[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE PRESIDENT'S
FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET REQUEST
FOR THE BUREAU OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS AND OFFICE OF
INSULAR AFFAIRS
=======================================================================
OVERSIGHT HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIAN AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
Thursday, May 25, 2023
__________
Serial No. 118-33
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
or
Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
52-440 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
BRUCE WESTERMAN, AR, Chairman
DOUG LAMBORN, CO, Vice Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Ranking Member
Doug Lamborn, CO Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan,
Tom McClintock, CA CNMI
Paul Gosar, AZ Jared Huffman, CA
Garret Graves, LA Ruben Gallego, AZ
Aumua Amata C. Radewagen, AS Joe Neguse, CO
Doug LaMalfa, CA Mike Levin, CA
Daniel Webster, FL Katie Porter, CA
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR Teresa Leger Fernandez, NM
Russ Fulcher, ID Melanie A. Stansbury, NM
Pete Stauber, MN Mary Sattler Peltola, AK
John R. Curtis, UT Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY
Tom Tiffany, WI Kevin Mullin, CA
Jerry Carl, AL Val T. Hoyle, OR
Matt Rosendale, MT Sydney Kamlager-Dove, CA
Lauren Boebert, CO Seth Magaziner, RI
Cliff Bentz, OR Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Jen Kiggans, VA Ed Case, HI
Jim Moylan, GU Debbie Dingell, MI
Wesley P. Hunt, TX Susie Lee, NV
Mike Collins, GA
Anna Paulina Luna, FL
John Duarte, CA
Harriet M. Hageman, WY
Vivian Moeglein, Staff Director
Tom Connally, Chief Counsel
Lora Snyder, Democratic Staff Director
http://naturalresources.house.gov
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIAN AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
HARRIET M. HAGEMAN, WY, Chair
JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, PR, Vice Chair
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, NM, Ranking Member
Aumua Amata C. Radewagen, AS Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan,
Doug LaMalfa, CA CNMI
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR Ruben Gallego, AZ
Jerry Carl, AL Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Jim Moylan, GU Ed Case, HI
Bruce Westerman, AR, ex officio Raul M. Grijalva, AZ, ex officio
-----------
CONTENTS
----------
Page
Hearing held on Thursday, May 25, 2023........................... 1
Statement of Members:
Hageman, Hon. Harriet M., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Wyoming....................................... 1
Leger Fernandez, Hon. Teresa, a Representative in Congress
from the State of New Mexico............................... 3
Statement of Witnesses:
Newland, Hon. Bryan, Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs,
U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC............ 5
Prepared statement of.................................... 6
Questions submitted for the record....................... 13
Cantor, Hon. Carmen, Assistant Secretary for Insular and
International Affairs, Office of Insular Affairs, U.S.
Department of the Interior, Washington, DC................. 15
Prepared statement of.................................... 17
Questions submitted for the record....................... 18
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON EXAMINING THE PRESIDENT'S FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET
REQUEST FOR THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND OFFICE OF INSULAR AFFAIRS
----------
Thursday, May 25, 2023
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs
Committee on Natural Resources
Washington, DC
----------
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:15 a.m. in
Room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Harriet M.
Hageman [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Hageman, Radewagen, LaMalfa,
Gonzalez-Colon, Carl, Moylan, Westerman; Leger Fernandez,
Sablan, and Case.
Ms. Hageman. The Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs
will come to order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
recess of the Subcommittee at any time.
The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on
examining the President's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for
the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Office of Insular Affairs.
Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at
hearings are limited to the Chairman and the Ranking Minority
Member. I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other
Members' opening statements be made part of the hearing record
if they are submitted in accordance with Committee Rule 3(o).
Without objection, so ordered.
I will now recognize myself for an opening statement.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. HARRIET M. HAGEMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING
Ms. Hageman. The Subcommittee is meeting today to conduct
oversight of the budget request for the agencies under our
jurisdiction.
As I stated in our first budget hearing, under the
Constitution, Congress has the power to tax and to spend, and
we have a responsibility to make sure that it is done wisely.
There are finite Federal resources, and agencies must be held
accountable for their spending and prioritization of programs
and policies.
Federal funding for programs and services for federally
recognized Indian tribes and U.S. Insular Affairs spans several
Federal agencies. However, the majority of that spending falls
within two Department of the Interior agencies: the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, or BIA; and the Office of Insular Affairs, or
OIA. This hearing will focus on the President's Fiscal Year
2024 budget request for BIA and OIA, along with how best to
allocate funds and what changes may need to be made.
Over the past several years, there has been a substantial
increase in Federal funding across agencies and programs,
including those that serve Native communities. This increased
spending means a higher deficit: an intense concern for many
Americans about the fiscal future facing our nation. We are at
$32 trillion in debt, and that is unsustainable.
Beginning with the BIA, this agency is charged with
honoring the United States' treaty and trust responsibilities
toward American Indians and Alaska Natives and the 574
federally recognized tribes in the United States. The agency
administers 55 million surface acres and 57 million acres of
subsurface mineral estates held in trust by the United States
for tribes and for individual American Indians and Alaska
Natives. It also provides programs for tribes that address
community services, public safety, and to encourage economic
opportunity for Native communities.
The President's budget proposes a $684 million increase for
the BIA for Fiscal Year 2024. It proposes to transfer 105(l)
leases and contract support costs to mandatory spending, which
would then bypass the appropriation process. It also proposes
to focus more resources on conservation, so-called climate
change, and energy development that is allegedly renewable, but
which can have its own profound impacts on our environment, our
wildlife, and our fisheries, not to mention the fact that such
energy resources are astronomically expensive and tend to be
viable only with substantial Federal subsidies, which increases
our cost of energy across the board, resulting in energy
poverty, including within our Native communities.
This focus on so-called climate change and alternative
energy cannot take away from the BIA's responsibility to ensure
tribes are not limited in opportunity for natural resource
development on their tribal lands, which is an issue that has
been brought to me repeatedly by numerous tribes from around
the country.
For many tribes, real property holdings are the basis for
social, cultural, and religious life, and often their single
most important economic resource. Access to resource
development cannot be pared back in the name of broadly and
nebulously-defined climate goals. History has shown that we can
balance conservation and resource development, and tribes are
actually the experts on this. They have knowledge and the
experience to make it work, and BIA should be supporting those
efforts of self-determination.
The President's Fiscal Year 2024 budget also includes a
proposed $30.5 million for tribal land consolidation without
indicating that intensive improvements have been made from the
way the previous land buyback programs have been managed.
Throwing more money at the complicated issue of land
fractionation will not get us anywhere without reconsidering
how to deal with the issue of probate and focusing resources on
how to pursue outcomes on this issue that are the very best for
our tribes.
Turning to the OIA, this is an agency charged with carrying
out responsibilities for U.S. insular areas. This includes the
U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S.
Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as
implementing the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA, for the
Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the
Republic of the Marshall Islands.
OIA's budget shows a $211 million decrease for Fiscal Year
2024. My understanding, however, is that this reflects the
expiration of the economic assistance to the Marshall Islands
and Micronesia under the current COFA, and the Fiscal Year 2024
budget does not include proposals for a future COFA that is in
the process of being renegotiated.
While it was expected that this information would be
communicated separately, I would encourage this Administration
to be more open and communicative regarding how much funding
future COFA agreements will cost, and have a discussion with
Congress about where that funding should come from, and which
department receives and administers it.
Continuing oversight of BIA and OIA to ensure they are
fulfilling their mission efficiently and effectively for the
benefit of Native communities and the insular areas is a main
priority of this Subcommittee. Today, that means having a
productive discussion about these agencies' budgets and where
resources should be allocated.
Both BIA and OIA are charged with the responsibility of
maintaining the important relationships between the U.S.
Government and the tribes and the U.S. insular areas,
respectively.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here to testify
today, and I look forward to your testimony.
The Chair now recognizes the Ranking Minority Member for
her statement.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, A REPRESENTATIVE
IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so very much, Chairwoman,
and thank you witnesses for being here.
And I do think that we are sitting at this moment on this
day, on this dais, and with these witnesses at a critical point
of how do we view the priorities regarding the budget. We must
remember that a budget is a reflection on our values, and today
we have a sharp contrast on Republicans' and Democrats' vision
of those priorities.
Republicans' priority at this moment is to create a crisis,
a needless crisis over the debt limit. They call for drastic
cuts to spending for those who most depend on our Federal
funding. It is hypocritical, I believe, to call for these
drastic cuts when it was under Republican leadership that the
bulk of this deficit was created. The Trump administration
added $8 trillion to the deficit. The Trump administration
added up to $8 trillion to the deficit.
The next largest contribution to the deficit was also under
a Republican President, and that was President Bush. These
deficits were not needed. They were not incurred to help
working Americans, but they were targeted to the wealthiest and
largest corporations among us. The Trump tax cuts alone, which
benefited the wealthiest in America, added $2 trillion to the
deficit.
Now, let's contrast that with this Administration. Under
the first 2 years, President Biden decreased, decreased the
deficit by $1.4 trillion under the first 2 fiscal years. So, we
can see that with Democrat Presidents, and when the House and
Senate are under Democrat control, we decrease the deficit,
even as we were investing in what truly needed to be done,
responding to the pandemic, making sure people had an ability
to get back to work. We have now increased employment, so it is
at projected levels from before the pandemic ever hit.
So, let's look at the budget of which this budget that you
are presenting is part of. That budget is anticipated to be
part of a plan to continue to decrease the deficit. There has
been placed by this President a budget that would reduce the
deficit by close to $4 trillion without harming the most
vulnerable among us.
I want to talk a little bit more about what the Republican
default on America plan would mean. It would lead to 1,500
fewer tribal law enforcement personnel, 500 fewer teachers and
other school staff, 25 percent less funding available for basic
education, and a delay in funding construction for the schools.
I have been to those tribally-based schools, and they need
work. Some of them look like they should be condemned. And,
sadly, many of our tribal buildings where our children learn
have been condemned.
So, I want to look at what you are proposing, which is part
of this larger budget, which would indeed bring down the
deficit. And the reason it brings down the deficit is this
Administration is willing to increase revenues. It is not just
about cutting spending; it is increasing revenues. And there
are ways to do it that are fair: a minimum tax, making sure
that everybody pays their taxes, let the IRS go after those
millionaire and billionaire tax cheats.
That is what we need to have happen, because what we have
presented here are key increases for initiatives like law
enforcement for murdered and missing Indigenous peoples;
economic development projects; Native language revitalization;
climate resilience grants, because it is not a so-called
climate crisis, we are living through that climate crisis;
forestry projects; and Indian land consolidation.
The budget also proposes $199 million for BIA construction
activities. That includes public safety facilities, as well as
irrigation and dam infrastructure.
I know that these funding increases are so needed at the
agency because one of the reasons why we don't get stuff done
fast enough, and we want you to get stuff done a lot faster, is
you need people, we need personnel.
With that, I yield back, Madam Chairwoman.
Ms. Hageman. Now, I will introduce our witnesses: Mr. Bryan
Newland, Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian
Affairs in Washington, DC; and Ms. Carmen Cantor, Assistant
Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, Office of
Insular Affairs, Washington, DC.
Let me remind the witnesses that under Committee rules,
they must limit their oral statements to 5 minutes, but their
entire statement will appear in the hearing record.
To begin your testimony, please press the talk button on
the microphone.
We use timing lights, and when you begin the light will
turn green. When you have 1 minute left, the light will turn
yellow. And at the end of 5 minutes the light will turn red,
and I will ask you to please complete your statement.
I will also allow all witnesses on the panel to testify
before Member questioning.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Newland for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. BRYAN NEWLAND, ASSISTANT SECRETARY--
INDIAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, members
of the Committee and Ranking Member. I appreciate the
opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today to present
testimony on President Biden's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request
for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior.
This budget request includes $4.7 billion in funding for
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education,
and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, as well as
programmatic functions within the Office of the Assistant
Secretary. It also includes proposed mandatory
reclassifications for contract support costs and 105(l) tribal
leases.
The total request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is $3
billion, which would include $642 million for public safety and
justice operations, an increase of $62 million. Operational
funding supports expanding tribal needs and policing,
detention, as well as tribal courts.
To strengthen tribal homelands, the budget also includes a
language proposal for the Carcieri fix, which will ensure that
all federally recognized tribes have the same ability to place
land into trust.
The BIA is also requesting $30.5 million for the Indian
Land Consolidation program to continue addressing fractionation
of Indian lands.
And the budget also includes $12 million for the creation
of a new Tribal Land and Water Conservation Fund acquisition
program for tribes.
As part of our government-wide efforts to strengthen tribal
communities, our budget includes an increase of $38 million.
This includes $79 million for social services, which will
support expanded implementation of the Indian Child Protection
and Family Violence Prevention Act.
In addition, our budget includes increases of $26 million
to expand the Tiwahe Initiative through several human services
programs, including the Housing Improvement Program.
Our budget also includes an additional $27 million
investment in Native language revitalization, which is crucial
to preserve endangered tribal languages, and has been
highlighted as a priority through the Secretary's Boarding
School Initiative.
The budget also proposes $2.8 billion in new mandatory
funding over 10 years for tribal water rights settlement
requirements, including $2.5 billion to cover the costs of
enacted and future settlements and $340 million for ongoing
costs associated with settlements that have already been
enacted and that are managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The budget also invests in infrastructure needs in Indian
Country. For example, we include an increase of $24 million for
replacement and deferred maintenance projects to address public
safety and justice facilities, particularly our BIA jail
system. The budget includes $51 million for road maintenance,
an increase of $12 million to support maintenance activities on
roads across Indian Country.
We are also seeking limited additional funding to meet our
staffing needs across Indian Affairs, including building up our
capacity through the White House Council on Native American
Affairs, which coordinates activities across all Federal
agencies, as well as addressing the growing demand on our staff
by tribal requests for 105(l) tribal leases.
The President's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for BIE
programs at the Department totals $1.6 billion. This includes
$416 million for education construction to replace and repair
school facilities and address deferred maintenance across our
BIE school system. Out of our 163 schools in the BIE system,
more than 80 are listed as in poor condition. This funding will
help ensure that all Native students have a quality learning
environment.
With respect to the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration,
we are seeking $109 million. This is actually $2.2 million
below the Fiscal Year 2023 enacted amount, which reflects a
proposed transfer of funding for probate work within the Office
of Hearings and Appeals from BTFA to BIA to address our probate
backlog.
And we also want to encourage Congress to accept the BTFA
organizational structure in the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations
bill. BTFA provides a unique Federal trust function that must
remain separate from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
We believe that this budget proposal reflects the United
States' and the President's commitment to upholding our trust
and treaty responsibilities, and will improve life for Indian
people in tribal communities across Indian Country.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I look forward to answering any
questions you and Members may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Newland follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary--Indian
Affairs, Department of the Interior
Good morning, Chair Hageman, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez and
members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify
regarding the Fiscal Year 2024 President's Budget Request for Indian
Affairs.
The President's 2024 budget for Indian Affairs is $4.7 billion--
this total includes funding for all of Indian Affairs which includes
the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE),
the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) and the Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs (AS-IA), as well as proposed
mandatory reclassifications for contract support costs and 105(l)
Tribal leases. As the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, I oversee
the program offices within the BIA, the BIE, the BTFA and additional
programmatic functions within the immediate AS-IA Office.
Recent Accomplishments
Indian Affairs is leading improvements in education, supporting
economic development, improving law enforcement programs, and helping
Tribes manage climate change through resiliency and adaptation, among
many other policy initiatives. I want to pause and reflect on our
remarkable and collective work accomplished over the past year.
Indian Affairs has expanded the use of the Buy Indian Act to bring
support to Indian Economic Enterprises. In Fiscal Year 2022, nearly
$420 million in spending went to Native-owned businesses, which
represents 72% of all of Indian Affairs' purchasing power.
We are focusing on retention and recruitment. Hiring continues to
be a challenge in technical fields, and we are looking at all levers we
have available to improve retention and recruitment. In the area of law
enforcement, the BIA Office of Justice Services team is working closely
with the Indian Affairs Office of Human Capital on several strategies
to support recruitment and retention. The foremost strategy is a pay
parity initiative which will bring BIA law enforcement pay levels in
line with other Federal law enforcement, this change would result in up
to an additional $30,000 annually for BIA law enforcement officers. We
are currently in the process of converting current staff to the new pay
levels and openings for new vacancies are being advertised at this
higher pay rate. Our team is also meeting on weekly basis to ensure the
hiring process and background checks move as quickly as possible. BIE
also continues its focus on teacher and counselor pay parity to attract
and retain key staff at all BIE-funded schools.
The Missing and Murdered Unit continues to collect and review
unsolved cases involving Missing and Murdered American Indian/Alaska
Native People; prioritize and assign cases for investigation;
coordinate investigation and search & recovery resources within Indian
Country; and liaison with Tribal, state, and Federal law enforcement
agencies on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People related issues.
Since its creation in 2021, the MMU has investigated 735 missing and
murdered persons cases, solved, or closed 264 missing persons cases,
and solved 8 murder cases.
The Tiwahe Initiative is working on expanding to new sites. Indian
Affairs worked with existing Tiwahe sites to develop a framework for
selecting new Tiwahe sites, and then conducted consultation with Tribes
on the framework. Thirty-five (35) Tribes applied for inclusion in the
Tiwahe Demonstration Project. We recently announced the selection of
two new Tiwahe sites from this process, the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes in Montana and the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.
Additionally, we provided $100,000 in one time funding to 10 other
Tribes that applied so they can implement programs that were included
in their Tiwahe proposal or to participate in the Tiwahe incubator to
perform a needs assessment and develop a Tiwahe plan.
Indian Affairs is leading the investigation into the Federal Indian
Boarding School system. Spotlighting this part of American history is
needed for Indian Country and the United States to heal and move
forward together. BTFA is the lead organization for research on this
initiative. Our initial investigation identified marked or unmarked
burial sites at approximately 53 different schools across the system.
As the investigation continues, we expect the number of identified
burial sites to increase.
Interior continues to be a government-wide leader in shaping Tribal
consultation policy and facilitating Tribal input into policy
development and program implementation. At the forefront of this effort
is the White House Council on Native American Affairs. The Council has
played a critical role in coordinating across agencies and holding
government-wide consultation to facilitate implementation of the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act and other
critical policies.
To support teachers and administrators, the Bureau of Indian
Education (BIE) is investing in BIE's Strategic Transformation of
Education Program (STEP) providing professional development, upgraded
technology, and enhancing our ability to provide culturally relevant
education across BIE. BIE is also developing a BIE Principal's
Leadership Academy to deliver professional development to school
leaders, focus on educational outcome improvements, support retention
of key administrators and develop our future leaders. Furthermore, BIE
is implementing Behavioral Health and Wellness Programs serving BIE
students, staff, and communities with mental health and wellness
support. BIE school safety and security improvements continue to be a
priority with targeted funding and hiring plans that support school
leaders. BIE is also moving forward on clean energy goals--including
Clean School Bus and School Replacement Construction initiatives that
not only reduce our carbon footprint but support economic development
and cleaner energy future for the students and communities we serve.
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Indian Affairs
The mission of the BIA is to enhance the quality of life, promote
economic opportunity, and carry out the Federal responsibility to
protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian
Tribes, and Alaska Natives. The request for BIA and the AS-IA Office is
$3.0 billion in current appropriations. Within this total, the budget
includes $431.4 million for Contract Support Costs and $82.5 million
for Payments for Tribal Leases, which are requested as current
mandatory funding to ensure we can continue to make these critical
payments and meet other trust obligations. The 2024 budget supports an
all-of government approach to addressing Federal responsibilities and
Tribal needs in Indian Country. The White House Council on Native
American Affairs, in coordination with Indian Affairs bureaus, supports
collaboration on this work across Federal agencies. We are also looking
to leverage external resources. The budget includes additional funding
to build out an Office of Strategic Partnerships which can leverage
philanthropic funding to build on Federal resources for program
delivery for Indian Country.
Operation of Indian Programs
The 2024 budget for the Operation of Indian Programs account is
$2.3 billion. The 2024 budget continues to focus on the priorities put
forward in our 2023 budget of increasing sovereignty over Tribal lands,
advancing economic opportunities, ensuring public safety, and
responding to climate change.
Protect and Support Safe Tribal Communities
BIA's Office of Justice Services (OJS) funds law enforcement,
corrections, and court services to support safe Tribal communities. The
2024 budget includes $641.8 million for Public Safety and Justice
(PS&J) operations, an increase of $62.1 million above the 2023 enacted
level. Operational funding supports the expanding Tribal needs in
policing, detention, and Tribal courts, including those resulting from
the McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court decision.
The budget includes a $33.5 million program increase to Criminal
Investigations and Police Services, specifically targeted to increase
the number of officers and investigators on the ground in Indian
Country. A program increase of $2.0 million is also requested to
enhance functions within the OJS Professional Standards Directorate,
including recruitment and retention initiatives, development and
evaluation of law enforcement policies, program reviews, and training.
The 2024 budget includes $16.5 million to address the crisis of Missing
and Murdered Indigenous People. The Missing and Murdered Unit engages
in cross-departmental and interagency collaboration to identify gaps in
information sharing and data collection to investigate these cases more
effectively.
As part of a proposed expansion to the Tiwahe Initiative, the
budget includes $1.9 million for the Office of Tribal Justice Support
to provide technical assistance to Tribes looking to develop and
operate Healing to Wellness courts. These courts serve as alternatives
to incarceration and provide a culturally appropriate forum to support
those within the criminal justice system by assisting in addressing
underlying behavioral health and substance abuse issues.
Promote Tribal Self-Determination
The 2024 budget provides $444.4 million for programs that support
Tribal government activities. The budget includes $240.8 million for
compact activities for self-governance Tribes, enabling Tribes to plan,
conduct, consolidate, and administer programs, services, functions, and
activities for Tribal citizens, according to priorities established by
their Tribal governments. The budget includes $86.2 million to support
Consolidated Tribal Government Programs for Tribes operating under P.L.
93-638 contracts, giving approximately 275 Tribes the flexibility to
combine and manage contracted programs and grants that are similar or
compatible to simplify contracting.
The Small Tribes Supplement program helps eligible Tribes expand
and sustain their Tribal governance. The 2024 budget funds the program
at $23.0 million--$16 million above 2023 enacted. This level of funding
is estimated to reach a funding threshold of $300,000 for the Tribes in
this category. The budget requests an additional $2.0 million to hire
additional Awarding Officials (AOs) and support staff at regional BIA
field sites in the regions to address the growing number of complex
contracts that involve multiple and diverse programs. The BIA has more
than 9,500 open Title I, ISDEAA contracts being administered throughout
the Nation. Increased personnel will also help ensure timely Tribal
payments, which is an area that has been and continues to be reviewed
by the Government Accountability Office.
Strengthen Tribal Communities
As part of the government-wide efforts to strengthen Tribal
communities, the budget includes $205.4 million, an increase of $38.4
million above 2023 enacted, in Human Services funding to support Indian
families. This amount includes $79.5 million for Social Services, which
will support expanded implementation of the Indian Child Protection and
Family Violence Prevention Act. The Act seeks to bolster child
protection and ensure better coordination between child welfare and
domestic violence programs in Indian Country. In addition, the budget
includes increases of $26.7 million to expand the Tiwahe Initiative
through several Human Services programs.
Indian Affairs is uniquely positioned to assist in the effort to
recover the histories of Federal Indian boarding schools. The 2024
budget includes $7.0 million for the Secretary's Federal Indian
Boarding School Initiative (BSI) and its comprehensive review of
Federal boarding school policies. This funding will continue to
implement recommendations laid out in the May 2022 Federal Boarding
School Initiative Investigative Report, including continued historical
research and documentation, and work to identify and protect the
remains of those identified.
Advance Indian Trust Ownership and Improve Indian Trust-related
Information
The 2024 budget includes a total of $201.2 million for the Trust
Real Estate Services activity, an increase of $42.2 million. Also
included is an appropriations language proposal to strengthen Tribal
homelands through the ``Carcieri Fix,'' which will ensure all
Federally-recognized Tribes may place land into trust status.
The Trust Real Estate Services activity implements strategies to
advance Indian trust ownership and improve Indian trust-related
information. The 2024 budget proposes $201.2 million for real estate
services programs and supports the processing of Indian trust-related
documents, such as land title and records and geospatial data, to
support land and water resources use, energy development, and
protection and restoration of ecosystems and important lands. An
additional $1.9 million supports the new Office of Indigenous
Communication and Technology to support Tribal efforts to increase
broadband access and licensing for broadband spectrum frequencies, and
to advance other critical infrastructure investments. The BIA requested
increase of $2 million supports additional Realty staff at Trust field
locations to manage increased infrastructure development document
processing to ensure leasing, rights-of-way, and other approval
processes are completed timely.
The budget also proposes to shift funding for the DOI Office of
Hearings and Appeals (OHA) Probate Hearings Division to BIA from the
Bureau of Trust Funds Administration. This transfer will align OHA's
Probate Hearings Division function with BIA's Probate Real Estate
function, allowing the Department to more efficiently process probate
cases to completion by improving coordination between BIA and OHA.
BIA requests $30.5 million, a $22.5 million increase above 2023
enacted, for the Indian Land Consolidation Program (ILCP), which
purchases fractional interests from willing individual Indian
landowners and conveys those interests to the Tribe with jurisdiction.
ILCP funding recognizes the ongoing need to continue to address
fractionation on Indian lands while also focusing support on Tribes'
plans for and adaptation to climate change. This program is especially
important since the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (LBBP),
established as part of the Cobell Settlement, ended in November 2022.
The ICLP has incorporated lessons learned from the LBBP and the
previous ILCP in BIA to ensure effective program implementation.
The budget includes $12.0 million for the creation of a new Tribal
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) land acquisition program.
During LWCF listening sessions held in 2022, one of the top priorities
Tribes identified was direct access to LWCF funding for conservation
and recreation LWCF projects without the existing program requirements
to partner with or apply through States. BIA will primarily provide
funding to Tribes to acquire lands or easements for the purposes of
protecting and conserving natural resource areas that may also be of
cultural importance to the Tribe or have significant recreational
benefits for Tribal communities, consistent with the purposes of LWCF
funding. BIA plans to hold formal Tribal consultation on the
establishment and eligibility criteria of the program. This new program
will further enhance the ability of Tribes to address the climate
crisis, support Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, and provide
another important tool to support Tribal co-stewardship.
Invest in Climate Resilience, Natural Resource Management and Co-
Stewardship
The budget includes $385.9 million, a $52.7 million increase over
2023 enacted, for critical trust natural resources activities and
investing in climate resilience and environmental justice.
BIA requests $48.0 million for the Tribal Climate Resilience
program. This program includes the Tribal Climate Adaptation Grant
program, which is funded at $24.8 million to better assess and meet
Tribal climate adaptation needs, and the Climate Relocation Grant
program, which is funded at $15.5 million, $6 million more than the
2023 enacted amount. The Tribal Climate Resilience program also
includes $7.8 million for Tribal youth corps programs, an important
jobs initiative to tackle climate change on the ground, ensure a living
wage, and provide skills and a pathway to employment.
With a focused investment in the deployment of clean energy in
Tribal communities, the budget includes $47.7 million for Energy and
Minerals activities. Indian Affairs views renewable energy as one of
many tools available to American Indians and Alaska Natives to create
sustainable economies on Indian land.
The 2024 budget proposes to shift the Office of Subsistence
Management (OSM) to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian
Affairs from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. OSM provides
administrative support to the Federal Subsistence Board and the Federal
Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils, in addition to supporting the
subsistence regulatory process and the Fisheries Resource Monitoring
program. Shifting OSM will maintain important expertise while
facilitating expanded Tribal co-management partnerships and the
incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into subsistence management.
The BIA budget further invests in the health and safety of Tribal
communities. BIA requests $38.8 million for the Environmental Quality
Projects program, an increase of $10.9 million over 2023 enacted, which
includes funding to continue remediation of the former Tuba City Dump
Superfund site, which continues to threaten the drinking water of the
Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe.
Advance Economic Opportunities
The 2024 budget funds the Community and Economic Development
activity at $77.6 million, a $46.4 million increase above 2023 enacted
levels, to advance economic opportunities in Indian Country. Within the
total funding provided, Job Placement and Training is funded at $15.8
million and includes an additional $2.0 million for job training
programs focusing on clean energy development that is a complementary
investment to the Tribal Electrification funding provided in the
Inflation Reduction Act. Economic Development projects are funded at
$50.7 million and include a request for an additional $27.5 million
investment in Native language revitalization, which is crucial to
preserve endangered languages, promote self-determination, and
strengthen Tribal communities. BIA also requests a $5.0 million
increase to establish an economic development component of the Tiwahe
Initiative, which will provide funding directly to Tribal governments
to design and operate comprehensive and integrated economic and
community development programs.
The 2024 budget request for the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program is
$15.5 million, which will guarantee or insure $202.3 million in loan
principal to support Indian economic development across Indian Country.
This includes an additional $1 million for loan subsidies and $0.5
million for staffing to increase technical assistance. By strengthening
the economic base of Tribal communities, the Tribal governments near
those businesses progress toward greater self-determination.
Land and Water Claims Settlements
Tribal land and water rights settlements ensure that Tribes have
access to land and water to meet domestic, economic, and cultural
needs. The 2024 budget proposes $976,000 for the Settlements account.
The 2024 funding request covers the continuing implementation of the
White Earth Reservation Land Settlement Act (Public Law 99-264) and
Truckee River Operating Agreement (Public Law 101-618). The Budget also
proposes $2.8 billion in new mandatory funding over 10 years for Tribal
water rights settlements requirements, including $2.5 billion to cover
the costs of enacted and future settlements and $340 million for
ongoing costs associated with enacted settlements managed by the Bureau
of Reclamation.
Infrastructure Investment
BIA is responsible for more than 29,000 miles of paved, gravel and
earth-surface roads and more than 1,000 bridges. Maintaining these
roads is critical to public safety, education and economic development
purposes. The FY 2024 budget includes $51.3 million for road
maintenance, an increase of $12.1 million to support pavement and
gravel maintenance, remedial work on improved earthen roads, bridge
maintenance, and snow and ice control.
The 2024 budget includes $199.8 million for Construction
activities, a $46.5 million increase from the 2023 enacted level. The
funding includes an increase of $23.8 million for replacement and
deferred maintenance projects to address needs at PS&J facilities,
particularly detention centers. It also includes a $4.6 million
increase for the irrigation rehabilitation program, and additional land
an additional $10.3 million for Dam maintenance. BIA is responsible for
141 high- or significant-hazard dams on 42 Indian reservations. The
Construction program also includes a $6.8 million increase to support
the Administration's governmentwide goal to accelerate the use of zero-
emission vehicles to enable a clean transportation future.
Capacity Building
The budget includes critical staff capacity building across our
programs. The needs range from an increase for human capital
capabilities to supporting the White House Council on Native American
Affairs in its critical role coordinating the Federal Government's
engagement with Tribal communities, to providing adequate staffing for
the 105(l) Tribal lease program which is on a path to have over 200
leases in place in FY 2023. Adequate staffing is critical to ensuring
timely and effective delivery to the Tribal nations we serve.
Bureau of Indian Education
The FY 2024 budget request for BIE programs within the Department
totals $1.6 billion. The Budget includes key investments to strengthen
BIE's autonomy as a Federal agency and improve local services for
Tribally controlled and bureau-operated schools while also advancing
equity for historically underserved Tribal communities.
Operation of Indian Education Programs
The 2024 budget provides $1.2 billion for Operation of Indian
Education Programs. The core mission of BIE is to support Bureau
Operated and Tribally Controlled schools and administer grants to
Tribal institutions of higher education.
The request includes $925.5 million for operating the entire BIE
elementary and secondary school system--169 elementary and secondary
schools, and 14 dormitories--by providing educational services to
approximately 45,000 students in 23 States. Funds support the basic and
supplemental education programs at BIE-funded schools, student
transportation, facility operations, and maintenance. The budget
advances sovereignty in education by proposing a provision allowing for
the expansion of more than one grade at BIE-funded schools with a K-2
or K-4 structure. Currently, K-4 schools are only allowed to expand by
one grade. This proposal will allow BIE to expand educational services
to communities already being served.
The 2024 request includes targeted funding to improve Indian
student academic outcomes, address maintenance needs, support expanded
preschool and Native language programs, and provide pay parity for
Tribal teachers while fully funding projected Tribal Grant Support
Costs. The Budget provides $508.7 million, a $27.0 million increase
over 2023 enacted, for Indian School Equalization Program funds to
enhance opportunities and outcomes in the classroom, provide improved
instructional services, and support increased teacher quality,
recruitment, and retention. The request level of $22.1 million,
including a $500,000 program increase, for Education Program
Enhancements supports professional development for teachers, advances
the quality of in-classroom instruction, and incorporates improved
Native language and culture programs in classrooms. Early Child and
Family Development funding of $26.1 million enables BIE to provide
preschool opportunities at BIE-funded schools.
For Facilities Operations and Maintenance, BIE requests $160
million, a $5.6 million increase over the 2023 enacted amount, and
includes investments to keep pace with operational cost increases and
support the timely maintenance and replacement of equipment at BIE
schools. The Budget also includes $22.6 million, including a $2.0
million program increase, for the Johnson-O'Malley program, which is
authorized to support the individualized educational needs of eligible
Indian students enrolled in public schools and nonsectarian private
schools.
The Budget continues to invest in activities that promote
educational self-determination for Tribal communities and includes
$98.7 million for Tribal Grant Support Costs for Tribes that choose to
operate BIE-funded schools. This level of funding supports 100 percent
of the estimated requirement. The request includes $189.6 million for
Postsecondary Programs, a $6.0 million increase over 2023 enacted. The
2024 budget continues recognition of the critical role Tribal
postsecondary institutions have in empowering Indian students and
promoting equity for Tribal communities. These institutions are on or
near reservations; they directly serve Tribal communities with
culturally relevant education and career pathways in a supportive
environment. Postsecondary education of Tribal members remains an
essential component in the economic development of many Tribes.
The proposed budget will provide $34.9 million, including a $2.0
million program increase, for BIE operated Haskell Indian Nations
University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute; $87.9 million
for grants to 29 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs); and $10.7
million for grants for two Tribal Technical Colleges, as well as $43.4
million for the Scholarships and Adult Education program to improve
educational opportunities and serve a larger population of qualified
Native American students.
Education Management
The Budget includes $79.3 million, an increase of $12.1 million
over 2023 enacted, for education management and information technology
(IT) to optimize learning opportunities for students of all ages.
Education Program Management (EPM) funding supports ongoing
improvements in high-priority functional areas, including acquisition,
school safety and security, behavioral and mental health support,
performance tracking, and technical support to schools in the field.
Other management activities include data collection, analysis, and
reporting; financial and budget functions; oversight and coordination
of major facility repairs; and management of grant applications. BIE IT
includes the Native American Student Information System, wide area
network infrastructure, and general support systems used by BIE-funded
schools.
The budget proposes $33.7 million, an increase of $5.8 million over
the 2023 enacted level, for Education IT to support the ongoing costs
of distance learning and enhanced classroom technology. BIE continues
to collaborate with Tribes and communities to alleviate ongoing strains
imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on BIE students and their families,
teachers, administrators, and other staff members in K-12 schools and
at TCUs. The 2024 Budget will enable BIE to leverage ongoing
infrastructure investments in new technology and operational
capabilities at BIE-funded schools, including the new Education
Learning Management System, by supporting comprehensive online delivery
of educational courses to students and professional development
opportunities for teachers.
EPM initiatives in 2024 include the continued implementation of a
School Operations Office of Self-Determination to develop Tribal
capacity and promote maximum Indian participation in educational
programs and services; and BIE's Social Emotional Learning project to
develop a national curriculum to support behavioral health and wellness
programs at BIE-funded schools. The funding in 2024 will also allow EPM
to calculate and report on methodologies for maximizing the benefits to
underserved communities.
Education Construction
The 2024 Budget includes $416.2 million, an increase of $148.3
million over 2023 enacted, in annual funding for Education Construction
to replace and repair school facilities and address deferred
maintenance needs at campuses across the BIE school system. This
funding includes substantial investments to address the climate crisis
with more sustainable BIE infrastructure. Whenever feasible, BIE
facilities projects incorporate techniques to reduce energy and water
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare the facilities
for the predicted effects of climate change.
The proposed $252.5 million for Replacement School Construction, a
$136.0 million increase over the 2023 enacted amount, and $23.9 million
for Replacement Facility Construction are critical to ensuring that all
Native students can develop in an environment conducive to quality
educational achievement. With the Replacement School Construction,
Replacement Facility Construction, and Great American Outdoors Act
(Public Law 116-152) funding anticipated through 2024, BIE expects to
support planning, design, and construction work at nine BIE schools;
final allocations are pending completion of the design phase and
refined cost estimates for each school. Appropriate housing is a key
element for educational staffing, especially at schools in remote
locations. An additional $139.8 million is included for other housing
and facilities repair programs, including a $9.7 million program
increase for facilities improvement and repair and a $2.5 million
increase for new/replacement employee housing.
Bureau of Trust Funds Administration
The FY 2024 budget includes $109.1 million to support BTFA's
execution of Federal trust responsibilities to American Indian and
Alaska Native Tribes, individuals, and communities. The request is $2.2
million below the FY 2023 enacted reflecting the proposed transfer of
funding supporting probate related work in the Office of Hearings and
Appeals from BTFA to BIA. The budget promotes investments in programs
to ensure the Department is meeting its financial management trust
obligations. It also includes a targeted increase for staffing needs to
improve customer service and advance the Department's Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Initiative.
I strongly encourage the Congress to accept the BTFA organizational
structure in the FY 2024 appropriations bill. BTFA provides a unique
Federal trust function that is appropriately separate from the
responsibilities of the BIA. Approving this structure will strengthen
the organization's ability to focus on its core mission
responsibilities and on additional complex and high-visibility
projects. Specifically, BTFA is leading the research effort on the
Secretary's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and has the lead
on implementing an Electronic Records Management Program for all of
Indian Affairs. In addition, improving government customer service is
one pillar of the President's Management Agenda. In that arena, BTFA is
one of four High Impact Service Providers at DOI, and works
extensively, along with other agencies, to improve services to our
beneficiaries.
Concluding Statement
This FY 2024 budget continues to support the Administration's
commitment to honor trust responsibilities to Tribes and self-
determination. The 2024 budget continues investments to empower Tribal
communities, strengthen climate resilience, improve quality of life,
create economic opportunities, increase focus on environmental quality
and justice needs in Tribal communities, and preserve and foster
cultural heritage. Interior's programs maintain strong and productive
government-to-government relationships with Tribes, helping to promote
Tribal nation building and self-determination.
______
Questions Submitted for the Record to Bryan Newland, Assistant
Secretary--Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
The Honorable Bryan Newland did not submit responses to the Committee
by the appropriate deadline for inclusion in the printed record.
Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
Question 1. This year's request for Assistant Secretary
Administrative Support is for $1.81 million, which includes support for
the Office of Self-Governance. The narrative does not include any
discussion of funding to support the Department's negotiated rulemaking
required by Section 413 of the PROGRESS for Indian Tribes Act.
1a) Please explain where the funds to support that rulemaking prior
to April 20, 2023, came from.
Question 2. The Department's authority to promulgate the negotiated
rule expired on April 21, 2023. Can you confirm whether the negotiated
rulemaking committee required by the PROGRESS Act has ceased activity
after the expiration of authority to promulgate the rule as required by
the PROGRESS Act?
2a) If you have not asked for more funding to support negotiated
rulemaking, is it the Department's position that the negotiated
rulemaking should not proceed?
2b) Can you confirm that the Department of the Interior is not
spending any previously appropriated funds on the negotiated rulemaking
process after the authority to promulgate has expired?
Question 3. Please follow up with the committee with specifics of
how much in federal funds were set aside for facility building or
renovation in Indian Country through all the supplemental funding bills
that Congress has passed since 2020, including in:
3a) the CARES Act,
3b) the American Rescue Plan and;
3c) the Inflation Reduction Act.
3d) Please include if funds were specifically set aside for
detention
3e) How much of those funds have been expended and how much is left
to spend?
Question 4. Please expand on your answer about the Bureau of Indian
Affairs plan to address the rest of the facilities that need repair or
upgrades throughout Indian Country.
Question 5. Please expand on your answer about how you are working
with tribal police departments to solve issues of retention. Is there
an area where Congress can assist, beyond providing more funds?
Question 6. Last month, the DOI Inspector General released a report
that again highlighted the long-standing health and safety issues at
detention facilities managed by three tribes in Arizona. The IG report
stated that given the seriousness of the issues found at these
facilities, they were being brought to BIA's attention before a final
draft audit report was issued on the larger performance audit of BIA
funded and/or operated detention programs.
6a) Are you aware of that report, and what specific actions are you
taking at this time to resolve those issues?
6b) What projects have specifically been completed? What is BIA's
plan to address the rest of the facilities that need repair or
upgrades?
Question 7. Please expand further on the Tribal Climate Resilience
program and answer:
7a) Why has most of the funding for this program has only been put
toward planning costs?
7b) Shouldn't the bulk of money that Congress chooses to
appropriate for this program go toward implementing plans and providing
tribal communities tools to use to address changes in their community?
Question 8. Please further expand on your answer of how the Bureau
is planning to work to reduce land fractionation, particularly
regarding probate.
8a) What program changes is the Bureau working toward that will
move toward the goal of less fractionated Indian lands?
8b) What policy changes does Congress need to implement to work
toward the goal of less fractionated Indian lands?
Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva
Question 1. BIA has been historically underfunded, does this year's
budget request adequately meet BIA's current needs? If it doesn't, can
you elaborate on how much of a gap remains?
Question 2. The ongoing debt ceiling negotiations are proposing
claw backs of unobligated pandemic relief funds, among other concerning
proposals.
2a) Can you describe what the impacts to BIE would be if Congress
decided to take away unobligated pandemic funds?
2b) In addition, how would BIE services be impacted if the agency
is forced to return to FY 2022 enacted levels, as proposed by House
Republicans?
Question 3. I've been pleased to see the growing interest in tribal
co-management in recent years. Could you update us further on the
Department's work in this space?
Question 4. This year's budget request includes increased funding
for the Tribal Climate Resilience Program and the Climate Relocation
Grant Program. Could you share the importance of these programs and how
they support tribal governments responding to climate change?
Questions Submitted by Representative Leger Fernandez
Question 1. The FY 2024 budget proposal also includes $199.8
million for various Construction activities. As we've heard time and
time again from tribal leaders, there are many existing infrastructure
issues in Indian Country. How does BIA plan to swiftly implement these
proposed funds to ensure that physical infrastructure is not a limiting
factor to tribal governments' abilities to provide services to their
communities?
Question 2. Similarly, during the oversight hearing on economic
development earlier this year, we heard about the importance of roads
for growing tribal businesses and economic opportunities. BIA has
proposed an increase of $12 million for Roads Maintenance. This builds
upon the investments made in the program under the Infrastructure,
Investment, and Job Act last Congress. Can you provide us with a status
update on the rollout of these funds and how the budget proposal will
further support the Bureau's current work?
Question 3. The budget request also includes $7 million for the
Secretary's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. This is an issue
that Committee Democrats have tracked closely and we are pleased to see
it come to fruition within the Department.
3a) Can you provide us with a status update on the implementation
of the recommendations included in the 2022 Federal Boarding School
Initiative Investigations Report?
3b) How does the budget proposal support this ongoing work?
Question 4. As you know well, Indian Country maintains complex
criminal jurisdictions across tribal, state, and federal entities. BIA
plays a critical role in providing law enforcement services and
resources to tribes, which is something that we support here in
Congress.
4a) That said, how does this year's budget proposal prioritize law
enforcement and public safety for tribal communities?
4b) What more can Congress do to help the Bureau support tribal
governments?
Question 5. This year's budget request includes a proposal to shift
funding for the Office of Hearings and Appeals Probate Hearings
Division from the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) to BIA.
Would you elaborate on this proposed funding shift and what it will
improve within the agency's work in this area?
Questions Submitted by Representative Carl
Question 1. It is my understanding the use of land purchased using
this money must be consistent with the rules of the Land and Water
Conservation Fund. What happens if a hundred years from now a Tribal
Council wants to use the land in a different way to benefit their
community?
______
Ms. Hageman. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Cantor for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. CARMEN CANTOR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR
INSULAR AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, OFFICE OF INSULAR AFFAIRS,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Cantor. Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the
Committee on Natural Resources. Thank you for the opportunity
to testify on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for the
Office of Insular Affairs, or OIA.
OIA is responsible for administering the Federal
Government's relationship with the territories of American
Samoa; the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, CNMI;
Guam; and the United States Virgin Islands, USVI. OIA also
administers the financial assistance provided to the Freely
Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, FSM;
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, RMI; and the Republic of
Palau under the Compacts of Free Association.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2024 Insular Affairs budget totals
$536.6 million, a decrease of $211.5 million from the 2023
enacted appropriation. This decrease is almost entirely
attributed to the expiration of certain financial provisions of
the 2003 Compacts of Free Association.
The request for current appropriations for 2024 is $122.3
million. This amount is a decrease of $6.6 million from the
2023 enacted appropriation. Included in this amount in this
current appropriation request are $94.5 million in
discretionary funding and $27.7 million in mandatory funding.
The President's 2024 budget request continues support for
core OIA programs within the assistance to territories
appropriation. These programs provide the territories with
much-needed funding for the delivery of public services, such
as health and education, infrastructure investments, and
technical assistance.
In addition to these important activities, the 2024 budget
also seeks to advance energy independence of the insular areas
by providing $15.5 million to the Energizing Insular
Communities Program. The Administration is committed to energy
projects that promote energy security, as well as projects that
support a clean energy future for the insular areas through
investments in renewable energy development.
The U.S. territories and Freely Associated States face
significant challenges related to infrastructure and
resiliency. The 2024 request calls for a $4 million increase
dedicated to infrastructure investments in the territories
through the Capital Improvement Project Program of $31.7
million, a program which has had level funding of $27.7 million
annually since 1996.
Sea level rise and the increasing severity of weather
events compound infrastructure challenges and require OIA
programs to help the insular areas adapt, become more
resilient, and thrive. The President's budget supports these
priorities for the insular areas by providing technical
expertise and investments aimed to fortify and strengthen both
their public infrastructure and natural resources. OIA's
technical assistance energizing insular communities' coral reef
and natural resources, Capital Improvement Project Grants, and
maintenance assistance programs all contribute to strengthening
island communities.
The Department of the Interior looks forward to working
with Congress on the Compact Impact Fairness Act, as introduced
in the 118th Congress. The Administration supports allowing
compact migrants to become eligible for key Federal programs
while living in the United States as a long-term solution to
the financial impacts of compact migrants on U.S., state, and
territorial governments.
For 2024, permanent mandatory commitments include an
estimated $380 million for fiscal payments to Guam and the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Guam is estimated to receive $80 million in
income tax payments attributable to military and Federal
personnel stationed in Guam, and the Virgin Islands is
estimated to collect around $300 million for excise taxes paid
to the Federal Government on rum produced in the Virgin
Islands.
Permanent mandatory funding also includes $34.3 million
provided to the Republic of the Marshall Islands under the
Military Use and Operating Rights Agreement, which is a
subsidiary agreement under the Compacts of Free Association.
All other permanent mandatory funding under the 2003 COFA
expires in 2023. Negotiations are ongoing related to the
renewal of our Compacts of Free Association relationships in
Fiscal Year 2024 and beyond.
The budget request includes language that demonstrates the
Administration's support for funding the renewal of our Compact
of Free Association relationships with FSM, RMI, and Palau. The
2024 budget request seeks $7.1 billion in economic assistance
over 20 years to be provided through a mandatory appropriation
at the Department of State, with language calling for continued
implementation of the compacts at the Department of the
Interior. This total includes $6.5 billion for direct economic
assistance and $634 million for continued U.S. postal services
to the Freely Associated States.
The United States remains committed to its long-standing
partnerships with the governments and the people of the Freely
Associated States as we work together to promote a free and
open Indo-Pacific.
Madam Chair, it is a pleasure to appear before the
Subcommittee to discuss the 2024 budget request for the Office
of Insular Affairs. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cantor follows:]
Prepared Statement of Carmen G. Cantor, Assistant Secretary--Insular
and International Affairs Department of the Interior
Madam Chair and members of the Committee on Natural Resources,
thank you for the opportunity to testify on the fiscal year 2024 budget
request for the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA). OIA is responsible for
administering the Federal government's relationship with the
territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands (CNMI), Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). OIA
also administers the financial assistance provided to the freely
associated states (FAS) of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM),
the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau
under the Compacts of Free Association.
Overview of the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request
The proposed fiscal year 2024 Insular Affairs budget totals $536.6
million, a decrease of $211.5 million from the 2023 enacted
appropriation. This decrease is almost entirely attributed to the
expiration of certain financial provisions of the 2003 Compacts of Free
Association.
Current Request
The request for current appropriations for 2024 is $122.3 million.
This amount is a decrease of $6.6 million from the 2023 enacted
appropriation. Included in this current appropriation request are $94.5
million in discretionary funding and $27.7 million in mandatory
funding.
The President's 2024 Budget request continues support for core OIA
programs within the Assistance to Territories appropriation. These
programs provide the territories with much needed funding for the
delivery of public services such as health and education,
infrastructure investments, and technical assistance.
In addition to these important activities, the 2024 Budget also
seeks to advance energy independence of the insular areas by providing
$15.5 million to the Energizing Insular Communities program. The
Administration is committed to energy projects that promote energy
security as well as projects that support a clean energy future for the
insular areas through investments in renewable energy development.
The U.S. territories and freely associated states face significant
challenges related to infrastructure and resiliency. The 2024 request
calls for a $4 million increase dedicated to infrastructure investments
in the territories through the Capital Improvement Project program
($31.7 million), a program which has had level funding of $27.7 million
annually since 1996. Sea-level rise and the increasing severity of
weather events compound infrastructure challenges and require OIA
programs to help the insular areas adapt, become more resilient, and
thrive.
The President's Budget supports these priorities for the insular
areas by providing technical expertise and investments aimed to fortify
and strengthen both their public infrastructure and natural resources.
OIA's Technical Assistance ($23.3 million), Energizing Insular
Communities ($15.5 million), Coral Reef and Natural Resources ($3.5
million), Capital Improvement Project Grants ($31.7 million) and
Maintenance Assistance programs ($4.4 million) all contribute to
strengthen island communities.
The Department of the Interior looks forward to working with
Congress on the Compact Impact Fairness Act (S. 792/H.R. 1571) as
introduced in the 118th Congress. The Biden-Harris Administration
supports allowing Compact migrants to become eligible for key Federal
programs while living in the United States, as a long-term solution to
the financial impacts of Compact migrants on U.S. State and territorial
governments.
Fiscal Payments and the Compacts of Free Association
For 2024, permanent mandatory commitments include an estimated $380
million for fiscal payments to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands; Guam
is estimated to receive $80 million in income tax payments attributable
to military and Federal personnel stationed in Guam, and the Virgin
Islands is estimated to collect around $300 million for excise taxes
paid to the Federal government on rum produced in the Virgin Islands.
Permanent mandatory funding also includes $34.3 million provided to
the Republic of the Marshall Islands under the Military Use and
Operating Rights Agreement, which is a subsidiary agreement under the
Compacts of Free Association. All other permanent mandatory funding
under the 2003 Compacts of Free Association expires in 2023.
Negotiations are ongoing related to the renewal of our Compacts of Free
Association relationships in fiscal year 2024 and beyond.
Compact of Free Association. The budget request includes language
that demonstrates the Administration's support for funding the renewal
of our Compact of Free Association relationships with the Federated
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the
Republic of Palau. The 2024 President's Budget request seeks $7.1
billion in economic assistance over 20 years to be provided through a
mandatory appropriation at the Department of State, with language
calling for continued implementation of the Compacts at the Department
of the Interior. This total includes $6.5 billion for direct economic
assistance and $634 million for continued U.S. Postal Services to the
FAS. The United States remains committed to its long-standing
partnerships with the governments and the people of the freely
associated states as we work together to promote a free and open Indo-
Pacific.
Madam Chair, it is a pleasure to appear before your subcommittee to
discuss the 2024 budget request for the Office of Insular Affairs.
______
Questions Submitted for the Record to Carmen Cantor, Assistant
Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, Office of Insular
Affairs
The Honorable Carmen Cantor did not submit responses to the Committee
by the appropriate deadline for inclusion in the printed record.
Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
Question 1. Following up on your response to the question on grant
double-dipping, can you provide specific details on what mechanisms are
in place to prevent overlapping grant payments and confirm that
spending is fiscally responsible?
Question 2. The FY 2024 OIA budget continues to promote taxpayer
money for renewable energy only. The Administration is, again, flat out
ignoring an all-of-the-above energy strategy. Will you commit to
addressing that concern and expand support for access to all reliable
energy options?
Question 3. The U.S. and the Freely Associated States currently are
negotiating the renewal of the Compacts of Freely Association (COFA).
The decrease in the OIA FY 2024 budget reflects the expiration of the
current COFA agreements but does not include any future COFA spending
under the new Compacts. What changes in COFA spending are you
expecting, given the amounts provided in the MOU's with FSM, Palau, and
RMI that were signed earlier this year?
Question 4. Earlier this month, OIA issued a press release
announcing Administration support for the Compact Impact Fairness Act
(CIFA). The press release stated that the 94,000 FAS citizens who
qualify to be counted for purposes of allocating the current Compact
Impact grant program are living in states and territories, with more
than 50 percent living in the continental U.S. and that 43 percent are
now U.S. citizens. It is not clear how the 43 percent of your 94,000,
who are now U.S. citizens qualified as non-immigrants under the
expiring Compact Impact program, but isn't it true that the CIFA bill
if approved will not apply 43 percent of that population of 94,000
persons of FAS heritage who are already U.S. citizens and already
eligible for all CIFA programs if otherwise qualified?
Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva
Question 1. How many employee vacancies does the Office of Insular
Affairs currently have?
Question 2. What are areas of priority related to staffing for the
Office of Insular Affairs?
Question 3. What additional resources could the Office of Insular
Affairs utilize to effectively assist the U.S. Territories within its
jurisdiction with preparing timely and adequate financial reports?
Question 4. Several territories have had long-standing challenges
in producing timely and reliable financial data. Given the importance
of this data to accurately illustrating the current financial and
economic conditions of the territories, how can Interior assist the
territories to resolve this persistent challenge?
Question 5. The two most recent single audit reports indicate a
dramatic increase in American Samoa's liabilities. One explanation
attributed to this increase is a rise in bank deposits to the
Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS), a commercial bank owned by
the American Samoa Government which started in 2017. The publicly-owned
status of the TBAS has also prevented its deposits from being insured
by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). What is the reason
for keeping the bank structured as American Samoa Government-owned and
what risks does this pose to the fiscal health of the territorial
government?
Questions Submitted by Representative Case
Question 1. The Biden administration recently signed updated
Compacts of Free Association agreements with the Federated States of
Micronesia and the Republic of Palau and continues to negotiate an
updated Compact with the Republic of the Marshall Islands. I look
forward to our Committee's consideration of those proposed agreements,
but want to underscore in no uncertain terms the necessity of ensuring
that the financial costs to U.S. jurisdictions of hosting Compact
migrants is properly and fully borne by the federal government. The
proposed Compact Impact Fairness Act (CIFA), introduced in both the
House and the Senate, would go a long way toward doing so by extending
eligibility for certain key federal benefits to citizens of the Freely
Associated States living in the United States. I appreciate Biden
administration's expressed support for CIFA, but more is needed to
assure that CIFA is passed upon and as a condition of Congress'
approval of the Compacts. Will the administration include CIFA as an
integral and non-severable part of the proposed renewed Compacts of
Free Association when it transmits them to Congress?
Question 2. As one aspect of reimbursing Compact-affected
jurisdictions for Compact resident services, Congress has directed
Compact Impact Aid, both mandatory and discretionary, to some affected
jurisdictions. However, that aid currently expires at the end of Fiscal
Year 2023. If Congress is unable to approve the updated Compacts
including CIFA by the beginning of Fiscal Year 2024, will the Biden
administration support a temporary extension of Fiscal Year 2023
Compact impact funding levels, both mandatory and discretionary, to
prevent any gaps in funding unless and until the Compacts and CIFA are
approved and effective?
______
Ms. Hageman. Thank you. And we thank both of the witnesses
for your testimony and the information you provided.
The Chair will now recognize Members for 5 minutes for
questions, beginning with me.
The Department of the Interior recently proposed new land-
to-trust regulations and tribal regulations just as recently as
December 2022. That comment period ended on March 1, 2023. The
Committee has heard from several tribes and stakeholders that
they wanted additional time to comment on these regulations,
and that more time to provide comments would be beneficial.
Have you heard the same concerns from tribes and stakeholders
regarding these new regulations?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have not heard that
from any tribes that I am aware of. We did get several requests
from members of the public to extend the comment period, but we
did not extend beyond what we had already provided in the
notice.
Ms. Hageman. This is a pretty complicated area, isn't it?
Mr. Newland. The land-into-trust process?
Ms. Hageman. Yes.
Mr. Newland. It can be.
Ms. Hageman. OK. Would you consider extending the comment
period so that tribes and members of the public can fully
participate in this rulemaking?
Mr. Newland. Madam Chair, we have received hundreds of
comments on these proposed regulations, and believe that we
have met our commitment under the law, and we intend to proceed
with the rulemaking.
Ms. Hageman. OK. Mr. Newland, when was the last time there
was a complete audit of the BIA?
Mr. Newland. I don't have that answer for you. I would have
to follow up, ma'am.
Ms. Hageman. OK. Ms. Cantor, the Department of the Interior
has received $6.6 billion in funding from the Inflation
Reduction Act, well, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, or
IRA. The Committee is concerned that specific IRA programs
addressing climate change overlap with other existing non-IRA
programs. It looks like grant awardees could potentially
qualify for multiple grants for the same project, creating the
risk of double dipping and wasteful spending.
What measures are in place to prevent multiple grants from
being awarded for the same project, both before the grant is
awarded and then through oversight while the grant funds are
being expended?
Ms. Cantor. Madam Chair, we have a very competitive
process, and a process that requires assessments of all these
requests that we receive. To my knowledge, we don't have any
projects that have been submitted twice and have received
funding more than once. I will go back and check, but my
understanding is that, because of the process, the fool-proof
process that we have, that is not the case.
Ms. Hageman. Is there a checklist or some other mechanism
by which OIA staff verifies that there is no wasteful
duplication?
Ms. Cantor. My understanding is that we have checklists
that we follow.
Ms. Hageman. Who, ultimately, at OIA is accountable for
preventing waste, fraud, and abuse in terms of the money that
you are appropriated for these kinds of programs?
Ms. Cantor. Madam Chair, we all follow all the rules, and I
am responsible for making sure that my staff follows all the
rules and procedures.
Ms. Hageman. OK. Mr. Newland, just a couple more questions.
I wanted to ask about the Indian Land Consolidation Program
in the budget request for purchasing highly fractionalized
land. I have here that the Department testified back in 2017
that the amount of funds allocated to the land buyback program
resulting from the Cobell settlement did very little to reduce
Indian land fractionalization. Why does the Department think
that another $22.5 million will be beneficial to consolidate
fractionated Indian land when the Department testified just a
few years ago that funds allocated under the Cobell settlement
did very little to reduce this problem?
Mr. Newland. Madam Chair, I disagree with that assessment
from that testimony. Through the Cobell settlement we were able
to consolidate more than 100,000 fractionated parcels, with 3
million equivalent acres of land returned to tribal trust
status.
The request is intended because, as you noted in your
opening comment, probate is an issue, and we are also
attempting to address that through this budget request with the
transfer of some of the probate functions over to a different
part of the Office of Hearings and Appeals. But if we don't
continue these investments, land will go out of trust through
the fractionation process, and by 2038 more land will be
fractionated in Indian Country than when we started the Cobell
settlement.
Ms. Hageman. OK. Just very quickly, this year's request for
Assistant Secretary administrative support is for $1.81
million, which includes support for the Office of Self-
Governance. Is that correct?
Mr. Newland. I believe so, Madam Chair, yes.
Ms. Hageman. OK. But the narrative doesn't include any
discussion of funding to support the Department's negotiated
rulemaking required by section 413 of the PROGRESS for Indian
Tribes Act. Can you explain where the funds to support that
rulemaking prior to April 20, 2023 came from?
Very quickly, because I am out of time.
Mr. Newland. I would have to follow up with you, Madam
Chair. I would be happy to do that.
Ms. Hageman. All right. We appreciate that, thank you.
I now recognize the Ranking Member.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you so very much, Madam Chair.
I want to talk a little bit about the version of the budget
you have proposed, which is part of the larger budget intended
just to reduce the deficit by about $3 trillion over the 10-
year period, and then what it would mean if we actually had the
cuts that are proposed in the Act that was passed.
When we look at that, if you hold the defense budget
harmless, that means the rest of the agencies have to carry a
larger burden, which is about 22 percent. It goes higher
depending on which agency might not suffer any cuts. What does
a 22 percent cut from Fiscal Year 2022 levels look like at the
BIA? And if you could, tell me what it might look like on the
ground.
We know we have a lot of issues around murdered and missing
Indigenous women. We know there is a crisis of law enforcement
in Indian Country that we simply do not have enough law
enforcement personnel on the ground, in the cars traveling huge
reservations. Can you describe a little bit of what that looks
like if we had that kind of cut?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Ranking Member. At 22 percent, the
funding cut on Indian Affairs on its face would be bad. And
when you look deeper into the numbers, it gets even worse, and
I will explain why very briefly.
At those funding levels, we are talking about hundreds of
police officers taken off the street in tribal communities
across the country at a time when we know, through government-
commissioned reports, that there is a $2 billion need for
public safety and justice program funding across Indian
Country. So, we would actually widen that gap.
We also have 80 schools in our BIE system that are listed
in poor condition that need to be replaced. At our current
pace, it will take us several decades to complete replacement
of these schools. So, widening that gap would string that out,
as well, and also affect the maintenance of those facilities.
This would also reduce our ability to replace jails, which
I know we have discussed a lot, and we are working to make sure
that our jail facilities are up to par to meet our obligations
to people in the jails. But that is just on the surface.
Behind that, we have also seen a growing demand for 105(l)
tribal leases. Five years ago, there were no 105(l) leases that
we funded through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And this year,
we are on pace for 300. Those are obligated, those are mandated
by Public Law 638, that we provide funding for that. So, as the
demand for 105(l) leases increases, that will also put pressure
on our program dollars from the other end of the spectrum. So,
you would return us to Fiscal Year 2022 levels, and then the
program dollars would be squeezed by the 105(l) leases. And
that is really going to affect our ability to deliver those
core trust services that we are required to provide across
Indian Country.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. And I think that this touches on a
really important piece, is that we have encouraged through the
638 contracts or compacting for tribes to actually run their
own programs. And what I have seen across Indian Country, is
that those programs are often more culturally competent to the
precise location, that there is a lot of satisfaction at the
tribal level to how they are running their programs, and that
if we start cutting back, we are actually interfering with that
process of having those who are closest to their members to be
actually running the programs that serve them. Is that correct?
Mr. Newland. Yes.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. And I want to just touch a bit more
about what happens, Honorable Cantor, with regards to what some
of these kinds of cuts would have on our insular areas, on when
we are dealing with storms. There is a typhoon right now, let's
talk about what that means. And you actually don't have much
time, so I might want you to do it in written form. But real
quickly, does it harm our ability to respond to the needs of
the people in the islands?
Ms. Cantor. Absolutely. In any reduction scenario, a
reduced OIA budget reduces support to the jurisdictions. And
just to give you one quick example, a 1 percent cut translates
to mostly about a $1 million decrease in the funding that we
provide to the jurisdictions. So, yes.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. I yield back.
Ms. Hageman. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Mrs.
Radewagen for 5 minutes of questions.
Mrs. Radewagen. Talofa lava. Thank you, Chairman Hageman
and Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, for holding this hearing.
I would like to first send my thoughts and prayers to those
recovering or harmed by the devastating super typhoon that just
hit Guam and the CNMI. I also appreciate the Administration's
rapid emergency declaration.
I want to thank the witnesses for their testimony.
I certainly support the critical missions the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and Insular Affairs serve, and they are missions
of mercy. As Scripture says, ``In His law the islands will put
their hope.'' That is Isaiah 42. And the people in American
Samoa truly hope for oversight, accountability, and
transparency from OIA. They want their Federal dollars spent
wisely, not wasted.
My territorial colleagues and I were successful in getting
the Treasury Department to permit the use of hundreds of
millions of dollars of ARP funds for much-needed hospital and
other infrastructure improvements. Accordingly, it is essential
OIA ensures proper use of these funds for the hospital,
community college, our courts, and our education department, as
these are the key pillars of our society that Congress
entrusted to OIA specifically to oversee.
Just yesterday, Madam Secretary, I had a very productive
meeting with your new director of OIA, Mr. John Brewer of the
Senior Executive Service, and I appreciate the rapid and
constructive engagement of all the OIA staff.
Finally, I want to congratulate your OIA COFA team and
special negotiator, Ambassador Yun, on the successful signing
of the recent compact renewals with the Republic of Palau and
the Federated States of Micronesia. I look forward to passing
these compacts in Congress over the coming months, and
hopefully another one for the Marshall Islands, too. These
agreements are crucial for the national security of the United
States, as the Pacific territories and FAS are on the front
lines once again in the battle for freedom.
Madam Secretary, I co-sponsored Representative Case's CIFA
bill, and I want to thank him for his leadership on this, to
make FAS citizens in the United States eligible for essential
Federal social safety benefits. What else can be done to
address the special costs and needs of the Pacific territories
in this regard, so Congress can further help mitigate the local
impact of these compact agreements?
Ms. Cantor. Talofa, Congresswoman Radewagen, great to see
you.
As you mentioned, the Administration is supporting the
Compact Impact Fairness Act, which Congressman Case introduced
in the House. This bill is going to allow the compact migrants
to become eligible to key Federal programs while residing in
the United States, and is actually a long-term solution to the
financial impacts of compact migrants on state and territorial
governments.
As you know, not all compact migrants are just going to
Guam and Hawaii. They are found all over the United States: 50
percent of the 94,000 compact migrants are now all over the
United States.
What I suggested to Governor Guerrero when I spoke to her
about this a few weeks ago is that, in addition to CIFA, which
we strongly support, OIA will be happy to implement any
supplemental grants that members of the territories advocate
here in Congress. So, in addition to CIFA, that is the other
alternative to continue to provide supplemental grants if the
Congress approves it. OIA will be more than ready to implement
those.
Mrs. Radewagen. Secretary Cantor, I understand the American
Samoan desk officer position at OIA is in transition, and I
trust your office is backstopping appropriately. But is there
any update or timetable for our local government officials to
be aware of for contact purposes?
Ms. Cantor. Congresswoman, we have a field rep in American
Samoa, Ms. Lydia, and we also have a number of staff members
here in Washington, DC that work on all the territories.
Since I arrived in OIA last year, I have been working on an
assessment of our resources. I cannot give you a timetable
right now, but we are working on it.
Mrs. Radewagen. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I yield back.
Ms. Hageman. Thank you. The Chair will now recognize Mr.
Sablan for 5 minutes for questions.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning to our
witnesses. Welcome.
Madam Secretary Cantor, thank you very much for the recent
workshop conference you held for insular area officials to come
together and get updated on potential programs coming that
should be very helpful. We always have these things when there
are big programs involved, but this at the start was very
helpful.
I appreciate including the proposed increases for CIP,
which the last increase was in 1993, I think, or TAP money, and
level funding for TAP, and the empowering energy assistance,
because as we move forward in the next year, I can expect about
13,000 families in the Northern Marianas who get nutrition
assistance, and the roughly 16,000 people on Medicaid will face
a mountain of paperwork just to keep their benefits.
The 3,400-plus people in the Marianas below the poverty
level will shoulder much of the burden of the broad budget
cuts, and threatening even veterans, about 700 veterans in the
Marianas, threatening their care, costs delayed, and missed
appointments, particularly those who have to leave to go off
island for their specialized care. And, of course, 13,000 K-to-
12 students. It is unfortunate. So, we need to keep aware of
this, abreast of this, Secretary also, and make sure we keep
the island governments, except Puerto Rico, I think, but the
island governments informed.
Speaking about the 13,000 K-to-12 students, Secretary
Newland, I have been in the Ed and Labor Committee for almost
the entire time I was here. And I have had this GAO report. We
have had testimonies on the dilapidated state of Native
American Indian schools throughout the country. We are just
trying to get over, and trying to work out, and hopefully find
peace as a result of the students who were forced to be re-
educated, and now we have this dilapidated building. Some of
them have no heat in the winter. Students have to wear heavy
clothes just to be in school.
But, hopefully, the money you are asking for will help your
agency, your Department work through this so that our students,
the only difference is they are Native American students, will
get the same education that students outside the tribal areas
get. So, I will support your moves also.
And Secretary Cantor, the Compact of Free Association,
where Envoy Yun is now working on the Republic of the
Marshalls. And, hopefully, once there is more clarity on these
things, we would certainly like to receive some briefing
because, from what I understand, Congress is going to probably
break every rule it has to pass the Compact of Free
Association, these three. And we are going to have to get it
done, because it is important to us more than it is to them,
because they can walk away from this, but we can't. It is in
our interest.
So, thank you, and have a good weekend. I yield, Madam
Chair.
Ms. Hageman. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Mr.
LaMalfa for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. LaMalfa. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and a question for
Assistant Secretary Newland.
As you know, and you were able to touch on in your initial
comments, we have this seemingly unreported, quiet pandemic of
missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and I want to
give you a chance to speak a little more about that.
But has collaboration with the DOJ across agencies and
other agencies, has that worked very well so far in improving
the conditions? Are there any barriers to having full
collaboration and more success that you are aware of?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Congressman. Good morning. It is
good to see you.
Mr. LaMalfa. It is good to see you, too.
Mr. Newland. We are getting better at coordinating with the
Department of Justice, both at the U.S. attorney level and with
the FBI, on the investigative phase, as well as on the
prosecution phase. We have a new MOU between the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and the FBI on how we are going to coordinate.
That is the first time we have updated that in over three
decades. And our staffs meet weekly, and we meet at my level
monthly with counterparts from the Department of Justice to
address these issues.
Mr. LaMalfa. Is there anything still that is standing in
your way of being successful with the flow of information? Is
there anything that is being held back that we need to be more
aware of or help push on a little bit to make sure that all
information is being shared as appropriate?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Congressman. I don't have anything
specific for you this morning.
I will add that it is no surprise to anyone in this room
that coordination amongst Federal agencies is always a
challenge. And we are doing better than when we started, and I
feel good about the trajectory. But I would always be happy to
work with you and members of the Subcommittee on that.
Mr. LaMalfa. Well, you keep us informed, please, on if you
feel there is a place that needs improvement, or needs a push
from us, or even a funding issue in the area and such. OK?
Mr. Newland. Yes, thank you.
Mr. LaMalfa. All right, thank you.
Assistant Secretary Cantor, I want to shift to the
Hurricane Maria situation in Puerto Rico in regard to FEMA and
FEMA dollars that were sent there to help in that situation,
post-hurricane.
We had a Homeland Security report that says FEMA didn't
properly manage approximately $65 million intended for disaster
relief for Puerto Rico. What are you aware of that the
Administration is doing to improve that, and address this fraud
and mismanagement that we are seeing happening in Puerto Rico
with FEMA?
Ms. Cantor. Congressman, OIA doesn't provide support
services to Puerto Rico, but we work closely with the
interagency. This is a question that I could take back and work
with FEMA. We do work with FEMA on anything related to the
other territories: Guam, CNMI, the Virgin Islands, and American
Samoa. But not Puerto Rico.
Mr. LaMalfa. We had last year in a T&I hearing that the GAO
testified that only 19 percent at that point of the relief
money that was allocated had actually been spent. Are there
plans to move those dollars sooner?
And a follow-up on that would be, I am getting feedback
from vendors down there that are doing the work in hurricane
relief and clean-up and rebuild that they are not getting paid
for more than just a normal amount of time. But over a year in
some cases that they are not getting paid for their work.
Ms. Cantor. Sir, once again, I will take that question back
and see how we can get you an answer. But this is not an area
that my office oversees.
Mr. LaMalfa. Yes.
Ms. Cantor. But we will be happy to work with the
interagency.
Mr. LaMalfa. OK. So, that is really two questions, as at
that point there was only 19 percent of relief money that had
gone out, and then what do we expect the performance of that to
be, and then vendors getting paid.
OK, one more. Mr. Newland, on law enforcement officers on
Indian Country, there is a $33 million request to increase
that. How are we doing on helping get more law enforcement for
tribes on their tribal lands?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Congressman. I see my time is out,
so I am happy to answer if permitted.
Ms. Hageman. Quickly.
Mr. Newland. Yes. This is an area where I am actually very
proud of the improvement we have made. We have cut our
attrition rate of law enforcement officers in the BIA through a
pay parity initiative, and we are also reducing our vacancy
rate by increasing the hiring within the BIA. And we are also
working with Members of Congress in both parties and both
Houses to address some of the other structural issues to help
tribes with recruitment and retention.
Mr. LaMalfa. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Hageman. The Chair now recognizes Mr. Moylan for 5
minutes of questions.
Mr. Moylan. Thank you, Madam Chair. A question for
Assistant Secretary Cantor. Nice to see you.
Assistant Secretary, as you are aware, Guam is only now
emerging from Typhoon Mawar, which has ravaged the island. As
we wait to see the full scope of the damage, I trust that your
office will have a distinct role in the recovery efforts.
In your testimony, you state that increasing severity of
weather events compound infrastructure challenges and require
the OIA programs to help the insular areas adapt, become more
resilient, and thrive. Can you please elaborate on what efforts
will emerge to help Guam build a more storm-resilient
community?
Ms. Cantor. Good to see you, Congressman. And first of all,
our hearts and prayers are going to the people of Guam and CNMI
during this difficult time with Super Typhoon Mawar.
I just wanted to mention that a few days ago I did speak
with Governor Guerrero right before the storm hit, and I
assured her that we would do everything that we could do in OIA
to help the people of Guam, including that we are looking at
potentially reprogramming funds that could be used for help in
Guam.
We also have a field representative in Guam who is working
very closely with the Government of Guam. And here in
Washington, DC, we have members of the Department that are
working directly with FEMA to ensure that Guam gets the
assistance that they need, especially after this devastating
storm.
I saw videos from the hospital and the airport, and they
were really hard to watch, the intensity of the storm. So,
again, we will do everything that we can to help Guam through
this challenging time.
Mr. Moylan. Thank you, Assistant Secretary. Another
question now, moving on to compact impact funds. Ms. Cantor,
compact impact funding is a crucial source of funding for the
Government of Guam, which helps mitigate the costs associated
with hosting COFA migrant communities. As of now, I am working
to ensure that there is not a gap in the compact impact funding
for 2024.
Although the Biden administration has been vocal on the
question of allowing COFA migrants to benefit from Federal
programs while living in the United States, can you speak to
the importance of maintaining compact impact funds for host
jurisdictions?
Ms. Cantor. Congressman, the compact impact funding was
something that Congress in 2003 determined that we were going
to get funding for 20 years. And as you know, 2023 is when it
sunsets.
As such, I mentioned earlier that there are 94,000 compact
migrants in the United States right now, and 50 percent of them
are in the mainland United States. And because of that, the
Administration is supporting the Compact Impact Fairness Act,
which will help the migrants, no matter where they are, to
receive benefits. And this is a long-term solution with no
sunset clause. The Department is very committed to working with
Congress to see the intent of that legislation is achieved.
I also mentioned to Governor Guerrero, when I spoke to her
about this topic a few weeks ago, that if you and her work
closely with Congress on potentially acquiring some
supplemental grants, OIA will be more than happy to help
implementing those grants in Guam.
Mr. Moylan. OK. I understand your point. I still disagree.
It is important that the hosting states and territories
continue, because they will continue also to migrate through
the hosting states and territories, especially the most
dominant being Hawaii and Guam, and the Mariana Islands, as
well. But I understand, and the fight will continue on that.
OK, another question here, Ms. Cantor. As OIA works to
maintain partnership with the compact states, can you please
speak to some of the challenges which exist at the level of
subnational diplomacy?
Namely, can you speak to how your office has responded to
concerns as those raised by President Panuelo and the Federated
States of Micronesia which relate to Chinese influence?
Ms. Cantor. Yes, Congressman. Having served in Micronesia
for 2\1/2\ years, I am very fully aware of the challenges with
the PRC, which is mainly what President Panuelo addressed in
his letter a couple of months ago.
Our office supports the compact states through a series of
grants and initiatives that help keep our national security.
So, again, we are looking for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and
we are contributing to that.
Mr. Moylan. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Moylan, and
thank you, the witnesses, for coming here. I am so glad to see
you, Ms. Cantor. I will recognize myself for 5 minutes.
Assistant Secretary, the United States and the Freely
Associated States currently are negotiating renewal of the
Compacts of Free Association. The decrease in the Office of
Insular Affairs Fiscal Year 2024 budget reflects the expiration
of the current agreements, but does not include any future
spending under the new compacts.
So, my question would be, how will the current negotiations
impact your budget, and what changes in COFA spending are you
expecting, given the amount provided in the MOUs with the
Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and the Republic of the
Marshall Islands that were signed early this year?
Ms. Cantor. It is good to see you, Congresswoman.
The Compacts of Free Association, as you mentioned, we just
finished negotiating two of them, one with Palau and one with
FSM. We are still working on the Marshall Islands. But the
reason why you don't see that in our budget for 2024 is because
OMB determined that the State Department is going to be
receiving that appropriation, and the Department of the
Interior will be implementing the appropriation.
We are working on how that mechanism is going to work, but
that is the main reason why you don't see that in our budget
for 2024 and beyond.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. So, how do you anticipate that Fiscal
Year 2024 budget will increase as a result of the newly
negotiated compacts?
Ms. Cantor. Can you repeat the question, please?
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. Yes. How much do you anticipate that
the negotiations in this case, the Office of Insular Affairs
fiscal budget 2024, will increase as a result of the new
negotiated compacts?
Ms. Cantor. We are looking at $7.1 billion for this new
round, compact three, nobody has called it that, but we think
that is going to be the name of it. The real value, inflation-
adjusted, of the package currently being contemplated by
Congress is around 14 percent higher than the level of
assistance Congress considered prior to enactment for the
previous 20-year period. So, it is a 14 percent increase.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. Fourteen percent. I do have questions
for the Assistant Secretary, Mr. Newland.
Turning to you, how much in Federal funds were set aside
for facilities in Indian Country through all the supplemental
funding bills that Congress passed in 2020, specifically for
detention facilities?
Mr. Newland. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to make
sure I understood. Are you asking how much of the funding----
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. Was set aside in Indian facilities for
detention facilities.
Mr. Newland. I don't have that number top of mind. I would
be happy to get you an answer.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. Yes, please. Can you provide that to
the Committee?
Mr. Newland. Yes.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. What projects have specifically been
completed, and what is your plan to address the rest of the
facilities that need some repair or upgrades?
Mr. Newland. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to
our BIA jails, we have requested a significant increase through
the President's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request. And what we
have done administratively is come up with a way to identify
which jails are most urgently in need of repair or replacement,
similar to what we do at the Bureau of Indian Education
schools. And that allows us to make sure that we are taking the
appropriated funds that Congress provides, and putting them to
their most effective use, and bringing some order to that
process.
So, that is something that we have aimed to do. We have
some replacement jails under construction or in process right
now in different communities, and we hope to accelerate that
with this budget request.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. How much of those funds are being
expended, and how much is left to spend?
Mr. Newland. Again, Madam Chair, I don't have that number
top of mind.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. If you can provide that to the
Committee, I would really appreciate that. Well, that will be
my final question.
Mr. Newland. Yes, thank you.
Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon. I hope both of you have a great
weekend. I want to thank the witnesses for the valuable
testimony and the Members for their questions.
The members of the Committee may have some additional
questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to
those in writing.
Under Committee Rule 3, members of the Committee must
submit questions to the Committee Clerk by 5 p.m. on Tuesday,
May 30. The hearing record will be held open for 10 business
days for these responses.
If there is no other further business, without objection,
the Committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 10:15 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]