ 2:00:53and I ask the sub subcommittee and pray that you will continue to do your work as you have for Indian country and in your support for the water settlement for the walapai tribe I'm going to end uh end this by saying Hanka that's thank you and I invite you to come visit us
▶ 2:01:28good morning my name is Terry ramler chairman of the St Carlos Apache tribe located in southeast Arizona our reservation spans about 1.8 million Acres at the outset we humbly request your help in ensuring that federal agencies disperse all funding to tribes as appropriated by Congress we further request the exemption of IHS and Bia from hiring freezes and Workforce reductions given the high vacancy rates and extreme challenges filling these jobs
▶ 2:01:58my testimony focuses on the following one police officers two dangerous roads three are 1992 water settlement legislation four domestic water supplies and five contract support costs and the 105 L program police officers our committed police Personnel risk their lives daily in FY 24 we suffered over 3600 crimes including three homicides with almost 33,000 calls for service
▶ 2:02:29our officers at the St Carlos Apache Police Department work 12-hour shifts in overtime and Patrol over 360,000 miles per year they endure extreme situations made worse by the lack of an adequate facility the Bureau of Justice statistics analyzed FBI data in 2020 and reported that the reservation suffered the highest rate of violent crime in Indian country our Police Department is severely underfunded and Public Safety is severely compromised we need a total of 75 police
▶ 2:02:59officers but only have 19 officers to cover our large reservation our Police Department cannot compete with other places that offer higher salaries and better benefits other jurisdictions actively recruit away our officers we request a significant funding increase for police services in the interior appropri Appropriations Bill and further requests that the subcommittee work to develop allocated funding streams from the Department of Justice for tribal Public Safety roads our reservation has
▶ 2:03:29over 2400 miles of Road there are too many roads with blind curves no shoulders or guard rails poor signage and unsafe design we log many hours driving to get to work school and appointments and our tribal members need safe roads our bus drivers law enforcement and firefighters need safe roads too to do their jobs many people have died due to the poor road conditions a road backlog totals over 200 million due to Chronic lack of funding
▶ 2:03:59we urge you to work with other subcommittees and authorizing committees to prioritize reservation roads we request department of transportation funding allocated directly to tribes to address the backlog our water right settlement Congress enacted our water water right Settlement Act over 33 years ago for a water delivery system this system would help us develop our economy and provide access to Quality drinking water our current water supply contains high levels of toxic substances and is not
▶ 2:04:29reliable in the summer we have to haul in bottle water drought and wildfires have heightened this need in 20123 Bureau of Reclamation finally moved forward on the feasibility study once this is completed we will need funding to make this project a reality we request full funding for this project drinking water last October V awarded the tribe a domestic water supply Grant under the inflation reduction act for planning designed for drinking water
▶ 2:04:59infrastructure we have always needed this infrastructure but there was never funding for this until the IRA we are still waiting to draw down this funding we humbly request your assistance in ensuring that this grant funding moves moves forward and that this program is protected contract support costes and Section 105 L payments we have a 638 contract to manage and operate our IHS Hospital facility that employs over 800 people last year in Basera versus St Carlos Apache tribe
▶ 2:05:30the US Supreme Court upheld the tribes position that IHS must pay these costs to tribes when spending Revenue collected from third party billing with this ruling we request that these costs and payments be reclassified as mandatory Appropriations to ensure that IHS has sufficient funding the importance of the 1055 L program is underscored by our need for a public safety facility when Bia condemned our previous facility in 2009 without meeting its obligation
▶ 2:06:00to provide an adequate replacement given that Bia has failed to provide a facility we are working to develop one through the 105 L process a thank you thank you I appk you first of all thank you well thank you chairman Simpson uh Congressman zining rank member penry and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share our funding priorities for the physical year
▶ 2:06:312026 federal budget my name is Martin harvier the president of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community our community has a long history of self-governance compacting the majority of our federal programs from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and more recently from the Indian Health Services not only does this allow us to operate programs more effective ly by eliminating Federal red tape but it builds capacity within our community and allows us to tailor our services to meet specific Community needs
▶ 2:07:01it is from this perspective that I share our recommendations to improve self-governance programming but also note why it is important to continue funding Key Programs tribal programs are not Dei initiatives they are not a fulfillment they are a fulfillment of treaty and Trust obligations and must not be subject to arbitrary reductions or freezes just yesterday we found out that the Bia was directed to put together a plan to reduce its Workforce by up to
▶ 2:07:3140% this is unacceptable and we look forward to working with Congress and the administration to ensure the history and purpose for tribal programming is understood and upheld as it relates to Indian Health Services we would like to thank the subcommittee for its recent historic investments in Indian Health System our community like many tribal Nations has a long way to improve the health disparities that exist compared to those of neighboring cities and towns for example the average life expect
▶ 2:08:01expectancy in our community is just 52 years compared to 85 years for the city of Scottsdale that borders our community our lofty goals to improve the health of our community will take the support of many components of the of the of the Indian Health System as such these items are clearly noted in my written testimony but are best summarized as first protect the IHS from Cuts recessions sequestrations freezes and shutdowns second work
▶ 2:08:32towards mandatory funding for contract support costs and section 105l leasing payments third restore critical infrastructure Investments for the Indian Health System and fourth addressing the Staffing shortages through adequate funding we can and we must do better and that starts with continuing to prioritize funding increase for the IHS over the next several physical years in the same way the department of interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs provide critical support for community and economic development like
▶ 2:09:02the Indian Health Services We Believe Congress should move the 105l leasing program from the discretionary to mandatory budget doing so will fulfill the intent of the Indian self-determination act second one key issue that stifles both community and economic development is fractionated land interest to date we have over 1,000 active allotments within our community boundaries with almost half being considered highly fractionated with 50 or more owners make it nearly impossible to use
▶ 2:09:32the land efficiently thanks to the land buyback program established from the coobel land settlement we receed funding to consolidate some of these interest allowing us to develop housing and infrastructure on these Parcels while this program ended in 2022 we have previously asked the committee to continue funding this important program we ask the committee to consider restoring the funding in physical year 26 lastly I want to speak on two issues that also stifle development activity
▶ 2:10:02and are rooted in too much regulatory red tape from the Bia that prevent our community from managing its own land and resources through our existing self-governance compact we have assumed and made efficient the administration of many programs only to have bia slow down the execution of important transactions first there are needless reviews of probate cases at many levels of the Bia that create delays from 1 to four months and second Staffing shortages at the local Bia
▶ 2:10:32office prevent us from executing rways real estate transaction in a timely manner and frequently going above the 60-day statutory time frame in my view these are small housekeeping items and we are happy to work with the committee to develop report language or other steps to solve these issues in closing our community is a firm believer that self-governance works it could even be more successful if programs continue to be funded at appropriate levels and that excessive Federal bureaucracy
▶ 2:11:02be eliminated thank you thank you sorry Mr testimony for part of it but I was actually listening uh in the other room I had a conversation I had to have so anyway thank you all for being here and your testimony do you guys have a golf course yeah got two of them two 18 Ho Golf Courses going to say pretty good golf course I'm pretty sure I played there do you make any money off those uh I think golfing is doing pretty well right now throughout the country but I think all of the
▶ 2:11:33and it it's funny that you me mentioned golfing you know that that is one of our dreams uh out at Grand Canyon west and the water settlement that we talked about wouldn't be possible if we H have that and so that that's why I wanted to talk about that today you do have the copy of my uh testimony chairman uh in um in the water settlement trust fund and hoping for fiscal year 2026 that the the funding is up to 65 million part of this as I mentioned earlier uh there is a deadline
▶ 2:12:03on this uh it goes uh to April 15th of 2029 but that would be a dream to have a golf course out at our area and chairman Simpson come visit us yeah I would like to like I say I've been down I've i' played your golf course and stuff love of them and the the shanic tribe in Idol Falls we've talked I mean in Ido we've talked about a golf course out there and I know they've considered that and stuff our golfing season isn't quite as long as yours fact it's like below
▶ 2:12:33zero today I just wanted to comment I know Governor Lewis testified and had to leave he is one of we considered sister tribes I know donam Nations here the oin just offer condolences to the hill River IND community and God bless them and what they're dealing with right now and same I feel close to Governor Lewis and my my thoughts are with his community representative pingry yeah thank you all and and
▶ 2:13:03uh we're all so sorry he had to leave in in the challenges that he's dealing with um but thank you for your testimony and and the water settlement that's come up we were talking earlier with the New Mexico tribes but obviously we know your area um water settlements are really critical and and uh I feel confident the chair will uh figure out how we're going to the support for all these water settlements it's it's clear it's only going to get more complicated um water rights and availability so we we want to do whatever we can uh to be helpful and just
▶ 2:13:33appreciate all of the testimony You' brought to us today thank you H thank you Zinky well whisky for drinking water for fighting um in my experience on water compacts water compacts are a settlement so you have three entities you have have the Sovereign Nation you have the state and you have bia all working together and it was decided that rather than litigation we would go through a compact although it's not perfect and it's late
▶ 2:14:04but we'd go through a compact settlement process uh it's my opinion that it's not dollars uh it's a treaty obligation and there is the Department of Justice settlement fund that was set up partially for this so I with my col colleagues uh I don't think you need an offset it's not appropriated it it should come out of the settlement fund because that's where the settlement fund was for and uh there are a lot of compacts hanging out there but
▶ 2:14:34without stability of water you really can't go forward on economic development or etc etc so I'm an advocate I I think we uh there's a water compact with now the northern Montana it's really Fort bellnap Water compact it's you know been about 40 years which is probably consistent with a lot of compacts out there we think that that if along that path both sides would would agree that the settlement fund is is the right way so we don't get bogged down in right trying
▶ 2:15:05to find offsets for treaty Terry on that point I just want to say with the lower color Red River Basin fund whatever Congress put in there it's doing away as as more and more tribes reach so that funding if we want to go that route that Mr zinski is is proposing that funding needs to be replenished otherwise we're going to have to continue to come here and ask for Appropriations to supplement the funding
▶ 2:15:35and as I as I mentioned we were talking about this with some other tribes earlier in the day is these water settlements are going to eat the entire budget fairly quickly and but it's something we got to do so uh Mr ziny said uh we're looking at the Judgment fund and what the requirements would be there we might have to change some language and a few things in it and stuff to be able to do but it is unless they're going to give us a hell of a b lot bigger allocation because of
▶ 2:16:05the water settlements we got to find a and what I'm trying to find is how are we going to pay these for the future because there's a lot of them coming down and uh and it is uh water in the west is know that shell will understand this is different than it is in the East right uh we have prior appropriation uh Doctrine and frankly many of our river basins are over appropriated the whole Colorado River Basin was over appropriated
▶ 2:16:35years ago in the 1920s when they thought a lot more water went down that River than actually does uh and consequently you're seeing the bathtub rings at uh pal Lake Pal and the other places and stuff so I don't know you'll ever see like f fil frankly sir in the west water is sacred yeah it is and I've I have always said because I've got a lot of friends who are water attorneys and some who think they're water
▶ 2:17:06attorneys anybody that really understands water law in the west has to be about half crazy it's the most complicated thing I've ever seen in my life anyway thank you all for being here today and testifying appreciate it very much chairman and I'll I'll get down there and see these uh I I'll do a a reparan tour on the on the golf courses you too thank you right back the restroom I'll come right back yeah it's okay
▶ 2:17:37Carla Johnson Tanya Lewis pretty good huh yeah yeah
▶ 2:18:17yeah Carly you're up first welcome youash Carla Johnson Vice chairwoman of theam nation good afternoon chairman Simpson ranking member penry and distinguished members of the subcommittee appreciate your time today I am Carla Johnson as I said vice chairwoman of the tham nation in Southern Arizona and I appreciate
▶ 2:18:48the opportunity to testify today as well as your commitment to providing much needed funding for Indian Country first I ask that you prioritize funding for our roads there are more than 700 miles of Bia roads on our reservation and they are in very bad shape during the annual monsoon season which can last for months at a time it is common for flooding to completely wash out our roads this flooding Str strands and endangers our members and prevents them from accessing essential
▶ 2:19:18Services these roads are also used by federal and Tribal Law Enforcement engaged in border security and by emergency response Personnel the Bia road maintenance program has been underfunded for years and has a huge backlog only 133% of Bia roads Nationwide are an acceptable condition more funding must be provided for Bia roads program uh for the Bia roads program in FY 26 this funding
▶ 2:19:49is critical for the safety of tribal members law enforcement emergency responders and all others using our reservation roads next I will address the need for water settlement funding and I appreciate the conversation had here just a minute ago about water the nation was one of the first tribes to enter into a federally approved water rights settlement and we are in negotiations to settle our remaining claims unfortunately our existing water settlement
▶ 2:20:19has never been fully implemented because of the chronic underfunding discretionary funding must be made available to fund our settlements otherwise the nation will never receive the compensation that it promised Federal funding is also needed to address our unique Public Safety and law enforcement challenges the nation shares a 62 mile border with Mexico and we work closely with border patrol and other law enforcement agencies to secure the border the
▶ 2:20:49Federal finan financial support is extremely limited every year we spend more than 3 million of our own tribal funds $3 million of our own tribal funds to help meet the United States border security responsibilities the Nations police are often the first and only responders to criminal activity but our police work out of a converted 1950s era Bia jail that is not equipped to handle Mo modern law enforcement
▶ 2:21:21responsibilities the nation's Detention Center is also in very poor condition in fact in April 2023 a report from the interior's office of Inspector General highlighted serious health and safety concerns at that facility which have not yet been fully addressed Bia estimates that the current unet need for Public Safety and Justice programs in Indian country is more than $3 billion this is a real Public
▶ 2:21:52Safety crisis Congress must provide additional funding to address this shortfall greater Federal investment is needed for our failing Indian Health services facility the current IHS deferred maintenance backlog is $1 billion the nation's 60-year-old Hospital in Sal's Arizona is one of the oldest IHS facilities and it can only handle minor medical issues it has been on the IHS facilities construction
▶ 2:22:22list for over 30 years Congress must appropriate more funding to complete the health care facilities on this list in a reasonable time frame in August 2020 the Phoenix Indian Medical Center was forced to close its Labor and Delivery Services because of Aging infrastructure and inadequate equipment those Services still have not resumed Congress must do better to fulfill the trust obligation to provide healthare to Native Americans
▶ 2:22:52finally more funding for for Bureau of Indian education facility construction is critical bie itself has identified two of our schools on its list of facilities in poor condition one of those the Santa Rosa Ranch School was forced to close in 2018 due to significant issues it is still not been it still has not been replaced with a permanent facility the Santa Rosa Day School
▶ 2:23:23another school on our reservation is listed first on B's replacement list but unfortunately will not be fully funded until 2028 the poor conditions at bie schools have been documented for decades we urge you to provide adequate funding to ensure that native children have a safe and secure learning environments again thank you for your time today we appreciate you and we look forward to continuing working together thank you cara
▶ 2:23:58Tanya my name is Tanya Lewis chairwoman for the Yavapai Apache Nation the needs of my nation are vast and range from Social Services programs Wildfire programs Health Care programs natural resource programs to our Roads Maintenance programs we appreciate that the new Administration continues to recognize the government toover relationship that tribes have with the government
▶ 2:24:28and has a responsibility to be a partner in this Prosperity the best way to fulfill this responsibility is to uphold the statutory and treaty obligations that the United States has to all tribes a critical component of this is to fully fund the programs that our Nations rely on to meet the needs of our people we recognize that America is facing difficult fysical challenges with the growing national debt we
▶ 2:24:58ask that tribes not bear the brunt of these challenges as we have been a foundation of America's Prosperity with our land water and resources for Generations America must keep the promises that we were made that were made to tribes in our treaty and Congressional statutes my nation has a need for additional Law Enforcement Officers right now we are operating a at 50% capacity and level of need right
▶ 2:25:28now we are are excuse me as a result the officers are working 50 to 70 hours a week more disheartening for our officers is they are being paid a fraction of what they could be paid in other law enforcement agencies as a result we have a high turnover rate the most basic role of any government is to ensure that our citizens are safe to do this we need a strong and capable law enforcement department we urge the committee to increase funding for this
▶ 2:25:58important program we ask that the subcommittee provide additional funding for the Bia tribal detention services in 2024 the Bia told the nation it was no longer going to fund detention services for the nation specifically the contracts that we have with local jails to house our offenders this was shocking to the nation it came without warning or consultation after we raised Our concern the Bia stated it would provide
▶ 2:26:29$196,000 to safely house those who are arrested and prosecuted by our tribal courts this is far short of the 300,000 needed to properly house both adult and juvenile offenders on an annual basis to have functioning to have a functioning law enforcement program we need a place to safe L detain our offenders and the Bia has a responsibility to fund this activity taking care of the most V the most vulnerable in
▶ 2:26:59our community our children is my priority the nation Social Services Program is the heart and soul of our nation our social services staff work with our families to keep them together they work to ensure our members have access to appropriate counseling and other service including job training and behavior veral health services and in cases where the children must be removed they work to ensure our children are placed in tribal homes where they
▶ 2:27:30remain connected to our nation and our cultural way of life in fy2 Congress passed a 1.5 million increase to the Bia Indian child welfare program we ask that Congress provide at least this level of funding this year one of our greatest threats to the West is Wildfire the best way to address wildfires is prevention a critical mission of our fire department is fuel's reduction
▶ 2:28:00by clearing debris and down trees from storms and floods we can ensure that we do not have a Tinder Box on our reservation the wild Wildfire program needs additional funding to support these efforts another threat to the West is the diminishing access to drinking water this is why we why support for tribal water settlements is so important the nation has a water settlement pending and we ask that the committee's support for the tribal water settlements
▶ 2:28:30finally funding for the Indian Health Service is critical to all of Indian Country the nation's medical centers Health Care provides health care services that include Primary Medical Care Behavioral Health dental vision and other Support Services we have a patient population of approximately 1,200 this includes 300 diabetic patients many whom are elderly while we provide critical Primary Care given the physical limitations of our Clinic we are
▶ 2:29:00forced to refer out certain care including maternal and patients with acute pain needs thank you for this opportunity to speak before you as chairwoman of the Yavapai Apache Nation ahia penon thank you thank you for both being here today and for bringing up the issues that uh that you brought up some of them we've talked about with a lot of other tribes that have the same issues water settlements have actually come up more than I would have anticipated but
▶ 2:29:30there are tribes all over the West that have water settlement agre uh issues that are that are going to be a challenge for us to fund but need to be fund so we got to find the way to do it uh you mentioned law enforcement and keeping law enforcement officers on the job uh and not having just be the training ground for other other communities and stuff that hire them once they get trained it's not only law enforcements uh in uh on the Fort Hall reservation that I that I live next to it's also uh firefighters
▶ 2:30:01and stuff soon as they get trained they're gone where they get a better salary better benefits all that kind of stuff understand it uh and and those are important issues that we've got to work on uh there's not I don't know of how many yesterday maybe two or three that mentioned roads but you both mentioned uh talking about keeping your community safe means being able to drive on a safe safe highway or a safe secondary Road uh when we went out and visited uh
▶ 2:30:32several years ago the the Navajo and Hopi reservations they took us out to a school and it was on a unpaved road and both me and and Congressman McCullum had on Fitbit watches we were on a van driving out to this school and it wasn't all that far but it was a few miles I got 26,000 steps just sitting on the van that's how bad the road was you
▶ 2:31:02know and I think she beat me I think she got like 28,000 steps so that's the way to get your steps in every day but anyway it is a it is a real issue and I know that chairman Cole uh when he was chairman uh the last few years of of uh the transportation committee uh looked at the programs that the transportation department funds and made sure that we were getting uh Indian uh money into the Indian tribes for tribes uh for roads uh where
▶ 2:31:32the rest of it had grown it hadn't grown that much for for Indian nations so it's uh it's been interesting but you're right roads is is a very important thing and we need to we need to uh pay some more attention to that we always look at Law and Order Indian education and Indi Health Services as the three areas but there's a lot of other areas that that uh we've got to cover and I think you're both right I I've been disappointed over the years uh and I think all of us could
▶ 2:32:02say that that we haven't been able to do as good a job on construction of of Indian schools as we need to I've been to some in South Dakota where literally I there's no way I'd let my child go to that school because it's just not safe but you have to have to use them because it's the only one there and it is and we got to change that so and thank you thank you for bringing up um Indian Health Services you know I was sitting
▶ 2:32:32in the back here and I heard a very significant statistic by President Javier and the proximity of such a different age range from one location to the to the next location and they are basically neighbors yeah and and and how that lifespan can Contin can completely be that much of a difference it's it's concerning and and to me I think that the IHS the Indian Health Services contribut so much to the well-being
▶ 2:33:03of who we are as people and our health obviously we need that uh but when we're talking about the funding and the underfunding and the need for new facilities and to continue the you know Renovations and repairing of facilities and outdated equipment things they all contribute to the health and wellbeing of our people but it really puts it in perspective when we talk statistics like lifespans that was really concerning been2 years 85 thank you yes is that bizarre that's just so weird and it is
▶ 2:33:33uh uh yeah what you're dealing with to some degree here is and this not criticism of of these members and stuff because before I got on this committee and started studying Indian issues and stuff I lived next to the showan uh showan tribe worked on the reservation for years of my life so You' you'd have thought I'd have known Indian issues I really didn't until we started studying the issues when I when I got here uh and stuff but uh had a member come up to me who was a
▶ 2:34:04physician and this was early last year and they were looking at the budget and he says why the hell are we spending money on Diabetes uh on on uh studying diabetes on reservations we know what the hell causes diabetes why do we need to spend money on that well there's more to it than that more uh it is it yes we know what causes diabetes but can you tell me why Indians have the highest rate of any subpopulation in the country of
▶ 2:34:34diabetes of anybody well no I said those are the kind of things we're studying and it's fascinating that uh some of the most successful programs are when you're getting your especially your young members but all tribal members back on their original foods that they used to eat instead of the processed crap we have now so I I think it's a fascinating subject and it is a very important program in Indian Country so anyway thank you uh Miss pingry I'll just con with concur
▶ 2:35:04with all the Chairman's thoughts and really thank you both for for being here and you know one other um I think striking thing that we just have to have as a reminder is when you talked about the the IHS facility which you know has been on the list for 30 years or school that's first on the list that won't get replaced till 2028 or won't even start to get the funding I mean we we know those numbers are out there but then you just realize you know how long how little funding there is to meet the demand and the need and and um you know
▶ 2:35:34for so many reasons we need to continue to do more with that and I'm I'm glad the chairman brought up uh you know one of the big concerns about how do we help with the underlying causes of diabetes and so often it's you know a tribe is in a food desert there's not umate healthy food or it's not financially available or some of our programs um like Snap don't adequately serve the tribes uh I put some legislation in on the appropriation side on um produce prescription programs at the Indian Health Service
▶ 2:36:04just it's another way of making sure that we can get people more fresh fruits and vegetables when it's often unavailable or too expensive and I don't think we focus on that enough for availability of Native Foods and changing diets so anyway thank you all your your uh obviously great leaders for your communities and we want to support you in any way we can and the continuance of special diabetes program is very important we would appreciate continued funding for that yeah we've had a couple of tribes mention that and we really have to make sure that stays on the list when you said of 1,200
▶ 2:36:35patients 300 were diabetic and often elderly we just know the severe consequences and costs cost of the people their families and medical costs of treating that we should do much more with prevention right back home we encourage we do monthly walks Health walks we hand out literature and also I'm very proud of our our diabetes coordinator her name's Robin Hazelwood and she does an excellent job where we do a healthy meal so she provides the groceries and the the menu and we make it and we feed it and we take photos
▶ 2:37:05and show what what we've done in healthier ways to eat and encouraging that in our homes right and if you ever make it to Arizon you are more than welcome to visit the tham nation we got some roads for you we would love we would love help with our roads you know side shoulders guard rails those are luxuries to us we really need to start taking care of our roads
▶ 2:37:35for the safety of our people and all motorists we'd appreciate that thank you absolutely and we need to when you back to the special di diabetes program we need to do a better job of educating people uh us people here in Congress and stuff and staff about what exactly it is and what they do I can see why this guy came up to me and said why are we studying diabetes we know what the hell causes it it is uh but the program as we talked about is much much more than that and we
▶ 2:38:05need to do a better job of educating the rest of Congress as to what exact why this why this program is so important so anyway Ryan did you have anything thank you for being here today we appreciate it very much I know it's a long trip out from Arizona because I make a long long trip back to Idaho every now and then but uh it's good to hear from you and we certainly appreciate your input on uh this upcoming Year's fiscal uh budget and what your priorities are thank you thank you you bet
▶ 2:38:35thank all of you for taking the time to join us today we sincerely appreciate all of you coming to testify before our subcommittee we will reconvene at 1:30 for our second session the committee stands a journ
▶ 2:39:18than con