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▶ 0:05:36committee will come to order good morning and welcome to the third and final day of our public witness uh hearings for American Indians and Alaska native programs I'd like to welcome all the distinguished tribal elders and leaders and thank our Witnesses for appearing before the committee to share their concerns on these important topics this year we had an unprecedented number of requests requiring us to expand to a third day to accom to accommodate nearly 100 tribes and tribal organizations these hearings are incredibly important so we appreciate everyone's flexibility so that
▶ 0:06:06we could hear from so many tribes and organizations across Indian country in terms of hearing Logistics I will call each panel of witnesses to the table one panel to the time each witness will have five minutes to present their testimony the full written testimony will be included in the record and as I've said every time I've read this is believe it or not we actually do read the testimony that uh that you submit to us it is important to us uh but your full written testimony will be included in the record so please don't feel pressured to cover everything in 5 minutes
▶ 0:06:37we will be using a timer to track the progress of each witness when the lights turn yellow the witness will have one minute remaining to conclude their remarks when the lights turn red I will ask the witness to uh ask the witness to stop uh to remain on schedule we'll hear from every witness on each panel before members will be providing an opportunity to ask questions because we have a full day ahead I request that we try to keep things moving so that we can stay on schedule and respect everybody's time it looks like we are scheduled to have votes this morning uh at
▶ 0:07:07around 10:30 or something like that around 10:20 and it's only one vote so we will have to adjourn for a few minutes to run over and vote and come back which will again put us further behind but that's okay but we plan so I say we plan to briefly recess to allow members to vote and then resume the panel when members return I also want to note 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 will be
▶ 0:07:37available at gpo.gov I'm happy to yield to my ranking member for any remarks she might wish to make thank you very much Mr chair uh thank you again for holding three days of these witness hearings they're so valuable to us thank you to everybody who's here today and I know you've all traveled from long distances so we appreciate that very much I just want to say a few things um the Trump Administration is been in office a few short weeks yet they have Unleashed chaos and disruption into indigenous communities and created anxiety and uncertainty
▶ 0:08:08for tribal members over their employment status the continuation of critical health care and educational services and in some cases have even challenged their citizenship I hope our Witnesses today will use this hearing as an opportunity to sound the alarm on the devastating impacts of this administration's policies I hope you all shine a much needed Spotlight on the damaging impacts that freeze that the freeze on federal funding the termination of prob probationary employees and the federal hiring free have already
▶ 0:08:38had and will have on the lives and the livelihoods of tribal Nations and Indigenous communities across the country the testimony over the last two days has provided us with a lot of important information and I look forward to hearing and learning more about what is happening in your communities the needs and challenges facing Indian country and your priorities in the interior bill this discussion will allow your voices to be heard and will help inform us as we finish hopefully the fiscal year 2025 Bill and then begin
▶ 0:09:08developing the fiscal year 2026 Appropriations bill with that again I thank chair Simpson and yield back thank you with that let's begin our first panel Crystal Williams Abigail echohawk Jason slander I guess the names are right there I didn't have to read welcome back abigo morning morning okay uh Crystal you're first thank
▶ 0:09:41you okay good morning good the lights on yes good morning ranking member pingre and members of the subcommittee I'm Christal Williams and I'm the acting chair for the kashada tribe of Louisiana and I serve as the treasurer for the United South and Eastern tribe sovereignty protection fund we appreciate the subcommittee for holding these hearings in the face of unparallel challenges to the federal government's trust and treaty obligations
▶ 0:10:12brought on by the indiscriminate and irresponsible policies of this Administration Indian Country in our legal and political relationships with the United States is especially vulnerable as this Administration makes sweeping changes without regard for the programs Services funding and contracts that tribal Nations and our people are owed all without tribal consultation this cannot be allowed to
▶ 0:10:42continue although I want to use my testimony to address our priorities for fiscal year 2026 what we are experiencing today is Gravely concerning and deserving of our Collective attention and action as you're aware since January 20th Indian country has found itself in this administration's crosshairs funding delivered directly to tribal Nations and tribal serving organizations in fulfillment of the federal government's trust and treaty obligations
▶ 0:11:12is being frozen recouped delayed or cancelled including funding for victims of violent crimes infrastructure education Agriculture and nutrition health care and funding for housing all of this funding is absolutely necessary and as you know is already woefully insufficient in addition we are hearing that DOI and HHS May propose deep funding Cuts up to 40% and 50% respectively
▶ 0:11:43we cannot and we should not be asked to sustain these drastic Cuts this is a unilateral abrogation of trust and treaty obligations the dedicated public servants who provide services to us every day are being turned terminated while we know that some exceptions have been made on a retroactive or peac Mill basis such as temporary protections for I staff the loss of an already understaffed Federal Workforce is being felt across Indian country
▶ 0:12:14with additional re reductions expected for example just last Thursday it appeared that a significant number of Staff in irs's office of Tri Indian tribal government governments were laid off without the necessary Personnel to deliver upon these sacred promises tribal Nations our citizens and our communities will suffer our health education Public Safety and many other essential services are in
▶ 0:12:44Jeopardy without an exemption for all positions serving Indian Country we are left in an untenable position one that runs totally counter to the federal government's obligations the administration is likely to propose a vure program for the bie which will do nothing to improve education in Indian Country sadly it will hobble the schools that all already struggle to provide an education for our tribal
▶ 0:13:16youth we finally continue to hear uh reports of tribal citizens being swept in Immigration raids this is a little ironic and we are the original occup an of this land tribal citizenship should be more than enough evidence of our United States citizenship there are many issues that we would like to address in partnership with the administration such as red reducing regulatory burdens
▶ 0:13:46and streamlining funding mechanisms for Nations at present however we are forced to focus on the fact that Indian Country funding and programs as well as well as Indian Country serving Federal positions are becoming collateral damage in the implementation of the Trump administration's policy priorities so we call upon you on this subcommittee to immediately exercise its oversight responsibilities
▶ 0:14:17to protect trust and Trea obligations and end this crisis by seeking a broad exemption for Indian Country funding from cuts and Indian Country serving position from reductions in force this Administration must be held accountable for its role in fulfilling the government's trust and treaty obligations through the federal budget and no longer be permitted to unilaterally destroy all that we have built together more
▶ 0:14:47broadly we call upon you to do your part in upholding trust and treaty obligations including by appropriating the funding for programs and federal employees that Indian country is owed and by assisting the administration in understanding and meeting its legal obligations to us tribal Nations as you know we are at risk because of decades and centuries of underfunding and neglect I speak for all tribal Nations
▶ 0:15:17when I say we cannot absor absorb further damage I appreciate you all for listening today alila Mo thank you thank AB good morning um thank you chair Simpson and ranking member pingry and members of the committee I'm Abigail echohawk a citizen of the ponti nation of Oklahoma and I am the um Executive Vice President of Seattle Indian Health Board where I direct our Urban Indian Health Institute one of
▶ 0:15:48the 12 tribal epidemiology centers I want to start my testimony today with a story I remember the day he died a man curled up at the footsteps of our Clinic down in downtown SE battle in below freezing temperatures he had come to the front of our Clinic whether it was seeking services or just a safe space in which to hide from the cold of Seattle as a homeless native person again native people are 10 times more likely to be homeless in most of the cities in which we live as a direct result of the relocation program
▶ 0:16:18which was a misguided attempt to take native people off the reservations and assimilate them into the society that was seen as what was acceptable in large cities this man suffered Ed that same fate like those of his family members and as a homeless native person who never got access to the resources and services promised as part of that relocation he and many of other native people in that same situation ended up homeless on the streets and he died in the doorstep of our Clinic Frozen
▶ 0:16:49for no other reason than he didn't have a place to live a roof over his head it was where our staff found him and where we called those who then remove moved his body so that we could continue to provide services to those other Urban native people who live in our city this is the experience of many Urban Indians and we need to remember that the urban Indian population the treaty and Trust responsibility for our health and wellness did not end when we stepped off the reservation primarily leaving the reservations
▶ 0:17:19as a result of this assimilation program that happened the urban programs that I am blessed to serve as the Director of our tribal epidemiology Center are the ones serving these individuals the 76% who no longer live in The Villages and reservations but many like myself who go back and forth to ensure that we are connected to our culture and Community but we live in the cities and it is essential that the Indian Health Service maintain the resources and services for these Urban people and the tribal epidemiology
▶ 0:17:50centers are essential to that we serve to provide the resources and data that these programs need not only like I do for the urban programs but the other 11 are focused on our ferally recognized tribes and the data that they need so we can come to you with information to make data driven decisions like the special diabetes program for Indians the tribal epidemiology centers are the ones who assist the Indian Health Service and looking at that data and seeing the overwhelming success of a program that is one of the most successful
▶ 0:18:20public health programs in the nation not just for Indie Indians but for anybody we have seen more than a 50% reduction in end-stage renal failure we which means that we have people who don't need dialysis who don't need kidney transplants and have reduced the economic cost significantly and there is aspects of that that need to be learned for other populations but I think of a young man who came into our Clinic just a few weeks ago he was trying to stay warm and our staff approached him and they found out that he was actually
▶ 0:18:50seeking diabetes services when they removed his shoes what they also removed were chunks of his feet that fell off as a result of the Gang Green that he was experiencing the resources that our Urban programs are providing are necessary and essential it is also essential for the health wellness and safety of our people the urban Indian Health Institute continues to lead in the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls I received a call recently in this call it was a man who said my niece has been murdered and nobody is
▶ 0:19:20paying attention I was recently in the office of congressman ellsley and I was telling his staff the same story and his staff member said to me oh yeah I remember remember this story and it's like yes you do remember the story the one I told you before that the exact same story I'm telling you right now why is it repeating itself and why is the urban Indian Health Institute one of the 12 tribal epidemiology centers the one providing resources Services data and training for the law enforcement for them to be able to appropriately
▶ 0:19:50investigate these we're doing the job the Department of Justice is not doing and I asked for an increase in our resources to $12 million distributed across the text for us to continue to do this work our people deserve it when I think about the young people the older people who come into our clinics to receive um their treatment After experiencing a sexual assault I think of a resource and study that we did the only one that ever happened to the nation done by a Tribble epidemiology Center where we found that the
▶ 0:20:20native people who had experienced sexual assault we're more likely to have a mouthful of broken teeth that's different than other people and my staff said Abigail this is like they were really triggered by that like why why are so many of our teeth broken after the sexual assault and I told them we have to think about it maybe differently maybe we're fighting back so hard that that's what happens and what I'm asking you is to fight back with us fight back to ensure that we have the resources and services as Urban
▶ 0:20:50programs to get the treatment for those coming to us with Gang Green and skin falling off their feet with broken teeth those who have been sexually assaulted I ask you to stand with us stand with those people and ensure that we have the resources and services to continue to serve them thank you for allowing me to be here thank you Abigail you always give testimony Jason
▶ 0:21:45uh good morning everyone my name is Jason Sher I'm the executive administrator for the great lakes and Fish and Wildlife Commission I want to acknowledge chairman Simpson the ranking member uh member of pingry and also representative LZ here this morning uh these are uncertain times but for tri throughout their history with the United States there have been many many uncertain times and so I reflect on statements made by uh uh ranking member pingry and representative McCollum when talking about the chaos and strife that
▶ 0:22:15has been Unleashed on this country by this current Administration uh this is not new for us uh we have uh tribes have stood with you we have harbored you from religious persecution oppression from the British crown and fought fascist regimes bent on the demise of this Republic um we have always stood with you symbolically speaking in the frenzy of uh bureaucratic paperwork and the dust that has been flying around when it all settles we'll still be here nobody can
▶ 0:22:45question the resiliency of the original people from this part of the world as you know the federal government has certain treaty and Trust obligations to tribal Nations the great lak sen fishal Wildlife Commission gwick is comprised of 11 tribes that have delegated to us a small portion of their sovereignty as it relates to the implementation of their off off reservation treaty rights in Michigan Minnesota and Wisconsin and to that end we issue Harvest permits monitor Harvest and enforce tribal laws against tribal members into
▶ 0:23:16tribal courts we also strive to ensure that the resources that the tribes rely on are healthy and abundant throughout the SE territories glyph contracts its funding through the uh Indian self-determination and education assistance act these contracts are highly regulated and we are a successful mature contractor as well as a lowrisk odity for over 40 years so fraud waste and abuse doesn't apply to us I commend our staff for their excellence
▶ 0:23:46and dedication to their work for the tribes that we serve we use our 638 funds as leverage to secure additional funding that allows us to undertake research restoration and protection projects we have long been a part of intergovernmental efforts to restore lake trout populations in Lake Superior and recently announced that restoration efforts have been successful we are extremely concerned that these hard-fought gains may be quickly erased damaging not only tribes
▶ 0:24:16access to this important resource but damaging the commercial and tourism economies of the rural Lake Superior region if the ca lamp Ray treatments are eliminated in addition to our four functions associated with the implementation of treaty rights gf's conservation officers are an important part of the law enforcement Network in our R region sadly our officers re recently responded to a scene when a young man's snowmobile went through the ice in
▶ 0:24:46leak Superior our officers uh responded and helped recover his body in 18 um in uh temperatures that were 18 below our officers are often called upon by jurisdictions to assist in responding to emergencies adding to the regional response Network the Great Lakes the Great Lakes restoration initiative glri is important to our work it provides funding for use to test fish for mercury and provide
▶ 0:25:17specific consumption advice to tribal members it provides staff uh to St to Monitor and reced manuman which is wild rice we under we undertake Baseline water quality testing to understand the status of Ni or which is water and those resources in the seated territory this is vital work this vital work would be eliminated or much diminished if glri is not available the rights protection imple implementation
▶ 0:25:47line item enables us to implement relevant court orders restore and protect natural resource populations assist in responding to emergencies leverage additional funding and contribute to the health and safety of the seated territories we understand that there's a desire to enact significant budget cuts but these programs have been underfunded for years and so it's not fair it's not fair to ask tribes to shoulder any more of this burden and so as opposed to last
▶ 0:26:17year when we were requesting increases in our funding our desires just is to just not be cut and so um I've noticed over the last few days that some other members of this uh committee have been here and are not here but I'm touched by what um by what representative Cole has said promises made Promises Kept which B thank you for listening and the opportunity to present thank you thank you all for your testimony let me just ask you Jason
▶ 0:26:47that when the tribes in the Great Lakes region and stuff like and I'm thinking about the tribes in the Pacific Northwest right now but when you signed treaties did you reserve your fishing rights and hunting rights to your original traditional grounds and stuff we retained our rights that's what I found in the Pacific Northwest every essentially every tribe reserved their hunting and fishing rights at the locations that they traditionally hunted and fished and stuff in almost every treaty that I've
▶ 0:27:17that I've ever seen right and we're working very hard to make sure that we OB that we honor those obligations that uh that we've made and that sometimes some tough things in some areas in in my particular area it might mean removing some obstruction in a river called dams so we're working on that stuff but I appreciate your testimony uh Abigail you as I said you always give uh compelling testimony and stuff most people when they think of Native Americans or Indians they always
▶ 0:27:47think they always live on a reservation or something we forget that there's an awful lot of them that live in this in the communities uh in the cities and so forth and uh we have an obligation there too so thanks very much thanks for reminding us of that thank you and I just want to say you know again reiterating that that was a direct result of a government program and so again that that obligation still falls under treaty and Trust responsibility and we're looking forward that for that to be continued in the support for the urban programs well thanks for what your program does it's
▶ 0:28:17very important Crystal thank you for being here to testify we look forward to working with you to try to address the concerns that you have and I will tell you that they're the same concerns this committee has and stuff so we're uh we're very interested in making sure that we don't what's the opposite of progress degress degress or whatever that we don't go backwards on uh the progress that we have been making so appreciate it thank you Miss pingry sure thank you Mr chair um thank you Jason I really do appreciate the work you do
▶ 0:28:48uh with the Great Lakes those are enormous bodies of water and so important to the tribes and um thank you for your testimony and I think many of us are very dedicated to making sure that we don't have any cuts and funding I know a program like yours is sometimes easy for people to overlook with all the other challenges that we have but um it it makes a huge difference and I know it's really important to those tribes uh I grew up in Minnesota so I even though I represent Maine um but I got to spend a lot of time on Lake Superior and it's such an important part of
▶ 0:29:18our state I also grew up in Minneapolis which is another Urban Indian city and you're so right I mean I think people often Overlook and we spend so much time talking about the very important rights and responsibilities we have to tribal communities on reservations but so many Indians live in urban areas and um clinics like yours are just so vital you are a really important part of our um murdered and missing Ander this women's day and it's nice to have you back again thank you I agree with you share your testimonies I was compelling
▶ 0:29:48and I know you do really good work and I'm sorry it's so under resource because you shouldn't have to be the only one you know standing up for so many things that you do but um hopefully we can get through this year and not not cut the funding and see that you get more cestal thank you for being here for uset uh you represent uset as part the main tribes are part of uset and I I've had the chance to be at some of the meetings and know what an important function is to have someone speaking you know for multiple tribes and um thank you uh obviously I'm
▶ 0:30:19very concerned about um the cuts that are in other parts of uh tribal funding and I think everyone on this committee feels the same way we are always discouraged that we don't have enough for the um programs that we responsible to fund at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian education um and it took me a while to understand that there were so many other grants that uh tribal communities apply for at HHS and education and EPA and um it's been deeply concer
▶ 0:30:49concerning to hear from the tribes that some of those have been blocked or they've been considered Dei or environmental justice or something else um when these are also obligations we have to Sovereign Nations um and there's not an easy mechanism for this committee to understand you know all those sources of funding you brought up the IRS today and I thought oh IRS hadn't even thought about that somebody brought up Treasury and um so I hope you will continue to keep us informed well it's not in our purview what gets funded in those other committees I do think we can
▶ 0:31:19help to be an advocate for reminding our colleagues who serve on the Appropriations Committee like you can't cut those funds those are tribal funds um and I think we're going to have a lot of work in the next um I mean there's already been a lot happening the last month but there are more proposed Staffing cuts and more and we just have to really be vigilant about it and we have heard other Witnesses say you know sometimes there's just one person you work with at the Bureau of Indian Health but they're the one that gets you where you need to go and if
▶ 0:31:50they're gone somebody else might say oh it's just one employee well it's not and these are already understaffed underfunded agencies so anyway thank thank you all for your time Mr thank you Mr chairman thank you all for being here um and uh shell is always your remarks are spot on and and I think in my short time being on this subcommittee my observation is is that this is perhaps most cooperative and collaborative bipartisan committee that certainly I stand on
▶ 0:32:20and uh and we're all friends here and the the goal is actually to improve the quality of life based on the law and the treaties the agreements that we have made to your people um all the tribes over 150 years ago which consistently are not met they are not met and that's on the US government So Yesterday two days ago this is day three we had a discussion lifespan and how after covid the tribes
▶ 0:32:50uh have met with the the highest decrease in life expectancy of any ethnic group in the United States and that's of of six uh six years down to 65.1 years now which is I believe s years less than the next next ethnic group which is atrocious which means it's it affected you guys even more because of your numbers and so the the data that I I mean the the quality of life depends and life expectancy
▶ 0:33:20depends on safety Health uh adequate food supply that is healthy food and and education uh all of which are not tracking right now for any tribe that I can think of of any region of the United States and every time you take one of those away quality of life goes down hopelessness increases and life expectancy goes down and so under the
▶ 0:33:51chairmanship of uh chairman Simpson we're working we we we do care um I would like to say it's good to see you but I'm glad you're here your words are always difficult to hear but must be heard are you what language are you speaking when you do your introductory Jason it's uh OJ Mo the OJ language and this may be I may be terming this wrong but it sounds like you're fluent
▶ 0:34:21it mean it just flows from you and it's a beautiful language are you I'm a second language learner okay so required re required our it's beautiful to hear and thank you for introducing that Crystal I had a question you said something about uh they're trying to go with vouchers for your education um and you are from Maine which uh you know has a huge population I'm from Louisiana you're from Louisiana okay oh you're kashada okay
▶ 0:34:51okay okay all right all right you're you're from Louisiana and they're talking about using vouchers and I assume that's so that you can use school choice and go to a private school right yes have they given you amount of the the what the voucher would be no uh but this includes uh you know tribal schools as well um as you know uh hasool Indian nations university has lost about 40 uh 40 um academic
▶ 0:35:22professors and you know this school I I attended high school so it's kind of a you know my heart is there in Kansas but uh and this also includes sippy but these uh you know it's already underfunded it's already um doesn't have enough resources already and so to pull those people from the education system you know that that was so disheartening to hear and um you know along with the voucher programs it's it's just so important for us
▶ 0:35:52to you know work together and try to because again some of these people some of these students who come to the schools already have disparities back at home and so to come here to school having hope you know at high school having a a college career to have a career um it it's so disheartening to see you know so many professors uh having to leave okay well thanks because vouchers vouchers are helpful in some cases but it's not a one-size fits-all uh deal and you have to in in places
▶ 0:36:22that are rural uh and certainly in the case of uh bie there needs to be a stability of funding and paying just like law enforcement and it's got to be adequate to the local environment so that you attract people to come work and in some cases especially Rural and and in tribal situations if you resort to uh vouchers to go somewhere else where are you going to go how do you get there how far is it is there even a school that you can go to so
▶ 0:36:52it's not a one-sized fits-all I'm a proponent of school choice as long as there's a dadgum school and there's not always a school and so just broad brush and all this stuff but we're obligated to provide under bie good schools that are adequately funded jails that are built and up to code the appropriate number of Law Enforcement Officers based on treaty based on the law and we're not meeting our obligations so after three days obviously you know It's upsetting
▶ 0:37:22I Know It's upsetting for you to all travel here and seems like years go by and they go by very quickly and you hear the same thing and so I I we will do everything we can to meet those obligations on this committee and work in a collaborative way so thank you thank you all uh for being here before I uh Turn You Loose let me comment on uh What uh my ranking member Mr El just talked about
▶ 0:37:52it's the one question I get asked by tribes more than anything else or not necessarily a question but a but a statement uh because we always say you know we've been increasing the size of uh our budget that goes to Indian programs and over the years that's this committee's been doing that in a Manner and I know that both shell and I keep talking to Mr Cole about we need a bigger allocation and that kind of stuff you know and thankfully he's been very responsive to what
▶ 0:38:23we've what we've uh suggested to him and stuff so can't complain about that but this is what the statement that uh that I hear all the time and I don't have an answer because there is no answer and that is we understand that you have allocations and stuff but how can you take treaty rights that are moral and legal obligation and put them subject to how much you get appropriated that doesn't
▶ 0:38:53make sense we have an obligation to fill those we have a an obligation to fill those rights that uh uh have been in treaties and and other things regardless of whether we get a higher or low allocation in our budget somehow we've got to change that and we've been looking at different ways and what it would take and all that kind of stuff because it's a question that they're you know not a question that statement that is absolutely true so we're going to be working on
▶ 0:39:23how we might be able to address some of those things and of course that would take not just us but all of Congress to do some of that stuff but believe me this committee is working on and it is uh as uh Congressman Elie said probably one of the the least partisan committees uh in uh in all of Congress in that we work together on a lot of issues there are areas we disagree that's okay you'd expect that yeah there's areas I disagree with my wife on occasionally she always wins but that's okay
▶ 0:39:54but uh it is uh it is a great great to work on these issues together in a bipartisan manner but thank you all for your testimony thanks for being here today next panel is uh manique Martin and Eileen
▶ 0:40:41I appreciate you being here today uh Monique you're first good morning chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and representative LZ thank you for this opportunity to testify before the committee my name is Mo'Nique Martin I'm serve as the vice president of intergovernmental Affairs at the Alaskan native tribal Health Consortium or ATHC and I'm an enrolled tribal member with the central Council of clink and heida Indian tribes of Alaska uh an anthc is a Statewide tribal
▶ 0:41:11Health Organization serving all 229 tribes in Alaska and all Alaska native and American Indian people living in our state anthc provides Statewide services including Public Health Community health environmental health and other programs for Alaskan native people in their communities anthc also operates programs and services at the Alaskan native Medical Center the Statewide facility that serves 170,000 people we operate that um
▶ 0:41:42facility anmc with our partner South Central Foundation uh I have submitted my written testimony for the record and wanted to summarize a couple of important aspects for the committee um Alaska is a very remote community uh lots of rugged terrain uh and extreme weather conditions and many people that we serve at the Alaskan native Medical Center rely on um travel to get to their care and
▶ 0:42:12over the last couple years travel costs um are always a concern for us in Alaska but we have really seen an incredible increase in the amount of costs that we're spending on travel um in terms of making sure people can access care in Alaska um we really use the purchase and referred Care Program PRC to fund not only um Specialists when someone needs care outside of the tribal Health System we also use PRC dollars to fund medacs which are very
▶ 0:42:42expensive in Alaska and um that includes travel when we refer people maybe um to the lower 48 for care and we really want to uh highlight the need for an additional appropriation to the pr C program um of at least $75 million for that program we are very aware uh that the Indian Health Service Federal Pro operated programs um are leaving maybe some dollars on the table that are making it really difficult for us to advocate
▶ 0:43:12for that increase in additional PRC funding but we have really seen in Alaska um those cost increasing so much that we spent over and above our PRC purchase and referred care allocation we spent another $14 million to ensure um Alaskan native and American Indian people could get the care that they needed um very important for our board of directors to um not turn that spet off um used to be an Indian Country we'd say don't get
▶ 0:43:43sick after June because there would be no PRC dollars left so we would really highly encourage uh and request from the committee uh really looking at that PRC program and because of those dollars that remain with the Indian Health Service we'd also urge the committee to direct the IHS to examine its policies for PRC and to work to facilitate timely distribution of PRC funding of a authorized travel and acute care services in extremely Rural and Frontier areas
▶ 0:44:13uh the other item I wanted to talk a little bit about is sanitation facilities particularly operation and maintenance of those facilities the bipartisan infrastructure law or B provided 3.5 bill ion to address the 2021 estimate for all reported sanitation deficiencies in the Indian Health System and despite this historic level of funding we're already seeing really big impacts from the inflationary increase in costs but equally important
▶ 0:44:44um to really ensure that we protect the federal investment in these programs is the ongoing operation and maintenance and how we can fund those programs to ensure we're protecting the federal infrastructure but also that community members can afford the cost to operate those systems really important for us um in in Indian country as we really look to ensure communities have access to clean water and sanitation facilities um throughout Indian country and
▶ 0:45:14what we would recommend for the committee is to provide $10 million to fund a demonstration project to document the system specific expenses necessary to develop the criteria and funding methodology along with other requirements for establishing an onm program um we have a Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Alaska native tribal Health Consortium and um maintaining these facilities in a state like Alaska really requires um
▶ 0:45:44unique thinking and our uh dehe team has two patents to help protect those uh Investments so we would uh really encourage and uh request the committee uh look at that program thank you thank you appreciate ready thank you thank you so much so good morning chairman Simpson ranking member of P gree and respected oh I'm sorry better okay all right good morning chairman Simpson rankingman member penre and respected members of
▶ 0:46:14the committee I'm eileene Sylvester and I'm the Executive Vice President for South Central Foundation and um I'm also an enrolled Tribal member of um the native Village of ewac which is in the Bristol Bay Area in Alaska so South Centra Foundation provides health and wellness services for over 70,000 Alaskan Native American Indian people regionally our service area encompasses over 100,000 square miles which is about the size of Wyoming so with 2700 employees we are the 10th largest employer in
▶ 0:46:44Alaska and last year we provided over 800,000 encounters within our system thank you for the opportunity to once again address the in ongoing funding needs of South cindor Foundation I grateful that Congress takes the time to listen to tribal leaders from around the country and understand the issues impacting our communities during yesterday's meeting of secretary um Kennedy's tribal advisory committee the secretary assured tribes who would protect jobs at Indian Health Service from layoffs and would support
▶ 0:47:14and promote the health well-being of tribal citizens and we urge you to work with the administration to achieve those objectives in fulfillment of United States trust responsibility IHS has been under underfunded for years and further Cuts would severely impact critical Health Services provided to tribal citizens we thank you for your past efforts to defend and protect funding for Indian Health Service and other Federal programs including your hard work to achieve Advanced Appropriations for Indian Health
▶ 0:47:45Service we ask that you continue those efforts in the days and weeks ahead and I will turn briefly now to a few key points regarding Federal funding and our priorities for fiscal year 2026 six first I'd like to emphasize the importance of funding stability to sou foundation and the tribal Health System even when funding ultimately becomes available delays have dire impacts on tribal communities across the country the current uncertainty regarding Federal funding underscores
▶ 0:48:15the need for advanced Appropriations for the Indian Health Service South Center Foundation urges the committee to ensure permanent Advanced funding for Indian Health Service until mandatory funding can be secured if necessary in resolving budget issues for fiscal year 2025 we ask this Committee in Congress to pass language to ensure Indian Health Service funds are exempt from sequestration second I'd like to emphasize a benefits of the 105 L lease program
▶ 0:48:45South Center Foundation is currently constructing a behavioral health expansion that will provide crisis stabilization services and Detox Services for our most vulnerable patients we are also planning an expansion to our Primary Care Center in the Matsu Valley where our patient population has doubled in size since 2012 when we opened the original building so neither project would be possible without 105l Leasing and we urge this committee to ensure that funds for 105 L leases remain an
▶ 0:49:15indefinite and mandatory appropriation finally I'd like to highlight two ongoing priorities for South Center Foundation the first is Workforce tribal leaders have spoken over the past few days about the difficulty of not just hiring but retaining qualified Personnel to provide vital services and this is a challenge for us as well Alaska faces a very serious housing shortage and this complicates the already difficult task
▶ 0:49:45of building a Workforce able to serve the rural remote region where many of our patients live we urge the committee to fund efforts to address this issue the second priority is the Behavioral Health crisis in our communities the CDC has found the suicide rate among Alaska native people is almost three times the US national average and about six times in some parts of Alaska so this is unacceptable we are working to respond to this crisis but additional
▶ 0:50:16support from federal government is needed we urge the committee to make funds available for investment and Behavioral Health so thank you again for the opportunity to bring these issues to your attention thank you thank you all thank both of you for coming so far to present your uh having been either one can answer this if they can answer it I don't know uh having been a dentist for like 22 years in the real world before I got politics how do you deliver
▶ 0:50:46Dental Care to some of these communities that are miles and miles away from from you almost want to say civilization I mean they're out in the this rugged country uh and some of them you can only get to by airplane and stuff how do you how do how do you deliver dental care and get dentists to actually uh come to Alaska to do that do that kind of stuff so um South Central Foundation does provide Health Care to a 55 tribes in rural Anchorage Service Unit
▶ 0:51:17um our dental care we will provide um in the villages we have dental chairs we have dental teams that go out we have a partnership with anthc um training um Dental Health a therapist and so it really is um especially because of travel the a cost of travel um sometimes they can fly out to St Paul Island which is like a three-hour plane ride out in the middle of the ocean and the last time our team went down they got um weathered in for about a week and so
▶ 0:51:47there's a lot of logistics to do that but it's so critical because Dental Health Care really impacts the whole rest of your well-being and so those are areas that really are critical to our people thank you it's always it's always fascinated me that it it's delivering healthc care in general but you know being a dentist was always it's always fascinating to me it's different in Alaska than it is anywhere else yeah these big old bags that they carry with all the equipment with them and it's quite the undertaking
▶ 0:52:17yeah I bet it is anyway thank you uh Miss pingry yeah thank you it is always amazing when we get a chance to talk with the Alaska tribes and I know there are many of them but but um really the level of um the just the scale you have to work on and the complications of the distances people travel in such a beautiful and amazing State um just to reinforce the I I I think we heard from another Alaska tribe yesterday about the travel costs being um uh you know just expensive and we all understand that's uh I mean I only
▶ 0:52:47live in Maine but um we have a lot of remote islands and understand that it's not easy to get places and weather can stop you one of the things you mentioned was um maybe IND Health Service was leaving money on the table and that was making it more complicated just a quick explanation of what what we might want to look at certainly thank you for that question um we we know the Indian Health Service is not expending all of their allocation they receive um which is uh challenging on a few fronts we've worked with the IHS
▶ 0:53:18and they've really ramped up efforts to get money out the door um for those federally operated programs uh in ibly operated programs we're spending every penny and then some to make sure patients get care and um there was quite uh a couple hundred million dollars that the IHS was leaving on the table they've really worked over the last um year or so to bring that down significantly uh but that has
▶ 0:53:48certainly not helped uh our opportunities to Advocate with other members of Congress for that increased allocation got it well we can we can look at that I mean it also speaks to our concern over potential Staffing Cuts because um while there's some talk and I appreciated that you heard from um secretary Kennedy that said there won't be Cuts in the Indian Health Service and I hope that's true because we've been worried about you know the lack of medical practitioners and any kind of cuts or reductions but um sometimes the people deliver the money are just as critical
▶ 0:54:18and they get seen as sort of you know bureaucrats you don't need so many of them and and that delivery is really important so thank you for explaining that thank you you know in in Alaska um we have you know really expanded self-governance so far that really the staff that remain at the Indian Health Service Area Office are performing those inherently Federal functions which makes any layoff really challenging for us to navigate because that slows down so much of
▶ 0:54:48our work when we look at um facility leases uh commission core officers you name it it's uh every employee that they have at the Alaska area office is critical for tribal programs to continue operating um at the speed in which we need to great well I'm sure Senator marowski is watching that very closely she's on our you know same Committee in the Senate so we'll be working with her on
▶ 0:55:19that thank you Mr chair I'm gonna switch topic a little bit but it's it's something not I have not had an opportunity to ask yet anyone from Alaska I was at NCI and I just didn't have time I didn't and the alaskans were off talking about some other things on your own that you were going to be presenting to the lower 48 tribes um I have had um a lot of experience in dealing with permafrost permafrost
▶ 0:55:49in our military bases our runways our facilities our radar facilities falling off and at times the the tribal Nations uh have talked about the concerns of villages disappearing but I would like to ask you if you've been having discussions or know of discussions about permafrost at some of the healthc care clinics even some of the larger ones some of the housing some of the schools and things like that the Army Corps of Engineers is
▶ 0:56:19working on trying to figure out how to build buildings and build runways that that can kind of go with the in Minnesota we call them Frost Hees I bet you do in Maine too you know but this is not just a frost heave this is you know a sinkhole potentially could you just tell me about some of the concerns that we should be maybe proactive when you were talking about operation and maintenance permafrost just popped in my mind thank you uh at the Alaskan native tribal Health Consortium we have a very robust
▶ 0:56:50division of environmental health and Engineering that go out to um rural communities and villages and work with communities tribal leaders to build water and sanitation facilities and they look really different um across the state depending on the area and what works and what community members really find um important for what they want for their uh members so we do uh a few different things uh with also constructing
▶ 0:57:20uh clinics and uh it is such a challenge for us with melting permafrost in Alaska because of the rate of climate change happening in the Arctic um that our environmental health and engineering team developed a a patent for a thermos siphon and it really helps protect any of the foundational work when you see in Alaska we build the infrastructure in um giant tubes covert looking things that
▶ 0:57:50uh we heat so that water doesn't freeze as it's moving from home to home and we're really having to address these things by building it right like our our Engineers ATC designed this thermos siphon that which is really designed um to keep the ground Frozen around that really important foundation in the permafrost so it is an incredibly important uh part of our work is how we navigate
▶ 0:58:21some of these challenges and how we even build some things we use a a portable system um the pass and the mini pass where we can haul water to a home and it's held on the outside of the home um instead of having piped water to a home because if we know that that community may have to move due to change um erosion along river banks whatever it might be
▶ 0:58:52uh we know some of those communities might have to move so we do not build in some cases infrastructure piped infrastructure to home we use it on the outside of a house and then that water is then recycled for um sanitation purposes thank you I appreciate your testimony and you really do have one of the strongest advocates in Congress in Senator macowski and I've spent time with her talking about Alaskan native and
▶ 0:59:22American Indians issues and stuff and glad to say we're all on the same page on this in both the house and the Senate so you really do have a good Advocate there so appreciate you taking the time to come all the way down here I will tell you that they now have called to vote we only have one vote so it shouldn't take too long for us to go over and vote and come back and we'll call the next panel as soon as we get back committee is temporarily in recess
▶ 1:00:22thank you so much for doing that
▶ 1:13:24e e
▶ 1:14:22you're what Idaho what's oh my God I love it up there cordelane
▶ 1:15:09comme will come to order thank you all for uh being here today and for uh putting up with our momentary pause fortunately it was only one vote so it didn't take us too long was two votes it would be about four times as long so we appreciate that we were able to get back uh to the to this uh hearing uh and the next panel is uh right before us and so Reno you're first thank you you so um Mr chairman and and members of the committee I just want to thank you in advance for your ear and your patience
▶ 1:15:40with us as you're listening to tribes describe things that are often frustrating for us um and I'm sure for all of you as well so thank you for that um I'll have to do this the right way because uh my grandma up in the next world is watching Franklin so uh hello my name is Reno County Franklin uh I come from the people from the top of the land and uh today I'm I'm here
▶ 1:16:10speaking to you on behalf of the shomo tribe chairman amus my big brother Dino is now our chair uh and and also for the California rural Indian Health Board where I am the chairman of uh and so briefly a little bit about crib um established in 1969 provide uh healthcare related support to 21 tribal Health Facilities uh representing 79 ferally recognized tribes in the state of California um I do have testimony that I've submitted and I'm
▶ 1:16:40I'm to your disappointment I'm sure not going to read it line by line from top to bottom but yeah I and and I do trust and your staff your staff is awesome too so I appreciate yall uh let me just say that you know a a primary focus uh because California is what's called a PRC dependent area talked a little bit to yall about some PRC recommendations uh and the ways that you all can help us by uh not just maintaining funding levels but increasing funding levels for an area uh that is PRC dependent so uh
▶ 1:17:10the state of California 109 federally recognized tribes uh the California area office uh is the primary uh office for the Indian Health Services that uh serves the tribes of California um for the the IHS unfortunately because of budgetary restrictions doesn't give us level of need funding for uh purchase and referred care needs for California Indians um the uh the the area office
▶ 1:17:40um or the area in California we we do not have hospitals we do not have IHS funded hospitals or uh clinics and so because of that um we use our PRC dollars for uh all the care that we cannot provide inhouse and so to be a little personal about this uh my father is a recent cancer survivor he rang the bell last month uh gets uh gets me a little choked up thinking about that um but all of the Care for his cancer
▶ 1:18:11treatments um all of the uh Specialty Care all the medicines all of that comes from our PRC dollars again we don't have the ability to treat in-house and so if somebody gets an appendicitis uh you know sickness or illness or um if uh they uh anything we can't provide locally it it goes to those PRC dollars and so the problem there is that because we don't have the IHS funded facilities that means we don't get that Staffing it means the cost for us is
▶ 1:18:41uh significantly higher to provide PRC care uh to our tribal membership living in California and uh with us being the sixth uh in in the line of PRC funding amounts we're number six California area is so um woefully underfunded um and then and just like the other areas we have a lot of areas of need where those PRC dollars can go and stretch stretch really far so you know um we're asking for an increase in PRC funding for IHS
▶ 1:19:11California area and bringing in line with the other PRC dependent areas and provide California tribes life-saving resources that we need desperately need sorely need uh the uh enacted PRC budget for 24 total 996 m755 th000 for all the areas California I California area share of PRC was uh 58 million and so uh so we are asking for increases to support California in those needs um I
▶ 1:19:41see that I'm almost at time so I'm going to skip right to some programs that we also will be asking for uh you know your support to making sure they're funded special diabetes program for Indians please help us reauthorize sdpi expires on the 14th of March of the domestic violence Pro prevention programs behavioral health programs tribal epidemiology uh injury prevention for American Indians Alaskan natives tribal self-governance programs the IHS compacts and funding agreements
▶ 1:20:11tribal self-governance program planning negotiation Cooperative agreements the community health aid program sanitation facilities construction programs uh the demonstration project for Indian health health professionals pregraduate uh program for Indians education education education that's I'm sure all of our parents told us that and our grandparents certainly in tribes it's the same way in educational loan repayment programs the Health Professions recruitment program for Indians
▶ 1:20:42and the health professional Preparatory scholarship program for Indians and I would just close with a reminder that uh you know our sacred site protection uh is our traditional health and it all starts with that and where tribal historic preservation officers that work so hard to protect those sites um are also looking for funding increases this year as their number of tipos has Riden risen and continues to rise Mr chairman thank you so much for allowing me to be 35 seconds over I feel 35 seconds smarter so do we yeah
▶ 1:21:12thank you for being here Ender your one it's ready okay you're on sorry good morning uh thank you chairman Simpson and thank you for the subcommittee for inviting me here and having me giving the opportunity to testify my name is Indra vad I'm the CEO of Northern Valley Indian Health that's a tribal health program it's in California Northern California
▶ 1:21:43and we are I'm representing here I'm here on behalf of our board of directors who are from four different tribes which are grindstone Indian L area kitel Dei wi Nation chda Indian tribe and Yad Dei V Nation we appreciate uh your historic involve investment in Indian country country to build off these victories we respectfully urge you to remember that your trust and treaty responsibility exist irrespective of Congress separate
▶ 1:22:13goals to balance the budget we offer the following recommendation for fiscal year 2026 the IHS has long been underfunded yet its funding is Con constantly interrupted earlier this year tribal health programs like ourselves feared that our desperately needed funding was frozen when om issued a memorandum recently cusing federal financial assistance this uncertainty greatly impacts or patient care we respect the efforts of
▶ 1:22:44Congress to balance the federal budget however the is such budget remains so small that cuts do not result in any Federal Savings but they do devastate our citizens we urge Congress to permanently exempt the IHS from budget cuts sequestration and phases while Medicaid is not within the purview of this subcommittee we urge you to protect our access to it tribal facil facilities like us get 30 to 60%
▶ 1:23:14off our funding from medicad but we only account for 2% of total Medicaid spending in other words cutting tribal access to medic would not result in any savings but it would force us to cut back on the essential care we provide our citizen we implore Congress to exempt Services received through IHS and tribal programs for count counting towards any funding cap as was done in 2017 we continue to advocate for
▶ 1:23:44advanced appropriation and support this subcommittee's proposal to expand to healthare and sanitation facilities construction for fiscal year 2027 we appreciate the subcommittee's commitment to fully fund CSC which is contract support cost and Section 105 L leases we remain concerned that they are still within discretionary Appropriations despite their obligatory nature here they take up a growing percentage of overall IHS spending and we are concerned
▶ 1:24:14that Congress will cut into other tribal programs to pay for these increases especially in light of the B ruling to protect all IHS funding we respectfully urge you to enact mandatory appropriation for CSC and 105 L Le we ask you to require IHS to pay Section 105 L Lee in full even if the space is used to serve both tribal and non-tribal patients currently the IHS only pays a percentage of the lease claiming
▶ 1:24:45that it is not obliged to pay for the facility space used to serve non-beneficiaries this argument applies that implies that we segregate our facilities by IHS eligibility but this is not true all facility space is used to serve tribal patients so the IHS should pay all the lease we support moving away from competitive grants for Indian Country the federal trust responsibility does not require that we compete with the other tribes to see Services provided to
▶ 1:25:15our citizens we request WID strep flexible widespread flexible formula based funding across all programs we are disappointed to see the the proposed cuts for electronic health record which would Hal desperately needed modernization efforts we respectfully urge you to restore the account with 217 Millions tribal programs are chronically understaffed due to challenges like underfunding and Rural locations we therefore welcome we thank the subcomittee for proposing 12%
▶ 1:25:45increase to the hospital and health clinics account and urge you to dedicate resources for staff housing while we understand that sdpi is not within your jurisdiction we ask you to support permanent reauthorization at a minimum base of 200 million per year with an option to incorporate the funding into our self-governance agreements with that I want to conclude knowing the time is like 23 seconds so I want to thank you again everyone and I want to thank chairman Franklin and Miss Sanchez for being me part of
▶ 1:26:16them the team there thank you good morning chairman and committee members I'm Teresa Sanchez a member of the Morango band of mission Indians and a board member for Riverside sanino County Indian Health I'm honored to have the opportunity to testify today last year Clinic was thankful for the advanced Appropriations provided by Congress for the Indian Health Service beginning the fiscal year 2023 the V votal
▶ 1:26:46of the Appropriations process in the past few years have emphasized the importance of this mechanism which has provided some ability to carry on Services dis despite pauses delays partial funding and near shutdowns now is the time to go on one step further to protect these vital funds and move the full IHS budget to mandatory appro Appropriations in this Congressional work we respectfully ask that you ensure that tribes in California receive their fair share of these resources these are treaty and Trust based obligations
▶ 1:27:16historically agreed to by the United States and the tribes are not and should not be subject to discretionary or broad-based reductions there are over 100 federally recognized tribes in California and according to the census over 600,000 Native Americans the fiscal year 23 president's budget included a 10-year proposal to fully fund the Indian Health Service at 367 billion only a year later to due to inflation and Rising health care costs that Topline number increased to
▶ 1:27:4654 billion with tariffs and stubborn inflation the Topline number has surely gone up but the total agency appropriation remains less than 10 billion with we cannot close patient care obligations and gaps with programs that are severely underfunded and since we must always operate our programs in an environment of scarcity potential deficits funding freezes even temporary ones have outsize consequences to our program we have no means to float or replace federal funds we simply have to reduce
▶ 1:28:16Services we also ask that all Direct Care Resources including Behavior Health Care initiative funding be made available through self determination contracts and compacts rather than through grants so all programs can benefit and so it is understood these are not discretionary pilot to Grant programs or Grant programs but require Behavioral Health funding none of our funding is Expendable we continue to support the full funding of contract support costs the funding that covers our program overhead and administrative costs
▶ 1:28:46so the program funds we receive can remain dedicated to health care services to our Indian communities we respect Yul request the committee move the contract support costs and 105 elas appropriation sub accounts to the mandatory side of the budget to provide certainty and stability for our health care programs these two discretionary budget items are vitally important to meet our patient and Staffing obligations we also ask Congress to simplify the calculation payment and
▶ 1:29:17Reconciliation of contract support costs to alleviate the significant burden on tribes and the growing bureaucracy at IHS necessary to implement IHS as contract support cost policy we also ask the committee to order IHS to eliminate the burdensome reconciliation process which happens year years later after our books are closed it is burdensome enough to go back and forth with agency representatives to determine an amount to be paid upfront we should not have to redo the same negotiation years later
▶ 1:29:47the amount of resources spent on the reconciliation process on both the tribal and IHS side does not make sense given that our indirect cost rate adjust each year based on any over or under recovery of cost California has always been one of the four Indian Health Service areas that are PRC dependent meaning we have little to no or no access to an IHS tribally operator hospital and therefore is purchased all or a large portion of impatient and Specialty Care from non-tribal providers at a significantly
▶ 1:30:18higher cost the means this means our PRC funding never goes far enough even when the agency maintains large PRC surpluses in other areas tribes had asked the director to distribute these surplus funds to tribal programs that that need the funds to eliminate the surpluses that had developed throughout covid but that happened this means programs like ours that need additional PRC funding suffer year after year as there have been no PRC increases since 2017
▶ 1:30:49we support the request of California members of Congress to increase the PRC budget for All tribes in the California IHS area we also support full funding for the regional Specialty Care Centers that are meant to alleviate the pressure on our PRC budgets this support of Congress would allow us to fulfill our mission and obligation to our Indian communities and appreciated last we ask for your support for the reauthorization of the special diabetes program for Indians some of our Indian communities over 50% of adults have been diagnosed
▶ 1:31:19with type 2 diabetes without the necessary funding to support our diabet IES Health Educators our success will mostly be lost we cannot afford to lose our patients to this disease we thank you again for your time consideration thank you and thank you all for your testimony and uh and thanks for all you do for delivering Health Services as 600,000 uh American natives live in California is that right that's more than the population of several of our states
▶ 1:31:49you know so it's a big population sometimes we don't think about that but there are over 100 tribes in in uh California itself I didn't realize that there was that many in California I knew there was a lot but Alaska yeah H it's amazing sorry to hear about your father uh the uh you said during your testimony that your brother's name is uh dino Reno is that my poor mom yeah yeah
▶ 1:32:19and my dad's name is Dino too so two dos and then a tall Reno do you have any sisters I was just I was trying to figure out what the sister's name would would have been a good name but no anyway thank you all for your testimony and again thank you for what you do we appreciate it very much and your suggestions on on uh what needs to happen we'll certainly take into consideration as we try to put together our next budget Miss pingry yeah and I want to Echo the chair thank you for the work you do I know it's really vital to the people that you serve and we've you know heard a variety
▶ 1:32:49of the things that you've brought up today from other tribes particularly the PRC funding um you know hasn't gone up since 2017 as you said and um I know it would be great if we could move the funding to the mandatory side that would alleviate a lot of these concerns this may be a tough year to do that but um certainly important um but greatly appreciate what you do I I sort of uh had the same reaction I had to look at our map we had a little map here of where the tribes are and I was like wow really there are 100 in California I knew there were a lot but
▶ 1:33:20um that's a lot of people to serve and a lot of needs so yeah thank you you very much for what you do Mr M I knew that there were close to 100 tribes I didn't realize that you were so concentrated at the top and the bottom of the state though until I looked at the map so does that make it more of a challenge to get together for delivering services and working with the IHS I mean absolutely are you cut I know California divides itself here politically North and South
▶ 1:33:50car uh same thing happening with you think that we're in three separate regions and I turn over to Mark laau who's behind me that can yell yes or no who's our our CEO of crib um but yet you know and geographically it is a challenge uh especially if you have somebody living way up in modok County where you could stand on the reservation there uh and throw a rock and hit Oregon and throw another rock and hit Nevada while you're standing in California um they're traveling you know maybe 3 hours to get to a local hospital
▶ 1:34:20and and while that might be helicopter you know care during the uh summer months winter time forget about it you know it's those big snow drifts and that's a long way to travel um it's just like our Alaska brothers and sisters that travel so far for for healthcare we're we're doing the same thing in California but they're not going to an IHS facility they're going to something else where we're spending that PRC dollar this just double double dipping almost or double cost just one quick thing for for I have family
▶ 1:34:51who lives in rural parts of the United States and what getting Diabetes Care and the the concerns about getting Diabetes Care in Minnesota you know from maax and some of and then some of the other tribes that are even more isolated what's Diabetes Care and because you brought up the special diabetes and I hope I hope it gets reauthorized um sometimes we fund things when they aren't reauthorized right away been known to happen love that but um you
▶ 1:35:21know that has an impact on diabetes he dialysis SC as well right absolutely so an Indian person traveling from the kosaya reservation in Sonoma County lovely Sonoma County on the coast uh you know our elders are traveling you know two-hour round trip or two hour each way 4 Hour round trip to get an8 hour uh you know dialysis appointment done and and the mental toll on our youth that are seeing this happen uh and then on our elders themselves yeah it's severe you know um sdpi if it goes away
▶ 1:35:51this would be really clear and unfortunately have to say people will die and Indian people will die and so you know the the needs of Diabetic Care in Indian country are not exclusive to California and it's what's one of the things that unlike everything else that you know we we want to stand on for medical needs sdpi is the one that's the one plant the flag there because that's where the care is needed we just look to you all for your support and I know we have it too you know it's diabetes is not unique to American Indians or native Hawaiian you see my middle name's
▶ 1:36:21Kone am Maka families from mokai and Hawaii as well so I've got it on both sides of the family and I too type two yeah again thank you for being here and for your testimony uh and for what you do out there it is obviously vitally important and you know it's kind of interesting as I listen to you talk about if you're on this reservation you could throw a rock and hit Oregon and and sometimes there's a beauty in that in that you're remote
▶ 1:36:52and that's kind of where the the areas I like and stuff but it presents unique challenges in delivering some of the services that uh that we need to deliver so I appreciate what you do thank you thank Youk you having geryn Church uh Anthony laer and uh Robin Sunday Allen
▶ 1:37:29thank you thank you thank you all for being here today appreciate it Jaylen you're first good morning wait just a second let's okay go ahead hey h w good morning friends um and thank you
▶ 1:38:00uh chairman and committee members for um the opportunity to provide testimony to you all today um chapi my name is jyn church I'm a citizen of the shine Rivers suit tribe and I have the privilege to serve as the president and CEO for the Great Plains tribal leaders Health Board our Health Board is the area Health Board for 17 tribes in North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska
▶ 1:38:31and Iowa and in addition we provide direct Health Care through oate Health Center which is in Rapid City South Dakota um we refer to the tribal citizens we serve as our relatives um and not patients we seek to empower them to find a path to Wellness by integrating Behavior healthc care and traditional cultural values the Great Plains has always been a strong
▶ 1:39:01voice in advocating for Indian Health um and we do this because our relatives in the Great Plains have the lowest life expectancy in all of IHS areas between 2005 and 2007 life expectancy in the Great Plains was nearly 10 years shorter than that of American Indians across um the country between 2019 and and
▶ 1:39:3220121 life expectancy decreased again another 6.8 years to 53.6 years our relatives in the Great Plains dived from cancer more than twice the rate of other American Indians and Alaska native nationally between 2005 2019 and our relatives died from heart disease at twice the national
▶ 1:40:02rate for American Indians and Alaskan natives and areas so now is not the time to be reducing um Workforce reducing budgets these Health disparities tell us this is nor the time to diminish Medicaid for already under resource systems in our region secretary
▶ 1:40:32Kennedy noted in comments a few days ago that IHS is underst staffed and under underfunded and if IHS and our tribal health systems are not staffed with well-trained people to orient themselves to um to the Char that's needed uh for uh Physicians and um for those that are providing direct health care service will be diminished
▶ 1:41:03I know that there was discussion about uh freezing uh hiring except for providers but we need all of staff we need the housekeepers the schedulers the coders the billers the IT staff and other critical Personnel Congress recognized that direct Appropriations would never be adequate funding so to resolve this it authorized Indian Health Service and tribal health
▶ 1:41:33programs to be able to build Medicare and Medicaid and other payers and over the years these resources have become um have come to supplement and in some cases surpass the direct Appropriations that um tribal health programs um uh receive in order to overcome those shortfalls for example at oate Health Center we got creative and we used
▶ 1:42:03a portion of our PRC dollars to purchase insurance for our relatives and as a result over half of our relatives that we serve are insured now and um and our third party Revenue Grew From 7 million when we first assumed management from Indian Health Service to 108 million in 2003 opportunities afforded under public 93638
▶ 1:42:34for tribes to exercise self-governance has only begun to be realized in the Great Plains in 2016 Spirit L nation in North Dakota was the first tribe to achieve self-governance the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska was the second in 2008 18 and lastly the oate health center in Rapid City was the third to achieve self-governance in June of 2004 we know that self-determination
▶ 1:43:04works and self-governance works I remember in 2018 speaking to the tribal Health director from Spirit Lake and asked her what was the biggest difference um that she saw when they um turned to self-governance and what she said is they saw a difference in their life expectancy of their tribal members and it was as simple as um
▶ 1:43:34altering their their budget to provide transportation to relatives to get to their um appointments so it wasn't even increasing necessarily their budget it was just making that a priority when aago assumed a fail Health System they assumed a program that had lost its Medicare certification and within two to three years they were recertified as 12
▶ 1:44:05Clans so we know it works however another expression of self-determination is for tribes to to choose to continue to get their services directly from IHS because they're in areas that are remote and they're the most vulnerable so we have a ways to go and many of our tribes are not ready to pursue um self-determination or self-governance um my my um
▶ 1:44:35vision is that one day um they all will and will be as successful as oate health center but to in order to improve health health outcomes in Great Plains like our relatives in Alaska who have mentored oate health center our friends from South Central Foundation were here earlier um they've helped us to uh with our journey towards self-governance in order for all of our tribes to to achieve that Congress must ensure
▶ 1:45:06that tribes have adequate stable Indian Health Service units to assume when they're ready to do that so thank you thank you uh Anthony you're next good morning chairman Simpson ranking member Pim green and the distinguished members of the subcommittee on behalf of the national Union Health Board and the 574 Sovereign ferally recognized American Union Alaska native tribal Nations we serve thank you for the opportunity to provide
▶ 1:45:37testimony on the union Health Service my name is z ler I am a member of the Lumby tribe of North Carolina and I serve as the interim CEO for the national Union Health Board as you know tribal Nations have a unique political relationship with the United States despite this tribal communities remain unfunded and in Health crisis in 2023 the CDC reported the American e Alaskan native life INSP expectancy has decre declined by nearly 7 years averaging only 65 years which is equivalent to the Nationwide average in 1944
▶ 1:46:07for FY 26 the national Union Health Board supports the request of the national tribal budget formulation work group for IHS in the amount of 63 billion for IHS as mandatory funded program including all services facilities and improvements needed to bring the Indian Health System up to the same standards as the US population IHS is currently funded at only 7 billion as Congress considers reconciliation in the coming months we want to underscore that Indian programs are chronically underfunded and cannot sustain programmatic Cuts
▶ 1:46:38IHS is already struggles to cover its obligations such as Direct Services or contract support costs in Section 105 L lease the Indian self-determination and education assistance act or isia requires IHS to compensate tribes for CSC 105 lease thus making the payments legally mandatory now more than ever These funds must be reclassified as mandatory and if why 24 IHS budget cuts were made to fund these obligations and it affected essential services and Facilities including
▶ 1:47:08electronic health modernization the Supreme Court's ruling has resulted in significant increases to the obligations of CSC and particular n fi25 the draft Appropriations bills in the Senate and House Mark CSC in Section 105 L lease cost increases is 87% and 93% of the total agency's respectively further without a final FY 25 Appropriations to provide necessary increases and address these growing required
▶ 1:47:38cost the agency will continue to struggle to meet its service needs so we urg the committee to make the common sense reclassification for these required cost tribal Nations also wish to express ongoing support for IHS Advance appropriation ations Advan Appropriations have helped ensure continuity of services and programs and planning even during uncertain budget and funding environments including recent funding policies we urge Congress to provide IHS Advance Appropriations in FY 26 and Beyond and to
▶ 1:48:08expand Advance Appropriations to all accounts within the IHS budget additionally recent administrative actions creating uncertainty for Indian Health programs their employees and travel citizens HHS and Department of interior have worked to provide further guidance but it has been limited and tribes need broader exemptions Indian Health is a bipartisan issue we urge Congress to share with the administration the importance of engaging in the government to government consultation with us
▶ 1:48:39prior to executing its priorities so that we can help the administration clarify and avoid unintended harm to Indian Health programs further we call upon Congress to do its part in upholding the trust and treaty obligations by appropriating funding that Indian Health our Indian country has prepaid through its land and resources Federal Staffing is also being dramatically impacted uh where limited exemptions exist the actions continue to impact critical support staff and create anxiety amongst our providers the Indian
▶ 1:49:09Health Service has a 30% provider vacancy rate IHS cannot sustain the significant loss of Staffing while maintaining current level of services and accreditation for their facilities our direct service tribes are some of the most impacted by these service the Staffing reduction activities direct service tribes have exercised their self-determined right for IHS to provide some or all of their health services to their tribal citizens covering activities and programs from delivery of care to billing this is all done by federal IHS
▶ 1:49:40employees the choice to retain tribal shares with IHS and cover the cost of full-time employees is an act of sovereignty made by the direct service tribes any reductions in the staff of the federal Workforce and ining programs including including the termination of pro pro bashary employees and deferred resignations will reduce resources for direct service tribes this is grossly unfair and penalizes direct service tribes for exercising their sovereignty and self-determined rights Staffing and funding reductions limit the availability of resources that tribes
▶ 1:50:10may be currently or in the future looking to self-govern through isda tribes should not see programs that they may one day intend a contract gutted in interm the Indian Health Service budget faces many pressures to meet the federal treaty and Trust obligations to tribes in such a constrained Financial environment further recent administrative actions have impact in Indian Health threatened funding and Staffing to meet these obligations this subcommittee can make critical changes and protect the Indian Health Service budget thank you for the opportunity to provide
▶ 1:50:40testimony and I look forward to working with you in the vment of our travel Nations thank you good morning my name is Robin Sunday Allen I'm a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the president-elect of the National Council of urban Indian Health a national representative of the 41 Urban Indian organizations Contracting with the Indian Health Service under the Indian Healthcare Improvement act I am also the CEO of the Oklahoma City Indian clinic an urban Indian organization
▶ 1:51:11that provides comprehensive healthc care to 20,000 tribal members from over 200 federally recognized tribes thank you chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and the members of the sub committee for an opportunity to testify and for your leadership to preserve and protect the Indian Health Service the committee understands the federal government's trust obligation to provide health care for native people no matter where they live Urban Indian organizations are an integral part of the Indian Health System and
▶ 1:51:41provide high quality Health Care to tribal members living in urban areas the okl city Indian clinic provides robust outpatient services from birth to end of life and is an essential a part of the Indian Health System and assisting the federal government in fulfilling its trust responsibility to Native people the Indian Health System is deeply personal to me I was born in the Indian Hospital I received my health care from a Tribal Indian Health Service or Urban facility my entire life
▶ 1:52:11I was the recipient of the Indian Health Service scholarship that provided me the opportunity to pursue a degree in nursing and after graduating from the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing I began working at the Oklahoma City Indian clinic and that was 30 years ago I have served as the CEO for the last 16 years my personal experience coupled with my professional experience has fueled my passion for ensuring we deliver the highest quality Health Care to Native people the vision of the Oklahoma
▶ 1:52:42City Indian clinic is to be the national model for American Indian healthc care we have adopted the congressionally established Malcolm bald standards of performance Excellence this Comm commment to Excellence led us to receive the 2023 Oklahoma State award for performance Excellence from the Oklahoma quality foundation and this year we will submit an application to be recognized nationally I am committed to ensuring that American Indian healthc care just isn't available but it is the very best healthc care available
▶ 1:53:12as you know Indian Health Service has been underfunded I want to reiterate the request of tribal leaders in calling for IHS and the Earth urb Indian Health line items to be fully funded and to maintain Advanced Appropriations our funding must be protected from any Cuts sequestrations or funding freezes historically disruptions in funding to the Indian Health System have resulted in loss of life recent funding uncertainties forced Urban Indian organizations
▶ 1:53:43to consider staff furlows service suspensions without Federal funding many of our Urban programs would not be able to keep their doors open open in recent surveys from the National Council of urban Indian Health over half of the urban organization surveyed reported that they would be unable to sustain operations Beyond six months without Federal funding our care is too critical to be paused or reduced it is important that Congress provide a specific exemption for the
▶ 1:54:13entire Indian Health System including tribal organizations and urban Indian organizations from any future funding restrictions hiring for Ines and proposed agency reductions I would like to acknowledge and thank chairman Cole for his leadership and sending a letter to om director Voit requesting these critical exemptions we ask that the Indian Health Service receive mandatory and full funding increased funding will enable our enable our health system to recruit and retain
▶ 1:54:43qualified professionals allowing us to meet the growing demand for services in our community in Oklahoma we are seeing alarm Rises and cancer rates and to me cancer has become the new diabetes in Indian Country it is ravaging our community like diabetes has done at our Clinic we are diagnosing 15 to 20 new cancer cases each month we have hired a full-time oncology nurse case manager and a contract oncologist this is why funding
▶ 1:55:13for our health programs as well as initiatives like the Native American Cancer outcomes program is more critical than ever thank you again for the opportunity to testify I would like to restate that these requests are essential to ensuring that all Native people have access to life saving care we stand by as a resource to support the federal government as you continue to work towards the obligation to provide Healthcare to American Indians and Alaska natives we urge Congress to take this obligation seriously and
▶ 1:55:44provide Urban Indian organizations and Indian Health Service with all the resources necessary to protect the lives of the entirety of the nation of population what down thank you thank you and thank you all for being here and thank you for your testimony uh as many tribes have testified there's they're concerned by what's going on uh and it's caused disruption and everything else out there even when they make some declaration and then resend part of it and stuff like uh when they had the hiring frees
▶ 1:56:14and we were saying well you know Indian Health servic is like 30% vacancies so how can you have a hiring freeze there you have a hard enough time filling these positions and stuff and they gave an exemption for doctors and nurses as you all know in health clinics or hospitals or whatever there are a lot more people than just nurses and doctors that make the place work so they're getting a hold of that but I'll tell you what gives me
▶ 1:56:44faith that you're going to be okay and that we're not going to retreat on our on our treaty obligations that we've never never met but are trying to reach out to do and that is comment you made uh that uh What uh secretary Kennedy said about the understaffing in in IHS and stuff and I know that I've heard from uh secretary berham about how important the Indian programs are in in the department of interior they
▶ 1:57:15know the commitment I was maybe one of the one of the few people around that actually met uh uh uh secretary Kennedy's father when I was going to high school in Blackfoot Idaho uh why was he in Blackfoot Idaho because it was on the border of the uh of the Fort Hall Indian reservation and as a senator he was in charge of Indian Affairs committee or whatever and he was there to meet with the Indian students that came to school that I graduated from and and
▶ 1:57:45talked to them and stuff and I know his commitment uh to the Indian country and I believe that's true of his son too so I have faith uh and besides that you've got this committee standing behind you doing everything we can to make sure that that doesn't happen that we progress on WE progress on the prog progress we've made so far even though it's inadequate we're moving in the right direction and we're trying to change how things are done so that we can actually meet those obligations so thank you all for being here I appreciate it very much uh
▶ 1:58:15shy thank you thank you all for your testimony you're all doing such important roles and I know you uh you know you represent uh broader than just you know one clinic and then of course the work you do in Oklahoma city is very very impressive um and I'll take heart from what the chair just said because I think it really is part of the obligation of this committee even though um some of the concerns people are bringing up to us and we've heard a lot about this aren't necessarily through our funding stream but through Health and Human Services
▶ 1:58:45through Department of um a whole variety of you know sources that you get for funding and it's critically important um I'm not sure I'm quite as hopeful yet because I'm deeply concerned about these U most recent announcements that there's going to be even more Staffing cuts and agencies have to plan to strip down even more I think we thought the um firing was already kind of Bonkers because um as we know these are people who are filling vacant positions that have been there for a long time
▶ 1:59:15and it's something we talk about every year anyway I'm still very worried um but I do hope this committee takes it as part of their respons responsibility to advocate for that funding that comes through other agencies I'm very happy to hear secretary Kennedy say you know something positive about this um but we'll be watching that really closely to make sure that funding is there and and just thank you all for your testimony you're doing such good work and bring us a lot of really Vital Information so thank you yeah I will guarantee you that uh when I meet with secretary
▶ 1:59:45bergam next week this will be topic number one that we will be talking about uh but anyway Mr Elie thank you Mr chairman uh Robin what what uh the cause for do youall have any suspicions on what the rise in cancer is linked to I think it's a number of things you know lifestyle is always something we have chronic obesity in our population we don't have access to fresh food a lot of us live in food deserts and
▶ 2:00:16so environmental factors and so I think those are all contribute um and also the more that we're able to screen for cancers we're going to find it the Oklahoma City Indian clinic we added mography Services five days a week um about five years ago and breast cancer has become our second leading cause of cancer and it's because we're doing a good job screening so um there's multiple factors okay JN you said
▶ 2:00:46the the life expectancy is repeat that well I years um 53 I don't understand that's how many years less than the average Native American so almost 16 years can you help me out well the Great Plains is one of the last areas that's
▶ 2:01:17predominantly um provided care through federally um through Federal systems so we're the Last Frontier when it comes to um self-determination and self-governance okay the federal government doesn't have the level of flexibility that tribally run programs do to be Innovative to buy insurance with their PRC dollars and um so that our relatives are getting to Specialists um and
▶ 2:01:47um because they're insured we we we pay the difference with our PRC dollars rather than paying the the full bill um there's just a lack of flexibility that um uh Federal service units um are bound by and I think that's a a big factor okay co co that last drop was really during those years um yeah but still 53.1 which means I'm assuming ladies
▶ 2:02:17live a little bit longer and men are dying in their 40s they're dying very young okay that's third world country type stuff okay so you know just real quick I know we're behind timeline but the food desert issue there there's a lot of similarities between uh the requirements that the military uh needs with health food and uh and and housing and it seems like that they and the and in some places the tribes are in a in a similar spe situation but the the food shortage eating unhealthy food you know a commissary
▶ 2:02:48system for listen I know that this but it provides a service to military members tax-free lower cost healthy food uh and the food desert thing is an issue not just on I mean in in some urban areas too so all I'm saying is is that we know that's a problem and we don't have a solution for the food issue we don't have a pro food solution for the diabetic problem but it's a preventive care thing linked to food
▶ 2:03:19uh and then I'll just leave it with this uh torically is OIC and like similar we can't afford to provide those types of medications for our relatives would it be helpful yes it would especially for a diabetic patient okay thank you I yield back thank you uh Miss McCullen thank you I'm just GNA make a couple of quick points and then I'm going to ask for some possible
▶ 2:03:49homework um the advanced still not permanent uh this committee we work in a totally nonpartisan way on it we've all taken turns leading leading the legislation on it um so we we need to watch that and add that every year you and I I think I could speak for all of us you have our our commitment and Mr Kohl's and and as well as Mr Laura on that mandatory we don't we we can ask about it the way you can but our committee has no control over mandatory that's an
▶ 2:04:19another committee that that touches and affects your day-to-day life and that is um Ways and Means where I know the tribal Nations also have other tax issues uh before them and sequestration we've talked about that this is the third day we're very aware of that and I think we're trying to figure out what we can do to get ahead of it we're hoping it doesn't happen and Mike we're putting you in charge of that um accreditation is huge and that that gets to Staffing levels that
▶ 2:04:49everybody's talked about but I think that that's a new new way in which we talk about it so I appreciate the accreditation being brought up because I I knew we had issues but that's a different way to talk about it and really bring it home my last thing which was a little bit of homework I think for especially for the urban uh Indian organizations is in I represent St Paul I was born in Minneapolis so I like both cities um but uh everybody has to travel if you're an urban Indian
▶ 2:05:20to Minneapolis that is a shared Clinic with a community health facility and I know you have quite a few of them so this community facilities are under the gun with what services that they're providing and you have a coal location where you're sharing um you administratively things are kept tracked of separately but you're sharing doctors and nurses and Pharmacy referrals and all those other kinds of things this could be a really big gloomy
▶ 2:05:50Nightmare and just checking the Box saying well we're going to take care of IHS clinics will have an effect on Staffing and support so if the uh Urban Indian uh tribes could um with with their health care clinics get back to us and I see Seattle shaking their head uh get get back to us about these collocations and what we might have to do in working with um chairman Cole and Miss Delora who have um Health
▶ 2:06:20and Human Services in their portfolio to make sure we don't let something slip between the cracks absolutely we will work on that you again thank you for being here and thank you for your testimony we look forward to working with you as we try to put together a budget package that makes sense uh for the coming year thank you thank you thank you thank you for your time you bet next panel is an awake Rose uh Jason dropic and uh Tony uh
▶ 2:06:54mule is that right how do you pronounce that what is it okay good to see you too hi hi how you doing we are good how are you good and awake you're up first yes sir button red button there we go sorry uh chairman Simpson
▶ 2:07:25ranking member penri and members of the committee my name is anake Rose I'm a citizen of Cherokee Nation and I'm also of Mogi Creek descent I have the honor to serve as the president and CEO of the American Indian higher education Consortium or ahc thank you for the opportunity to testify on the department of interior's budget as it relates to the nation's 34 tribal colleges and universities which operate more than 90 campuses and sites in 16 States first want to express my appreciation for this subcommittee's ongoing
▶ 2:07:55commitment to Indian education we've had lots of conversations about our native students we have been able to make substantial progress because of the work that you've done and Native students across Indian Country have seen those benefits I also want to thank chairman Cole for his letter to the Office of Management and budget and recognizing the trust and treaty responsibility between the federal government and tribal Nations these obligations are not discretionary they're legally binding and are foundational to the relationship between tribal Nations and the United States
▶ 2:08:26governments tcus are an expression of this relationship they are chartered and owned by the tribal Nations or by the federal government and serve students from more than 250 different tribes yet despite this clear responsibility tcus continue to face delays in appropriated funding Frozen accounts and reductions in the very Federal agency staff who provide critical support to tcus and our our students today we come to you because we are particularly concerned and alarmed
▶ 2:08:56about the recent terminations of federal employees at hosal Indian nations University located in Lawrence Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute located in Albuquerque New Mexico together these institutions serve over 1300 American Indian and Alaskan native students from over 170 ferally recognized tribal Nations offering certificates Associates and bachelor degree programs essential to tribal Workforce development however as a result of executive order 14210 implementing
▶ 2:09:26the president's Department of government efficiency and the hiring freeze cppi and hcll have suffered substantial staff reductions 27% of Haskell's Workforce and 24% of cpp's Workforce have been terminated including vital instructors support staff and key leadership positions these actions taken midyear are causing nothing but Chaos on our campuses as students struggle for answers on how course impacts will impact their graduation they worry
▶ 2:09:57about whether be they'll be able to continue their course work past the spring and they lose trusted coaches mid-season they deserve better hasell cppy and the nation's 32 other TCU serve as lifelines to our communities they provide affordable education Workforce training and economic development opportunities to more than 160,000 American Indians Alaskan natives and and other rural residents each year however they do so under immense strain many
▶ 2:10:27operate with outdated facilities inadequate student housing and faculty who must secure external grants just to cover their salaries the lack of investment in TCU infrastructure totaling nearly $3 billion dollar in deferred needs jeopardizes Student Success and Workforce Development to support the nation's tribal college and university system ahc request 176 million under postc AR programs forward funded the breakdown for this funding under titles 125
▶ 2:10:57as well as funding for I hasell and sippi are included in our written testimony I would like to highlight that our request includes funding the congressionally authorized amount of $1,571 per Indian student for the first time since the enactment of the TCU act more than 40 years ago an additional $140,000 is needed for technical assistance which has been level funded for 15 years despite the growing number of developing tcus and the increased demands for accountability
▶ 2:11:28and Student Success from our post-secondary institutions and $35 million to address infrastructure needs at our tcus additionally we urge the committee to use its voice and protect and reverse the harmful Staffing cuts at Haskell and simpy and exempt them from the hiring free so they can meet their missions of providing affordable higher education to Native students we know this budget season is going to be very difficult and every dollar appropriated will be a challenge but Indian country as you know has paid
▶ 2:11:58in advance and our students and institutions once again need your support in closing I want to recognize and acknowledge a longtime friend that's actually testified before you several times a colleague and a TCU president who recently passed and was a key individual of the TCU movement president Charles Monty Russell from da college and a philosophy that Dr Russell frequently taught to me and talk to me about is something that I want to share with you today it's called walk the dawn this is a Navajo philosophy of the idea of
▶ 2:12:28being first getting up early and facing things before your enemy has an opportunity to reach you so on behalf of ahc and the students and communities we serve I invite you to walk the dawn with us and protect our students thank you thank you first I humbly apologize for speaking of my elders at the table and in this room and watching on chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and members of this committee mwit thank you so much for the opportunity
▶ 2:12:58to testify today bami Bas mini andj M and anab my name is Jason dropic I'm a member of the bad River Band of Lake spor chipa Indians I am currently the executive director of the national Indian Education Association and on behalf of the students Educators and tribal Nations and IA serves I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on the fiscal year 2026 Appropriations for the Department of interior and the Bureau of Indian education bie schools
▶ 2:13:28are the schools of our choice because they reflect our community's needs values and sovereignty with 131 tribally controlled schools and additional Bureau operated institutions viie schools serve native students in ways Public Schools cannot these schools ensure native families play a central role in curriculum development and governance unlike non-tribal systems where our parents are often sidelined or left out despite this tribal nations are too often excluded from Key Federal decisions affecting our schools 25 USC 2011
▶ 2:13:59mandates government government toover consultation on all matters regarding Indian education consultation is not a formality it is a legal requirement the US government willingly undertook the federal trust responsibility to Indian education and it must continue to uphold this Duty by ensuring sustained investment and full partnership with tribal Nations these educational programs are for our most sacred gifts from the Creator our children redirecting funds or bypassing existing tribal Federal contracts under ydia
▶ 2:14:30and the tribally controlled schools act risk diverting resources away from native serving institutions which were created through Decades of tribal advocacy and legal agreements and any attempt to restructure them without full tribal consent undermines the progress our communities have fought to achieve we encourage Congress and the administration to collaborate with tribal Nations to strengthen Direct Nation tation Partnerships and ensure any new policies align with existing agreements proposed models also risk neglecting our most vulnerable students by disregarding
▶ 2:15:00Bureau operated schools and dormitories that provide education and housing for those who might otherwise be homeless schools like Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma and Sherman Indian School in California offer more than academics they provide stability cultural grounding and a sense of belonging these facilities are lifelines and must be protected however we know the system is not fully meeting the needs of our students schools face challenges such as aging infrastructure limited resources and Staffing shortages we all share the goal of
▶ 2:15:30improving outcomes but that can only happen when adequate investment in resources facilities and support systems ensuring strong and sustained funding will allow bie schools to provide students with the safe highquality learning environments they deserve for fiscal year 2026 we urge Congress to protect and sustain funding for the bie to ensure School operations School maintenance and the safety and succcess of our students prioritizing investment in school construction and dormatory upgrades is critical to providing safe and modern learning
▶ 2:16:00environments tribal education agencies also require dedicated funding to develop culturally responsive programs and expand local control over native education further it is critical to maintain strong funding for the Johnson Al program so native students in public schools receive the academic and cultural support they've been guaranteed 1934 actual expenditures in bie schools are based on a weighted student unit of $7,000 for fiscal year 2023 far below the 15,000 national average per
▶ 2:16:30pupil expenditure in public schools compare these numbers to the extremely well spent 25,000 on children of our military families and you will see a more realistic picture of the financial constraints our schools face to fully support native students and to bring these School outcomes up to standards we're Overjoyed to to see uh come out of doia schools we should work together to address these funding disparities and ensure bie schools have the necessary resources to provide quality education at this time we must also recognize the critical role federal employees
▶ 2:17:01serve Indian serving Indian Country the bie cannot withstand further cuts at the end of 2024 the bie had a 30% vacancy rate and has since lost over 100 employees across bureau offices and postsecondary institutions in additional 40% reduction in force or even 20% or 10% would Indian country ing the dispersement of vital funds and potentially closing schools and cutting essential services for tribal Nations our communities cannot afford to lose 2500 federal employees across the department
▶ 2:17:31of interior Congress alone holds the plary power to determine the future of Indian country is not enough to Simply allocate funding we encourage this committee to work with the Department of interior to fulfill the federal government legal commitments to Native students ensuring that funding and policy decisions are made in full partnership with tribal Nations We Stand ready to work with you to ensure native students receive high quality education they deserve thank you for your time and we will be in Spokan Washington not too far from Idaho so we welcome uh any visitors to our convention in October and would
▶ 2:18:01love to host your visit migwi good morning esteemed members of the committee my name is Tony satok mule and I'm the executive director of the kaiwa Education Agency representing the kaiwa tribe and speaking on behalf of the kaiwa executive branch and chairman Lawrence spotted birg I'm here to address the critical issue of essential resources needed
▶ 2:18:31within the Bia and the bie this support is recognition of tribal sovereignty and the federal trust responsibility and honors treaty law as supreme law of the land essential resources support indigenous tribal Nations like ours in the pursuit of education and improved quality of life in these very uncertain times I want to thank you all for this opportunity to to provide testimony I'm speaking before this body today as a true example of how
▶ 2:19:01tribal colleges prepare indigenous students for career paths and Leadership roles but not at the expense of native identity in tribal colleges our identity is a strength as opposed to being regarded as a hindrance to academic achievement I attended High School Indian nations University located in Lawrence Kansas I entered high school with mainstream and public school experiences that are common for many if not most native
▶ 2:19:32students by that time I knew what it felt like to be unseen and unheard to feel small and excluded as a child I could not articulate the imbalance of power and marginalization that was so evident to me it was the reality of growing from a child to an adult as a minority in every school in every classroom stepping foot onto a campus with an entire body with similar experiences is lifechanging so often it is the first or only time
▶ 2:20:02that a native student will have the privilege of a native teacher or Professor or to enroll in a native language course or any course inclusive of Native American perspectives as a college student and for the first time in my life everyone around me understood my challenges especially the challenge that have resulted from a history marked by War exploit exploitation of resources and displacement that shared history manifests today in many
▶ 2:20:32social problems in Native communities in the form of poverty and violence however students seek knowledge armed with a degree and a desire to make a difference for themselves their families and tribal Nations that they inherently uh represent hasool Indian Nation s and other educational institutions have been affected by recent drastic and abrupt cuts to funding which occurred in February in the middle of a spring semester three months before
▶ 2:21:02graduation this places a direct threat to the future of our young people everywhere these tribal college students are persistent hardworking young people who dare to Aspire to something greater many have already shown great resilience and Against All Odds they pursue their studies it is difficult ult to conceive that education of all matters could be a Target we must Safeguard the Bia and the bie systems that have the potential to write so many wrongs in the history of American
▶ 2:21:32Indian education including the boarding school era which separated children from parents and disrupted our ability to transmit our language and our knowledge the only path for tribal determination is education we rely on others who have the power to protect our students our teachers our learning our learning institutions we rely on you sustained support for Bia and bie fuels education opportunity
▶ 2:22:03through Bia educational assistance programs I went on to eventually earn a terminal degree in my field it is because of these vital programs that I sit here today fully equipped to confront the educational challenges of our people the growing capacity of each uh education uh tribal Educational Department or agency also called a Ted or tea is crucial in our educational Journey the role of teds is to assist and ease navigating the intersections of local state
▶ 2:22:33and tribal education agencies to improve barriers to success the core values of persistence strength and purpose are instilled through kywa wisdom those uh attributes have guided my steps all the way from our kaiwa headquarters on the Southern Plain in a small town known today as Carnegie Oklahoma to the front steps of this building here in Washington DC like many of our kaiwa leaders of the past we make this journey to assert ourselves as the indigenous people of the
▶ 2:23:03very land that we stand on the mission and the work of Bia and the bie are not Dei initiatives we affirm the government to government relationship we acknowledge that the basic and fundamental provisions of education and Healthcare were of primary importance and binding treaties signed by our ancestors which establish the Federal American Indian Trust responsibility so I present this oral testimony before you today validating Educational Opportunity afforded through resources
▶ 2:23:34appropriated to the Bureau of in Indian Affairs at times the decisions that we make uh we never see the impact of those decisions in our lifetime but the mission and the work of the Bia and the bie can and does make a real difference in the lives of our Kwa citizens each and every day I want to extend my appreciation to this subcommittee for allowing me to provide testimony and support a program funding that is so critically important to Indian Country a
▶ 2:24:04hope thank you thank you all for being here and for your testimony it's kind of don't really have a question so much as I guess maybe a statement if we can take the Indian kids and Youth if we can keep them healthy keep them alive through Indian Health Services and and what's necessary there if we can keep them safe through Indian law enforcement and Indian justice funding that we do
▶ 2:24:34then you guys are the future the future is education so I appreciate what you do uh it is vitally important uh so thank you for being here Shelly uh yeah thank you Mr chair and thank you all for your testimony and and I certainly concur what you're doing is extremely important and um you know thank you for bringing up how devastating these Cuts have already been um the stories of hasell in sippi someone brought up hascal
▶ 2:25:05yesterday but really to just see the numbers and the idea that a fifth of your staff has gone in February um you know we've all talked a lot about the importance of tribal education and we had you know someone in from the Cherokee medical school yesterday you know every one of these things were were were so enthusiastic about but that's just Bonkers like there's just no possible justification for that level of a cut that doesn't have anything to do with um you know any numbers that we're working with
▶ 2:25:35here that goes beyond the authority in my opinion of this Administration um and I hope we can do something about that I mean just feel for those kids and what it must seem like when you're in your college career and you know a fifth of your sta disappears I saw a story about the basketball coach who was in the middle of a you know their ter team was going to the tournament coach gets I mean there's just no no possible justification or argument I think it's extremely embarrassing to
▶ 2:26:05us on the committee that we you know we're not informed about these things we don't have any power at this particular point you know in an obvious way to stop it but I mean we really have to do something about this and I don't have a meeting yet SE with secretary buram but you do next week and I really do think this is one thing the committee would feel United about that's just an arbitrary firing of we all understand we deal with you know Cuts every year and this is not going to be easy budget to deal with but that's money that was already there was allocated
▶ 2:26:35so I mean I think we're really committed to try to figure out what to do about that that's that's just outrageous thank you so much and when you have your meeting with secretary berham and you bring this issue up appreciate it ahead of time um please don't make the distinguish between student facing and non-student facing um so if there begins to be a discussion of well we can bring faculty back if we don't bring the student facing staff that is doing school safety or even lunch programs
▶ 2:27:05has school's most immediate issue that very first weekend was that they couldn't feed their students because all their cafeteria staff was gone so there really is no distinguishment they're all student facing um and we really need to to bring them all back they were already grossly underst staffed as you know so so thank you we appreciate your support yeah and in no other educational institution would we just say like oh we don't need the safety personnel or you know who cares about lunch I mean it's just it doesn't make any sense and it's not the decisions that should be made by who ever made them
▶ 2:27:36um and the only other thing I'd bring up um there was a brief discussion earlier about um potential for this Administration going to a voucher system and I really appreciate represent Elie who was in here earlier who just said as someone uh like I don't agree with with vouchers generally he was actually in favor of them but he said it doesn't make sense for Indian country you know I mean first off it takes away vital funding for the schools that are there um and then where you going to go I mean are you going to put kids in a position of saying oh why don't you travel two hours to go to some
▶ 2:28:06private Academy somewhere else so anyway um thank you so much for what you're doing and I I just hope we can do something I know that's just in a way in a drop in the bucket of all the things we're dealing with but but those poor institutions should get their to have back we really had a lot of college students um contacting the tribal Education Agency to say should I withdraw from school because I'm hearing things about P Grant and I'm you know my is my funding going to come through so in addition to all the stresses of the instructors
▶ 2:28:37being replaced and and that type of thing they were really in a panic mode yeah and that is another worry we don't know if pel grants or other kinds of student loans will be impacted um down the road here but anyway I know this commit is very committed to Indian education and hope we can work together on that thank you thank you thank you Jason me make sure I heard it correctly we spend on average 7,000 per pupil in Indian Country
▶ 2:29:08correct 15,000 po public schools and I suspect that's average across the country because it varies from correct state to state and stuff and 25,000 in military correct schol y okay I'm sure that that uh I want to get it straight because that will come out in a speech or two I'm sure in the future so absolutely I appreciate it thank you Celia fire
▶ 2:29:44Oren aren I guess I should have seen that that's an e how do you pronounce the last name ET okay I didn't want to destroy it by being pronouncing it first okay Cecilia you're first
▶ 2:30:22me you give my fa cheers papy I greet you with good feelings from my heart and I'm going to speak to you in a foreign language I had to learn a morning school called English good morning Mr Simpson Miss penry and members of the committee thank you so much for sitting here and listening to our concerns and we certainly hope that you're going to help us increase our budgets every year we come here asking for your help to increase our budgets and thank you n for talking about the disparities
▶ 2:30:53amongst our schools and how we get funded thank you for the chance to speak with you today my name is Celia fire Thunder and I come from I come to you as a lifelong learner educator I'm the president of the oal coordination education Coalition that represents tribal schools on the Ros Su tribe and pine rid Su tribe I'm also the president of little room School Board we are 638 school at be came 638 in 1977 we
▶ 2:31:23are local control we have over a thousand students and we have a very stable school but more importantly I am here as someone who cares deeply about the future of our native children are not only speak for my schools in my region but all 184 schools in Indian country and 23 States who get federal grants under the bie and Bia I also support any and all increases for our tribal colleges because we do have one tribal College on
▶ 2:31:53Pion r i I wish I could sit here today and tell you that our schools are thriving that our kids have safe building strong teachers and all the tools they need to succeed but that's just not the case our local control B Bureau of Indian education schools are grossly underfunded outdated and in some cases unsafe Indian education is a federal promise that needs keeping I brought my book article six what does it say
▶ 2:32:24treaties are the supreme law of the land and we are the only people in this country that this government is supposed to take care of because we gave you our land our water our fishes our deer our elk but this is a reminder I carry this around with me all the time let's be let's be uh let's be honest the federal government made a promise to Indian Country in exchange for the treaties and Trust responsibilities tribes provide millions of acres of land gold Timber oil gas and natural
▶ 2:32:54resources for promises one was the obligation to educate our children we have kept our side of the bargain we ask that you keep your side of the bargain article in the 1868 treaty there are three Provisions that allude to education our forefathers and those treaty makers look to the Future and they thought that in order to compete and be in balance with this country we had to have
▶ 2:33:24an education so they made sure that language was put in our treaties currently Congress funds bie students at $7,000 while the national average of $166,000 80 and the Department of Defense funds is$ 25,000 that's called a disparity so in one Community like mine you have three levels of funding for our students what we want is it and Equity we want to make sure that our Congressional
▶ 2:33:54people as they move towards funding us for the next couple of years to bring it up to 25,000 at least imagine trying to run a school at half the funding of public school with the buildings that keep falling apart we have 80 schools on a backlog of out of the 183 84 schools I can go on and on ladies and gentlemen but our my written testimony has a lot of data data and statistics I want to conclude by saying this I came here
▶ 2:34:26today with the memory of my great-grandfather who was the Indian Scout my grandfather who was in World War I all of my uncles who fought in the United States military my sisters and today hundreds and hundred of Indian men and women who wear the uniform of this government I cried today because they are depending on it I prayed all the way here to be able to say
▶ 2:34:56the right words to You and I hope that my tears are not a reflection of weakness but a tears of reflection of concern and care and many of us cry every day at home to make sure our health care our education everything that this government promised us in our treaties are fulfilled I hope that our prayers and our words reach you and please help us increase our budget for our schools well will you let me talk out there thank you
▶ 2:35:27thank you is is it on okay chairman Simpson ranking member pingry and members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today my name is Jordan at city and I'm the executive director for the Dena UT Schoolboard Association the Bose but for short we represent uh locally
▶ 2:35:57elected Schoolboard members of the 66 Bureau operated or bie funded schools on the Navajo Nation uh the bosa's member schools constitute over onethird of the bie funded schools Nationwide so the education of Indian children is is essential to the United States trust and treaty obligations of tribal Nations as well as the as well as the an exercise of self-determination culture preservation and tribal sovereignty as the United States consider sweeping changes in its education system
▶ 2:36:28it its leaders have OB have an obligation to consult with and incorporate the needs of tribal communities into their policies Indian education stands at a Crossroads at subcommittee and this subcommittee has an opportunity to address long-standing deficiencies in Indian education the Indian Indian education system while also protecting self the determination decades ago Congress created an Indian education s system rooted in title six of the education Amendments of 1978
▶ 2:36:59and tribally control schools act that direct federal funds to be distributed at the local level to facilitate local control of Indian education despite clear statutory directives and Congressional intent the bie has restructured and centralize its administrative offices to make it less accessible and accountable to tribal communities impos OS burdensome administrative requirements on tribally control schools that are not authorized by Statute and fail to allocate congressionally appropriated dollars in accordance with
▶ 2:37:29statutory formulas in fiscal year 2026 Congress must reinforce its intent to appropriate funds and and must be used in accordance with statut clear statutory provisions and to facilitate tribal autonomy in addition bie funded schools continue to suffer from failing facilities the bi that B's facility operations and facility man maintenance accounts have been chronically underfunded and are not forward funded without forward
▶ 2:37:59funding schools are forced to either divert funds from other vital accounts such as the ISP account to cover routine operations and maintenance needs a lack of adequate And Timely funding has led to an overwhelming deferred maintenance backlog and school replacement list while the bosba membered schools have benefited from the Great American Outdoors act Legacy restoration funds bie school replacement continues to persist at a glacial Pace due to bureaucratic overreach and the B's failure to
▶ 2:38:29provide technical assistance thus the bosba respectfully requests that the subcommittee forward subcommittee forward fund the facility operations and facility maintenance account invest in B replacement funding and exercise oversight over B's implementation of facility funds bie funded schools also continue to continue to struggle to attract and retain quality instructional and counseling staff despite Federal funding aimed
▶ 2:39:00at ensuring competitive salaries to address this issue the bber requests that the subcommittee continue to direct direct the bie to request sufficient funding in its budget request to comply with defense department equivalent pay rates extend Federal funding retirement benefits to teachers and staff at tribally control School and to direct bie to produce a report of funding needs for staff housing Quarters at bie funded schools as I conclude I would be remiss if I did not address
▶ 2:39:30efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and the school Choice Movement it is imperative that Indian education be protected as education priorities shift at the federal level in that in the event of the Department of Education is dismantled Indian program should maintain in their entirety transfer the transfer to the bie at the same funding levels and distributed amongst B's funded schools finally with respect to pres president Trump's executive order on expanding
▶ 2:40:00education freedom and opportunity for families Congress already created a system of school choice for Native children and bie funded schools allows for tribal citizens to have a culturally specific choice of their school in their local Bureau funded School these schools are our our school of choice and and funding must not be redirected away from the bie or tribes thank you for your continued dedication to our education native children and look forward to
▶ 2:40:30any questions thank youu good morning U my name is aene Martin um and I'm a member of the bad River Band of w Bo in Wisconsin I think we're rolling kind of deep this week because I just saw someone else from My Tribe um here today as a member of the national indan Child Welfare Association board of directors um before I start I wanted to thank you both uh for your work and your efforts to uh improve funding for uh Indian child welfare and Social
▶ 2:41:01Services programs over the last few years I'll get into it later but we've definitely see improvements as a result Nika is a national American Indian Alaskan native organization uh dedicated to um policy development focused on Native Children and Families Our mission is twofold first to ensure compliance with the Indian Child Welfare act and two to address issues of child neglect and abuse through research training policy and Community Development based on our expertise in this
▶ 2:41:31area every year we make recommendations to you for a whole number of programs to be increased in funding but I really wanted to talk about just a couple of programs with you today uh first the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence prevention act Grant programs if these are funded they would be the only direct funding to tribes for child Abuse Prevention neglect and treatment uh for Native families the other recommendations that I have for you are for the equa funding for on-reservation child welfare services we'd like to see that increased to $30 million
▶ 2:42:01per year and for the off-reservation child welfare services uh to have that increased to $5 million um these funds were first authorized by the Indian Child Welfare act way back in 1978 and they represent uh base funding to ensure that every tribe has some ability to provide child welfare services I think when I first came to testify before you was like seven or eight years ago the average funding per tribe was about $26,000 per tribe I mean you can't even fund a whole position with that uh but you've increased funding since then
▶ 2:42:32uh and you've increased funding to tah initiative uh and what we've seen are a few Trends emerge from that um we know that when tribes have access to increased funding uh that they have better results um and over the last few years uh what we've seen is tribes are also actually uh accessing that f directly through compacts and contracts and when they do that what they think what they do is they redesign their programs they take an assessment and I wanted to just provide a couple of examples to you uh the confederated
▶ 2:43:02tribes of Umatilla in Oregon uh direct their funding act uh directly access their funding and the first thing they did was they undertook a conversation within their Community about what was the right thing to do they talked to tribal Elders to families that were involved in the system law enforcement tribal leaders social workers and what they realized was that they needed to put their focus on prevention efforts instead of like treat treatment efforts later and they did that and they've seen a dramatic reduction in the number of families going into
▶ 2:43:32the foster care system over 40% um another tribe I wanted to also just talk to you about was clink and heida in Alaska who did a similar review they came out with a little bit different uh way of doing it but they ended up in the same place they uh reviewed the records for the families that were in the foster care system and they realized that these families had accessed other programs prior to becoming involved in the foster care system uh programs like tanif and so they developed a an assessment tool
▶ 2:44:03for tanif workers to use when they're working with these families so they could identify the at risk families and provide Prevention Services earlier on and they've also seen a reduction in the number of kids in foster so I think what we see is that these tribes work better to coordinate with other community services with their families with their children and they provide Prevention Services earlier to help families heal but also to provide self-sufficiency parenting tools and for all
▶ 2:44:33these programs the changes they've made reduce their Reliance on expensive later intervention Technic uh pro programs and improve the overall health of not just individual families or kids but for their communities overall so additional funding for these programs will only see better results for more communities for more tribes so funding things like the tahi initiative you couldn't have a better uh vehicle for doing that um but I don't want to take up more of your time I know we're in the home stretch here so I just want to thank you for all
▶ 2:45:03your efforts and and and please keep funding Indian Child Welfare Services thank you uh and thank you all for your testimony just quick question in the area of Education or in social work how hard is it to find to the employees that are necessary to teach or do the social work that you're talking about or other things is that a is that an issue you're having trying to get uh adequate employees to do this well out in uh Navajo Nation it's kind of difficult because
▶ 2:45:33we're really rural I guess uh every tribe is but uh we're surrounded by Metro cities faaa Farmington and aluy a lot of the teachers a lot of the individuals who do get their education to to teach they end up going to the cities versus uh the rural communities or VI funded schools and the reason why is because the pay is a lot better within these communities so our the pay parody is not so much uh it's not so much
▶ 2:46:03competitive and comparison to the public schools I know for example the gallet McKinley County schools out in New Mexico they give an $24,000 as a sign on bonus just for the student to be there whereas our teachers um uh within um the bie funded schools there there's not any we're really stretching our our our funding especially when we're taking on uh facilities and um M um the facilities portion of our schools so
▶ 2:46:34okay feure shortages across the whole United States not just across America but also on our tribal lands we have I'm not sure how many now but you know we have our relatives from across the ocean from the Philippines that come and teach in our schools and uh we those numbers are increasing as well and so teacher shortage is a big challenge in our communities we talk about it all the time we're talking to high school students to consider being a teacher
▶ 2:47:04and our trial colleges have teacher programs as well and so we are really working diligently to try to get more of our high school students to consider being a teacher and providing resources and trainings and just Hands-On kinds of stuff because yes of as if of this as of this moment many of our teachers and our tribal schools are tribal members and is I out of 13 schools on a pine reservation 12 are led by women who are tribal members how cool is that huh I I just think
▶ 2:47:34that's so amazing so as a as a advocate for education I keep track of all these numbers these 12 women were educated somewhere on one of our schools on the reservation and maybe got the early teaching experience at the college and they moved on to get their higher degrees then the Partnerships that we have with University of South Dakota University of C South anyway so the tribes what we do is have relationships with the surrounding colleges like Black Hill State for distance learning so we're doing all kinds of
▶ 2:48:04creative stuff to also bring in more teachers but enhance their education okay thank you we're saying the same things for the same reasons with social workers across Indian Country rural areas it's difficult to attract uh social workers it's difficult to keep them um for a long time because they can go somewhere with better pay or better benefits but the other issue we have is with training uh because it's hard to social service programs aren't um you know High budget
▶ 2:48:34places where you can send people to training all the time so we're looking at innovative ways to provide training uh through the internet any way that we can to people but it is a challenge for social workers as well same challenge we're facing with Law Enforcement Officers firefighters or other things that get trained come back to the reservation do their job for a while and then get hired by surrounding community that pays them better anyway thank you Miss pingry yeah and thank you for bringing up that issue is certainly one we've heard quite a bit about and um I mean it is again what makes
▶ 2:49:04some of these uh arbitrary layoffs problematic because you're already short on Personnel or if um support Personnel are getting laid off then that's a problem too um thank you for the work you're doing in in in education we know how vital it is and we've heard a lot about it thank you for your very moving testimony about all the service of all the people in your family I think we often don't take that into consideration the um the high rate of military service of people in Indian country and we've heard a lot about EA over the last few days so really important to hear
▶ 2:49:34um the work you do to support it generally and also nice to hear some of those sort of creative programs that people are doing particularly around prevention so I hope we can see some increases in funding there thank you everybody yes absolutely that's very clear you've been here longer than we have that's right thank you thank you you Greg uh Abramson Esther lero uh
▶ 2:50:05Miller what's that no uh do you have a little Coke in a cup instead of
▶ 2:50:42okay Greg you're first okay okay I'm on uh thank you and good morning chair Simpson and ranking member of penre and if there are any more any more members of the subcommittee decide to join there and stuff there um um my name is Greg abrahamson i'm chairman for the Spokane tribe and Eastern Washington of uh and uh I serve as a chairman for the Spokan tribe and I also I'm chair for the direct service tribes advisory committee
▶ 2:51:12but today uh providing testimony to the subcommittee my role as Vice chair for the northwest Portland Aran Health Board I serve there also the Northwest Portland arean Health Board serves the 43 ferally recognized Indian tribes in Idaho Oregon and Washington My Tribe delegated me as each tribe has a delegation to that their board the 43 tribes there so and the tribe de delegated me through a tribal resolution so I thank the subcommittee today to provide testimony for the 2026 uh IHS
▶ 2:51:43uh Indian service budget there so so you've heard and I know you know that uh Healthcare to the American Indians and Alaska natives is a trust and treaty obligation made to tribal Nations it's based on our government to government relationship and political status with the United States the Indian Health Service and Department of Health and Human Services are responsible for carrying out this Health Care mandate I ask you as a members of the subcommittee to honor the trust and treaty obligations for healthc care in the Portland area
▶ 2:52:13most tribes entered into compacts and contracts my tribe is one of the five tribes that that are left with the federally operated Indian Health Service facility our IHS federally operated Service Unit was built in 1970 and expanded in 2001 the Service Unit only provides outpatient primary care and the unit pays for all the outside Specialty Care and emergency hospitalizations with the purchase and referred care dollars we have no IHS our 638 tribal hospital in Washington
▶ 2:52:43state or in the Portland area purchasing Specialty Care with purchase and referred care dollars is not sustainable because of the rising cost of specialty care many of our people are on weight list for care purchase and referred care has occasionally received about 1% annual increase in some years there has been no increase a zero to 1% increase is a decrease in funding because of the unfunded medical inflation and population growth annually the IHS National tribal budget
▶ 2:53:13formulation workg group ranks the purchase and referred care as the second highest prior and annually it does not receive the increase that aligns with its high ranking I understand that the focus of Congress is to end a wasteful government spending as an elected tribal leader I have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the assets of My Tribe collectively as tribal leaders of our Nations we are continually working forwards for financial stability we recommend that the subcommittee and the president and Congress focus on
▶ 2:53:44ending wasteful spending that to reflect on the definition of wasteful in relation to the Indian Health Service funding wasteful means expending something of value carelessly or extravagantly or with no purpose annual funding for the IHS FY 2024 was 6.9 billion the actual need for FY 2024 was estimated at 51.4 billion significant underfunding cannot be categorized as wasteful IHS federally operated facilities
▶ 2:54:14and tribal clinics already stretching their dollars to provide Health Care Services to members with most clinics struggling to meet riseing needs especially around a mental health and opioid crisis we ask the subcommittee and administration and Congress exempt the Indian Health Staffing or Services Spokan Service Unit and the providers have been destabilized by these directives even when they get rescinded because of chronic provider shortages at our service unit and and you mentioned that earlier
▶ 2:54:44at a minimum we request tribal consultation on any proposal or initiatives that would impact funding Staffing our services to the in Health Service tribes or tribal organizations as tribal leaders we rely on the federal government to fulfill its tress responsibility to our tribe by providing Health Care to our people I request that the subcommittee continue to support Advanced Appropriations I also request that FY 2026 that the Indian Health Service receive a 10% increase
▶ 2:55:15above the FY 2024 enacted level Plus plus medical inflation and population growth the requests that 105 L leases and contract support costs be moved from discretionary to mandatory which will ensure continued program increases other requests are provided within the written testimony in some of the other roles I asked that you protect Medicaid changes being proposed to Medicaid will reduce funding to IHS and tribal clinics and reduce access to care for our people
▶ 2:55:45I request that any changes to Medicaid exempt one exempt the 100% fmap for American Indians Alaskan natives for services received through IHS or tribal Clinic two exempt the Indian Health Care Providers from block grants for Capital caps and uh work environments thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony I invite you to come to the Portland area or the Spokan tribe to see our facilities thank you Greg I appreciate it eer good to see you again uh good day
▶ 2:56:16chair Simpson ranking member Pingree um and congresswoman and Elie I was you know just yeah sorry about that um so it's nice to see you all again you know um my name is Esther Lucero and I'm Navajo and my mom's side Latina my dad's side this is my ninth year serving as the president and CEO for the Seattle Indian Health Board every year I come to this committee I'm excited to work
▶ 2:56:46in partnership with all of you and I often really pride myself on sharing the successes of the Seattle Indian Health Board because it really demonstrates your return on investment for example this year we've served near a thousand additional relatives within our services and that is due to the investment that you made in our infrastructure so that we could expand our services and so although I'm excited to talk about that I'm very worried too because I'll have to tell you on January 28th we received a letter that
▶ 2:57:16said that our funding was no longer accessible right not just a fear because then I learned from my finance team that indeed the system was shut down and that we could not access our payment management system and I want you to understand that we are 54.8% dependent on federal funding so if you can imagine 54.8% of your paycheck going away because you've already put out the money to provide those services and you work on a reimbursement basis that's what we're working with so
▶ 2:57:46here I am today talking to you about that concern why because we're an urban Indian Health Organization and we're also a federally qualified health center right and there's a true attack on Dei programs and I am so worried that we are going to be thought of as outside of this itu system of care and be forced into this Dei initiative or now I think accessibility is added let's talk about accessibility right and so here I am sitting here
▶ 2:58:16instead of engaging in this exciting conversation to share all of our new initiatives and oh wow Thunderbird Treatment Center is going to be open this year now I'm worried that our $5 million Congressional allocation isn't going to carry forward to last till we get our permit right this is a treatment facility that offers 92 beds and increases the bed capacity in King County by 62% serving pregnant and parenting people right they can bring their children up two children up to the age five with them and I
▶ 2:58:46am sitting here worried that we may not be able to open those doors well guess what there's 314 jobs dependent upon that it's a$ 28.1 million project that could just leave a building that's sitting there vacant now I do understand that you have a fiduciary obligation to support our tribal systems uphold tribal sovereignty and what I'm here to do today is give you the language on how to do that because let's not be fooled we are a business and we're in the business
▶ 2:59:16of healthcare so here's what I'm going to tell you I want you to understand that the CDC put out a report in 2021 that the opioid crisis cost 1.2 trillion 1.02 trillion 1.02 trillion here we are in King County trying to provide a service that will help overcome that opioid crisis right smart business person looks at cost benefit and takes calculated risks so why in
▶ 2:59:46the world would you cut the services that are going to reduce that cost for you in the long run I don't understand that I don't understand that let's talk about traditional medicine for a moment we have three years worth of data now and for those folks who tested high risk for suicidal ideation we're seeing a 71% reduction 71% reduction in suicidal ideation well what's the cost of suicide in this country well it's about $510 billion annually do you want to reduce that cost does this Administration
▶ 3:00:17want to reduce that cost well you have to make a small investment in programs just like ours that means an increase in Medicaid spending to be able to support traditional new medicine as a billable service that's what I'm talking about I'm here today to ask for your partnership and I know that you said chair Simpson that you will stand behind us I need you to stand in front of us and I need you to tell this business conversation I need you to explain this economic reason for the investment in Indian country that's what I need it's time to Warrior
▶ 3:00:47up and it's time to fulfill your responsibility in making decisions in the best interest of Indian people that's what I'm here to ask you to do I'll give you the data you need I'll give you the conversation you need I'll give you the economic reasoning I'll give you everything you need but I need you to war your up we're not going to go backwards you promised me that you've promised me that for four years let's go forward thank you for your time thank
▶ 3:01:21thank you Mr chairman racky member pingry Congressman Elie my name is Lloyd Miller I'm a partner with the sonoski chambers law firm and I was the attorney one of the attorneys of record in all three Supreme Court cases that decided the contract support cost issue over the last 25 years I'm appearing today on behalf of the national tribal contract support cost Coalition 25 250 tribes in 15 States including the Fort Hall and Shoni payu reservations in the great state of Idaho
▶ 3:01:52um we we often think that the issue of contract support cost is very esoteric uh but to me it is not esoteric at all it is the lifeblood of tribal government operations when the tribes are operating Federal programs the tribes contract with the federal government to take over Federal services and if they don't have contract support cost reimbursements which are an add-on cost and they're audited every year then there is a dollar Ford dooll cut in those Federal Services
▶ 3:02:22they would never take over a program from the United States and operated a clinic a hospital if they had to immediately cut the services in that hospital to make up that difference so that's why I call it the lifeblood of contracted and compacted programs across the country Congress understood this when it enacted the Indian self-determination act 50 years ago this is our anniversary it understood it when it amended it several times and the Supreme Court was absolutely crystal clear
▶ 3:02:52in the latest decision that we had the victory we had for the San Carlos Apache tribe against bacera last June that Congress intended full contract support costs to be reimbursed now this is an issue I've spoken to you Mr chairman in many years um you understood it well and after the Rond decision in 2012 the committee provided a mechanism for full funding and asked the Indian Health Service how much would that be and the Indian Health Service told the committee how much it would be the Indian Health Service
▶ 3:03:22with great respect to a wonderful agency misrepresented the government's obligations to the tune of about a billion dollars a billion dollars a year the Supreme Court recognized that a victory for the tribes last June would cost about a billion dollars more a year and CBO has estimated that the bump up in 2024 2025 fiscal year 2025 is just shy of a billion dollars a year 98 $85 million there is no way this committee can shoulder that burden and
▶ 3:03:53balance the books without either harming Trust Services or breaching contracts there's no way this committee can do it the only solution is to reclassify contract support cost as mandatory obligations the um Homeland Security subcommittee a few months ago put that provision in its Mark uh and we hope that that provision survives in the fy2 process so that looking at FY 26 you're no longer burdened with trying to find funds another billion dollars to deal
▶ 3:04:23with contract support cost never mind the 105l leasing costs that are also in in the same category um this is the the principle I ask and you've heard it expressed by many other Witnesses uh today uh the other thing I did want to ask is if the committee would consider the um 16 specific categories of funds that are in the Appropriations bill uh consider having them go back through to the tribes through their self-determination contracts and self-governance
▶ 3:04:54agreements used to be only two those of us who go back enough it was Suicide Prevention and domestic domestic violence Suicide Prevention methamphetamine uh treatment funds those funds were carved out in the Appropriations Bill and they were paid to the tribes through their contracts and compacts pretty clean pretty efficient several years ago right after the remit case in roughly around 2012 the I director at the time made a decision she decided unilaterally to stop doing that and toste pay those funds out
▶ 3:05:24in Grants the use of Grants is extremely burdensome on the tribes increases the cost increases the bureaucracy on both sides both for the agency and the tribes and serves no meaningful purpose so we would ask that these six it's grown now from two pots to 16 pots uh we would ask that the committee direct the Indian Health Service which has studied this twice and gotten uniform tribal consultation response yes put it back into self-determination contracts and self-governance contracts we would ask that the committee now direct
▶ 3:05:54IHS they've done the consultation over the last five years twice it's time to get it done so thank you very much for your time this morning thank you and thank all of you for bringing up some very important I Esther you scare me you're way too smart it is uh I I always enjoy listening to you because you have such reason arguments and stuff did I hear you in your testimony say that the native uh
▶ 3:06:24nutritional programs you saw a decrease in suicide it was I could see a decrease in diabetes or something else but it cause a decrease of suicide is that right it wasn't in nutritional programs it's our traditional Indian medicine work okay okay um we've been able to build that into our electronic health record system right now we're looking to get an amendment to our 1115 waiver be able to include that as a billable practice like four other states have done okay now we are the only program that has been able to um
▶ 3:06:54provide three years worth of data and within that data when um our relatives access traditional new medicine services and they're at high risk for suicidal ideation we've seen a 71% decrease in that um status and that is significant and what that means is by strengthening cultural identities returning to traditional epistemologies we are going to be successful and ultimately reduce the cost cost on the government that's really important it is more than reducing the cost reduce the suicide rate
▶ 3:07:25absolutely just seems I'm worried that folks aren't as concerned about the cost of lives yeah I appreciate it thank you for your thank you all for your testimony sh yeah thank you all for your testimony um and you brought up some of the PRC concerns we've heard a lot about that today and certainly big cost and I also appreciated your sort of characterization of this isn't wasteful spending it's such a dramatic underfunding at all levels uh and we all serve on Appropriations we see the need to cut out unnecessary
▶ 3:07:55funding these are not the areas to go after and your your testimony was wonderful really just helping us to understand the business and The Human Side of all of this and I just hope we can you know hold our health funding harmless those initial blocks of funding my understanding is most of the funding has started to flow again but you know the staff cuts are there they're likely to be more and there are just so many other concerns and I'm I'm worried about 115 1115 waivers generally and um that is such
▶ 3:08:25a good use you know with the data that you have and we all have seen that can make a big difference so I just hope we don't lose that capacity to continue to Grant those very creative waivers so thank you for what you're doing there and we we have a lot of responsibility here with contract support costs and I know we've we've had conversations with um chairman Cole uh who I know is you know understands the level of the need here um but uh I just I hope we can get there it is really
▶ 3:08:55important um figuring out a way to do that mandatory would obviously make the most sense but this will be a tough year to accomplish that on the other hand you got some good case law now to really Force us to do it so thank you for the work that you've done that and I think most of the members of the committee realized that mandatory funding is a way to go Tom and I have talked about it a lot trying to get there is in fact it's not up to us it's another committee that was set earlier and stuff and I've been trying to learn how what you have to do to make that happen and stuff so
▶ 3:09:26anyway Mr Elie thank you Mr chairman thank you all for being here Esther you dropped the mic I'm out thanks thank you all for being here it really is Meaningful testimony and I'm sure that we'll be working with you and Esther you and I talk uh every now and then when you when you've got something to tell me and I certainly appreciate and I know the committee reaches out when they need information on variety of these things so we'll be in touch with you as we try to put together next year's budget and try
▶ 3:09:57to meet the requirements that we should meet thank you okay great no thank you oh yeah big time thanks takala Ed Johnston Heather Thompson
▶ 3:10:27Heather Don Thompson in that order sir in whatever you want to say
▶ 3:10:59good let's put it quiet down for just a things Echo out in that hallway everybody leaves here and then they go out in the hallway and they're out of the room so they start talking and
▶ 3:11:29conversing and everything and it just ech we we'll probably do the same yeah gon to say everybody does it and uh and I'm G to instruct the staff find a way to solve this problem so that we're so that we don't have to shout above uh the conversations out there anyway thank you all for being here today uh Jeremy first can you hear me all right all right well let's see here it's afternoon now so uh
▶ 3:12:07nicka um good afternoon Cher Simpson ranking member pingry and members of the subcommittee um privilege to testify before you today as chair of the Columbia River and a tribal Fish Commission uh again my name is Jeremy tal I come from the Confederate tribes and bands of the yaka Nation yesterday my colleague had the privilege to provide yaka testimony so it's good to be here again um so I serve as the fish and wildlife chair back at yaka but again um currently the chair for ccfi out in Portland um so In 1855
▶ 3:12:38four tribes of yella worm Springs yak and the N purse entered into treaties with the United States we seated millions of Acres of ancestral home lands in exchange for peace and Promises these lands spend nearly 67,000 square miles an area larger than Florida and represent the heart of salmon country in the Pacific Northwest while we seated title to our homelands we reserved and the United States acknowledges our right to fish hunt gather at all usual custom areas
▶ 3:13:08over the course of 170 years since those treaties were signed our tribes have advocated for and worked with Congress to make sure the oblig ations and promised promises made by both our predecessors is fulfilled for decades representatives from our tribes have testified before this committee and others to inform Congress of the importance of our work and progress that has been made as we work together Representatives on both sides of the aisle have helped guide Appropriations
▶ 3:13:39legislation and policy that positively impact tribes tribal members and natural resources our cultures depend on last year Congress and his trust responsibility to our tribes appropriated funding for a broad range of programs and projects involv in natural resources protection management and fulfillment of treaty protections and promises made made to our tribes once appropriated and signed into law we buil our budgets planned our projects and started the
▶ 3:14:09work we promised to do today however we find ourselves in a situation where some of the funding that Congress directed to agency we count on for this work is being impounded by the by the current Administration additionally Mass layoffs across the federal agencies is reduced in their capacity to fulfill the purposes that Congress set for them and that are required to carry out the work of caring for our natural resources and tribal trust obligations it is never a good time for uncertainty
▶ 3:14:39and breach of trust at this scale but it comes at a particularly critical moment for Columbia Basin salmon and everyone both tribal and non-tribal who depend on these fish for their cultures livelihoods Recreation and enjoyment salmon and still head populations are declining throughout the clber River Basin which of 12 are listed endangered this is a profound threat to our culture cultural heritage our treaty rights and a regional economy that is valued in hundreds of millions
▶ 3:15:10of dollars the four Columbia River treaty tribes approach to Fisheries restoration is comprehens ensive what we call gravel to gravel Management in other words where the salmon go so do we to continue this critical work we urge Congress to take action to ensure that promises obligations and authorities made by this body are carried out by this Administration and looking forward we are requesting funding for six essential programs in samon restoration and treaty rights
▶ 3:15:41Protection One to continue our core restoration work we are requesting 6.4 million for our columia River fisheries management program for law enforcement the Guardians of Public Safety along with 150 mies of river and the fishing access sites on federal lands we are asking for 1.75 million to maintain our fishing access sites we are that is very crucial to our our Fishers for Access we're requesting 2.29 million the
▶ 3:16:11Pacific Salon treaty implementation also requests 7.42 million which will ensure all all 25 participating us tribes can fulfill their vital role in an international conservation where requesting 2.5 million to continue implementing Public 11699 addressing critical infrastructure needs at our fishing sites and finally we request 555,000 for our youth initiatives because we must prepare the next generation
▶ 3:16:41of Native American scientists and resource managers to carry this work forward I do want to highlight you know I'm hearing a lot of the concerns when it comes to the layoffs that has been implemented back at yakma you know we're we're seeing tremendous amounts of impacts where each of these Federal folks work directly with the tribes particularly on Columbia Basin um salmon U efforts uh folks such as you know Noah Bia DOI um USDA um doj um even some of the folks
▶ 3:17:11at army Corp of Engineers you know we last week it was announced some of the folks at BPA and folks Hanford were uh you know impacted by this um Administration so uh as many said you know it's a trust responsibility we want to ensure that those folks are there at the table with us to help guide this work and moving forward so with your support you know we want to continue our work together as stewards of these precious resources uh we can ensure that salmon which have sustained the people of Pacific Northwest from Millennia
▶ 3:17:42continue to run strong run strong in our Rivers uh this isn't just a tribal issue it's an American issue a testament to our nation's commitment to environmental stewardship treaty obligations and preservations of our shared natural heritage thank you for your time chair Simpson I know you've been a voice for salmon and that's why Ed and I here to talk about fish so thank you thank you PR thank you I appreciate talking about fish Ed thank thank you Mr chairman yeah I'd like
▶ 3:18:12to thank you for this opportunity i i f in the footsteps of our tribal leaders and ancestors and the words that I always find myself um getting actually quite emotional when I listen to our people speak um and and what it means for us my name is Ed Johnson I'm a coral Tribal member and I'm I represent uh Northwest Union Fish Commission and I'd like to thank the chairman and ranking member penree in
▶ 3:18:42in the committee for our time to uh come before you and speak our our words our words that we carry with us it's it's um I really enjoyed the the the words that I've been able to just listen to today that we have the facts we have the data we we have our story The that historic story that that Jeremy talks about when we signed our treaties in 1954
▶ 3:19:13and 55 the 20 member tribes of the Northwest Indian f commission and for the same backdrop and and and promises that that were unified in that in that treaty signing that as you you saw our elders held up the Constitution where that is embedded in the article and the relationship that it is with the United States and US Indians us Indian tribes
▶ 3:19:43treaty tribes ferally recognized tribes and so those those words are where I I try to come from I mean I write I read all I write all this stuff down and our and our testimony has been has been forwarded our written you know I want to talk about if I can get to it about four or five of those critical funds but really it's it's the basics of how we have taken that treaty right in under United
▶ 3:20:13States versus Washington supreme law of thew land to be become co-managers of those resources for those things like Jeremy and others have talked about and and and I've worked greatly with the Alaska Natives and in in my own village of toola and queit the suicide that we that we that we experience in a cyclical manner that the pathway forward for that kind of healing as
▶ 3:20:43as was just spoke to you it also is is real relevant in in our cultural identity when when we have tribes in Our member tribes that have been 25 and 30 years without a fishery that their young ones don't have a chance to get on the water and there's no way to transfer that knowledge down other than than what they see by others that can while they cannot because of these restricted stocks under
▶ 3:21:14Esa and rebuilding plans and then the enormous um U the enormous work that has to be done around that when you face massive growth and development that we see in the state of Washington and then that just means take away more of the natural function of of how our ecosystems work and and um and working with the alaskans and seeing the amount of uh especially in Western Alaska
▶ 3:21:44we're very familiar with that that health issue or that reality is really dramatic and uh it affects us in a real similar matter so um I just uh wanted to maybe touch bases on on four or five of our our what would I would say critical critical elements here in our in our package uh fundamentally the 66 million in Bia
▶ 3:22:14protection uh Jeremy mentioned that that is critical to us and and when we we prevailed in USB Washington it was um the two self-regulating tribes were the yaka nation and the qual indan nation where I'm from and so the formation of the Northwest Indian fish Mission really came about to to empower the tribes under those Criterion to be those those managers and we were awarded
▶ 3:22:44base funding right right that very next year so that that gets covered under Bia rights protection Western Washington bolts where we're covered shared with uh other treaty areas out of the Great Lakes and that's real critical to us the 15 million for Bia Fish Wildlife and Parks um for Hatchery operations and maintenance and and we had success and and um and um through Noah recently
▶ 3:23:15and then there was some some holds that were put on their freezes that put on and so our our Hatchery funds were were um I guess Frozen that that that caused disruption and so we have to work through those kinds of uh uh circumstances and I think we're probably on a on a better way and a better track right now the 96.4 million for EPA general assistance critical to uh to to our
▶ 3:23:45tribes and uh and um we have we have uh you'll find in our test more description of what that means to us um and then I would leave the uh 57 million EPA puges sound geographic region programs we also would would lean into the Pacific salmon treaty and the and those funds allocated that need to go to that process that's the United States and Canada it's real critical you probably heard chairman
▶ 3:24:15Allen others that have come through here and U and I just I stand ready to assist us as we tell our story with your support which we've enjoyed for many many years starting with Congressman dicks and and I heard and I heard Congressman Cole's name and many others and and uh we're um we know that we that our our issues are on your Forefront and you you've been advocates for us and we appreciate that
▶ 3:24:51good afternoon it's a pleasure to see you Mr chairman my father was born and raised in Idaho so it's nice to see you um and ranking member I'm delighted you're here especially that you're on the agriculture committee which overlap so much with this my name is Heather Don Thompson I'm a citizen of the cheyen river Sue tribe which is in South Dakota and I'm the vice president of native nations both conservation and Food Systems at the World Wildlife Fund and I'm here today to talk about tribal Buffalo um and also want to honor my partners
▶ 3:25:21here with salmon in the same way that salmon and fish are so important to our um tribes on the coast Buffalo is our primary food source in the Great Plains Idaho Montana South Dakota North Dakota Etc down to Oklahoma and further um World Wildlife Fund has worked with tribal Nations for nearly two decades in this space the whole range um from intertribal Partners like the intertribal Buffalo Council Coalition of large tribes uh we also support individual tribes um like the Wakota buffalo herd and Rosebud many people
▶ 3:25:51are familiar with um as well as the fort peek facility and Montana uh and then bigger National Partners like the nature conservancy and Native Americans and philanthropy in this space um and in many cases the tribal governments are the lead compass for us in conservation in the United States and certainly for us at World Wildlife Fund there are some of our most important Partners so I'm really pleased to be able to um speak and support report um of their needs today um our written testimony goes into more detail about the FY
▶ 3:26:2126 um but we think this is a relatively small investment for a very significant impact uh we would we're hoping in this challenging budget to at least maintain the current funding that's going to the intertribal Buffalo Council which is about $2.5 million that goes directly to tribal Buffalo herds um and then we also would love to see report language that of the money that's going to the office of Trust Services for natural resources that 25 million of that be directed towards grasslands and buffalo work
▶ 3:26:52um which is about it's more than what's going now but um be really clear about that and then we want to thank you and support you in your allocation from last year's budget for the $8 million in the land and water conservation fund towards tribal land acquisition and hope that you keep that moving forward um but in addition to the FY 26 uh we're here to support our tribal Partners in there uh seeking to un free the 25 Appropriations that you've already allocated and invested um and my uh written
▶ 3:27:22testimony is really specific about those programs I list them out uh Grant by grant program by program both in USDA and in the department of interior um but it's it's quite significant at Department of interior it amounts to about $18 million that's Frozen right now um at USDA it's even more significant it's almost $67 million that's Frozen right now predominantly in the rcpp program um and this is uh the most significant investment ever
▶ 3:27:52in the history uh in tribal Buffalo and it's all Frozen right now I think one of the challenges that um folks don't realize is because the United States has invested so heavily in the a very important cattle industry um it's sort of inadvertently left Buffalo out because buffalo different right they require different infrastructure um and so investments in tribal buffal Buffalo are new and they're using new funds and new sources and so unfortunately that disproportionately
▶ 3:28:22means IRA and Bill and so when IRA and Bill specifically are frozen it's disproportionately impacting tribes and disproportionately impacting tribal Buffalo um and so you know one of the questions of all these different priorities you have to juggle right now you know why tribal Buffalo why white tribal salmon um but they're all integrated right and this is a really relatively low invest to help with all of the ills that you've just heard beforehand um you know first agriculture is
▶ 3:28:53a really significant treaty um obligation in in addition to the specific fish treaties that you were just hearing about there are at least 226 tribal treaties that have agriculture specific Provisions in them that are promising the United States support in agriculture in return for the lands Etc um second Buffalo are really is Central to tribal economies especially in the grass States um they're grass-based economies right these Buffalo are the best
▶ 3:29:23grassland land managers a recent study from Kansas State found that Buffalo are 100% more effective at healthy grass than ungrazed lands and 50% more than cattle grazed um in most of the great PLS economies many of you heard from them on Tuesday most of those great PLS economies they're grass-based economies their money comes from grazing income so you have to have healthy soil healthy grass and then third Buffalo are really essential for tribal health and food as our salmon in this region
▶ 3:29:53Buffalo are incredibly healthy the meat are incredibly healthy and they're part of the big piture to fight diabetes just like salmon getting back to our indigenous Foods is one of the most important ways to stop those health issues and in addition Buffalo are extremely hearty with the changing weather patterns we're seeing really negative impacts on our Agriculture and ranching Industries and these guys are just fine they've been through it all right um and so this is important I think not only from a tribal food sovereignty perspective but really frankly from
▶ 3:30:24a national food security perspective um we need animals that can handle these these changing conditions um but as important as economic uh sufficiency and food security are spirituality and culture much like salmon are totally intertwined for tribal Nations after the Buffalo reached almost Extinction it was really the tribal Nations that came forward and have been storing the Buffalo for over a century many times on their own um and for me this is particularly personal because my great great great-grandfather
▶ 3:30:54Fred Dupri this is Fred um and uh my great great grandmother Mary good eloman are one of a handful of families that are credited with saving the Buffalo so I take my obligations very seriously um so in conclusion really appreciate any help I know it's a hard situation but in your conversations with bergham and hopefully with Secretary of agriculture really implore them to help unfreeze these 25 funds for the tribes like I said this is the first time ever these um have been made
▶ 3:31:24um and I'm honored here to support our tribal partners and our relative the Buffalo and as we say in Lota uhu which means we are all related and our Fates are intertwined thank you for having me here today thank you uh I appreciate I love buffalo and it Frank without the work of the tribes it'd be extinct now that's the only reason they still around and if you don't think the American public supports that go through Yellowstone
▶ 3:31:55sometime in the summer you drive through there and all you'll see is either bear jams or Buffalo jams you know and it's you got to have a ranger there to tell them no don't send your send your grandkids out to stand next to a buffalo to get a picture taken you know these are not tame animals you know and it uh but but it is fascinating and I I like I I love the Buffalo but as you know uh I've been committed saving Idaho salmon runs and salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest uh and I tell people this
▶ 3:32:25is not a it's not it's you got to think differently than what we've done in the past and this is leading up to a question but uh it's it's amazing that I've had people say well the only reason you guys want to say Salmons is you guys including me is you want to kill them I'm kind of going no that's not really true what you need to do is study a little history and what it means historically to the tribes and that it's actually religious
▶ 3:32:55with the tribes uh look at the way they treat the first salmon cot every year and stuff I mean it's it's an amazing process but what this question is leading up to as we built all these obstacles in our Rivers called dams uh a lot of the thought was well overcome that by creating hatcheries and the tribes run a lot of hatcheries and as I've you know I know enough just to be dangerous
▶ 3:33:25as I've studied this more and more there seems to be some question of whether Hatchery fish are really good for the wild salmon because they interact and stuff and diseases get spread all that type of thing Hatchery fish are not going to replace wild salmon we still have to return these so and and I understand the tribes I mean I've been up and seen the NZ Pierce uh hatcheries and stuff and some others do great work
▶ 3:33:55there but the idea that yeah we don't have to worry about saving salmon because we got hatcheries which was you know I always found it interesting the state of Washington if you look back in their history I can't remember whether there's territorial legislature or when they became a state one of the first laws they passed was it it was against the law in the state of Washington to block a river or stream that had an an anerous fish that that came up to it and then they proceeded to that
▶ 3:34:26and the I mean you look at uh some of the major dams that don't have any fish passage uh but they wanted you know don't worry hatcheries will take care of that just not true no but we still need those hatcheries don't we yes yes so uh chairman if I may no hatch are very important and you know with what's going on you know we're really concerned to see some potential Ira or you know Bill being pulled back and that's really essential to help
▶ 3:34:57um do some upgrades to these Hatchery facilities because you're right like there's concerns about disease but you need um strong hatcheries that will be not only uh avoiding bacteria but also the safety of our employees that are at the hatcheries um you know there's always technology being developed you know back at Yakama folks are going with circular tanks that's a new technology that is has been successful um but no we're not you know we're not trying to replace wild salmon you know with with Hatchery no we want both both
▶ 3:35:27to thrive but we want wild and which is why the tribes are doing you know the habitat restoration work we're we're trying to work with folks um every stakeholder I mean the success story last year was you know we celebrate a juvenile fish passage at Lake celum and never ever you know in this yaka River Basin here that nobody thought this would be a reality and so each of these reservoirs which is essential for a folks as well even for us at yako you know we have a farm and that's important for
▶ 3:35:58us too because we want to be able to provide as was mentioned you know Fresh Foods and that it's going to include some of our natural foods and so you know this is this right now this is a very uh important time for our folks back at with the four tribes you know we're we're going to have spring salmon that's going to eventually start you know returning col River Basin and a lot of those tribes will take part in honoring those first foods and this is happening throughout the the each season and so that's why you said it's religious it is our way of life and we need that fish
▶ 3:36:28to return and that's the promise that has been made by our creator and we must keep that promise as well like a covenant and that what that's why it takes you know folks with this committee to help support the tribes and even the ccfi and Northwest IND Fish Commission organizations it's even important for us to work together which we will be meeting next month but no I that's that's what I would like to provide in you know kind of response to that but it has to work both together and we need everyone like you said to do something different let's not be scared of
▶ 3:36:58you know because if we continue doing business as usual we will see Extinction yeah that's exactly true and it is uh I keep telling people that are thought I was nuts when I started talking about Columbia Basin initiative and stuff is is that if you want you need to determine what you want to Pacific Northwest to look like and to be 25 to 50 years from now because the decisions you make now are going to make those determinations and if you decide gez they've gone extinct I guess we should do something when they're gone they're gone
▶ 3:37:28yes so it is a it is a CR critical issue I think to the future of the Pacific Northwest just as Buffalo are to the to the Midwest and the grasson states and stuff so and you know a lot of people don't understand that it is a cycle how things work and uh they've done studies where they've taken streams that have salmon that return to those streams and streams measure them them against streams that don't have salmon to come back
▶ 3:37:58trees grow like three times faster among those where those streams where salmon come back because the nutrition and nutrients that they bring back and I mean it's a it's a fascinating cycle it really is and we play with it at Great risk anyway just one comment one comment if I may um we we've we've dealt with um that question of U hatcheries and and Hatchery genetics and and um
▶ 3:38:29then we call them Strays now they're their natural spawners right so we we went through that that process and and you're very well read because in the in the 1800s there commission Fisheries Commissioners reports before statehood in the state of Washington number one observation was the No No Dam um and then later in 1880s it became no structure should be built without fish passage right right and and that
▶ 3:38:59was ignored and and that creates a lot of those downhill problems that we're still dealing with but um you know good people were saying good things way back when and nobody listened and U that's just an observ thank you thank you Ed uh sh yeah um thank you for your testimony and um thank you Mr chair for your Devotion to the salmon and to removing the dams since I represent Maine and we have
▶ 3:39:29had a long process of dam removal same thing we were a big Hydro state but a lot of the fish passages weren't there or they didn't do an adequate job um and so much of it was to bring back uh the salmon and the other fish and we've had some good results some of the rivers that are now Dam free or a big portion of the river is Dam free um but we still have a lot of work to do with the other kinds of changes going on with the water warming and other issues but um it's such an important part of our cycle um you know our
▶ 3:40:00ecological cycle but also has an impact on our lobster fishing industry and you know bait fishing and a lot of other fish that we've lost as well as salm and so I really appreciate the work you're doing at West and the importance of it and certainly um thank you for being here thanks to the work you're doing uh we've talked a lot over the course of the last few days about you know tribal health and you know the importance of eating more native foods and having those available and so certainly we're talking about two things that are particularly important
▶ 3:40:31um and what a huge role that plays uh the culture as well as the health so uh anything anything that we can do I'm on agapes and we are certainly you know extremely distressed about the IRA funding and others being blocked and and just hate seeing this caught up um given that this is really some of the first significant funding you've gotten so uh I'll I'll try to do whatever I can and and hope that we can enlist the support also of those Representatives
▶ 3:41:01um from the states where you know bringing back the Buffalo has been a big part of what's going on uh because these things are going to be a tragic loss yeah thanks for your work thanks you I've read a lot about what happened to the salmon runs in England Ireland Norway those types of things and what caused the declines there and stuff it's the same thing that years later caused the declines on the Atlantic
▶ 3:41:31coast and it's the same thing that's happening now in the west if we don't learn from this stuff then it's our fault anyway thank you all for being here I truly appreciate your testimony look forward to working with you chairman I will do I heard you say yesterday you want to come out to Bas and we're happy to host you you bet thank you all right our committee will love that thank you very much Austin Lowe's Mark
▶ 3:42:02okay Mark mcaro uh salta desel okay actually no just sit any way you want what Cory is Cory here yeah okay
▶ 3:42:48Austin you're first by the way I love your beber I appreciate that wolf you're close but cool Anu my name is Austin loan I'm the chairman of the Sue St Marie tribe of chipa Indians also referred to as the Sue tribe from Michigan and I'm also a member of the chipa Ottawa resource Authority otherwise known as Kora today I'm testifying on behalf of Kora however as chairman of the Su tribe I want to thank the committee for its work in preserving and protecting funding for tribal governments all across the federal agencies
▶ 3:43:18this includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs the Indian Health Service and the Environmental Protection agencies we are concerned that the latest actions by the administration with regard to the federal Workforce threatens the delivery of services to tribal governments and Indian people we ask that you continue to hold the federal government accountable to the responsibility and obligation it has towards Indian people equally important is that we ask that as appropriators you protect your constitutional authority to ensure that the money that you appropriate to meet the needs of tribes
▶ 3:43:48not only within the Bia and IHS but across the federal agencies is actually delivered to tribes one critical area is protecting and preserving treaty rights Kora is a Consortium of five federally recognized tribes in Michigan that are parties to the 1836 Treaty of Washington with the United States the Kora tribes are plaintiffs in United States VI Michigan which confirm the trib's right to hunt fish and gather under the 1836 treaty Federal funding is critical to uphold and support the
▶ 3:44:18exercise of reserved treaty rights and the management of natural resources protected by these treaties these rights are not discretionary they are legal obligations of the United States enshrined in treaties that to this day Remain the supreme law of the land these resources are necessary to protect and preserve the ability of tribal Nations to facilitate the sustainable use and enjoyment of treaty protected natural resources specifically the These funds are used to identify and Implement appropriate management and protection
▶ 3:44:49activities to utilize expert management and biological services and to employ sufficient law enforcement Personnel to enforce tribal state and federal laws regulating the use and protection of our shared natural resources in fiscal year 2025 Congress provided approximately $6.7 million to cores tribal Nations this level of funding was essential for the ability of each tribal Nation to carry out their o obligations under the current court order decrees regarding these treaty Reserve rights
▶ 3:45:20to meet these obligations in fiscal year 2026 an additional $1.8 million is needed bringing the total fiscal year 2026 funding need to roughly 8.5 million this funding will support the establishment of conservation-based fishing regulations which include biological Support Services to monitor our Fisheries conservation law enforcement activities and tribal court Staffing for Great Lakes fishing conservation cases additional oversight of harvest activities by biological staff and
▶ 3:45:50enforcement Personnel implementation of electronic Harvest reporting by tribal Fishers and wholesalers and maintenance of intertribal harvesting report systems and the creation of access sites and Improvement of access site for tribal Fishers to the Waters of the Great Lakes among other activities related to the Resources so we know that this country is facing difficult fiscal times but cor cannot continue to fulfill its responsibilities under court decrees if there are any Cuts in funding for tribal
▶ 3:46:20treaty rights protection less funding especially in light of the soon Tobe completed Great Lakes fishing decree appeal will require severe cuts to conservation monitoring and enforcement activities that situation will not only increase conflict between tribal Nations and other communities over resources but it will also significantly reduce the level of protection of the fishery wildlife and habitats throughout the 183 suceeded territory again core requests that treaty right protection funding within the
▶ 3:46:50Bureau of Indian Affairs continue to be a budget priority and that cor be increased for fiscal year 2026 to roughly $8.5 million MCH thank may you yum greetings good morning or afternoon it's still morning in my zone and uh my name is Mark mararo I'm the tribal chairman for the B a band of Indians in uh Southern California I'm serving now in my 30th consecutive year
▶ 3:47:21of as tribal chair um been coming up here quite quite a bit over the last decades I'm currently the president of the National Congress of American Indians the oldest largest and most representative tribal organization in the United States and um I think some of what I'm going to say you've probably heard before but I'm going to try to bring it in from Mac macro perspective and try to sum everything up so um to reaffirm the unique status of tribal nations with the United States tribal
▶ 3:47:51nations are sovereigns with a unique government to government political status within the United States and this is laid out in the US Constitution and many other places now the United States fulfills its trust responsibility and treaty obligations both through the delivery of ser through the Direct Delivery of tribal programs and services and um and these are provided through Federal funding to tribal Nations to deliver uh on things like um Health Care education Economic Development law enforcement tribal
▶ 3:48:21Justice and on and on and on uh many of the things you've heard about Fisheries today Buffalo um so any tribal program or funding delivered to tribal Nations is provided in furtherance of the United States trust and treaty obligations it's not Dei these actions are not discretionary they are legal obligations rooted in treaties and Trust obligations and the Constitution and also in long-standing federal statutes now some
▶ 3:48:51federal agencies including uh Health and Human Services and interior as well as the OM no office of personnel management I'm sorry have taken steps to clarify that implementation of the administration's policy priorities uh should not impact United States delivery on trust and treaty obligations and that such delivery is not race-based it's also our understanding that some Workforce reduction efforts have received temporary exemptions recognizing both the direct provision and services and federal employees
▶ 3:49:21significant role in meeting trust and treaty obligations so it's necessary that these efforts be applied throughout the federal government and its programs servicing Indian country and as I look at those plaques up there um so I mentioned two of them but there's two others there and many others I think every across all Departments of federal agencies these exe exemptions need to be applied so we need your help in in in in uh telegraphing that um echoing that okay government
▶ 3:49:52to government consultation must be honored then one important aspect of the trust and treaty responsibility is the provision of government to government consultation on policies and programs that affect Indian Country anytime an agency develops a new rule policy or directive uh in Indian Country uh or takes any anticipated action that might impact tribal Nations the agency must engage in official consultations with affected tribal Nations early and often during the decision-making process
▶ 3:50:22and I'm sorry to report that this did not occur uh when the executive orders were issued and then um whatever else is coming out of uh OPM and and uh OMB and every other agency so uh this prior consultation is something that's been taken very seriously with lots of Gravitas over the decades and um and and and it's it's missing and um you know I I I think I'll take this opportunity to point out
▶ 3:50:52that you know in terms of the funding of Bia B IHS just those three um those three budgets represent less than one quarter of 1% of federal budget and trying to create an efficiency uh on the backs of tribes and those budgets is ludicrous um and just doesn't make sense especially when there's this this legal obligation to continue that funding so uh I need to say a word here about federal
▶ 3:51:22employees federal employees are essential to this to what's happening we could maybe get everybody the White House the administration all departments and agencies to agree on the principles I've just spoken about but if Federal staff is not in place to to deliver to provide those services and to provide make sure the programs are in place to you know enter all the codes to portals and things like that um this isn't going to happen and um that that's a huge breach
▶ 3:51:53of the trust responsibility so um it's it's it's disturbing what's happening and we need to uh find a way to extricate and make better the situation um we've heard reports at the office of Workforce Development um inside of the office of Indian Affairs at B for example has had such severe losses to the point that they no longer have the capacity to ensure distribution of funding to tribal Nations under PL
▶ 3:52:23102 477 uh this of course is deeply concerning 477 programs are administered by tribes on the federal government's behalf and our principal mechanism for um let me say that um you know the law enforcement the the need for the law enforcement need um has been met I think as a result of last year's budget by 12% there was 88
▶ 3:52:53un 88% that was unmet and you know this is just one I picked one subject uh that that tribes have been you trying to make work across Indian Country throughout Nona 280 and pl28 states and um tribes are always having to it feels like we're always in the circumstance of trying to make things work trying to do more with less and um things have
▶ 3:53:23just gotten to the point of they're looking like it's going to be impossible so we really need intervention we need uh your ally ship in trying to write the ship here we need um uh the balancing of the Congressional authorities where you have those authorities to uh assert checks and balances on what's Happening um and and all with the focus of trying to uh unfreeze impoundments and prevent
▶ 3:53:54further impoundments of federal dollars um in all in the delivery of these programs and services to tribes we just to sum this up in closing that um uh these are not discretionary things for tribes for Indian Country this is this part of the treaty rights and Trust responsibilities and legal obligation of the United States and and to allow it to to occur is to continue the breach that's already happening so thank you for your time I appreciate it thank you chair Simpson
▶ 3:54:24ranking member pingry uh my name is Cody Diel my regular job as executive director of the Carell tribe in north central Washington State and I also serve as the president of the intertribal Timber Council so I came here today to talk a little bit about tribal forestry and fire management so management of Indian Forest generates significant revenue for tribal governments to fund essential governmental services such as education social services and law enforcement Indian Forest management creates $3 for every $1 invested and employs nearly 20,000 people it manages
▶ 3:54:54wildlife habitat aquatic resources and forests that provide sources of food and Medicine critical for the cultural identity of Indian people the 2023 if matat report documents the significant and persistent inequity of federal funding for Indian Forest management versus other federal agencies a trend consistent over 30 years in for if mat reports according to the 2023 if matat report the forest service receives three times the funding and the BLM receives 14 times the funding that Bia receives for Forest Management
▶ 3:55:24on a per acre basis similar Trends exist for preparedness and Hazard fuels reduction funding and much of that funding is competitive and inconsistent a quote from the if matat report States the Bia funding in real terms has declined 21% over the last 30 years during this 30-year period Indian Forest trust lands have increased from 15.6 million acres to 19.3 million Acres meaning that on a per acre basis funding in real terms has declined by almost 36%
▶ 3:55:55over the last 30 years some tribes have expressed that they have not had a budget increase in 30 years the result in this inequity is catastrophic for Indian communities the ifat report found reduced funding to Bia for Forest management resulted in 400 billion in forone Timber or 400 million I'm sorry in forgone Timber to tribes between 2010 and 2019 in addition to the 400 million in foregone Timber Revenue uncharacteristic wildfires have cause additional unquantified losses to Timber Wildlife Aquatic
▶ 3:56:25and cultural resources those impacts and losses could have been mitigated or reduced with fully funded and staffed tribal and Bia programs at cville for example we've lost over a billion board feet of Timber over the last decade between 2015 and now with a current market value of about 500 the ifat report also found the parody between Bia responsible Forest the national forest system and BLM Forest would require an additional 96 million per year for
▶ 3:56:55Bia forestry and 42 million in additional funding for Wildfire in addition the fmat report noted an additional 1.6 billion would be needed for upgrading roads planting and thinning backlogs law enforcement and upgraded facilities we don't know the budget numbers for 2025 yet because we're still waiting on the CR but Bia received 62 million for Forest management and FY 24 uh to compare this in equity BLM was appropriated 142 million just for the Wild Horse and burrow
▶ 3:57:26program and the FY 24 Appropriations bill that's more than twice the funding that Indian forests receive Nationwide despite this inequity 80% of all Timber produced from the Department of interior comes from Indian Forest so for the recommendations for FY 26 ITC has consistently requested that this committee increase funding for tribal trust Force management this year we simply asked that Congress acknowledge the disparity and how different Federal forests are funded and managed we request a report language
▶ 3:57:56in the interior Appropriations bill that would require reporting to Congress on how much each Federal Forest management agency is spending on a per acre basis the if matat report contains the model for how to make this calculation the funding for Bia Forestry at a minimum should be returned to FY 23 levels which I believe was around 64 m million uh the depart Department of office of Wildland fire management another funding in equity that impacts everyone is the compensation of Wildland firefighters so in the infrastructure Bill there was increases in funding for
▶ 3:58:26federal wild fire or federal Wildland firefighters we have Tribal 638 contract employees that perform that exact same Federal function but were not awarded that same pay increase this disparate treatment between tribal and non-tribal firefighters has complicated both Recruitment and Retention in Indian country I urge the committee to embrace a policy that all Wildland firefighters tribal and otherwise are to be compensated equally this can be achieved by report language directing the department to continue making allocations to tribes for competitive compensation
▶ 3:58:57for firefighters likewise there could also be an annual requirement that DOI report to Congress on rates of compensation to consistency we also want to rein Force the importance of maintaining adequate funding and Staffing for Bia to assist tribes with technical assistance Direct services and funding for Indian Force the Bia staff provide the mechanism to either provide funding through contracts or direct services that achieve tribal Force management goals and I thank you for the opportunity to provide
▶ 3:59:27testimony thank you Cody uh after three days of testimony uh Corey you are the the conclusion of the testimony so I expect you to wrap up everything that was said over these three days into one five minute State no I'm just kidding than you're the executive DOR director of the Native American Finance Officers Association so I appreciate it thank you look forward to hear from thank you chairman Simpson I I'll do my best so uh chairman Simpson uh ranking member penree members of the subcommittee we want to thank you for this opportunity to present this testimony
▶ 3:59:58on behalf of nafoa and our 180 member tribes across the country uh we were as you mentioned founded as a Native American Finance Officers Association and for over 40 years we have worked to grow tribal economies and strengthen tribal Finance through advocacy education and policy development first we will continue to emphasize the relationship between the United States and tribal Nations is rooted in a political relationship not racial or any other classification this political relationship is recognized within the United
▶ 4:00:28States Constitution and has been affirmed by the United States Supreme Court and is a unique trust and treaty obligation of the United States to its Sovereign tribal Nations uh recent decisions and actions within federal agencies essential to fulfilling the United States trust and treaty obligation s have raised significant concern among tribal Nations tribes across the country have reported challenges with access to critical systems a lack of information from federal agencies and considerable uncertainty about the potential impact of such decisions
▶ 4:00:58and actions both temporary and prolonged on their ability to provide essential services within their tribal communities we recognize that there are varying degrees of impact on tribal Nations when it comes to Federal funding but any pause in federal funding whether temporary prolonged or permanent impacts the ability of tribes to offer crucial programs and services to tribal citizens most recently tribal Nations have raised concerns about the impact of Staff reductions across federal agencies critical to managing trust and
▶ 4:01:28treaty obligations we applaud and encourage uh Congress to continue to seek Clarity on matters of importance to tribal Nations just as Congressman Cole of Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Nation did an encouraging OPM to consider trust and treaty obligations and recent actions aimed at streamlining federal agencies through reductions in force we also encourage the directives from the administration as we have seen with the Department of interior and Health and Human Services to honor trust and treaty obligations and we strongly encourage similar
▶ 4:01:58actions across all federal agencies during the 117th Congress congresswoman G Gwen Moore introduced HR 8318 the tribal tax investment and Reform Act this bill addresses long-standing disparities in in treating tribal government ments under the same Provisions as States for key tax purposes including excise taxes Bond insu issuance pension plans General Welfare benefits and charitable organizations providing tribal nations with full parody
▶ 4:02:28uh with their state and local counterparts and accessing tax exempt Bond financing will enhance job creation diversify revenues necessary for tribes to provide essential governmental Services stimulate infrastructure and Business Development on tribal land and regionally and accelerate the diversification and resiliency of tribal and local economies thereby enhancing Regional economies HR 8318 also creates an annual $175 million New Market tax credit
▶ 4:02:59opportunity for lowincome tribal communities this program attracts private Capital to economically distressed communities by providing tax credits to investors despite limited access tribes have already demonstrated success for example the citizen aamy nation of Oklahoma utilized the new market tax credit program as part of a larger financing package for the construction of the new firelake hotel in Oklahoma finally this legislation increases the effectiveness of tribal lowincome housing tax credits or the litech
▶ 4:03:29program that provides tax incentives to developers to create affordable housing crucial for economic stability and growth again despite limited access tribes have already demonstrated success for example the washu Housing Authority in Nevada where the litec and affordable housing program uh grants covered 56% of a $15 million housing project and the Red Lake reservation in Minnesota where litec and ahp covered 95% of a $24.5 million
▶ 4:03:59project nafoa strongly urges Congress and the administration to make the treasury's uh Department's office of tribal and Native American Affairs uh permanent and to continue the tribal treasury advisory committee t Tac these entities are essential for providing technical assistance and guidance supporting tribes and accessing uh tax incentives and economic development tools and developing guidance on General welf Welfare programs and tribal Enterprises they also play a
▶ 4:04:30crucial role in ensuring the appropriate tribal consultation on tax and economic policies and facilitating the government to government relationship with the current uncertainty surrounding federally funded program nafoa recommends changing tribal funding programs from discretionary to mandatory reclassifying programs would help tribes with financial planning forecasting preserving essential services in tribal communities and this includes U contract support costs and payment of tribal leases
▶ 4:05:00uh lastly nafoa supports bipartisan legislation that addresses and fixes the carcieri decision uh we have witnessed that when tribes do better their neighbors do better of providing tribal nations with parity with their state andc local counterparts and Clarity under the law ensures that not just growth of tribal economies but also the local and Regional economies as well and we thank you for your attention uh to these vital matters affecting tribal economies and tribal sovereignty thank
▶ 4:05:30you Corey uh some of the programs that you talked about and with the different acronyms and stuff I'm not as familiar with as I should be but I will guarantee you by the time we write this bill I will be uh but it's going to take some Ed ation on my part and stuff uh Mark is uh American Congress of uh the national uh Congress of American Indians do all tribes belong to that no it's a voluntary membership we have uh over 280
▶ 4:06:01tribes out of the 574 yeah okay ferally recognized tribes so we got a powerful organization that speaks well for for Native Americans all across this country so I appreciate it but I'll take it just real quick opportunity uh to anybody who's listening that uh tribes are welcome to join any time so looking to expand our membership so thank you anyway I thank you all for your testimony and being here today and I want to thank uh my ranking
▶ 4:06:31member Miss pingry former chairman of this committee and now the ranking member of it and uh for her uh support and encouragement that we needed to move to three days of hearings rather than two because of all the people and to us it means that you all are thinking that maybe this is important to you too that you take the time and money to come and testify to us and I can tell you uh from my perspective it's vitally important to us because while we learn from you as you come and as you come and testify
▶ 4:07:01and uh are and you bring up issues that we think about as we try to write the bill are we going to address this how are we going to do that and stuff so it's it really is important to us and I know sometimes it's frustrating because all of the issues can't be cobbled down to five minutes of testimony you know uh and and we do read your testimony in fact I'm having the staff going to put together all the testimony so I it'll take me several days to read it but but I will
▶ 4:07:31read it before we start writing this bill and everything but thank you uh Shelley for all your support and help in this and thanks for all you did as chairman of I mean she's the one that's responsible for getting Advanced Appropriations uh and stuff so we appreciate it and thank you all right well um thank you too Mr chair for the Indulgence of putting three days of this together and all the work I know you'll do reading everybody's testimony I'll refer to him if I missed anything so um but it is a it is a very good bipartisan partnership
▶ 4:08:01you've heard us talk about that probably during the course of these hearings and um we want to continue it that way and and having people understand that our treaty and Trust responsibilities are bipartisan they're in the Constitution the RO con there you know we've we've heard so much about it today you all have been an excellent um final panel and every single panel that we've had today has shed some light on something new that we hadn't really thought about before and I'll Leto the chair you know there are programs that you're talking about uh that I think we don't always take into consider
▶ 4:08:32enough somebody else brought up some of the you know tax benefits we got to make sure that they all apply because you need every tool in your toolbox and um so thank you for that and any you know continuing information information you want to supply to the committee and I come from Maine the most forested state in the nation so we take Timber harvesting very seriously and we've had a couple of other testimonies um during the course of this about the relationship with the forest service and you know since the funding of both entities comes under this committee I think we could do some more work on improving the
▶ 4:09:02funding and relationships that go on there because we do know um especially out west you know how many trees are in Indian country and and the important role you play in harvesting that Timber and managing it and managing it for forest fires and we need to make sure you get the financial support and opportunities because it's great economic development for the tribes too so thanks for the work that you're doing and nice to see you president mararo thank you for um you know a lot of what you've brought forward today I appreciate all of you who remind all
▶ 4:09:32of us over and over again these are not Dei issues and while that might be a big push of this Administration we just have to do everything we can in every program to make sure tribes are protect protected and that these are seen and I think you brought that up as well Austin that these are treaty and you know responsibilities that we have and these are funding obligations that we have and it's very complicated um to make sure that you know Bia you know everything at interior is the funding is getting through and the positions are there
▶ 4:10:02and we're worried about the cuts that have already been made but then you put in all these other agencies uh and I think you one of you brought up the consultation piece of this I think that's been completely lost um in this uh staff reduction and um that's just a really important essential relationship and it's an important Safeguard uh to make sure that these aren't just dumb mistakes and there's no question that there are some dumb mistakes being made in sort of across the board cuts and particularly in an agency that
▶ 4:10:32gets so little funding and we meet so little of Our obligation and every one of the people who work in these areas is vital and people have really emphasized that for us today so I can't thank you all enough for coming before us and to the whole team who do all the work so we can read all these amazing testimonies and to the chair thank you so much M Mr chairman is it possible just to tag one thing on to what she said there's an absurdity in in how things have taken
▶ 4:11:02place and unfolded that's illustrated by the national Indian gaming commission I think it was formed in 1992 uh and nigc regulates tribal governmental gaming across the country it's funded completely by tribes yeah through fee assessments the federal government doesn't fund it yet it's on the chopping block the staff is on The Chopping Block but they're but they're all funded by tribes tribal assessment so that's how absurd this is
▶ 4:11:33uh the lack of attention to detail and and paying attention to the law so um we need your help thank you I appreciate that consultation is uh a kind of loose term of art out there you know because I've had not speaking about this specifically but I've had tribes come to me and say you know the forest service the BLM or whoever EPA whatever made a decision and they met consultation uh requirement by coming in
▶ 4:12:04after a decision has been made and to telling us that's what they were going to do you know that's not consultation and we need to make sure that uh that in those areas that it's required that uh and not even in just in areas where it's required in other areas that we consult with the tribes and the impact that it's going to have on them so thank you all for your testimony for being here today uh I thank everyone for taking the time to join us we sincerely appreciate all of uh or everyone coming to testify before our subcommittee this has really been
▶ 4:12:34a as far as I'm concerned a great three days of uh tribal witness testimonies for this subcommittee uh as I said these hearings are extremely important and I appreciate the opportunity to hear from everyone uh thank you uh and uh including the members of the subcommittee uh for their time that they were here we actually had quite a few stepping in and out we had hearings going on in every committee and we're all members of several committees so they're stepping in and coming back and stuff and I do want to say one thing about one person on
▶ 4:13:04this committee that I find fascinating uh Congressman Elie from Texas when he first got on this committee I'm kind of going what is exact I mean because most of us have a reason I have a lot of you know I got 64% federal land I got Indian tribes and stuff it's from south of Dallas doesn't have an Indian tribe in his in his uh District or anything when he told me he says I want to learn and it's been good for us because he sometimes asks
▶ 4:13:34questions that we take for granted that we you know we just haven't thought about stuff and he's a fantastic member of this uh this subcommittee and I've really enjoyed having him on here and uh he came to an awful lot of these hearings and asked very good questions uh so it's uh it's this is a diverse diverse committee so I appreciate uh the time all of you took and uh look forward to working with you as we try to solve some of these problems that we all know are out there you
▶ 4:14:05with that the committee stands
▶ 4:14:42e for