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▶ 0:02:46yeah committee will come to order good afternoon Welcome to our public witness hearing for the American Indian and Alaskan native programs I want to welcome all the distinguished tribal elders and leaders here today and to thank our Witnesses for appearing for the committee before the committee and sharing your concerns on these important topics I will call each panel of witnesses to the table one panel at a time each witness will have five minutes to present testimony that's five minutes to present testimony the full written testimony will be included in the record so Witnesses
▶ 0:03:17shouldn't have to feel pressured to cover everything in five minutes and I was to you we actually do read the testimony that you submit to us so we appreciate that we will be using a timer to track the progress of each witness when the light turns yellow the witness will have one minute remaining to include their remarks when the light turns red I'll have to ask the witnesses to stop so that we can remain on schedule we'll we're uh we'll hear from every witness on each panel before members will be provided an opportunity to ask questions I request that we try to keep things moving so that we can stay on schedule and respect each other's times
▶ 0:03:48uh we may have votes later on this afternoon but we hope to conclude uh this afternoon's Witnesses before we have to go vote otherwise we'll have to break and then we'll be gone for an hour before we come back and stuff so we'll try to keep it on schedule I also want to note that the committee rules prohibit the use of outside cameras and audio equipment during these hearings the hearings can be viewed in its entirety on the committee's website and an official hearing transcript will be available at gpo.gov you don't know how hard it is not to say gop.gov you
▶ 0:04:18know I'm sorry I just but it's gpo.gov yeah now I'm happy to yield to to uh Miss McCullum for any opening statement she might have thank you Mr chair well I wouldn't just say d.gov I'd have to say dfl Democratic farmer labor party for that's right so you guys are confusing up there we're very confusing so watch out for us um I would like uh to really uh repeat the Chairman's warm welcome
▶ 0:04:48to the second day of public uh hearings uh on tribal programs under the jurisdiction of this committee and I think that the chair deserves a big round of applause because he said no to no one and so we're doing three days which is unprecedent in in the history of this committee so thank you so much Mr chair I do want to you do you deserve it uh it's only been a few short weeks since the Trump administration's been an office and uh many of us that
▶ 0:05:18feel like chaos has been Unleashed and the disruptions uh have impacted everyone across this country including indigenous communities and for many it's created an anxiety and uncertainty for tribal members for their employment status the continuation of critical Health Care needs Education Services and some CH some have even felt challenged with their citizenship and we heard from uh tribal brothers and sisters from the southern part of the United States and I know that we in the in
▶ 0:05:48the Bold North and we do have some people from um Minnesota here today and uh Michigan also have Tribal IDs that go back back and forth and if you've had any encounters please let us know um so we hope to hear from you on how these uh you know this chaos is impacting your uh feelings on being able to deliv deliver service to your employees because of cuts in in some of the uh administrative branches that deliver trust and treaty responsibilities back to
▶ 0:06:18you so um like the hearings yesterday we got a lot of information I'm looking forward to learning more and thank you again Mr chair uh it's a pleasure to be here on this committee with you thank you thank you and if you don't all know that Betty was the chairman of this committee for a while and then uh and then uh the ranking member we served together for many terms on this and then she decided that she was going to go be the ranking member on the defense Appropriations Committee but she still stayed here on this committee so it's great to have you here
▶ 0:06:49uh our first panel is Grant Johnson uh Anna Miller and stevenh Salem is that right Salem Salem okay come on up nice speed work I like that seriously yeah yeah it is some beautiful bead work that we get to see these three days that come in and stuff
▶ 0:07:19it's amazing yeah okay Grant you're first is not perfect how and uh chairman Simpson um and uh distinguished me members of the subcommittee and McCullum my name is Grant Johnson and I'm the president of the pre Island Indian Community our tribe is grateful to be invited to
▶ 0:07:49testify today and we thank you for you prioritizing the funding needs of Indian Country our tribe and our midton Dakota ancestors have lived in southern Minnesota for countless Generations but the federal government took our land from us in the 19th century a small fraction of our homelands was later acquired for us at Prairie island in the Mississippi River that land forms the core of our reservation today unfortunately unfortunately the federal government also built and licensed infrastructure projects on per
▶ 0:08:19Island that benefit other communities at our expense this includes the construction of a Federal Dam in the 1930s that routinely floods our reservation pray has been subject to multiple major flood events in the last three decades most recently in 2023 the youngest generations of our tribal members have experienced these events four times already something most other Americans never experienced in a lifetime we regularly use our own resources to construct expensive safeguards to protect our citizens
▶ 0:08:50and their homes our cultural sites tribal offices and the businesses that fund our government making matters worse over our long-standing objections since the the early 1970s the federal government has licensed the continued operation of a nuclear power plant less than 700 yards from our reservation the federal government also has licensed storage of more than a thousand tons of nuclear waste at that plant a number of that will likely double to 2,000 tons of nuclear waste stored there because of our close
▶ 0:09:20proximity to the plant and nuclear waste storage site our tribal members are exposed to constant lowd does radiation emissions various nuclear related incidents in the continuing threat of catastrophic nuclear activity these Federal in infrastructure projects threaten to the health and safety of our members and the continued viability of our tribal economy we know of no other community in America forced to live in such close proximity to such hazards to ensure that our people and our economy are protected we used our own money to purchase
▶ 0:09:50additional land at a safe distance away a portion of the land known as elkrun has been placed into trust and is now part of our tribal land base weit action from the Department of interior to put the rest of VCR into trust it is against this backdrop that we urge the subcommittee to prioritize three categories for federal funding first we need Federal resources to to develop infrastructure housing and employment opportunities at ELR the federal government played a primary role in the creation of the threats at Prairie Island yet our tribal tribe
▶ 0:10:20has had to spend significant resources to secure a safe Homeland for our people much work remains to be done we urge the subcommittee to fully fund program programs that help tribes finance and build roads Water and Sewer infrastructure housing and economic development on tribal lands it is also crucial that the Bureau of India Affairs is adequately staffed to provide the review and approval for leases rights away and other development related agreements second more Federal funding is needed to support
▶ 0:10:50Public Safety in Indian Country given the severe threats faced by our tribe Public Safety and emergency response infrastructure is critical for the protection of our citizens patrons and employees but current Appropriations do not come close to meeting our tribes or Indian country's Public Safety needs Bia estimated it would cost over 1.7 billion to fully fund Indian Country law enforcement services with another one and a half billion needed for tribel courts we urge Congress to prioritize funding to meet these needs
▶ 0:11:21finally we need funding for the preparation of comprehensive emergency plan without adequate planning chaos inherently follows an emergency event yet our federal trustee has never developed an emergency plan to respond to and recover from the threats that we face at Prairie Island if and when any an emergency takes place we have nowhere to go to coordinate Communications with the multiple federal agencies that would be involved we need a single point of contact to be identified and funding for the development of a tribal emergency response
▶ 0:11:51and Recovery plan this requested funding is compelled by the federal government's General trust responsibility to us particularly given that the life-threatening risks we Face are ferally created and facilitated so thank you for your time today and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you chairman Simpson and distinguished members of the subcommittee I'm Anna Miller secretary for the Grand Travers Band of Ottawa
▶ 0:12:22and Indians I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for your continuing commitment to Indian Country first I just want to start off by saying we need more funding for education of native students a large portion of native students attend public schools most public school districts rely on local property taxes to fund educational costs but as you know tribal lands are not taxed so public school districts
▶ 0:12:52that serve native children often lack the financial resources necessary to meet the needs of our children this is true to the school district that serves our tribe over half of the children enrolled in the local school are tribal members funding from the Department of education's impact aid program does help the problem but it falls short our school district's budget is a small fraction of what our neighboring School District gets causing
▶ 0:13:22significant disparities and educational opportunities for our children the department of the interior Johnson Al program funding does support the Native American students and helps significantly helps lessen the significant Gap but left by the impact aid program for fy2 biee requested 22.6 million for the Johnson Al program we urge that FY 26 funding needs to
▶ 0:13:52be substantially increased especially given the current lack of clarity regarding the fate of the Department of second more Federal funding is needed for IHS Physicians and Personnel even though providing Health Care Services to Native Americans is a federal trust obligation the agency is chronically underfunded as a result Native Americans have significantly higher rates of death from heart disease stroke diabetes chronic liver disease
▶ 0:14:22and alcohol and rated causes increase funding and adequate Federal Workforce are critical to address these disparities recent estimates of the amount needed to fully fund IHS healthcare related Services is close to 47 billion yet only 8.5 billion has been provided for IHS in the most recent version of the fy2 appropriation bills IHS has struggled to fill vacancies and retain Physicians which negatively impacts
▶ 0:14:53the health care available to our tribal members obstacles to recruiting and retaining Physicians in Indian Country include compensation long commutes lack of Housing and lack of transportation we need significant Improvement in these areas the tribe respectfully requests that the subcommittee provide increase consistent Appropriations for IHS including continuing to provide Advanced Appropriations we also would appreciate any Clarity
▶ 0:15:23the subcommittee can bring to recent reports that there may be further cuts to IHS personnel we also need more housing support we're blessed to live in a beautiful area in northern Michigan but because it's so beautiful a lot of other people want to live there as well the housing costs in our area have skyrocketed making it hard for our tribal members and our employees to find affordable housing while Huds does help
▶ 0:15:54those funds are inadequate for this reason funding for EPA State and tribal assistance grants to support local drinking water and wastewater infrastructure are critical to supplement tribal affordable housing also critical is IHS is sanitation facilities program which supports Development and Construction of Safe Drinking Water waste water and Solid Waste Systems we urge the subcommittee to support adequate funding for these EPA and IHS programs
▶ 0:16:24finally more support is needed to provide adequate care for our tribal elders tribal Elders pass down cultural Traditions teachings and our language helping to preserve these for future Generations but access to programs and services for these most vulnerable members of our community lags well behind our actual need our tribal housing stock includes only 16 Senior Living units so a significant number of Elders are waiting for Access we urge the subcommittee to support funding and staff for bia's
▶ 0:16:54direct assistance program this program is urgently needed because it provides residential care and home care services for our elders we also urge that the subcommittee support funding and staff for AHS Elder services including the agency's programs related to Alzheimer's disease dementia and programs that prevent detect and address elder abuse mwat and I'm happy to answer any questions thank
▶ 0:17:27you uh honorable committee members my name is Steven slam I currently serve as executive secretary for the acma nation the largest tribal nation in the Pacific Northwest I've submitted a detailed written report uh which I will summarize however before doing so I want to thank chairman Simpson and the committee members for holding these hearings and for your continued commitment to engage with tribal Nations your efforts to uphold the government toover relationship is a foundation for federal Indian policy and I appreciate your time and attention to these this is the found I'm sorry I appreciate your time and attention to these critical issues
▶ 0:17:59um I come before you with a clear message the United States must uphold his treaty and Trust responsibilities to the acan nation the federal government's commitment to us is not discretionary they are legally binding obligations established through our treaty statutes and Court decisions yet year after year we find ourselves fighting for the resources necessary to fulfill these obligations the ymin nation does not have the same Revenue as state and local governments we cannot make up for shortfalls when Federal funding is reduced or delayed the programs we rely on are not Happ
▶ 0:18:29handouts they are the means by which the federal government fulfills its duties under the yakin nation Treaty of 1855 while the federal trust treaty obligations are broad there are several urgent priorities that I demand that demand immediate attention these are not abstract policy issues they are real challenges that impact the daily lives of our Yak mination citizens from ensuring Public Safety to protecting our natural resources and securing a future for our children first land is Central
▶ 0:18:59to our identity governance and our economy however we are struggling with a large backlog of probate appraisals yet we have only one full-time appraiser this bottleneck prevents land Basic Land transactions such as Leasing and federal trust transactions from moving forward we have initiated Mass appraisals efforts in partnership with the interior interior appraisal and valuation Services offices but this effort requires sufficient funding second Public Safety is at a crisis point the ymin nation has jurisdiction over
▶ 0:19:2912 million Acres of trust uh treaty territory yet we have only 20 officers just one quarter of what is needed it's unacceptable we Face some of the highest rates of missing and murdered indigenous women we are seeing a surge of violent crime cartel Rel related drug activity and the fentanyl epidemic without additional funding for law enforcement our officers cannot adequately protect our citizens and our communities third we have f on our Rivers
▶ 0:19:59since time of Memorial when we signed our treaty 17 million salmon and steel had returned to the Columbia annually today we're lucky to see 2 million the Northwest Powers power act set a goal of 5 million returning fish yet we have never come close to that salmon recovery funding has failed to keep Pace with the scale of the damage caused by the federal hydroelectric dams this crisis threatens not only our economy and culture but also the environmental health of the entire region fourth our
▶ 0:20:29650,000 acre Forest is in a state of emergency the Bureau of interference has failed to fill key forestry positions bringing Timber sales to a near standstill the past year only two Timber sales were approved as a drastic decline it's leading to Lost Revenue job losses and increased Wildfire risk without immediate action the economic environmental consequences will be severe both the for the AC mination and the broader region fifth
▶ 0:20:59education is fundamental to our future yet the yamtion tribal school is 70 years old and in disrepair the Bureau of IND Indian education has assessed the condition as poor yet we are told that a replacement can take up to 30 years it's unacceptable we urge Congress to significantly increase funding for school construction our students deserve a safe modern learning environment in closing the federal government has a trust and fiduciary obligation to the AC mination one
▶ 0:21:30that must not be eroded by budget cuts and freezes Federal studies such as a quiet crisis from 2003 and broken promises from 2018 show that tribal governments remain remain severely underfunded compared to non-tribal governments before any budgeting or cuts to Indian programs are considered Congress must first ask whether tribes have reached parody with non-tribal communities until that standard is met funding reductions are not just unjust they are a
▶ 0:22:00violation of the treaty and commitments we call on this committee to ensure that tribal funding is not subject to indiscriminate reductions but is instead protected and enhanced to reflect the true cost of fulfilling obligations honorable committee members this is not just a policy discussion this is about upholding the legal commitments that this country has made to the acation uh thank you for your time and consideration and I welcome any questions thank you thank you and uh thank you for bringing up the issue
▶ 0:22:30of salmon something that's near and dear to my heart as you all know yeah when we think of the number of salmon that we've lost that aren't returning uh at the yaka reservation go Upstream to the nas par reservation and they got four more dams to go over up there and uh it is devastating what's happening and they're going to go extinct frankly if we don't do something about it but that's a tough thing to change people's uh opinion of what needs to be done and stuff but it's going to get done uh and
▶ 0:23:00from my opinion it it uh we have tried for 50 years to overcome the impact of uh the dams on the lower Snake River and the Columbia River and stuff and tell you get rid of that that obstacle you know that's a lot of dams for a salmon to come over to across to get over to the highest altitude most pristine spawning area uh for salmon in the world and that's in the upper reaches of the Salmon River and I and stuff so it's uh
▶ 0:23:30a little controversial but we started the discussion and it's got to happen uh but anyway thanks for thanks for bringing that up you mentioned uh the nuclear power facility yep and you said that your reservation routinely gets flooded because of the dam that was built is that yep did I yeah there's a Lock and Dam built just south of us in the 1930s and that causes flooding on your reservation does y does it cause any problems with the nuclear facility uh yeah there's been times where they've been close to
▶ 0:24:00you know getting to the the alarming stage um but uh thankfully they haven't it hasn't hit that level yet but yeah I understand the concern of storage of the spent nuclear fuel at these facilities we've been trying to we've been trying to fix this since I think 1986 we were supposed to Take Over Control of this stuff and we were supposed to have a permanent geological repository that was a cave in uh in yaka mountain in Nevada obviously that hasn't gone through but we've still got we still got to solve that problem we can't have
▶ 0:24:30the spent nuclear fuel spread all across the country at different power plants and everything cost of securing it and stuff is just so much more than finding a central repository for it and that kind of stuff still working on it uh trying to get that done but I understand your concerns and stuff so we'll work on that but I appreciate your testimony on uh on uh these issues and uh Indian Health Service is something we certainly uh have to address and and we have been addressing it trying to address it uh and
▶ 0:25:00getting it up to where it should be so thank you all M mcll thank you and it's always it's always good uh there's a lot of lot going on and you brought up the importance of the environment the importance of of salmon not only for um economic but for cultural reasons too so thank you for for sharing that along with uh what you brought up about uh uh what you need for Public Safety which we're hearing from from a lot of the tribes um on it
▶ 0:25:31and I know we're trying to figure out what to do uh to U make that more Equitable as the Chairman's pointed out lots of times we put money into hiring and people get hired and then they get hired away from the tribes after they they get some experience Miss Miller thank you for your years of working in inhuman services and understanding the needs of our children's and and family and for for pointing that out I'm going to take a a second Mr Mr chair and kind of focus a little more on Prairie Island all politics being
▶ 0:26:01local um so in the 1930s when that nuclear power plant was uh before it was cited the a dam went up and when that Dam went up it changed the reservations boundaries without any consultation so the reservation lost land and then lost more land because of the flooding that the dam has it was in the Minnesota state house and voted against the state of Minnesota to storing the nuclear waste not because we don't have
▶ 0:26:31to have safe places to store nuclear waste and I always walk with you with yucka mountain I get a lot of people upset with me but I'm always there that's my promise to to Prairie Island and to the state of Minnesota but you can literally be on the powow grounds where I've been where you do a wonderful job of everybody having fun and at the same time recognizing all the wonderful veterans from from the communities around uh Indian country and the kids when they're on the swing sets and they're pumping their little legs to go up
▶ 0:27:02they're looking right at these cast storage and so Mr chair now you've been my verification for what I've said for years about I'm going to do move Heaven and Earth to get nuclear waste out of the flood plane of the River so to this point when you talked about the Elk River Run that that that that you've purchased um these they're not talking about moving the casino or the or the
▶ 0:27:32powow grounds or any of that but just to get people when they go to bed at night um not be worried about an evacuation from either a nuclear mishap flooding or whatever they are totally you did a pretty good job but I'm going to ask you to go a little farther about how you're land locked in yes uh you only have one way out correct could you please just just for the record so that these folks know I'm not exaggerating when I'm pleading your case yeah
▶ 0:28:02for sure so yeah we're in a unique situation with the nuclear power plant and then the Lock and Dam and then we also one way in one way out is also could potentially be blocked by railroad too so we have a railroad that goes straight across it and so and trains are getting longer and just the the Hazardous weight that they're they're hauling and and so we we call the three threats that we face on a daily basis and so you know the purchase of the Elk Run property is to provide an opportunity for our members to live in a safe environment and live
▶ 0:28:32and sleep and not have to worry that hey if something happens we got to be we're gone you know uh we we run drills on a yearly basis with FEMA and and the state and and the last drill it had um a minor event and it was a minimum of two-year evacuation so you know that's uh that's our homelands and that's where you know my relatives lived and and you know that's where I grew up and so you know this is some true true concerns and threats that we face on a daily basis that
▶ 0:29:02you know I have you know I'm fortunate that the previous leadership have put plans in place and I'm here to to make sure that we continue to see that through so so I Mr chair I bring this up because everyone has unique circumstances and it's life health and safety for all the tribes and everything that everyone is testifying for no take away from that at all but the way the Sue nation was um was treated in the past uh under the territory of Minnesota where our territorial Governor put a bounty of
▶ 0:29:34$250 on I won't even describe how they described uh what that what they wanted for proof it was very vulgar very dehumanizing um and what happened to the Sue Nation after um they went and took rightfully what was owed them in Food Supplies that that our territorial governor was not allowing the tribe to to have instead starving them to death and now this happening uh in the prairie Island community and the other Su Nation around
▶ 0:30:05they have suffered more than enough uh at the hands of the federal government and at the territory of Minnesota we're making it right in Minnesota I hope we can make it right at the federal government thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you all for being here and uh the the the theme has been as last year as it is this year that uh Good Health Care safe uh community and good schools lead to higher life expectancy at which Indian nation has suffered the most since covid a loss of life expectancy of six years
▶ 0:30:35down to age 65 um Secretary of selum you said you have 2 million acres and 20 20 Law Enforcement Officers so we have a total of four 12 million acre treaty territory and only 20 officers which is one quarter of what we need okay legally what is the what is the number that you should have have according to the government uh we should have closer to 78 to 80 off is that based on population or acreage
▶ 0:31:06um I believe both do you have the funding to pay for 78 Law Enforcement Officers somewhere around 100 Grand a year no do you have recruits who are willing to do you have 58 recruits waiting to come to serve as Law Enforcement Officers I wouldn't have that information but I don't believe we would the Tribal Police are from the tribe correct yes so my again I'm from just sou of Dallas
▶ 0:31:36I have no tribes in my community so this is a learning process for me these are not meant to be leading questions so if the funding came to you to provide for those which it should under the treaty and if you have a treaty it's confirmed by the United States it's an obligation it's not anything else it is an obligation uh to the tribes to provide what uh we have so my question is for and and everybody sitting in here is uh are there enough folks
▶ 0:32:06willing to serve your communities as Law Enforcement Officers to provide the need that you the bare minimum of what you need and it's and it's an honest question I know a lot of folks serve in the military we have a lot of veterans who serve proudly in the military and uh and so I I'm just curious if when they come back or in your communities right now um are they willing to serve as Law Enforcement Officers or or not I I would say I believe
▶ 0:32:36that they would be um but it would need sufficient funding we would need to be able to be competitive with the local uh governments with their their local police and sheriffs uh oftentimes we have recruits we have Tribal members that are willing to go and go through the training to become police officers but because of the lack of funding because of the lack of pay they often go to those local governments so I do believe that if we can adequately fund our law enforcement and provide the wage that uh is competitive with local
▶ 0:33:06governments that we we could fill those spots well let me ask you this what is the median income for people in your in your tribe I know it is well below the states 40,000 I would say lower than 40 lower than 40 I don't have the exact number so if if you were to receive the funding to $70,000 because I'm assuming cost of living is not that bad $70,000 for an income would be good would
▶ 0:33:37that would that be enough per law enforcement officer not including equipment and training and all the other things I'm talking about pay I think the real question is to have parity with the local governments and so we could pay 70,000 but if local governments paying 100 120 yeah and that is the deal because in my communities in my district I have some Sheriff depart deps that pay above average and the ones who train them around in the in the surrounding Community pay less but they'll train them so as soon as they're done training then they'll go
▶ 0:34:07somewhere else so that's the answer that's where the funding should be based off of and you are owed that money because life expectancy depends on safe communities so thank you Mr chairman I you back thank you thank you all for being here an I go to you mentioned school and I schools and I know that we've got to do a better job building schools because it could take forever to get a school built and stuff and I know that's something that's been critical to uh to miss mccullum's thinking when she was chairman and other things and we've been
▶ 0:34:37trying to get the resources to do that but uh I've been out uh as an example in South Dakota and I've been to a couple schools that literally I wouldn't send my kids to because they're dangerous Mr chairman I forgot that was about did you say 30 years is what bie told you yes so a 70y old building and we have to wait up to 30 years for a new one yeah uh I'm sorry is that a joke No it should it should be it yeah I know it because that's actually what we need to do is the Department of Defense
▶ 0:35:07did a real good job because they got a huge budget of doing education uh around uh uh military bases and stuff like that we need to look at that and see how we could how we could uh mirror that or something like it to build uh schools for for kids because I mean that's the future that's why I went to y I know I understand thank you all for being here and thanks for bringing up salmon it is uh you know the the NES Pierce are
▶ 0:35:37are we call those the salmon people and uh what a lot of people don't understand this is not just being able to go out and catch a salmon this is uh religious for them you know so appreciate it thank you thank you next we have Jared Michael Erikson uh William Bill a is that close close close thank you okay and uh Ron
▶ 0:36:22Allen welcome Jared you're first there it's on all right W house Halt and Chase sque hello good day my name is Jer M cleron I'm the chairman for the C Confederate tribes um appreciate chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and members of the committee for letting me testify today um the C tribes and Confederation of 12 Aboriginal tribes and bands from across Eastern Washington State Northeastern Oregon
▶ 0:36:52Idaho and British Columbia um the present day Reser excuse me the present day C reservations in north central Washington and established by executive order in 1872 that was ratified by Congress as well the C reservation covers all 1.4 million million acres and is the largest Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest like other Indian tribes Nationwide the COV tribes is concerned about the shorten long-term impacts of the recent exe executive branch actions related to the federal Workforce for the Indian Health Service purposes the C coval tribes is a direct service tribe
▶ 0:37:23this means that the IHS provides all health services from delivery of care to billing using Federal IHS employees as the committee is aware tribes that already that have already contracted functions under the Indian self-determination education assistance act are in much better position because of those contracts once in place cannot be unilaterally reduced except for the except with Congressional Direction with more than 200 deferred resignations of Bia and more than 400 on the IHS side this is the worst possible time to be a direct service tribe
▶ 0:37:53if any Bia or IHS positions are eventually eliminated tribes would likely not be able to contract them and the capacity will be lost in 2020 IHS Award of the CVO tribes one of the joint venture facility construction projects for a new clinic in omac Washington the OM my clinic is scheduled to open this November Health provider positions were already notoriously difficult to fill in rollal areas the recent Administration actions will make recruiting for these news new positions new positions much more difficult if not impossible because of the perceived instability of federal employment the C tribes is
▶ 0:38:23trying to contract IHS functions as fast as we can for two reasons first we want to prevent the IHS functions that we want to contract from slipping away due to personel actions second we want to be able to recruit for the new omac Clinic positions and emphasize that these will be tribal not federal jobs in hopes of improving our ability to fill those positions we assume other direct service tribes are trying to do the same the C tribes request that the committee include Bill language in the FY 2025 and FY 2026 bill that will allow tribes to contract Bia IHS and Bureau
▶ 0:38:53of indication functions at Staffing levels that existed as of October 1 2024 this will ensure that intervening executive branch actions do not have an effect of gutting those functions and render rendering them useless to contract under the 638 law shifting these Federal positions to tribes is consistent with the administration's effort to shrink Federal Workforce but we need time to be able to sidify these contracts and make this transition happen before these functions vanish one other issue I like to mention is law enforcement the Cal tribe says a fraction number of officers that needs to Patrol
▶ 0:39:23its 2200 square mile reservation Cal tribe urges the to provide a significant increase to the appical appical accounts for law enforcement officer salaries to enable tribes in all Bia regions to hire more officers and to retain the officers they have my written testimony provides more more detail in our recommendations on this issue I want to thank you all for allowing me to testify and I'm happy to answer any questions the subcommittee have yeah thank you chair Simpson uh ranking member penree uh distinguished
▶ 0:39:54members of the committee uh the sub comme I am Bill ale I'm chairman of the Callis indan tribe I appreciate the opportunity testify today and your commitment to providing much needed funding to Indian Country the tribe respectfully requests that the subcommittee prioritize Health Care Public Safety and co- stewardship of federal lands and resources and economic development and new energy development opportunities first we respectfully request the
▶ 0:40:24subcommittee continue to fund IHS and tribal Healthcare programs at least at current levels our clinics serve thousands of patients every year both native and non-native the tribe compacts with IHS to provide health care services from clinics in Vancouver Long View Dupont and tuella Washington we provide basic Health Care Services mental health state-of-the-art drug treatment services continued funding
▶ 0:40:54and adequate Federal healthc care Workforce will help us continue to do that Medicaid funding is also critically important to sustaining current programs reimbursements from Medicaid supplement IHS appropriation and assist us in meeting our trib's health care needs has ra a greater Community IHS and tribally operated facilities are Exempted or should be Exempted from further restrictions Appropriations for IHS fall far short
▶ 0:41:25of meeting Healthcare needs it's CR public Al important that you maintain or increase funding levels for IHS and tribal health and next as critical that funding is increased for Public Safety and law enforcement the kis Public Safety department like many trib Department suffers from lack of adequate funding our police must Patrol a large service area covering our reservations and and our some distant tribal properties
▶ 0:41:55the tribe provides law enforcement service services to several adjoining communities and calls for services through through our mutual Aid agreements and calls for services increase every year the tribe would like to hire more police officers but there's no room we're our Public Safety department currently operates out of two modular uh buildings and the and as that includes the tribal court as well so the police officers do not have adequate office space or
▶ 0:42:25detention area or holding cells Public Access is limited to small area and we have no place to store evidence records or equipment additional Federal funding for tribal Public Safety would help us meet some of the basic law enforcement needs to protect our members our business and our community uh funding should be made uh to strengthen Partnerships between tribes and federal land managers tribes have have a unique and historical
▶ 0:42:55knowledge as well as resources to help the federal government better manage and conserve Federal lands resources through Co coor agreements for Generations the kets have lived and cared for natural resources that are part of our trib's homelands the tribe looks forward to working with Federal a agencies like the park service to provide historical and cultural context for the visitors funding to support these Partnerships will benefit tribes
▶ 0:43:26federal land manager ERS and the public that uses and enjoys the federal lands finally more funding is needed for to support tribal energy projects the department of interior plays an important role in permitting and uh through approval of energy leases for tribal energy resources and through its Indian Energy Service Center providing funding to Interior supports that tribal energy projects is important
▶ 0:43:56and will turn turn in turn support industry and economic development investing in Tribal Indian energy development allow will allow the tribes to help America increase domestic energy production by developing energy resources on Indian lands as the original stewards of land the tribes have the knowledge and experience to responsibly develop energy resources while caring for our land and surrounding communities additional Bia funding and and staff
▶ 0:44:26are needed to provide better support and Prov provide all types of energy development on Indian lands and thank you for your time I'd be happy to answer questions thank you thank you Mr chair and Committee Member I it's good to see you and good to be back here again um so Ron Allen uh CEO uh chairman CEO for Jamestown schalm tribe for the record and thank you for accepting our uh testimony uh with regard to our priorities
▶ 0:44:57and and things that are important to us um our the Jamestown tribe uh is in sync with the rest of indan country with regard to base budget needs of of the organization we're very supportive of the the Congress being continuing to support Advanced funding you know and you well know that we continue to Advocate uh mandatory funding for the for BS and Indian programs which is we think is a relative to the the trust obligation to Indian Country we know it's a heavy lift but but it's something we want to
▶ 0:45:27continue to ask uh of this uh this committee and in the full committee um our tribe uh has many issues like everybody else and looks for trying to enhance the the base funding for all the different programs that that bi IHS etc's uh provide services for us but our tribe U which is located west of Seattle out in this almic peninsula and we are the first tribe that actually took over full management of a national Refuge from the U Park Service and
▶ 0:45:57uh but our our challenge was uh The Refuge we took over uh which was actually two refugees um out of six and the two refugees we took over are the two that actually people use and visit um annually uh the problem was is that the park would only provide you know two3 two onethird of the actual money that they used to administer uh that Refuge but we wanted to do it and so we decided that we're going to jump in
▶ 0:46:28and and see if we can get some help back from the Congress on this matter uh to basically correct the what we felt was an unfair negotiation for their share of what they truly man use to manage The Refuge so we get around 600,000 we're asking for a 1.14 million for it for that function to take over that to manage that Refuge we feel that we are willing to not only make commitments um to the to the Refuge and its purposes and may sustain it its actual statuto intention
▶ 0:46:58um and we're very excited about it it's in our backyard it's right in front of our village and um it's it's a great opportunity for us so we would hope that you would take a serious look at it and look forward to answering any questions with regard to that matter the second issue that I want to uh to testify is uh I'm a commissioner US Presidential appointment to the US Canada Pacific salmon um uh treaty so we negotiate uh the the salmon resource from Alaska to British Columbia on down to Columbia River up to Idaho
▶ 0:47:28um and uh so it's a very complicated process um we are asking for continued support there in in the Bia budget to serve the 24 tribes uh that that we um uh that I represent um we need resources in order to help us deal with the the the very complicated um uh biological analysis that we do in terms of figuring out what is the status of each of the each of the species and each to the stocks of the species as
▶ 0:47:58you well know it's very different all the way up the Columbia River it's true on the coast it's true in P sound and so forth so um and we're getting in the middle of renegotiating uh what's called an Annex within the treaty it controls the four species and all the stocks of the species and our 24 tribes um have to be right at the table so we're asking for a continuation of of the right protection money I think it's around 4.7 million uh so that we have the ability to continue that that effort uh we'll provide you
▶ 0:48:29a little more detail in the future about that issue so um our job is to get the salmon up to Columbia River to the Snake River and over the dams that you're trying to remove so uh uh we're on the same page how much easier it would be if the dams it would be a lot easier and you would be very delighted with the production that can come out of those Rivers so anyhow so that's an issue that that is very important to us and hope we you look at it favorably thank you thank you I appr I appreciate all the or the testimony
▶ 0:48:59that you gave us on on these issues and I I could sit and talk salmon forever but uh it probably shouldn't be on the record but you can get anything you want if you'll return Idaho salmon that's uh I keep telling people it's going to require a change of behavior and uh I mean we've tried everything else and changing behavior is hard but we need to stop thinking about what we've currently got and look
▶ 0:49:29at what we want the Pacific Northwest and salmon runs to be like in 25 and 50 years from now because the decisions we make today are going to make those determinations and that's why I've been willing to kind of get out on that Limb and and uh start the discussion it's got to happen uh we got to make some we got to make some changes but it is it is it has been challenging to say the the very least if I might Mr chair uh We've removed a lot of dams and we know how comp how complicated they are because of the
▶ 0:49:59interest groups the stakeholders and and but there are solutions to th those projects uh and um and we can be part of that solution thank you I understand that we've removed about 500 dams every year uh in this country I mean from very small ones and to to larger ones and stuff and you look what they're doing in the cloth Bas and I'm I'm very interested to see what happens there when those are gone but when they did the elwa river up in you know I mean everybody was shocked how fast salmon came back
▶ 0:50:30everybody thought it'd be four or five years before they came back now the next year they were yeah it's amazing uh what happens with them so anyway thank you all for uh for being here today and your testimony and uh Betty thank you Mr chair I'll I'll I'll I'll be brief um so all of you are on the on the northern border like I am in Minnesota and I hear you loud and clear the only thing we we want to have heated discussions with with our brothers and
▶ 0:51:00sisters in Canada first nations in Canada is fish and hockey that's other than that we're all good we're all good our flags fly next to each other on both sides of the Border our state flags our national flags and um I hope we can get get back to just talking fish and hockey um uh thank you very much Mr Ericson for for your testimony I took out my phone not to be rude but I you're the first person I've heard testify from your tribal Nation Mr a am I saying your
▶ 0:51:30name right and so I pulled up a picture absolutely beautiful could be Minnesota except for the long boats that looked like they were racing boats that you had the the kids in and then your paddles are pointed on the end could you tell me why your canoe paddles look so different and why why your boats are so long and narrow very different from what our boats look like except for what the fur Traders had yeah it's a simple matter of just um resistance to the water I guess you know it flows
▶ 0:52:00smoothly and the the length is for stability out the in the in the seas and and the the paddles you you know you want the water to drip off not into the boat into the canoe so yes I I'm hearing what you're saying about having wet wet pants when you're canoeing if you're not wearing shorts well thank you for that I didn't I didn't think you do fresh and salt water you it all yes I only have to do fresh water thank you thank you Mr chair
▶ 0:52:30I appreciate it and uh Jared I I want to get up to Coville reservation and and uh I might take August and just start driving and visiting the tribes all the way down the Columbia River August we have our Stampede you can see the suicide race we do with our our our uh men have horses they go off The Suicide Hill down in the Oak River it's a race you can come and see it you're more than welcome invited Tom Mr CO's been out we've had others from lot of Delegation come out and see it so you're more than welcome to see the suicide race August
▶ 0:53:01is perfect I don't know that I would uh I'd change the name of that if I went you see it you'll understand what it is yeah I understand it's like going at the fair we had the Eastern AO State Fair in town that I grew up and they always they had horse races there and they always had the Indian horse races everybody had to go watch those because it's like a street drop off Fair back and stuff river river yeah hang on is what it is yeah anyway thank you all for being here today we appreciate uh testimony from yep I know
▶ 0:53:31you are I know you are and we look forward to seeing you thank you thank you all you take my wife and my dog and just go on a trip down the Columbia River and visit all the tribes along the way it'd be kind of Kath well yeah Kathy have to go to okay next is qu Swanson Tom
▶ 0:54:01strong and Steve De Los Angeles how are you doing I'm doing good what's your name Thomas Thomas yeah
▶ 0:54:31all right is this Thomas Jr is supposed to yeah and Steve I've got to ask you I have never seen Los Angeles as the last name oh it's my uh com from my father's last name he was from the his grandpa was from the Philippines okay okay uh Quinton you're first chairman Simpson
▶ 0:55:02ranking member pingry and members of the subcomittee thank you for the opportunity to testify today my name is Quinton Swanson I'm the chairman of the shat Bay Indian tribe a small coastal tribe in Washington State located on the North Shore of wipa bay I'm here today to remind this body that the federal government's trust responsibility and treaty obligations to tribal nations are not optional there are legal commitments that must must be fulfilled regardless of Shifting political priorities or budget debates for
▶ 0:55:32centuries my people have lived along the shores of wipa bay but today our very existence is at risk shat Bay is losing up to 130 ft of land per year due to Coastal erosion according to the Department of ecology since 1881 we have lost over 2.1 miles of land at any moment a 9.0 magnitude earthquake along the Cascadia subu Zone could trigger a tsunami that would wipe out our entire Community scientists
▶ 0:56:02have confirmed that this event is not hypothetical it will happen it's not a matter of if but when even without a tsunami rising sea levels will completely submerged toan by the end of this Century this is not speculation this is based on projections from the National Oceanic and Administration we can't afford to wait we need immediate coordinated Federal action to protect my people before it's too late the only viable long-term solution is mass
▶ 0:56:32relocation we have taken the initiative we have purchased 5,000 acres of land at elevations between 300 and 400 ft above sea level where we can rebuild safely we have worked with federal agencies consultants and experts to map out a strategy this project will require more than $400 million to complete so far we have been able to secure less than 10% of the funding that we we need the process of piecing together funds from multiple agencies each with their own restrictions
▶ 0:57:03and limitations is slow inefficient and costly the federal government's current approach simply isn't working the US government created our reservation in 1866 it has a responsibility to ensure that our people do not become refugees in our own Homeland there is a clear solution the Tera act introduced as HR 7859 last Congress would finally allow tribes like mine to access Federal resources in
▶ 0:57:33a way that makes sense chairman Simpson I thank you for your leadership in co-leading this bipartisan bill now I urge the subcommittee to support its Swift reintroduction and passage the Tera act would create a One-Stop shop at the department of the Interior where tribes can integrate and coordinate federal resources for disaster preparedness relocation and climate resilience right now we must apply for dozens of different grants across multiple agencies each with their own
▶ 0:58:03deadlines reporting requirements and restrictions this bureaucratic maze is costing us valuable time time is something that we simply don't have modeled after the successful 477 program which streamlined federal job training resources for tribes the Tera act would provide the same efficiency for relocation and Disaster Response this legislation is WID ly supported across Indian Country including by the National Congress of American Indians and the national Indian Health Board the time for Action
▶ 0:58:33is now Beyond relocation My Tribe faces another crisis chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs I urge the subcommittee to support mandatory funding for contract support costs and section 105l leases ensuring that tribes have the resources we need to provide Health Care sanitation and critical infrastructure to our people additionally I call on you to protect and expand funding for tribal programs these programs are not
▶ 0:59:04diversity initiatives and they're not discretionary spending they are legally mandated obligations based on the United States treaties and trusts with tribes additionally too of sorry too often decisions are made without consulting tribes and the results are devastating the federal government has a legal duty to engage in government government consultation before making policy changes that affect us ignoring this Duty isn't just disrespectful it's a violation
▶ 0:59:34of federal law in closing I would like to invite each of you to visit Shater Bay and see firsthand the urgency of our situation we've done everything in our power to protect our people but we can't do this alone the next tsunami will not wait for a budget cycle the rising ocean will not wait for another funding round please help the showat bay tribe to protect our people and to preserve our way of life thank you for this time and for the opportunity
▶ 1:00:04to speak today my full recommendations are available in my written testimony MSI thank you thank you skand and tribe would like to thank the chairman the ranking member and other members my own oh sorry about that uh the Skokomish Indian tribe is responsible for providing essential governmental services to the residents of the Skokomish Indian
▶ 1:00:34Reservation which is a rural community located at the Bas Olympic Peninsula with a population of over 2,000 people that includes about 700 tribal members the tribe provides services through various departments Administration Community Development Information Services early childhood education which includes Head Start start uh Education Health Clinic housing legal natural resour resources Public Safety Public Works and uh two aduk Services the tribal government also works closely with community members to identify needs and prioritize
▶ 1:01:05Services adequate federal funds are critical to the tribe's ability to address the extensive unmet needs of our community some areas that I'd like to focus on particularly include law enforcement uh We've increased uh funding for Bia Public Safety and Justice programs at the tribe's expense the Skokomish Department of Public Safety provides 24 seven law enforcement services for the tribe um the Public Safety Division also is responsible for patrolling and enforcing Justice both within the tribe's 5300
▶ 1:01:35acre reservation and throughout the tribe's 2.2 million acre treaty area where the tribe has treaty protected Hunting Fishing and rights but with only seven officers available for day-to-day Patrol activities individual officers often alone understaffing exposes both the community members in need of assistant and the public safety officers to undo danger unfortunately this is public safety's reality and to meet mandated responsibilities Staffing must be increased
▶ 1:02:06vacancies due to illness training and other leave Force the chief of police to handle Patrol duties budget limitations severely restrict over time in addition to this uh the Skokomish river is the most frequently flooded River in the Northwest United States um it is something that that can be Googled and um often times it will uh due to flooding um landslides and other issues uh we may be for all intents and purposes on an island the reservation then becomes
▶ 1:02:36the only uh cognizant Authority in the area to provide for emergency management and services and so we've taken it upon ourselves to heed those responsibilities regardless of funding levels and offer assistance to the surrounding communities should they be cut off from uh Public Safety or Emergency Services as well we also strongly support continued funding for the bia's trust natural resources management programs increased funding to Foster sustainable stewardship and development of natural resources and support fishing hunting and Gathering rights
▶ 1:03:07on and off our reservation it's important and it's also essential uh for our folks who depend on natural resources for their livelihood and cultural well-being uh for example the Pacific salmon treaty Grant supports the trib's federally mandated salmon sampling program and throughout the entire in season and to ensure proper management of the resources we must collect and scale encoded wire tag sample shinook and coo scale samples from Chum on 20% of our catch this information is then
▶ 1:03:37used to determine run size and allows Fisheries managers to properly structure um current funding levels have been sufficient to achieve this goal without proper funding for this program it will become very difficult if not impossible for the tribe to ensure uh the safety of Esa listed salmon and may result in a loss of treaty reserved resource and our members ability to support themselves with that resource this also could lead to limited opportunities for recreational fishing in our area which is a major driver
▶ 1:04:07of economic resources into the region um as folks come from outside of the area to come and take advantage of uh not just the resource but the beauty of our our homeland as well um so we urge Congress to increase the current level of funding for this very vital program uh hatch Rec cyclical maintenance funds are also involved valuable for supporting uh the federal government's investment in tribal hatcheries most tribal hatcheries are underfunded and each year brings more Decay to the facilities here too adequate funding for Hatchery maintenance is imperative
▶ 1:04:37to prevent these important pieces uh of the salmon restoration puzzle from crumbling the tribe needs Wildlife program funds not only to support biologists but additional funding is required to staff three dedicated Wildlife enforcement officers who will not only enforce the tribes regulations but Ensure that poaching of the tribes Wildlife Resources does not occur from outside entities who sometimes fail to recognize the tribe's treaty rights this also will ensure that the resource uh remains available for all citizens in
▶ 1:05:07western Washington State as well additionally with Indian Health Service uh the skom tribe supports increased funding for the Indian Health Service um we would like to see uh more funding for long-term care facilities to address the needs of those addicted and suffering with opioid addiction at this time we've invested heavily Workforce Development programs to help offset that as well but we need all funding for all legs on the stool to help support that strongly support uh the request to exempt IHS from any future sequestration and we fully
▶ 1:05:37support the legislative proposal to reclassify contract support costs as mandatory funding thank you for the opportunity to testify and we'd entertain any questions thank you John Steve all right good afternoon chairman Simpson and members of the subcommittee my name is Steve D Los Angeles I'm the vice chairman of the snami Indian tribes Tribal Council I'm currently serving on my fourth term on the tribal council and it is an honor to speak with you today
▶ 1:06:08on behalf of my people thank you for the opportunity to testify and to share pressing matters that impact My Tribe today I'll focus on issues that are critical to the well-being of our tribe and our ability to protect and honor our cultural heritage first and most importantly I will Begin by addressing our trib's ongoing efforts to restore protect celebrate the sacred snami falls snami falls is a majestic 268 foot waterfall on on the snami river is that yes
▶ 1:06:38this is what the beat is here thank you it is uh it is not just a natural Landmark The Falls are sacred to snami to the snami people in our creation history the The Mists carry the falls connect worlds carrying prayers and blessings this site is Central to our ceremonial practices which continues to this day federal government has recognized the cultural and history and historical importance
▶ 1:07:08of snom Falls by listing it as a traditional cultural property on the national register of historic places however despite this recognition the sanctity of the falls continues to be desecrated by the pis Sound Energy hydroelectric plant which has been in operation since 1898 this hydroelectric plant diverts water from the Falls disrupting the cycle of the water as it completes its Journey Down The Falls to the plunge pool where it transforms into the sacred Mist that carries our prayers to the Creator
▶ 1:07:39this desecration is compounded by low-flying helicopter tours and disturbs the sanctity of the site interferes with our cultural and religious practices and endangers the safety of the 2 million annual visitors to the falls I was I was just there on at the fall on Monday before I flew out here and it was beautiful to to be a part of that and engulfed in the Mist because we had a heavy rains the day before and the week before prior and there's a lot of water flowing over
▶ 1:08:09there for years the tribe is for years snow tribe has worked tirelessly tirelessly to mitigate these harms and and to ensure that the federal government upholds its trust responsibility to to protect this sacred site we encourage every member of this subcommittee to visit snowy Falls and witness firsthand so you can better understand the gravity of what we're fighting to protect next I want to focus on the January 20th 2025
▶ 1:08:40executive order titled unleashing American Energy which paus dispersements for programs funded under the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act this freeze has had significant detrimental effects on the snom tribe particularly in two critical areas the US Environmental Protection Agency climate pollution reduction Grant and the US Forest Service access to Emerging Markets Grant the ep the EPA awarded snami 2.9 Million and the USDA awarded
▶ 1:09:101.9 million in funding under these grants these grants will be invested in active management of the trib's forest land to reduce the risks of wildfire and to build our capacity to participate in markets for Products but we are currently unable ble to rely on these funds due to the freeze this has stalled our ability to cut Overstock stands and replant for future harvests this is unacceptable for the federal government to freeze that funding that Congress has already appropriated for tribal
▶ 1:09:40Nations such actions undermine the trust responsibility to tribes disrupt vital programs and jeopardize our ability to address critical issues such as Public Safety health and cultural preservation we respectfully urge the subcommittee to work with the administ ation to ensure These funds are unfrozen so that tribes including snowy can access resources Congress has allocated for these essential projects lastly I would like to remind the subcommittee of the federal government's trust responsibility to tribal Nations
▶ 1:10:10and to to fulfill this trust responsibility we must ensure that critical programs remain funded and accessible this in this includes fully funding Indian Health Services which is non-discretionary and has been in place since 1976 Environmental Protection Clean Water and Air are essential for sustaining life and supporting tribal communities tax parity and economic development tribe tribes must have access to tax credits and taxfree bonds to to create jobs and improve Community
▶ 1:10:41infrastructure and when considering budget discuss decisions it's both it's critical critical that both parties in Congress uphold the federal government's trust responsibility and respect the government toover relationship with tribes this means that tribal programs are fully funded and that tribes have the tools they need to thrive and none of this falls under under the concerns related to Dei in closing I want to thank the sub committee again for allowing me to testify today it's been an honor and I'm happy
▶ 1:11:11to answer any questions thank you and thank you all for being here today and for your testimony uh beautiful country you come from it is uh you uh you had a this sounds like everything's in the past but you had a great representative in Derek Kilmer that I truly enjoyed working with on uh on these issues and he certainly had uh had your interest at heart as he as he worked to solve some of the problems but they're still
▶ 1:11:41there uh and I suspect they will be for a while that we have to keep working on it that's just the way it is but uh I appreciate what you have to what you have to say in your comments uh your priorities for for this upcoming fiscal year I look forward to working with you it's kind of interesting you mentioned dams some some of the different panels panelists uh have have mentioned dams and the impact on dams and you know I'm I support Hydro
▶ 1:12:11power that doesn't mean need Dam anywhere anytime uh fact is we've clogged our nation's arteries and we need to and frankly we need to clean them out in a lot of places so anyway thank you all for being here today Betty thank you Mr chair I had the um wonderful opportunity when I was was chair and some of the staff is here with me to go up into Washington state with with a uh Congressman Kilmer
▶ 1:12:42and we watched we learned about natural resources from Timber to Salmon to oysters it was absolutely amazing and wonderful to to be there you can keep all those oysters to yourself oysters um but uh it it it was uh it was truly truly amazing and very different from the the northern uh area that that that I'm from where the waters are a little more still we don't have as many water many haha waterfalls
▶ 1:13:13is lovely but it doesn't compete with with what you're talking about but um I just want to thank you um Mr Swanson for you know reminding us as I said I I'm FOC all politics is local I know Prairie Islands plight very well your plate is different because it's what's happening in our environment and what can happen in tsunamis those are um challenges that the creators put forth but uh the creator also gives us the gifts to handle those challenges and so I look forward
▶ 1:13:43to learning more about how we can help many of the the issues that are F facing the tribal nations from Alaska Oregon and Washington State and so let the is very very aware of that um Mr strong thank you for bringing up uh uh IHS and sequestration I spoke to it briefly yesterday I don't know how this works there's a rumor of a year-long CR that could also possibly trigger sequestration and so I'm going
▶ 1:14:13to be talking to um the members of this committee as well as the members of the Native American caucus for I'm chair mer is what we can do to not repeat the inadvertent mistake that happened last time with sequestration I didn't vote for it I didn't think it was a good idea but we all thought we had protected all the health care for the citizens and travels Nations across this country and it was a huge fail when the court said we didn't do it right so know that I'm on it I'm working on on legislative legislative uh
▶ 1:14:43language and to your point U Mr dless um you know uh I've been very public uh you know about the way this administration's gone on about finding ways of finding fraud waste and abuse and inefficiency I think it's inefficient I think it's created more chaos than they ever thought it was going to create but if we want to uh do what's right in Indian Country we need to consult you on how we can be more effective where there is waste
▶ 1:15:13because it's not going as directed as directed as it could be for the tribes to use that's waste and the tribes know where that is and know how to fix it so we should be looking and Consulting with you on how to fix those inefficiencies within our government whether it's energy whether it's environment whether it's Health Care you have the answers you have the solutions and that was U my promise uh to um the Native American uh Congress when
▶ 1:15:44it was when it was just here a couple weeks ago and I spoke before him we need to listen to you when it comes to that and we hope that we can be a bridge between you and the White House to do just that so I thank you all for your testimony and thank you so much for bringing the future of our nation I'm the president you're the future so I want you to study hard do well and I'm so glad you were here today MCH chairman thank you all from coming all
▶ 1:16:14the way out from Washington Derek Kilmer was a fantastic uh proponent for you and uh and by you all coming down here though I I can promise you that we'll we'll honor uh Derek with continuing to recognize the unique um difficulties faced by the Washington tribe specifically and how it's in there are a number of different issues that are facing you that don't face some of the other tribes in the midwest uh so we will endeavor to to make sure that that especially the salmon you know and
▶ 1:16:44uh the chairman talks about beats the drum on salmon all the time but especially water nuclear waste it's a unique ecosystem up where you live that that has to be protected and and I Echo what Miss McCullum said about the sequestration is that we have to not allow that to happen again and finally Tom thanks for being is this Thomas yep Thomas thank you for being here today you are the future what do you want to do when you grow up um I want to be aor for what my dad's doing
▶ 1:17:14what do you want to write about uh anything really but I really want to write scary BS books okay okay he's a big Stephen King pan is oh really okay all right well thank you all for coming here I Y back thank you all I appreciate you being here your testimony we look forward to working with you as we try to put together uh this budget for the next year and actually finish the one for the last year and uh try to address the priorities that uh that you've pointed out
▶ 1:17:44thank you thank you all so okay our next panel is uh Eric White Goin uh Winnie Johnson Graham those sound familiar to anybody yeah yeah any one of
▶ 1:18:20them and you got it right you're really trying to feed those aren't you yeah that's what these are thank you all for being here today uh Eric you're first yep p yep well good afternoon and Mr uh chairman Simpson thank you for having me here along with ranking member penre and members of the subcommittee
▶ 1:18:50for holding this hearing today my name is Eric white and I'm the chairman for the stillw tribe of Indians um I've been on the chairman for the past 5 years and have served on the tribal Board of Directors for the past 13 stillw tribe I just heard you guys talking about it up in the beautiful Washington area uh we are located in the northwest of sish County near Arlington Washington and we are the still guavs or also known as the river people who have lived along the s guamas River in the Puget Sound since time in Memorial
▶ 1:19:20our tribe signed the porn Elia treaty In 1855 and has continued our traditions of hunting fish and Gathering as well as acting as stewards of local fish and wildlife populations our tribe was federally re recognized in 1976 and since then our tribe has worked to restore our ancestrial homelands and our reservation now span 66 acres and we own over 4,000 Acres of additional trust property the tribe consists of just under 400 members today before you
▶ 1:19:50today I just want to address the impact of the recent developments in Washington specific specifically Federal funding freezes on tribal programs and ongoing restoration efforts uh specifically with the following uh we applied for and received well so the first is the wildlife program uh specifically designed to address critical issues of wildlife vehicle collisions while simultaneously enhancing habitat connectivity for both terrestrial and Aquatic species in 2024 The Stills
▶ 1:20:20tribe applied for and was awarded a wildlife Crossing pilot program Grant to design and construct a wildlife overcrossing Constructor near Red Cabin Creek which is on Highway 20 the North Cascades Highway uh located in the point Elliot treaty area our project aims to reduce Wildlife vehicle collisions by improving habitat connectivity for elk and other species uh we collaborated with a very unique project where we collaborated with our relatives in the EPC Indian tribe and have partnered
▶ 1:20:50with was do and other while receiving input from local stakeholders and land owners as well as other tribes in the area our findings have identified the red Cabin Creek area as a focal point for collisions and priority for Highway Safety mitigation uh these Wildlife Crossing structures are proven to be effective Methods at reducing Wildlife vehicle collisions and help with Public Safety and improving habit habitat connectivity for a wide range of species at the beginning of this year we were set to begin utilizing
▶ 1:21:21the funding for this project and on January 20th 2025 the administration issued an executive order which imposed a freeze on dispersements and the program funded under the bipartisan infrastructure law this funding freeze disrupted our trib's ability to begin construction of this important project to our reason to our region and we understand the funding may have recently become partially available but we're asking for assurances that all the funding awarded to the tribe is made fully available so
▶ 1:21:51that we can continue this project next we wanted to touch base on three other important programs for our trib's culture and traditional life ways all three need significant increases to ensure progress first is the epa's pet sound program the still tribe uses These funds for Habitat restoration ecosystem monitoring and fish population recovery and have expanded our capacity to address environmental challenges of the Salish seawat shed the second is the US fish
▶ 1:22:21and wildlife services tribal Wildlife grants program and the still s tribe has been able to conserve species restore riparian zones and improve Wildlife populations in the region the third is the right rights protection implementation or uh RPI program and it's a program that we is utilized by 49 other tribes including still gamish and the funding supports critical conservation and management efforts of tribal Fish and Wildlife
▶ 1:22:52Resources as a point of note we are members of the Northwest Indian Fish Commission and we strongly support all of their funding requests for fiscal 2026 and basically to recap the Civ tribe just wants uh the subcommittee to protect and preserve our Wildlife Crossing pilot program grant that we already and increase the funding for the pit sound program the US fish and wildlife service tribal Wildlife grants program and the rights Protection Program these programs are vital for protecting culturally significant resources
▶ 1:23:22ensuring the continued seership of ancestral lands and addressing the environmental Challenge and I just want to personally thank you for allowing me here to speak today and and taking this into consideration thank you good afternoon chairman Simpson ranking member pingre and members of the subcommittee my name is t Glenn Goin I serve on the tup Tribal Council and we thank you for the opportunity to testify today on funding
▶ 1:23:52for Indian Country the the tup tribes is located 35 mies north of Seattle not far from Stillaguamish uh tup is the third largest employer in snow Mish County resulting from economic and tribal government growth despite this we still face many challenges the fentol epidemic is comprising compromising Public Safety on the toip Indian Reservation placing tremendous external pressure on our Police Department not unlike others Across
▶ 1:24:22the Nation to let pH has had over 70 Tribal member deaths attributed to fentanyl overdoses since 2018 we have taken numerous steps in response but until tribes have criminal jurisdiction over non-indians who manufacture or deliver Controlled Substances such as fentanyl within the reservation boundaries attempting to battle Mexican cartels and other organized crime without being able to prosecute prosecute them and minimal
▶ 1:24:53funding is is extremely difficult to today to Lup self funds 90% of its Police Department budget from economic Enterprise revenues Public Law 638 tribal self-governance funding and grant funding composes the remaining 10% we thank you for the fiscal year 25 Bill 25 bill that provides significant increases to tribal Public Safety and Justice we would like to see a comparable
▶ 1:25:23increase in fiscal year 26 but these increases must be realized by tribes in all regions of the country to help combat the fentanyl epidemic activities on our reservations conversely any reduction of Public Safety funding would cause direct and Grave harm to our communities to tribes urges the committee to increase funding for the rights protection implementation RPI
▶ 1:25:54Pro program that supports implementation of federal court actions including USV Washington that that affirmed our reserved rights to fish in all usual and accustomed areas as Co co-managers of the resource under the Treaty of poellot the tribe appreciates the fiscal year 25 amount of 50,7 190,000 for the RPI program which is a six $1.6 million increase increase over enacted
▶ 1:26:24levels an additional $2 million at a minimum are needed for tribal hatcheries in the fiscal year 20 26 budget our hatcheries are critical for salmon stock and orca recovery efforts and we could not meaningfully exercise our treaty reserved rights without the support of tribal hatcheries that supplement the supply of har harvestable fish for tribal fisheries and the non-indian sports and Commercial
▶ 1:26:54we have over 20 tribal Hatchery restoration and maintenance projects all in differing stages without sufficient funds to complete them the the department of interior is charged with bringing land back into trust that were lost or taken without consent during the Indian termination area for the purpose increasing or for the purpose of increasing tribal land base this is a treaty and Trust responsibility the fedu trust process is cumbersome comp complex
▶ 1:27:25and a lengthy process largely carried out by the Bureau of Indian Affairs often taking several years to transfer one piece of fee land into trust even for land within a tribe's own reservation delays lead to increased cost for tribes in providing critical infrastructure to their communities and can cause financial hardship for tribal members we are very concerned with the administration's effort to reshape the federal Workforce
▶ 1:27:55leading to the termination over o of over 100 Bia employees including approximately 15 employees in the Pacific Northwest region a department that was already under staff and in disregard of the unique government to government relationship or legal obligation to Indian tribes and their members to meet its legal obligation to Indian Country funding must be available to fund Bia employees
▶ 1:28:26in an adequate level to support the trust responsibility we thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on these critical funding measures for Indian Country thank you app noad Johnson Graham Nas Masia good afternoon chairman Simpson and ranking member of
▶ 1:28:56pingre uh the in and distinguished members of the subcommittee I introduced myself in my language my name is Winnie Blu girl Johnson Graham and I am from mashby I am the vice chair of the mashby tribe I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about our tribe's funding needs and priorities we greatly appreciate your commitment to the providing the critical funding for Country first I asked the you prioritize funding for our roads
▶ 1:29:26it has been very difficult for our tribe to engage in meaningful Economic Development because we lack basic infrastructure on our 170 acre reservation in tarton Massachusetts only one road runs through the entire property leaving much of it inaccessible undevelopable road construction is extremely expensive and we do not have the funding for it and making matters worse the large winter storms and the frequent are in our region and we are forced to spend the modest Transportation
▶ 1:29:57funds that we have on snow and ice removal during the winter this leaves little for road construction a greater investment in the Bia road maintenance program will help us address these challenges and is needed to help address the significant funding backlog in our program additional re Federal resources are also needed for critical infrastructure our tribe is seeking to acquire more land inter trust for economic development but funding constraints limit our ability to improve these Parcels
▶ 1:30:28many of them are currently undeveloped dilapitated and IND dire need of Rehabilitation Congressional investment in our infrastructure for that tribal projects will Empower us to develop our economy and move closer to e economic self-sufficiency next I want to underscore the need for the funding for to support our tribal justice system our court case workloads has increased by 75% in 2024 our lack of Economic Development
▶ 1:30:58opportunity directly impacts our ability to adequately fund our court system this has led to a backlog in resolving criminal cases and issuing eviction and protective orders funding available from the Bia is extremely limited and in the recent Bia report estimates that the unmat need for tribal courts is close to $1.5 billion amongst other things our courts need funding to establish case management system and upgrade
▶ 1:31:29our av equipment used to record hearings as well as hire additional Personnel we also are working to codify our tribal laws and reform our constitution to ensure consistency accuracy and compliance a well-developed legal and Jud judicial system is necessary for attracting Business Development on our reservation but reform requires resources that we do not not have and for all these reasons we urge the subcommittee to appropriate at least
▶ 1:31:59$7.4 million to tribal court systems and fiscal year 2026 funding is also needed to address Public Safety the tribe has a reservation land both in bille and Bristol counties given a geographic reach we really need about 12 police officers to patrol our reservation but we do not have the funds to hire those additional officers we also need a Dispatch Center for a permanent base of our operations for our Police Department
▶ 1:32:29which currently operates out of a police cruiser and two modular trailers in bonable and in Bristol counties neither the trailers nor the cruiser are equipped to handle basic law enforcement functions further our Tribal Police do not have a secure facility office space A detention center processing center or holding cells there is nowhere to securely store evidence records or equipment in addition to our Police Department desperately
▶ 1:33:00needs updated technology and Communications equipment Tribal Police are unable to communicate with surrounding police departments with other law enforcement agencies because of the limited telecommunications resources we cannot even communicate with our own officers between our locations existing Federal Federal funding for tribal tribal Public Safety is totally inadequate a recent Bia reports that Congress estimates that we have unmet
▶ 1:33:30the public safety for and Justice programs in Indian country as more than $3 billion Congress needs to provide more resources to address law enforcement challenges and support the critical Public Safety needs in Indian Country thank you for your time today and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you you're welcome uh Glenn let me ask what do you do when you find a uh group cartel a gang
▶ 1:34:00whatever to infent all on your reservation either making it or Distributing or whatever what happens to now we arrest charge Mike we arrest them and um since we don't have criminal jurisdiction we bring them over to e either the snowy County courthouse and ask them to pick up and prosecute they will typically take the case in review it and turn the
▶ 1:34:31loose um feds May step in and we petition them to pick it up but often times they're short-handed also and so the end result is in most times uh they're turned loose to go back into public they lose their forfeit their illegal drugs but they're back out in the community doing the same thing the lack of criminal jurisdiction is what stymies this and we all want to be part of this fixing this fentanyl epidemic
▶ 1:35:01across this country but there are because of legal jurisdictional questions creates a loophole for them to thrive on Indian reservations well I appreciate that it is uh this has come up several times in yesterday and today uh the frustration I feel and others feel about the the uh jurisdictional issues uh that happen and I'm I'm kind of one of those that think you ought to be able to have jurisdiction over your lands and be able
▶ 1:35:31to do what what uh is right there and I mean I talk to officers that in uh in lap away or something they'll stop a just stop somebody drunk driving driving down the road down the highway and stuff have to call a state policeman to come and the state policeman it might be a priority for it might not might be there for two hours waiting for a state policeman and then letting them go you know it somehow we got to solve this and it's not an issue that we can solve in the Appropriations
▶ 1:36:02Committee that's not our job uh but it's something we need to do in the in the uh authorizing committee and look at how how this jurisdictional issue uh is such a challenge for all of us and stuff we need to change it you need to have more jurisdiction particularly on your reservations whether it's a white guy that commits a crime or whether it's another Indian or an Indian from another tribe or whatever you know you need to have that jurisdiction we thank you for that so
▶ 1:36:32we'll keep working on that Eric I was just curious this is a strange question what's your diet not your personally but your people's in general uh just basically uh you know just like the average person but we like to sneak in a lot of you know fish and and other seafood and game yeah is but it's a large a large fish and and seafood uh diet isn't it yeah pretty much
▶ 1:37:02but the funding is is because our stock is so limited that um Glenn here and here guys take our F no I'm just kidding they they they're at the headquarters and so they get more and we we really only get very few shinook that come believe i'mah I know at the end of the ditches but that's why to us that that funding is so important because you know there are so many people that are grabbing those fish before they get to us
▶ 1:37:32exactly including Alaska Canada and others other tribes out when they're out you know in the Sailor sea so it's tribes are entitled to 50% of the take of salmon on the river right yeah 50% of nothing is not much exactly when the numbers go down you don't have much huh interesting uh representative pingry yes thank you um thank you very much I apologize for being late so I didn't get to hear uh your testimony or most of yours um but uh
▶ 1:38:02I do appreciate you spending the time with us here today and vice chair Johnson Graham um as a Massachusetts tribe we uh we neighbors I represent Maine and um Maine of course used to be part of Massachusetts till 1820 and we still hold that against Massachusetts but I agree consider you close neighbors um and it sounded like from your testimony you're a very underresourced tribe of the 3,200 enrolled members that you have do they do people live on the reservation or um
▶ 1:38:32so you do have housing and do have housing on a reservation yes yeah um well I'm sorry for the challenges that you're facing with law enforcement and being under resourced because I'm sure particularly you know in the area that you're in there's a lot of challenges and whether they're jurisdictional or just lack of personnel um I hope we can do more to to get you the support that you need thank you I appreciate that thank you very much nice have you with us today thank you I I'm glad to be here honored honored to be with all of you thank you
▶ 1:39:03it's always been kind of interesting to me that from the West we always think that Indian nations are in the west we don't realize how many there are in the East too and that's you know yes kind of interesting I hear that a lot I'll bet you most people wouldn't think there was you know any yeah any tribes left in Massachusetts we heard from a Connecticut tribe earlier but New England does have tribal residences and tribal res I I did hear that they thought the last uh Native American was gone a long time ago and I can go back to
▶ 1:39:34the 1600s my husband and I both a wamp anog and I can go back to the 1600s with my lineage so yeah no a deep part of our history absolutely yes one of the counties in Idaho is named Onida County and in realiz it was named after anida Indians from New York that's correct that's correct you look at a lot of the uh names they all come from Native American names you know the ponds but I appreciate you all being here today it is
▶ 1:40:04uh very educational for us uh I appreciate your your uh telling us what your priorities are and what we ought to be looking at as we put together both the 20125 budget if we can get it done and the 2026 budget as we move forward so okay thank you all well thank you we can Tom we that means gladly okay thank you you that and
▶ 1:40:35uh our last panel for this afternoon's uh hearing is uh Robert oh they're going to challenge me now Robert Blanchard uh bu nigran is that anywhere close all right toisa Hill tasi okay tasi camman is that close
▶ 1:41:06cap what is it kman kman okay I was never much at Linguistics and and pronunciation and that kind of stuffff how are you good to see you Robert you're first good afternoon Mr chairman ranking members and members of the committee uh my name is Robert Blanchard
▶ 1:41:37you nail one chairman of the bad River Band Lake Superior chipo unions also known as Mish Kaze Mish Kaze is a river in coastal Wetland along the western region of Lake spe reserved in the Treaty of 1854 and signed on madin island which which is the largest island largest of the Apostle Islands on Superior we work hard to become self-sustaining to provide for our culture economic and social well-being of our people we are in the Lake Superior
▶ 1:42:07region reserved territory and the communities of odena Oda which in my language means we are the people we are the people of the we we are the people of the heart we The we put our people and Families First a large part of our foundation Is Our Land and Waters we depend a great deal on the subsistence resource such as wild rice fish maple sugar migratory birds and plants Ed for
▶ 1:42:37medicines is our belief that taking care of our environment will sustain a healthy way of life for us and future generations to come I travel here today to sit before this committee to talk with you about issues that directly affect my people's ability to care for our environment and to sustain healthy way of life which are interconnected with the safety of our communities first Public Safety in comparison to all other communities indigenous people experience substance abuse and unintentional injuries often related
▶ 1:43:07to violence at the rate of two and a half times higher the differences argues forcefully for a focus on a fully and well-trained staff of law enforcement Personnel in in your country as one of the greatest Public Safety policy priorities currently we address law enforcement by agreements with local law enforcement agencies for Contract Services under a combination of federal Community oriented policing services and
▶ 1:43:38state law enforcement assistant grant funding the Bader tribe has reviewed the law enforcement needs of the community and a huge concern of the tribe and the people is a time it could take for a response of a life-threatening situation depending on where the where the county is and the response comes from it could take 30 to 45 minutes from Far reaches a southern part of our County and odena is located in the northern most part of our County odena communities
▶ 1:44:08average 20 hour to one hour ratio in calls for responses versus law enforcement engagement and community activities significantly more funding is necessary to change this ratio for our communities bad River alone would require more $432,000 a year to recruit and competit competitively provide wages training and benefits to retain law enforcement staff I appreciate the committee has already engaged in this issue under Public Law 2 83 280 however
▶ 1:44:38current funding levels are inadequate to the needs of inan country and every travel Nation must receive the funding for law enforcement to protect the well being of people secondly the Bureau of in and Affairs education program is interconnected with all of our communities educ educational programs for example take our Head Start An Early Head Start program which is managed by the Indian education program which also manages Library Services homeschool
▶ 1:45:08services our head start and Early Head Start seres 66 TR we employ 32 qualified individuals R ranging in age from 19 to 72 years old each one must complete extensive background checks to ensure that we surround our children with the best possible staff we impl made a strong F focus on School Readiness 14 of our students have Early Education plans as our staff is trained to notice developmental delays so they can identify learning disabilities and de development delays
▶ 1:45:39years before they start kindergarten our students receive services such as speech physical therapy and occupational therapy while they are enrolled at our Center helping them literally get a head start when it comes to their education and lastly I just want to mention we currently operate a fish Hatcher that is not only important to our tribe but to the whole region maintaining and funding for the Great Lakes restoration initiative is needed to restore healthy fish populations protect our Waters
▶ 1:46:09and habitats from an invasive species and overall improve the health of Great Lakes coastal wetlands so on behalf of the bad River ban I thank you for allowing me to speak to you today on these very important issues than much thank you uh next is good y chairman Simpson it's good to see you again ranky member penre y members of the committee I want to say thank you so much for allowing
▶ 1:46:39me to share a few minutes with you all today my name is Dr bu nigin Navin president it's an honor to serve in this capacity so again thank you for giving me the opportunity to share a few words on behalf of the largest landbased tribe in in America with over 400,000 citizens despite our size we continue to face the same challenges as you've heard throughout this afternoon is the Indian Country continues to struggle with generations of crumbling infrastructure limited access to health care underfunded law enforcement and an ongoing fight for
▶ 1:47:09clean water these issues aren't just numbers in a budget they represent the daily realities of Navajo families and Indian families across Indian country as well so today I'm here to remind as as you've heard today the Federal government's trusts and treaty responsibilities to the navoo people are not optional that they are tied to not tied to political cycles and they are promises that must be kept and sequestration and budget caps threaten the critical services are people rely on these Cuts don't just mean
▶ 1:47:40fewer dollars they mean Elders waiting longer for medical care families struggling without running water and emergency responders stretched even thinner across the Nao Nation at 27,000 square miles Naval programs should not be subject sub subjected to the same Cuts as discretionary spending and we urge you to exempt Indian Country program from sequestration and provide stable and advanced Appropriations for both Indian Health Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Public Safety
▶ 1:48:10is another crisis we cannot ignore right now the nav Nation only has 218 officers to patrol the land mass the size of West Virginia that's one officer covering hundreds of square miles uh throughout the day response times can stretch for hours leaving families very vulnerable just last year alone the navo Police Department received over 200,000 calls more than they could ever respond to with the current staffing needs of 218 we need more Navajo police officers additional
▶ 1:48:40resources and full funding for our law enforcement so that we can continue to make sure that our families feel very safe throughout the day and when visitors crisscross our lands from Arizona New Mexico and Utah they feel protected as they travel through our nation Emergency Medical Services are also in dire need of support when someone calls for an ambulance they may be waiting up to 45 minutes or longer if an ambulance is even available as I mentioned the avation spans one of the most iconic areas in southwestern part of the United States
▶ 1:49:10and there's times when we have non- navajos that travel through our nation and when ambulances are called for that takes 45 to an hour sometimes it all depends on availability so my hope is that we can continue to make sure that we support our EMS teams to answer uh they answer currently 20 20,000 calls a year and their funding increases haven't been increased in decades this is a matter of life and death we ask for a dedicated funding for our tribal EMS including a $4 million allocation specifically for the Nao nation
▶ 1:49:41and then our children's features are at stake as well when it comes to the Indian Child Welfare Act was designated to keep native children connected to their Nation their culture and their identity our Navajo equa program faces a $3.4 million shortfall without full funding we cannot provide the protection and the services our children deserve this is not just a budget request it's about keeping our families whole another challenge we face is the lack of broadband access Across the Nation in 2025 reliable internet should not be a privilege
▶ 1:50:12as mentioned earlier 27,000 square miles the size of West Virginia uh that we should have the broadband that's needed in many Navajo households parts of Navajo students still have to travel very long distances just to get connected to the internet while sitting in vehicles in example some of them sit out fast food restaurants gas stations or try to uh be able to find internet at the local chapter houses again clinics uh struggle to offer telea Health businesses cannot be competitive Congress must continue
▶ 1:50:42to uh help us with tribal broadband and continue to make it a priority to increase funding to ensure tribes have access to Spectrum to build their own networks and also I cannot leave today today without speaking about the unfinished business of uranium cleanup as mentioned uh over the years there's over 500 abandoned mindes still contaminate our lands our water and our people uh some progress has been made very thankful that we have started but at this rate it will take centuries to fix the damage that
▶ 1:51:12has caused with uranium mining all across Navajo uh we need a real commitment from the federal government with a long-term funding plan that fully addresses this toxic Legacy lastly Waters life the Nao nation has waited for too long for the water right settlements we are owed these settlements are not just obligations they are necessary for the survival of our communities a future cannot be built without water we urge this committee to ensure full funding and implementation of these settlements despite all
▶ 1:51:42of the challenges that we Face many people continue to step up our people continue to step up time and time again to provide support to the United States our Navajo co- talkers and nav Ur uranium miners sacrific so much to make this country what it is today the treaty signed with our ancestors were were not symbolic there were promises made between our Nations so that we can all Thrive we kindly ask the United States to respect the Amon nation and uphold their treat in their end of the treaty thank you for your time
▶ 1:52:13thank Mr yes uh sui sake uh greetings everyone honorable chairman Simpson ranking me pingry and members of this committee I'm honored to be here today on behalf of the United Nation the United Nation is a title four and Title 5 self-governance tribe that serves a tribal population of 17,38 citizens united nation has a $750 million annual economic
▶ 1:52:43impact in our region and is one of the largest employers in brown and aamy counties with approximately half of our 2,390 employees being nonon individuals from neighboring communities our government provides array of services to our community employees and tribal citizens include healthc care Behavioral Health Services police protection housing Public Works sewer and water infrastructure Family and Child Welfare Services environmental health safety banking Child
▶ 1:53:13Care education educational programming food security transportation and more one of the areas is the exempt uh tribal programs from funding pauses and Staffing reductions as the current Administration Works to implement new policies we urge Congress to work with tribes to educate Administration officials as to our unique government to government relationship and to use federal resources to fill the treaty and Trust responsibility to tribal Nations the United States fulfills its treaty trust and treaty
▶ 1:53:43obligations through both the Direct Delivery of tribal programs and services and through provisions of federal funding to tribal Nations these funds help us deliver essential tribal programs including healthc care Public Safety and education these programs are not discretionary they are legal obligations rooted in treaty and Trust obligations the United States Constitution and long-standing federal statutes our request is to make it clear that all federal programs that serve tribes should be exempt from funding pauses and Staffing reductions
▶ 1:54:14clear guidance from Congress and the administration is needed to protect tribes from inadvertent harm and to ensure that tribal access to Federal resources appropriated by Congress is interrupted the next subject would be support for expansion of tribal self-governance as Congress considers policies to increase efficiency and reduce bureaucracy I'd like to point out a successful Indian policy that helps achieve these goals tribal self-governance tribal self-governance reduces Federal bureaucracy
▶ 1:54:45expands local decision-making and control gives tribes greater flexibility to redesign programs and plan for the long term this has led to better services and improveed health welfare and quality of life for tribal citizens self-governance has been transformational for the United Nation providing a great control over our health care programs and law enforcement which has allowed us to focus our efforts on prevention empow and empowering our nation to build capacity by training our own citizens to fulfill
▶ 1:55:15these roles the nation strongly encourages Congress to expand tribal self-governance authority to other federal agencies as serve tribes including authorizing self-governance demonstration projects for tribal programs within the United States Department of Health and Human Services and authorizing permanent self-governance authority to the U USDA for food distribution self-determination demonstration project uh law enforcement United Nation is proud to operate our own
▶ 1:55:45Police Department covering reservation boundaries of over 100 square miles and over 27,000 res residents we have established collaborative relationships and parody with local law enforcement agencies through intergovernmental agreements and our officers are Cross deputized by County Sheriffs unfortunately Tribal Law Enforcement remains extremely underfunded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with the United Nation receiving less than $140,000 annually for law enforcement through its 638 self-governance compact
▶ 1:56:15this covers less than 3% of the annual operating cost of the on Police Department the current fund fing covers the partial salary for one officer out of 30 plus positions in the united Police Department last year alone the nation contributed over $5 million to operate our Police Department we are fortunate to have resources to cover these costs but many other tribes throughout Indian country do not even with our budget contributions our Police Department still has unmet needs that unfunded
▶ 1:56:45tribes and public law to 80 States like onid Nation also face the misperception that we do not have public safety needs this could not be further from the truth our Police Department responds to thousands of calls for services each year within the boundaries of the reservation with over 18,000 calls in 2023 alone due to lack of funding our Police Department is consistently short staffed this is a public safety concern operating at minimums allows us to respond to one serious call accident or medical situation at a
▶ 1:57:16time with additional Public Safety funding we could would be able to hire more officers providing a better service to our community as well as expand our programming to hire community resource officers to help prevent and deter crime on night Nation strongly supports increased Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement funding for all Tri tribal public safety programs including those in public law to8 states increased Tribal Law Enforcement funding would provide transformational relief to address the systematic public safety
▶ 1:57:46issues facing our tribal Nations there are dozens of other vitally important programs within the interior environment and related agencies Appropriations bills that are important to the Orin Nation but however in the interest of time I'll conclude my remarks uh Mr chairman and members of the committee thank you again for this opportunity and I look forward to working with you thank you guy is that on there we CL H talk to
▶ 1:58:16to quen n good afternoon chairman Simpson ranking member p kry and members of this subcommittee thank you for this opportunity to to testify before you here this afternoon my name is k kman I'm the president of the qual indan nation qual indan nation is is located in the southwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula we have uh over 200,000 Acres of of land within our
▶ 1:58:47reservation Forest rivers lakes 30 mies of Coastline and over 4,000 enrolled tribal members today I'll Focus my testimony on several critical issues including number one the executive order freezing IRA and Bia Bia and OMB funding number two increased funding for the Bia tribal Community resiliency program and number four Advance
▶ 1:59:17Appropriations for Indian Services through Tre and executive orders and other agreements India tribes including the qual India Nation seated hundreds of millions of Acres of our homelands to the federal government in return the United States made promises to provide for Education Health and Welfare of our tribal citizens for the for the qual people the promises of the United States were detailed in the Treaty of Olympia of
▶ 1:59:481855 unfortunately the federal government has consisted consistently failed to meet those treaty obligations chronic underfunding worsened by economic factors like inflation continues to impede the qual nation's ability to deliver essential services to our tribal members we have been we have been forced to supplement inadequate inadequate Federal funding to meet those needs of our tribal members
▶ 2:00:18on January 20th 2025 the ad Administration issued an executive order titled unleashing American Energy which halted dispersements for federal for programs funded under the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act this funding freeze has significant detrimental impacts on the qual IND nation and other tribes as well the decision to
▶ 2:00:48freeze funding that Congress Congress as already appropriated for tribal Nations is unacceptable to the qual Indian Nation such actions undermine the federal government's trust and treaty responsibilities to tribes disrupt our essential programs and hinder tribal efforts to address urgent challenges such as infrastructure development Public Safety and cultural preservation we respectfully urge the subcommittee to
▶ 2:01:19work to work with the administration to immediately unfreeze These funds and ensure that that tribal Nations including the quol can access funds we as as we have previously testified to the subcommittee quol has two major Villages a village of quitz and a village of tahola and we're in the in the process of relocating those villages to higher grounds and
▶ 2:01:49um through the High Tides high winds and Storm surges it it uh creates a safety hazard for our tribal members to continue the process of of relocating those those villages to Higher Ground we need additional funding to do that because of this urgent need to expedite the the relocation we ask the subcommittee to increase the funding to the baa tribal climate resiliency program
▶ 2:02:19to $50 million in fy2 6 and this will ensure that we can continue that that process in 2023 the subcommittee made historic strides in safeguarding the health and well-being of tribal communities by securing Advanced Appropriations for Indian Health Services funding for 24 and 25 we thank you for that thank you for that
▶ 2:02:49we we request we request that the the subcommittee include Advance Appropriations funding for Indian Health Service for fiscal year 27 at a minimum of 5.2 billion as part of fiscal year 26 interior environment and related agencies Appropriations Bill the conal Indian Nation remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting our tribal members our lands and our culture from the adverse impacts of systematic
▶ 2:03:19un underfunding environmental threats and violence against Indian populations however we cannot achieve these goals alone and as our trustee we're asking for your help to do these things and W with that we thank you sequel for this time to to talk to you here today thank you thank you thank you all for being here and for your comments and uh
▶ 2:03:49I've been up to the in fact two of the most enjoyable days I've had in a long long time several years ago when David Obie took me up to the Apostle Islands and I still want to go up there and spend like a week out on one of the one of the lighthouses and just stay there because beautiful country but it yeah so you do the wild rice up there great how did
▶ 2:04:19the uh Onida Indians get get from they were in New York originally right correct yeah we move moved to what was then called the Michigan territories in 1820s and 30s so we were moved to Wisconsin before Wisconsin was a state okay interesting I uh as you know we went down to our uh committee several of us went down to navo reservation and I fell in love with Window Rock I want a house there it's beautiful
▶ 2:04:50country there but uh we'll get down there again yes I appreciate it uh you did you mentioned you wanted the uh climate change relocation fund up by $50 million do you know what the total cost of your relocation would be for the total cost we're looking at is $400 million 400 and we've probably invested at least 25 up to this point
▶ 2:05:20and that's both through the feds and the state and tribal coffers and so to get to that point to move two Villages from from housing to to business to government operations it's going to take quite a okay a chore to to do that but you know it's in process I appreciate it you all come from beautiful places so sorry you had to come to Washington but we need to get out and see your places too so anyway great uh represent pingry yeah thank you all
▶ 2:05:50for testifying I appreciate it today and appreciate you coming from a long ways away I know when drik Kilmer was on the committee with us he spent a lot of time talking to us about the relocation of the quinel nation and um uh I think it's an issue we're going to continue to deal with on a grander scale I know in Alaska some of the tribes have had to relocate and you're one of the first sort of domestic tribes that's really undertaking it on a big scale so I agree yeah it's it's uh we're going to learn a lot from what you're doing um and thanks for bringing up
▶ 2:06:20that tribal uh resiliency Grant we've heard from other uh tribes that that was one of the funding one of the areas of funding that's still being um blocked so I think we need to get that loosened up and and make sure that the funding we've already appropriated it's hard enough for us to get money into the budget and get new money um but that was money that was going to tribes uh so that's a big concern and uh Dr nigr nice to see you and thank you for kind of giving us a sense of the scale of a very
▶ 2:06:50large Tri and really we talk a lot about you know to tribes of all sizes but the the magnitude of the need of a a tribe as larger yours and the amount of funding that is still a shortfall for you is is really staggering and we need to make sure we're meeting the needs of all the tribes and appreciate hearing from the Wisconsin members I grew up in Minnesota so you know next to our neighbor but uh and again so many of the same concerns about law enforcement and and other needs and U we're going to try to get all we can in this
▶ 2:07:21round of Appropriations but thank you for being today let me just follow up what one question I had R is that when we were down there one of the issues that they took us around as we drove across the reservation and stuff was housing and you had real issues with housing is that still a still a big issue yeah definitely a huge issue we still have a demand of about 30,000 plus homes that need to be built on avajo but a lot of the challenge is making sure that we have the infrastructure in place
▶ 2:07:51so we've really been trying to figure out how do we continue to make sure especially on the Arizona side and I think that's where the water settlement is very key is so that we can build out the the main water lines that that could possibly feed a lot of these homes that are needed so again housing is definitely still a huge Challenge on Navajo because we have about 200,000 plus that live on the nation and about 200,000 that live off the nation kind of come come on and off the nation throughout the weekends depending on where they're working in the country but again yes housing is definitely a huge need and I think that's
▶ 2:08:22where a lot of the Bia uh housing money that does come out uh this past year we were able to do uh some money that uh that we've really been I've been really big on making sure that we try to spend a lot of the funding that does come through Bia and I think it was around 50 homes that we're able to provide this coming year through some of that Bia housing but again 50 houses s sounds like a lot but when in terms of the scale of the nation as you mentioned earlier it's a it's a large Vass and then some of the challenges just the remoteness as you you visited
▶ 2:08:52the community out there but again um as a nation uh one of the also the other things I want to thank this committee thank uh think Congress and think the United States too it's a lot of the arpa funding uh we're able we're going to be able to put out a couple hundred houses on the navoo nation using arpa money so this coming year and next year we're going to be able to do I think we're up to about 700 plus houses uh that's going to include a house including water electricity and S septic and drain Fields as well too so that's one of the things
▶ 2:09:22that we've really been focusing on avajo is like why can't we do it let's come together and really put some of the resources that comes down from Washington so I want to commend this committee commend Congress and and the United States for helping us with a lot of those houses we're going to put down over this year and next year as well and I I suspect that housing is an issue on almost every reservation is it is yeah okay hey thank you all for being here today I really sincerely mean it and we we uh I've told everybody
▶ 2:09:52we actually do take your full testimony and read it and and see what we can do to try to address it and thanks for bringing up the issues that we need to be focused on so thank you thank you so much bet thank you yeah yeah thank you all for taking time to join us today we sincerely appreciate all of you coming to testify before our subcommittee and the committee stands adjourned until 9:30 tomorrow morning 9 o'clock tomorrow
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