[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED
AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2024
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
________________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho, Chairman
CHELLIE MAINE MAINE
CHRIS STEWART, Utah BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DEREK KILMER, Washington
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada JOSH HARDER, California
GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
RYAN K. ZINKE, Montana
JAKE ELLZEY, Texas
NOTE: Under committee rules, Ms. Granger, as chairwoman of the full
committee, and Ms. DeLauro, as ranking minority member of the full
committee, are authorized to sit as members of all subcommittees.
Kristin Clarkson, Victoria Allred, Sarah Peery,
Courtney Stevens, and Maggie Earle
Subcommittee Staff
PART 1
Page
American Indian and Alaska Native
Public Witness
Day 1_Morning Session...................
American Indian and Alaska Native
Public Witness
Day 1_Afternoon Session.................
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
Part 1--INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2024
INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED
AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2024
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
___________________________________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho, Chairman
CHRIS STEWART, Utah CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania DEREK KILMER, Washington
MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas JOSH HARDER, California
RYAN K. ZINKE, Montana
JAKE ELLZEY, Texas
NOTE: Under committee rules, Ms. Granger, as chairwoman of the full
committee, and Ms. DeLauro, as ranking minority member of the full
committee, are authorized to sit as members of all subcommittees.
Kristin Clarkson, Victoria Allred, Sarah Peery,
Courtney Stevens, and Maggie Earle
Subcommittee Staff
PART 1
Page
American Indian and Alaska Native
Public Witness
Day 1_Morning Session...................
1
American Indian and Alaska Native
Public Witness
Day 1_Afternoon Session.................
215
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
53-445
WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
----------
KAY GRANGER, Texas, Chairwoman
HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky ROSA L. DeLAURO, Connecticut
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama STENY H. HOYER, Maryland
MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
JOHN R. CARTER, Texas SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia
KEN CALVERT, California BARBARA LEE, California
TOM COLE, Oklahoma BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland
STEVE WOMACK, Arkansas DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida
CHARLES J. ``CHUCK'' FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
DAVID P. JOYCE, Ohio CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine
ANDY HARRIS, Maryland MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada DEREK KILMER, Washington
CHRIS STEWART, Utah MATT CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania
DAVID G. VALADAO, California GRACE MENG, New York
DAN NEWHOUSE, Washington MARK POCAN, Wisconsin
JOHN R. MOOLENAAR, Michigan PETE AGUILAR, California
JOHN H. RUTHERFORD, Florida LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
BEN CLINE, Virginia BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey
GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania NORMA J. TORRES, California
MIKE GARCIA, California ED CASE, Hawaii
ASHLEY HINSON, Iowa ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
TONY GONZALES, Texas JOSH HARDER, California
JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia
MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas DAVID J. TRONE, Maryland
MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi LAUREN UNDERWOOD, Illinois
RYAN K. ZINKE, Montana SUSIE LEE, Nevada
ANDREW S. CLYDE, Georgia JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York
JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
JERRY L. CARL, Alabama
STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
C. SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida
JAKE ELLZEY, Texas
JUAN CISCOMANI, Arizona
Anne Marie Chotvacs, Clerk and Staff Director
(ii)
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2024
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
TESTIMONY OF INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
----------
AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE PUBLIC WITNESS DAY 1--MORNING SESSION
WITNESS
LARRY WRIGHT JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN
INDIANS (NCAI)
Mr. Simpson. The committee will come to order.
Good morning, and welcome to the first of our public
witness hearings dedicated to American Indians and Alaska
Native programs.
On a personal note, I am thrilled to return as chairman of
the Interior Subcommittee. It is back to the future again for
me, but I am proud to be here for the 118th Congress.
The critical issues of this subcommittee are near and dear
to me and my home State of Idaho. I look forward to working
with the Ranking Member Pingree to advance programs that help
conserve and protect our Nation's most critical natural,
cultural, and environmental resources and strengthen the
committee's longstanding effort to increase Federal commitment
to honor our treaties and trust responsibilities to American
Indians and Alaska Natives.
I am proud that our first hearing for fiscal year 2024
appropriations focuses on these very important tribal programs.
Indian Country has been and will continue to be a bipartisan
priority of this subcommittee.
I also want to welcome all of the distinguished tribal
elders and leaders here today. Thank all of you--for our
witnesses for appearing before the committee and sharing your
concerns and personal perspective on these important topics.
In terms of hearing logistics, I will call each panel of
witnesses to the table one panel at a time. Each witness will
have 5 minutes to present testimony. Your full written
testimony will be included in the record. So please don't feel
pressured to cover everything in 5 minutes.
We will be using a timer to track the progress of each
witness. When the light turns orange, the witness will have 1
minute remaining to conclude his or her remarks. When the light
turns red, I will ask the witness to stop.
And please don't feel offended if I do that. We have to
keep it to 5 minutes in order to get through all of the
different witnesses that we are going to have. I think in the 2
days we have over 65 tribes that are going to testify before
us. And so to keep it on schedule, I will tap the gavel at 5
minutes and stop. So I appreciate that.
We will hear from every witness on each panel before
members will be provided an opportunity to ask questions.
Because we have a full day ahead, I request that we try to keep
things moving in order to stay on schedule and respect each
other's time.
I also want to note that committee rules prohibit the use
of outside cameras and audio equipment during these hearings.
The hearing can be viewed in its entirety on the committee's
website, and an official hearing transcript will be available
at gpo.gov.
With that, I thank you all for being here today, and I am
happy to yield now to our distinguished ranking member for any
remarks she may wish to make.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you very much, Chairman Simpson.
I am very excited to be here with you today, and
congratulations on your return as chair of the committee.
I know we are going to have a lot of areas of interest that
we want to work together on, and this, today, is one in
particular. So thank you for organizing and holding this
hearing.
I echo all of the chair's remarks. I appreciate all of you
taking the time to come all the way to Washington. It is
wonderful to be back in the committee hearing room again, but I
know for many of you, it is a challenge to travel all the way
here, and so thank you for doing that.
I look forward to hearing from you, look forward to hearing
one of our chiefs from Maine, who is also the president of USET
and always delivers a lot of important issues to us about the
tribal issues in my State, but so many apply to many of you.
I particularly enjoy these hearings. I hear we have over 65
different tribal witnesses, and each of you bring unique
challenges, unique areas of interest, and I always learn so
much. So I will be a good listener today. Look forward to
hearing from all of you. Thank you for taking the time.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for having this hearing. And with
that, I will look forward to getting us started.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. And I do appreciate your comments,
and I would like to say that Ranking Member Pingree has been
chairman of this committee for the last 2 years, was it, or 4
years?
Ms. Pingree. It might have been 4.
Mr. Simpson. Four years. She has done a fantastic job, and
I have always enjoyed working with her on this committee. It is
one of those committees that actually works in kind of a
bipartisan fashion, particularly on Indian issues. So we will
continue that, trying to make sure that we meet our treaty
obligations that we have.
So I will call the first panel up to the table. Larry
Wright Jr., executive director of the National Congress of
American Indians; Tesia Zientek, the National Indian Education
Association; Laurie Harper, board president of the Tribal
Education Departments National Assembly; and Tom Miller, board
president, the Association of Community Tribal Schools.
Welcome, and thank you all for coming.
Larry, you have the floor. Please pull that microphone
toward you and turn it on by pushing until the green light is
on.
Mr. Wright. We are on? Can you hear me?
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Wright. All right. Good morning. My name is Larry
Wright Jr. I am the executive director for--I guess that works
better. I am the executive director for the National Congress
of American Indians. I also served 11 years as tribal chairman
for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.
On behalf of the National Congress of American Indians,
thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony on fiscal
year 2024 funding for the Department of the Interior, the
Indian Health Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The funding request that NCAI has written and oral
testimony are rooted in the promises made by the U.S.
Government in treaties and agreements with tribal nations. The
2018 Broken Promises report from the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights found that Federal funding for Native American programs
across the Government remains grossly inadequate to meet the
most basic needs the Federal Government is obligated to
provide.
Congress and the administration have recently taken some
initial meaningful steps toward making good on the Federal
Government's promises to tribal nations. However, there is much
more to be done by the Federal Government to fully--to truly
fulfill the promises made to tribal nations.
The BIA is one of the primary agencies responsible for
providing services throughout Indian Country, either directly
or through compacts or contracts with tribal nations. The
operation of these programs and services is essential for the
health, safety, and social and economic well-being of tribal
and surrounding communities. Unfortunately, chronic
underfunding of tribal programs perpetuates systemic issues in
Indian Country that could be reduced or eliminated by funding
tribal programs in amounts that meet the Federal Government's
treaty and trust obligations to the tribal nations.
NCAI recommends nearly $20.7 billion for Indian Affairs
programs in fiscal year 2024, consistent with the official
fiscal year 2024 recommendation of the Tribal Interior Budget
Council. Specifically, this request includes funding increases
necessary for public safety on tribal lands. The inadequate
funding for tribal criminal justice and public safety has
resulted in staggering rates of violent crime and victimization
on many Indian reservations.
As just one example, a DOJ study recently found that more
than four in five American Indian/Alaska Native adults have
experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. The
underfunding of tribal law enforcement and justice systems is
well documented and contributes to these types of statistics.
Empowering tribal nations and tribal justice systems to end
this cycle of violence is critical, which is why NCAI
appreciates Congress' reenactment of the Violence Against Women
Reauthorization Act of 2022.
VAWA has made our community safer and will continue to do
so and only if robust funding for VAWA-related programs, tribal
police departments, and justice systems occurs. That is why
NCAI supports $2.924 billion for public safety and justice
funding, with approximately $1.766 billion for BIA law
enforcement and $1.155 billion for tribal courts.
As place-based peoples, tribal nations have sacred
histories and maintain cultural practices that tie them to
their current land bases and ancestral territories. As a
result, tribal people directly and often disproportionately
suffer from the impacts of environmental degradation. For that
reason and others laid out in our written testimony, NCAI
recommends $100 million to be appropriated for the EPA Tribal
General Assistance Program and $30 million for the Tribal Air
Quality Management Program.
It is no secret that the Indian Health Service is
chronically underfunded. It is estimated that the full IHS
funding--need-based funding aggregate cost estimate for fiscal
year 2024 is approximately $51.4 billion. NCAI supports full
funding for IHS and strongly urges Congress to ensure IHS
funding is provided as mandatory spending, with a mechanism to
automatically adjust spending to keep pace with population
growth, inflation, and healthcare costs.
Until such time that IHS is provided mandatory direct
appropriations, advance appropriations for the IHS is
consistent with the trust and treaty obligations reaffirmed by
the United States in the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act. And
while NCAI applauds the advance appropriation enacted in the
fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill, adjustments need to be made
moving forward to account, at a minimum, for fixed costs and
staffing of newly completed facilities.
Finally, I want to be clear. Relative to the overall U.S.
budget, the Indian Affairs and IHS budgets are very small.
Spending cuts or other budget control measures that affect
tribal programs can have devastating impacts on tribal nations
and their citizens but would have little impact on overall
Federal spending. To the extent Congress considers funding
reductions in fiscal year 2024, programs for the benefit of
tribal nations, including those mentioned here today, must be
held harmless.
Thank you again for this opportunity, and I look forward to
answering any questions you might have.
[The statement of Mr. Wright follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Larry.
Tesia, you are next. Is that--how do you--is it Tesia?
Ms. Zientek. Tesia.
Mr. Simpson. Tesia, okay.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
WITNESS
TESIA ZIENTEK, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Ms. Zientek. Miigwech. [Speaking Native language.]
On behalf of the National Indian Education Association, the
oldest and most inclusive organization founded to advance
comprehensive, culture-based educational opportunities for
American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians,
miigwech for this opportunity to provide testimony on fiscal
year 2024 funding for the Department of the Interior, the
Bureau of Indian Education, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The spending within the subcommittee's jurisdiction is some of
the most critical for Native youth.
The fiscal year 2023 budget demonstrated an intentional
effort to uphold the promises made to our people in exchange
for life and land by ensuring funding levels for BIE-funded and
BIE-operated schools not only met inflation rates, but
increased towards reversing decades of underfunding. We urge
the subcommittee to maintain this trajectory so Native students
will have access to the resources they need to thrive in a
global economy.
As tribal nations represent central economic engines for
many rural areas in the U.S., it only makes sense for the
subcommittee to maximize your investments by providing critical
resources for our Native youth. Tribal communities are unique
in that even during times of economic downturn, Natives
frequently remain their traditional communities. To give tribal
nations the necessary foundation for economic success and
prosperity, the Federal Government should support a culturally
relevant, high-quality education for all Native students that
uplifts community-based approaches to education.
The core funding for BIE elementary and secondary schools
comes from the Indian School Equalization Program. These funds
cover salaries for teachers, aides, principals, and other
personnel but are often reallocated to cover program cuts in
other areas of education. For ISEP, we are requesting $532.6
million, but we also would highlight the official Tribal
Interior Budget Council recommendation of $967 million, which
represents the minimum funding needed to offer a parity
investment in public schools across the country.
NIEA also requests $109 million for BIE facilities
operations and $100 million for BIE facilities maintenance. BIE
schools use operations and maintenance funding to cover such
costs as electricity, heating fuels, and other operating
expenses for both preventive and routine upkeep. Underfunding
of maintenance continues to be an issue, as a number of
buildings are in poor condition and cannot maintain proper
standards.
NIEA strongly urges the subcommittee to increase the amount
of funding for BIE education construction. We request $371.2
million for fiscal year 2024, even though the need is much
greater. Interior has estimated that more than $639 million
would be needed to fix only the most pressing deferred
maintenance issues for BIE schools.
NIEA requests $23.8 million for the Johnson O'Malley
Program to assist with the unique educational needs of the
other 93 percent of Native students in public schools. JOM
programs provide critical educational resources for afterschool
programs, academic support, and a number of other Native
cultural and language enrichment. JOM is supported by its
parent committees that determine the needs of Native students
in their communities.
Tribal education departments and agencies are responsible
for administering and implementing education priorities in
tribal nations and are equal partners with State and Federal
education entities serving Native students. However, as tribal
nations lack parity with States, local governments, and the
Federal Government within the tax code, TEDs and TEAs do not
receive tax revenue to fund their programs. Instead, TEDs and
TEAs use tribal education department funding under BIE. NIEA
requests $5.8 million for this account.
There is a direct link between cultural identity and the
cognitive success of Native students. It is critical to our
communities that fight harder than ever to protect our Native
languages. NIEA requests $25 million for language immersion
grants for BIE schools. These grants allow tribal communities
the ability to protect and preserve their unique cultural and
linguistic heritages.
NIEA also requests $25 million for Native language
revitalization under Interior economic development to provide
funding for tribally run Native language programs, ensuring
students have language and cultural instruction available to
them regardless of which school they may attend.
In fiscal year 2023, this subcommittee and the rest of
Congress made a major step towards fully upholding its trust
obligations by providing mandatory spending for the Indian
Health Service. If healthcare is a major pillar in upholding
the Federal trust obligation to tribal nations, then
immediately next to it is the obligation for Indian education.
NIEA strongly recommends all of Indian education be
provided for as mandatory spending. This ensures there is never
a threat of funding halts during critical times, and never will
a crumbling school facility worry about if construction dollars
will continue to come.
The Federal trust responsibility to all Native students is
an example of the promises that makes this country unique. This
subcommittee should honor its first promises and support the
above recommendations to provide only the highest-quality
education to Native students across the country and provide the
essential supports for the future of our communities.
Miigwech. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Zientek follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Laurie.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
TRIBAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (TEDNA)
WITNESS
LAURIE HARPER, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF THE TRIBAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (TEDNA)
Ms. Harper. Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree, and
members of the committee, my name is Laurie Harper, and I am
the president----
And I am the president of the Tribal Education Departments
National Assembly, a national nonprofit organization for the
tribal education departments and agencies. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak today about funding through the U.S.
Department of Interior for TEDs.
First and foremost, our sincerest gratitude for
appropriating funds continually since fiscal year 2015 to
support TEDs through Title 25 United States Code Section 2020,
also known as Section 2020 grants. For continued and increased
funding, TEDNA respectfully requests $10 million to support
TEDs in the Department of the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024 so
that we can continue to serve and serve better our students.
Tribes have educated their citizens from time immemorial,
and education continues to be a tribal sovereign right, a trust
obligation, an issue of local control, and a sacred
responsibility of tribal and nontribal governments. That we
have trusted, as memorialized in treaties and other official
sovereign and inter-sovereign acts, a part of the formal
education of our students to the Federal Government via BIE-
funded schools and States via public schools speaks to our
expectation of the Federal and State governments to honor their
end of the bargains and promises made.
And we should all be concerned. Educational attainment
rates for tribal students in the United States today are not
good. Recent Federal reports show that our students have the
lowest high school graduation rates of any group for whom
numbers are maintained. While the high school graduation rates
of whites, Asians, blacks, and Hispanics are at 80 percent or
higher, 1 in 4 of our students will not graduate from high
school.
Federal funding precipitates the abilities of TEDs to help
address this. TEDs are in a unique position to direct and
coordinate the resources, management, and provision of
education for tribal students.
For example, I serve as the director of education for Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, a Section 2020 grantee and a
TEDNA member. The tribe is developing a program under Section
2020 to address our inherent authority over all areas of
education. I served as the board chairwoman for the tribally
operated Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig BIE-funded school. I am the director
of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's Tribal Ed Department, which
administers Johnson O'Malley funds for public schools on and
near our reservation.
With Section 2020 grant funds, we have taken a community-
based approach to improving education, utilizing community and
youth input to shape priorities that will be developed into a
tribal education code and a comprehensive education plan that
will be culturally specific to our tribal needs.
We also realize the importance of data sovereignty and have
recently partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education
on a data sharing agreement for our K-12 students, in addition
to a longitudinal early childhood study. Through these
agreements, we can both identify our students in early
childhood and follow them through their educational journey
within the State of Minnesota.
The Section 2020 grant has been a catalyst for Leech Lake's
involvement in areas beyond its grant and is making sovereignty
in education a reality. Many more tribes than the 16 tribes
currently funded serve the 183 BIE-funded elementary and
secondary schools and dormitories located across this country.
They need TED funding. TED appropriations should be increased
to serve more tribes and more students.
With increased Section 2020 funding, tribes like the
Pyramid Lake Paiute in Nevada, for example, could develop a TED
to support Pyramid Lake Junior Senior High School, a tribal
secondary school in Nixon, Nevada, on the Pyramid Lake Indian
Reservation. With increased Section 2020 funding, tribes like
the Navajo Nation, where many BIE-funded schools are located,
could train new school board members when the schools convert
from being BIE operated to being tribally controlled.
With increased Section 2020 funding, additional tribes
could decrease their dropout rates, like the Rosebud Sioux
Tribe in South Dakota did with its Truancy Intervention Program
administered by the Rosebud TED.
TEDNA respectfully requests sustained funding of $5.889
million plus additional funding, for a total of $10 million for
TEDs in the Department of the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024 to
continue the vital and excellent work being done through the
Section 2020 grants.
Miigwech [speaking Native language].
[The statement of Ms. Harper follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Tom.
---------- --
--------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY TRIBAL SCHOOLS (ACTS)
WITNESS
THOMAS MILLER, BOARD PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY TRIBAL SCHOOLS
(ACTS)
Mr. Miller. Good morning. I would like to thank you for
this opportunity to testify on the 2024 Interior
appropriations.
And again, my name is Tom Miller. I am the Association of
Community Tribal Schools board president. We formed in 1982. We
represent a pretty good cross-section of the tribally
controlled schools, and the organization has been around long
enough that we went through three name changes, basically
contract, controlled, and now community tribal schools.
And we represent each year a variety of these schools, but
the needs are always the same. I am not going to get into the
actual particulars of the dollar amount because they are in the
written testimony. But we are running into many, many problems
now as a result of our recent COVID pandemic.
Our population has underlying health programs, a large
percentage of them and in a disproportionate amount. We have
isolation factors. We have our schools are not next door to a
Walmart or in that area. We don't have that luxury with many of
them.
Many of our schools do not have the Internet connections.
We have had problems as we have come into trying to get out of
this separation distance learning thing, as we couldn't do it
in the first place because of our lack of technologies and
such.
We each year come in and we ask for the basics. We ask for
increases in ISEP. We ask for increases in transportation,
facility operation and maintenance, tribal grant support, and
this is to get us holding ourselves even with the water. We are
not going under this way.
What we would like to start doing is that we would like to
see some kind of parity, and one of our ideas that now when I
started this, all my hair was black, 1980. I believe it was
there. But right now, we are looking at trying to get parity
with the Department of Defense schools on salaries, on salaries
and school construction.
One of our problems is not only do we have a problem of
getting teachers--teacher shortage? Oh, it is three times as
bad on the reservations because, first off, you have to
recruit, retain. So when I say about the dollars that I am
going to address right here are those in addition to our
testimony, that is getting Congress to either forward fund some
of our areas, maybe all of our areas that we get more funding
in, so that we are not in the ping pong effect of politics.
We try to get out of that. We did it once in 1988. It took
a little bit of a sting then with Congress to forward fund a
full year. Some of that would take another sting.
The other big sting would be for facilities. I don't care
what you do, if you take old schools and maintain them, you
have an old school maintained. That is all you get.
Our thing is if Congress were to plan, use a $3 billion
base, take the schools, the 83 that need replacing right now--
we are doing 2 a year. I will be dead and long gone by the time
these schools get addressed. And I am just trying to get--our
students deserve the same thing that has been done with DOD.
That is, over 10 years, a couple billion dollars, bring them
up.
And they should be supported. The military and those
schools should absolutely be supported, but so should we. And
we have been at this--in fact, the last time I testified in
front of this committee about 6 years ago, I told the chair at
that time that I could probably have recorded this in 1980 and
played the same thing again and come pretty close. But that is
what we are getting now. We are trying to get to a point where
not only do we get the funding that we normally get in a year--
and that varies on the percentages--but we have to address some
of these things in a drastic method because it is not getting
any better for our kids.
And our Native students deserve to have enough teachers to
teach. They need to have enough money to operate, and they
certainly deserve the ability to have a safe and adequate, up-
to-date environment, school building. So that is what we are
pushing this year. If we could get that started, we know it is
not a one-time shot and it is going to happen overnight, but we
have got to start somewhere. And to this point, we have always
been settled with our yearly increases.
Last year, we would like to thank for the fiscal year 2023
was good, but we would like to see that every year. And again,
forward funding would take care of a lot of the problems and
the instability of our--when the money is coming. And then, if
you give us a good house to live in, it is a little bit easier
to make things happen. Those kids deserve that.
And with that, I thank you for your time.
[The statement of Mr. Miller follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Tom.
I appreciate all of your testimony. Let me just say keep
pushing, Tom. It sometimes takes Congress a long time to do
things, you know? That is generally the way we operate around
here, yes. But it is something that we need people like you to
continue to push on that, people like all of you.
Larry, you mentioned law enforcement and the challenges you
face. Do you find that--well, let me put it this way. I was out
at the Fort Hall Reservation and talking with them about
firefighters and new fire station we are building and the
police officers that were there and stuff.
And what we find is that we got a town of 50,000 on south
of Fort Hall Reservation and a town of 10,000 on the north of
the reservation, and the reservation police officers, they send
them to training. They come. They get all trained up. And as
soon as they do, they get hired by Pocatello or Blackfoot, and
I mean, it is like the training ground for the other
communities.
Do you find that across the country, or is this unique in--
--
Mr. Wright. No, I think it is across the country. And when
you compound that with some reservations are bigger than many
States.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Wright. And you have a police force that is a fraction
of that and lack of funding to make it so they can train and
retain a police force, it makes it very difficult.
And just like teachers, they are going to go where there is
opportunity and salary that is reflective of what they do and
their training and education. And police departments are no
different.
Mr. Simpson. Yes. Reservations, a lot of the reservations
are very big. And I have talked to some--I can't remember if it
was Pine Ridge--that they get a call of domestic abuse, it is
an hour before a police officer can get there.
Mr. Wright. Absolutely.
Mr. Simpson. Well, you know, the problem has gone away one
way or another then pretty much. That is a challenge. It is
something I would like to work with you on and how we address--
I don't know how to address that, but it is something that I
think needs to be addressed.
And Tesia, I appreciate your testimony. And Tom mentioned
the difficulty of finding teachers. How do you keep teachers on
the reservation?
I mean, when we have gone to the Navajo reservation and
stuff, the problem is housing, trying to get doctors there and
to stay on the reservation. I mean, you don't want to live 50
miles from where you work, and that is a challenge. How do you
do that with teachers?
Ms. Zientek. Absolutely. Housing is a major, major concern.
So providing we are looking for funding for housing for
teachers. Also, of course, as mentioned with law enforcement,
the pay is a huge issue. If teachers are able to get paid
elsewhere and in a more--where the living is more convenient,
then they are likely to do that.
So funding, increased funding for teacher pay to get that
equal to Federal teaching----
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Ms. Zientek [continuing]. Pay, as well as housing, would
help with that issue quite a bit. Also, programs to help grow
your own teachers is extremely helpful. Then if teachers decide
to stay in their own communities, they might be more likely to
stay for a long time.
Mr. Simpson. Do you work at all with TRIO?
Ms. Zientek. I--I do a little bit in my job, as the
education director for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, partner
with some of our local community colleges.
Mr. Simpson. I would encourage all of you to start working
with TRIO because TRIO can be a great asset in what they do.
That is for people that have never gone to college, never
thought of going to college or anything like that. But it helps
mentor them through high school to get them ready if they
decide they want to go to college.
Ranking Member Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for your testimony. Really appreciated
all the themes, and I know we will hear them more today,
certainly the law enforcement and your statistic about four in
five members of a tribe have had some form of violence in their
family or themselves. That is really shocking and another
reminder of how important it is to fund tribal courts.
And as you mentioned, the distance in so many of our
communities is so far, that is really critical. And I have
worked with one of my schools on school replacement and seen
just what a challenge it is. And one tiny school, one State,
and realize if we could just get rid of the backlog at some
point, as you recommended, and start even. We are never going
to get there, and I really appreciated your remarks that kids
need to have the feeling of the respect of going into a
beautiful building that is dedicated to them, and they can
comfortably learn.
And so I just want to say how dedicated I am to that and
really appreciated the remarks about culturally sensitive
education. I think the more we can support kids understanding a
Native language and learning more about the history of their
tribes, when I have been able to witness those programs, they
just seem so beneficial. And I hope we can continue to do more
of that.
And of course, I am fully supportive of all the funding
concerns. We are so far behind to not meet our treaty
obligations. It is so disrespectful of the lack of funding that
our tribes receive in each and every area that you mentioned.
So I hope we can do everything to make sure there are no cuts
and that we can increase that.
And while Betty is the true Minnesotan here, I was raised
in Minnesota and spent a lot of my childhood in one of the
lakes near Brainard. So still go back there to visit my family.
So love the place you are from.
I don't have any questions because you just all did such a
wonderful job, and the chair has asked some good questions. But
thank you so much for being with us today.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Mr. Zinke.
Mr. Zinke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I apologize for
being late. I had a Montana coffee.
So, drugs. So on the law enforcement and drugs in Montana
seems to be they spend a lot of time on drugs, mental health,
and civil action, mostly domestic violence. And from what I
understand is all three are related oftentimes.
Can you talk about the drug problem on the reservations,
what you are seeing? And my understanding is in Montana, most
of it is coming from the southern gut. It is coming straight up
from the border. And in Montana, we have Fort Peck Reservation,
which is near the Bakken, or many times, great expanses of
territory. It means that there is opportunity for storage
lockers of drugs and transportation, and there is a vulnerable
population.
So how concerned are you on drugs on the reservations?
Mr. Wright. Indian Country is very concerned, and we see
this across the board, and fentanyl is a big issue. And I think
the things that you hear here today, they are all
interconnected, and one begets the other. When we have lack of
law enforcement, it is going to be hard to--if you have a
reservation that has high crime and drug issues and doesn't
have the police force to help police that and take care of
that, it is going to be hard to retain good teachers to come to
the reservation and live there.
If we don't have adequate housing, we can't recruit and
keep our own people on reservations. And so when we have
underfunding in our housing programs and we have our own wait
lists for our own tribal citizens to get into housing, it is
going to be hard to recruit people to come from the outside to
do that.
But I think to your specific question on drug issues in
Indian Country, with, again, the lack of--with the distance and
the geographic size of our reservations, lack of cross-
deputization and those kinds of issues, it makes it very tough
for a small police force to have--to cover that expanse and not
have some of the same equipment and different things,
opportunities that other law enforcement agencies have, whether
it be drug dogs, whatever that might look like.
But I think we see that, we are seeing it more and more, as
more of a concern. But again, there is lack of funding and lack
of the infrastructure there from police departments to help
adequately address that.
Mr. Zinke. And Tom, just I am not going to hold you to
statistics, but would you say that the law enforcement spends
most of their time on either drug enforcement or mental health
that are related? That is what I am hearing and across the----
Mr. Miller. I would say a good question, but the exact, not
expert enough. I would say this. As far as in our area, the
Sault Ste. Marie with the Chippewa tribe, recently--just 2
weeks ago--we had about five overdose, one died. And that was
in a week.
So it is--it is a problem, and we address it as best we
can, but one of the major things that we are short of, funding.
You can see a problem, but you can't do anything about it if
you don't have the people to do it, and we don't have the
people to do it.
Mr. Zinke. Lastly, inflation. What I have seen across in
Montana, inflation runs higher because you have distances are
further. The fuel costs are further. Bus to get the kids around
costs more because we are using more fuel, and inflation. Would
you say that inflation is hurting the tribes
disproportionately?
Mr. Miller. Oh, I would say that, yes, because we are short
already. The fact is if you are doing well and you are getting
inflation, eh, you can kind of adjust to it. But if you are
already on the short end and inflation comes out, it can hurt
you.
Hopefully, things will get better. I am kind of an
optimist. But I think right now, yes, it hurts everybody. And
the tribes that don't have the money--and there are some that
are set fairly well, are handling it a lot better than those
that aren't. It definitely is, yes.
Mr. Zinke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Ms. McCollum.
Ms. McCollum. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First and foremost, thank you for your testimony. For those
of you who are going to testify later, I am the ranking member
on Defense, and so I have a conflict, and I have to be there,
but I have staff here getting the testimony.
The mandatory funding, we hear Indian Country loud and
clear on that. The advance appropriations is for 1 year, 1 year
only. So that is going to have to be re-rolled into any
legislation that we do. And that was a bipartisan effort on
behalf of this committee and the White House, and we got the
Senate's attention. So, hopefully, we can take care of
healthcare and start the--and really have a serious discussion
about what we could do for educational funding this year. So I
appreciate you bringing that up.
Also, bringing up that there are two accounts that you are
looking for $25 million for, for the languages was very
helpful. So thank you for that. That made me take an extra note
on that.
I am going to just make a couple of general comments, and
then I have a question for you all, because I think you are all
impacted by this. We are going to hear more about, I think,
drugs and what is happening, especially with tribes that are in
280. We just had a serious discussion with our U.S. attorney.
Andy Luger has been meeting and talking with the tribes in
Minnesota what we can do about, as they describe it, ``catch
and release.'' And there is no other way to summarize what is
happening. So I will save that for later and been working with
Red Lake on that.
But Minnesota, if you could take a second to talk about
what Minnesota is uniquely doing to make sure that all of our
students have the best education possible, and under the
leadership of Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, this has taken a
real impetus. And I think the fact that we have tribally
enrolled members serving in our State legislative body is
exciting.
If you would just take a second for that, and then I have a
general question about broadband.
Ms. Harper. So, a real quick question. With having
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in that seat, what it has
helped tribal nations do in the State of Minnesota in education
specific is identify the need for us to be at the table,
instead of on the table. And it has opened up discussions that
include us, and it is not uncommon for not just the Governor's
office and the Lieutenant Governor's office to reach out to
tribal leaders, but also to tribal department heads such as
myself to be asked for our specifics in the field of education.
In my role, as an education director, I also oversee human
services. So, MFIP, SNAP-Ed. So, Minnesota Family Investment
Program, anything having to do with training and education. So
a lot of our--in Indian Country, a lot of our responsibilities
are intertwined throughout various funding agencies.
Ms. McCollum. Thank you. Well, we have started a journey,
and we hope other States emulate that.
And it is important that we educate students because they
are our future not only for the tribe, but for the Nation. And
as I am leaving to go to a DOD hearing, the fact that Native
Americans percentage wise serve highest enlistment really makes
a case for why we need to make sure that they have the adequate
education.
Mr. Chair, I know broadband is going to come up a lot. We
need to figure out not only how to do it in the schools, but to
get it in the home when they have the homework coming home. So
thank you all for bringing up broadband.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Ms. McCollum, former chair of this
committee.
We have got on this committee two former chairs and one
current chair that was a former chair.
Ms. McCollum. Yes.
Mr. Simpson. There are a lot of chairmen on this committee.
Ms. McCollum. And we all work together.
Mr. Simpson. Anyway, thank you. And thank you all for your
testimony. We appreciate you being here today and look forward
to working with you on this year's budget.
Mr. Wright. Thank you. I will get you that statistic, okay?
Ms. McCollum. Absolutely.
Mr. Wright. All right.
Mr. Simpson. Next, we would call--I am going to massacre
names. Maybe that is the wrong word. [Laughter.] How do you
pronounce that? Do you know?
The Muscogee Creek Nation, who is--and Oliver Littlecook,
chair of the Ponca Tribe.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Where would you like us?
Mr. Simpson. Right up here. We got nameplates. [Pause.]
Mr. Simpson. Okay. Pronounce that name for me.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Jonodev Chaudhuri.
Mr. Simpson. Jonodev Chaudhuri. Well, when you say it, that
is what it looks like now. Thank you.
Jonodev, you are up.
---------- --
--------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
MUSCOGEE CREEK NATION
WITNESS
JONODEV CHAUDHURI, AMBASSADOR, MUSCOGEE CREEK NATION, ON BEHALF OF
CHIEF DAVID HILL
Mr. Chaudhuri. Oh, okay. Well, [speaking Native language]
Jonodev Chaudhuri. I am honored to serve as ambassador of the
Muscogee Creek Nation.
Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree, and members of
the subcommittee, let me thank you for the invitation to our
nation to testify here today.
Let me start by saying how grateful we all are for the
additional funding this subcommittee has provided in the past 2
years as a down payment on the permanent commitment going
forward by the Federal Government to provide the resources
necessary to uphold its solemn trust and treaty obligations to
the Muscogee Nation and other tribal nations throughout Indian
Country.
As you know, over 100 years of usurpation of the rightful
authority of the tribal law enforcement on Oklahoma
reservations has left tribal nations with great needs for
public safety infrastructure, as particularly the case with the
Muscogee Creek Nation. As we implement restored jurisdiction,
$80 million are required for the construction of 8 regional
tribal jails on the reservation.
And just a little background, our nation covers eight full
counties in eastern Oklahoma and parts of three more counties.
It covers over 3.2 million acres, with well over 1 million
people within our borders. And we are doing our part to keep
people safe, and we appreciate your support.
Additionally, $80 million are required for the construction
of 8 regional tribal courthouse facilities on the reservation.
Like most jurisdictions, we have seen an explosion in criminal
mental health cases, and $27 million for the construction of 2
mental health facilities for the incarceration of individuals
requiring mental health evaluation and treatment, both pre-
trial and post-conviction.
Finally, $24 million are required for the construction of 4
juvenile detention facilities on the reservation that will
appropriately separate young offenders from older, hardcore
criminals and to focus on the rehabilitation youthful inmates.
In addition to significant infrastructure needs, our
current Federal trust funding for ongoing operations is far
below the rightful amounts. According to the BIA standards, the
Muscogee Nation must maintain a police force of 312 full-time
equivalents for our population size, law enforcement FTEs. This
requires $34.4 million on a recurring basis for increased
personnel, equipment, and other operational costs.
Just as law enforcement needs have grown, so, too, have the
needs of tribal courts. Using the BIA Office of Justice
Services report, Creek Nation estimates that an additional $40
million is required to support expanded responsibilities for
tribal courts.
In fiscal year 2020, Muscogee Nation's ICWA program
provided services to more than 1,800 Indian children, placed an
average of 253 Indian children in homes per month, and
investigated 1,452 reports of child abuse and neglect, a
sixfold increase in 5 years. We calculate that $30 million in
additional funding will be needed to provide tribes in Oklahoma
sufficient ICWA services.
The Muscogee Creek Nation's Center for Victim Services
served 636 victims and survivors in 2022, 575 of which
experienced VAWA-related crimes. Additional funding of $60
million would allow for the construction of facilities that
would allow us to fully administer VAWA and protect our women
and children from violence.
In other self-governance needs, the nation performs a
number of functions related to self-governance, and these
functions have grown. One exciting area that I would like to
highlight is natural resources management. We are currently
working with several members on legislation that would enable
Muscogee Nation to bring cultural and historical management
expertise in the co-management position with the National Park
Service. We believe we can help NPS save taxpayer dollars while
simultaneously improving the experience of park visitors.
In closing, we greatly appreciate the opportunity to
present these views of our needs to you as part of the fiscal
year 2023 appropriations process. Reaffirmation of the Muscogee
Nation reservation following the McGirt decision once again
called our nations together to make decisions for the greater
public good. We stand ready to assist in providing the core
public safety services that will protect our reservation and
the United States, Muscogee Nation citizens, and all our
friends and neighbors living within our jurisdictions.
We believe in prosperity for all, and we are doing our
part. Again, we appreciate your support.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Chaudhuri follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Oliver.
Mr. Littlecook. Yes, sir.
Mr. Simpson. Turn on the mic.
Mr. Littlecook. Is that on? Okay. All right.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
PONCA TRIBE OF INDIANS OF OKLAHOMA
WITNESS
OLIVER LITTLECOOK, CHAIRMAN, PONCA TRIBE OF INDIANS OF OKLAHOMA
Mr. Littlecook. Yes, sir, Chairman Simpson and Member
Pingree, my name is Oliver Littlecook. I am the chairman of the
Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, and I am glad to have this in front of
me because listening to the other panel there, I almost forgot
what I was going to talk about because I have the same concerns
that they have also.
But I am here, and I am honored to submit a written
statement to the subcommittee and testify in person. I am a
lifelong member of the Native American Church, which is a way
of life that is also described as the ``Peyote Religion.'' And
as a practitioner of the ceremony and a tribal leader, I am
compelled to express to this committee that you also have a
role in the protection and perpetuation of the Native American
Church and in the continuance of this religion and fulfillment
of the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the
policy declaration Public Law 95-341 as contingent upon the
survival of the peyote habitat.
Without sufficient peyote habitat, the peyote plant, which
we call peyote, would no longer exist in the wild. The entire
Native American Church ceremony is dependent on peyote, which
is used as a sacrament. So what I am here to request is $5
million for a peyote habitat conservation initiative
demonstration project.
And we are in you might say a crisis situation now because
we have probably over 300,000, 400,000 members all across
Indian Country, and speaking of those of us at home in Oklahoma
and my reservation, Ponca, it is getting more difficult to
obtain peyote. And so it is really important that we find some
way, we are asking you all for help and some way for we can
initiate some type of a conservation project to work with the
farmers and ranchers down in Texas so we can preserve it.
And--a little slow here. To counteract the peyote habitat
destruction, we request $5 million for a peyote habitat
initiative to establish a separately funded grant program
within the U.S. Department of the Interior and administered by
the Department of the Interior's Office of Assistant Secretary
of the Interior.
And so the National Congress of American Indians recently
passed Resolution 2209 affirming support for the American
Indian Religious Freedom Act, as amended, and calling for
Federal preemption as it pertains to the legalization and
decriminalization of peyote. And the resolution was endorsed
unanimously by member tribes in NCAI.
And again, just personally speaking on behalf of my tribe,
Ponca, when we were removed from our homeland, original
homeland up in Nebraska and South Dakota, and when we came to
Oklahoma, like most tribes, we were devastated with the move.
We had no really nothing left. Everything was taken away from
us. And especially our way of life, our religious way of life.
And so because of that, there was a lot of you might say
turmoil within our tribe, no direction. And so when the peyote
religion came to us, I would say it actually saved us, gave us
all a sense of belonging, a sense of direction, and a sense of
prayer, which changed our lives and continues.
And so I, myself, am a lifelong member of this Native
American Church, and it has done wonders. My tribe was one of
the six original tribes to incorporate in Oklahoma, to make it
into a church. So it now is called the Native American Church.
So I represent all of our members in Oklahoma, speak for all of
our members across the country, who we really need this.
So what we are asking of you, just a small lump compared to
what the rest of the tribes are asking for. So we would really
need your support and help in helping us save it. It needs to
be saved. It is protected, but now it needs to be saved.
So, thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Littlecook follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. And thank you both for being here
today.
Just out of curiosity, what is the--I mean I support the
Native American Church just like I do any other religion.
Mr. Littlecook. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Simpson. What is the natural habitat of growing peyote?
You know, like potatoes grow in Idaho, and outside of Idaho,
there is a lot of tubers grown, but potatoes are grown in
Idaho. So there is a certain climate for that kind of stuff,
for Maine and Idaho and stuff.
Mr. Littlecook. Yes, yes.
Mr. Simpson. What is the climate like or habitat that
peyote grows in?
Mr. Littlecook. It grows in southwest Texas. Right now,
there is only probably four counties in southern Texas, and it
is called--it is a shrub brush deal. And so, today, because of
the ranchers and farmers, they are leasing out their land. And
of course, with windmill pads and then also the climate change
and all of that, so it is getting more scarce.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Littlecook. It is getting scarce, and so that is why we
are requesting so we can try to do something to save it. Our
life--the way we see it, our life depends on it.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Littlecook. And it is sometimes I say all on pirate
land because it is up to the renters. It is their land. So we
are trying to find a way to work with them.
Mr. Simpson. Yes. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Yes, thank you. Thank you both for your
testimony.
And I was curious about that, too. Is it--is peyote grown
as a cultivated plant, or is it only--are you saying it is just
wild and native in those areas?
Mr. Littlecook. It is a native plant, yes.
Ms. Pingree. Yes, okay.
Mr. Littlecook. It grows wild, and it has been destroyed
all the way up to now. It is just condensed to maybe like, say,
four counties.
Ms. Pingree. Great. Well, I am happy to learn more about
that, and I appreciate your describing it as a ``small lump of
money.'' That is a new technical term on the committee.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Littlecook. In comparison, I guess.
Ms. Pingree. Absolutely. No, I mean we talk a lot about big
numbers, and so----
Mr. Littlecook. And I think this would be a good start, a
demonstration project where we can work with them and let it
grow it into----
Ms. Pingree. Great. I will--yes.
Mr. Littlecook [continuing]. Grow into a $100 million grant
one day.
Ms. Pingree. Yes, I will be interested to learn more about
that. So thank you for your testimony.
And thank you, Mr. Ambassador. My partner is actually from
Muscogee. He was born there and grew up in Gore. So I have
spent a little time visiting Oklahoma, and last summer, I got a
chance to meet with the five--the chiefs of the Five Civilized
Tribes and talk a little bit about McGirt.
So I understand some of the unique challenges there and
particularly in the law enforcement. So thank you for bringing
that to our attention and happy to continue working with you
because it is definitely some big challenges there. And you
described the area and the need and the amount of funding, we
really need to pay more attention.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Thank you, Ranking Member. The Principal
Chief Hill gives his regards. He was taken away on critical
national business today, but he specifically mentioned that
meeting, and we were very happy to host you when you came down.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you.
Mr. Chaudhuri. And we really appreciate you taking the time
there.
A little bit outside of the scope of today's discussion,
but connected still is our ongoing efforts to implement McGirt
in the face of kind of these countervailing cases that have
come our way, including the Castro-Huerta case.
So we are in a point in history right now where we are
trying to develop infrastructure that was denied to us for 100
years because of the unlawful exercise of nontribal
jurisdiction on our lands. We are very thankful that the court
affirmed our reservation, but we are concerned that within a
year after affirming, the very same court placed limitations on
the inherent sovereignty of our tribe to exert jurisdiction on
our lands but, by extension, the inherent sovereignty of tribal
nations throughout the country.
So our battles truly are Indian Country battles. We
appreciate the personal attention that you gave to these issues
because they certainly impact the entire trust relationship
between the Federal Government and tribal nations throughout
the U.S.
A related note. We support a call for Congress to act and
voice its support of tribal sovereignty in the wake of the
Castro-Huerta decision because we think that is absolutely
fundamental to supporting our efforts to protect people within
our borders, be they Native or non-Native, and protect them
both in the law enforcement arena, but also in the economic
development arena.
And so having Congress signal its support of tribal
sovereignty, we think not only benefits Indian Country, it
benefits everybody in our borders. So thank you for the
personal attention and time that you took to visit our nation.
Ms. Pingree. Absolutely. I appreciated your hospitality,
and we will continue this conversation.
Thank you.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. I got to tell you, Tom Cole keeps
us advised of everything that is going on in Oklahoma. So,
great member, a great friend.
But I was just wondering, you mentioned in your testimony
that law enforcement standards would be you would have 312, I
think it was, law enforcement people.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Yes, sir.
Mr. Simpson. How many do you currently have?
Mr. Chaudhuri. Oh, I knew you would ask me that. And you
know, I am not----
Mr. Simpson. You don't have to be exact. Is it even close?
Mr. Chaudhuri. Yes, I am not--I want to say we are--we have
got a lot of cross-deputization agreements. I want to say we
are well over 100 now. We are 80 or so for a while, but I don't
know if that--that sounds right.
Mr. Simpson. That is good enough. I just wondered if you
were at 200 or 250 or 100, you know?
Mr. Chaudhuri. Well, we are getting there. But I mean,
again, we have never been able to develop the infrastructure
because of these complications created by kind of the unlawful
exercise of nontribal jurisdiction.
Now that that has been affirmed, we are using our limited
resources to the greatest extent possible to build up our law
enforcement and courts and social workers, but we have got a
long way to go. And we have been actively engaged in
intergovernmental agreements since day one from the McGirt
decision.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Chaudhuri. But funding is always--is always critical to
those efforts.
Mr. Simpson. Do you have issues with cross-deputization of
tribal police officers?
Mr. Chaudhuri. I think it depends on the county. As I said
before, we cover eight full counties and three partial
counties. And our relationships are very strong with a number
of sheriff's offices in a number of counties, but I am not
going to throw anybody under the bus. There are a couple
counties that we could have better relationships with.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, okay.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Relationships are work, and we are committed
to doing the work.
Mr. Simpson. Yep. And when counties--what I have found out
in Idaho and other places is that when county elections come
around, you get a new sheriff, sometimes that relationship goes
good. Sometimes it goes bad, you know?
Mr. Chaudhuri. And that is an excellent point, and that is
why the need to have permanent funding allocations is so
critical. Because a lot of the relationship breakdowns often,
unfortunately, fall along political lines.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Whether or not there is a political
calculation to cooperating with the tribe or not, that
shouldn't impact law enforcement----
Mr. Simpson. No, it shouldn't.
Mr. Chaudhuri [continuing]. Concerns. It shouldn't impact
funding concerns. So the idea of having permanent funding and
permanent appropriations is critical.
So, as I said before, and you mentioned Tom Cole. He has
been a great advocate for McGirt-related funding, and when I
mentioned the initial down payment of this subcommittee towards
law enforcement funding at the start, Tom Cole was a champion
of that. But that is just a major step forward to everything,
everything else that needs to be done.
Mr. Simpson. Just----
Mr. Chaudhuri. Our nation--oh, I am sorry.
Mr. Simpson. I was going to say it seems to me that
everybody who has testified so far, just six, everybody wants
either forward funding, permanent funding, whatever for these
programs. What you really all want is stability.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Absolutely.
Mr. Simpson. To know what is going to happen, and that is
really important. I wish we had stability here in Congress.
That doesn't always work.
But anyway, listen, I appreciate your testimony and all
that you guys do, and we will work with you on these issues and
try to address them.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson. Try to move us forward.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Thank you, and I am sorry for scaring off
all the other chairs once we sat down. [Laughter.]
We had a full room of chairs, but they are all gone now.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, it is because they are chairs.
Mr. Chaudhuri. There you go.
Mr. Simpson. And they have got other committees that they
have to step into, and a lot of them will step into them and
come back. And so it is kind of--it is the way it works around
here.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Yep.
Mr. Simpson. Anyway, I appreciate it.
Mr. Chaudhuri. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you.
Okay. Buu Nygren. Is that how you pronounced that? Okay.
Jeez.
Dr. Nygren. Good.
Mr. Simpson. Yes. Kirk Francis and Frank Star Comes Out.
[Pause.]
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NAVAJO NATION
WITNESS
DR. BUU NYGREN, PRESIDENT, NAVAJO NATION
Dr. Nygren. Perfect. Good morning. Good morning, Chairman.
I appreciate you extending the invitation to be here. And
Ranking Member Pingree, it is good to see you again as well.
And then the rest of the committee, some of you might be
listening or some of you might be making your way this way.
But first of all, I just wanted to start my testimony off
with the Navajo Nation actually lost one of its iconic leaders
last night, Dr. Peterson Zah. He was the first president of the
Navajo Nation, and I understand that he was a good champion
here on the Hill in the 1990s and the 1980s. So that is a big
loss for the Navajo Nation, and I just wanted to let Indian
Country know as well, too.
I know that he was a huge tribal advocate across Indian
Country and America. So thank you to his family for letting us
having him lead the Navajo Nation.
But my name is Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation.
I am honored to be here as the newly elected president of the
Navajo Nation.
The Navajo Nation is one of the largest tribes in the
country. It provides critical services to over 400,000 members,
half of whom reside on the reservation. The Navajo Nation spans
27,000 square miles across 11 counties in Arizona, New Mexico,
and Utah. Our nation has approximately one-third of the on-
reservation Indian population in the United States.
Indian healthcare. Tragically, the Navajo Nation lost
nearly 1 percent of its on-reservation population because of
COVID. This is a high mortality rate, is directly connected to
ongoing deficiencies in Indian healthcare because of limited
funding. If further inroads are to be made to address this
healthcare deficiency, this committee needs to boost IHS
funding by a factor substantially greater than the inflation
rate.
The IHS received an advance funding for fiscal year 2024.
This is very important for planning purposes, but we ask that
this committee support making advance appropriations for
permanent for both the IHS and for the BIA. This is especially
for critical programs and services such as public safety,
housing, disaster relief, social services, welfare assistance,
and self-governance.
Assuring public safety. For every 1,000 Navajos, there are
only 0.85 public safety officers. This is far below the FBI's
recommendation of 3.5. With so few officers available, calls
for services are delayed because of the distances between
communities from the law enforcement stations. The Navajo
Nation requests an increase of $26 million for its public
safety services.
Protecting our children. The Navajo Nation's Indian Child
Welfare Act program is critical to our ability to protect
Navajo children and the future of the Navajo people.
Unfortunately, Navajo ICWA has only 15 team members who must
coordinate and collaborate with tribal, State, and Federal
partners in 24 States, with 354 active ICWA cases, including
655 Navajo children. Current funding is less than $1.6 million.
The Navajo Nation needs $5 million annually.
Improving housing. The Navajo Nation asks for $23 million
for BIA's Housing Improvement Program. This program provides
much-needed housing resources to Indians residing in Indian
Country who cannot meet HUD's excessive program income
thresholds.
Abandoned uranium mine clean-up on the Navajo Nation.
According to the EPA, more than half of over 523 abandoned
uranium mine sites located on our nation lack Federal funding
for clean-up and monitoring. These sites subject our members to
substantial ongoing cancer and health risks. Approximately $5
billion is needed to address these sites.
Fulfill Federal obligations for Navajo Indian Irrigation
Project. The Navajo Nation agreed to exchange water for a
Federal promise to build the Navajo Nation Indian Irrigation
Project. However, approximately 35,000 acres of the promised
farmland remains undeveloped. The Navajo Nation asks that the
Federal Government finish its work, which will cost
approximately $1 billion.
Navajo relocation. The Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian
Relocation was created to carry out the forced relocation of
approximately 15,000 Navajos. That began in 1970. This
committee knows well the harm and trauma this relocation has
caused to many people, as well as related multi-decade
construction freezes imposed over 1.6 million acres of land.
This harm is felt down onto the second and third generation of
relocatee families.
The Navajo Nation requests include an immediate transfer of
$15 million in excess of ONHIR funds to the Navajo
Rehabilitation Trust Fund; funding for the Navajo Thaw
Initiative; funding for studies, analysis, and reports
concerning Navajo relocation and the construction and repair
freeze and their ongoing impacts; support for Navajo technical
amendments legislation that would authorize ONHIR to work with
the Former Bennett Freeze Area. This would eventually lay the
groundwork for closure of ONHIR in a humane fashion through a
multi-agency program of rehabilitation put in place over the
next 10 years.
In conclusion, thank you for taking the time to consider
the Navajo Nation's needs. We look forward to working with you
all to enact the 2024 appropriations package that you have.
[The statement of Dr. Nygren follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Kirk.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
PENOBSCOT INDIAN NATION
WITNESS
KIRK FRANCIS, CHIEF, PENOBSCOT INDIAN NATION
Chief Francis. Good morning, Chairman Simpson; Ranking
Member Pingree, always great to see you as well; and members of
the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide
testimony.
My name is Kirk Francis. I serve as the president of the
United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund. I
am also the chief of the Penobscot Indian Nation in the great
State of Maine, where we have terrific potatoes, by the way,
Mr. Simpson. [Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson. Oh, yes. I like to tease a lot.
Chief Francis. And so we are here today as an organization
to continue to remind you all that the Federal Government is
failing to deliver upon its obligations to tribal nations and
Native people. This failure has persisted regardless of changes
in administration or Congress, despite numerous reports,
investigations, recommendations, and consistent advocacy from
Indian Country. It has been evident in the 2002 Quiet Crisis
report, the 2018 Broken Promises report, and continues in spite
of the recent funding allocated to tribal nations via the
COVID-19 relief and infrastructure packages.
This is not a question about addressing poverty and needs
across Indian Country. Our relationship with the United States
is ultimately about honor and fulfillment of commitments and
promises. The solutions we offer involve a fundamental shift in
Federal Indian policy and funding. They will allow Indian
Country to realize its great potential and create lasting,
positive change for tribal nations and our people.
With this in mind, we underscore the importance of
continued increases for tribal lines in the Federal budget. We
recognize there may be plans and conversations to reduce
discretionary spending and remind you all that deficit
reduction must not be accomplished to the detriment of
obligations to tribal nations.
Deep and chronic failures require bold systematic changes,
some of which have recently been proposed under the
administration. However, because these hearings are being held
prior to the release of the President's request for fiscal year
2024, we are unable to react to any specific proposals for this
appropriations cycle in this testimony. We request the
opportunity to provide additional written testimony to this
body after the President's request is released and that maybe
you might consider holding a future hearing after that request
is issued.
It is critical that the administration propose and Congress
demand budgets containing full funding for all Federal Indian
agencies and programs. Given our history and unique
relationship, this funding can no longer be subject to the
instability of discretionary spending.
We extend our gratitude for the work of this subcommittee
in achieving advance appropriations for IHS. It is our
expectation that this will be included in every appropriations
bill going forward. In the long term, we must achieve fully
mandatory funding for all Federal Indian agencies and programs.
The processes under which OMB develops budgets and policies
that impact us require reform also. In concert with its newly
established Tribal Affairs Adviser, OMB must be required to
produce a full, detailed accounting of funding distributed to
Indian Country, including only what Indian nations have
accessed, not funds for which we are technically eligible.
Congress should also work with OMB to hold States accountable
for any pass-through dollars that are intended for tribal
nations.
While we are appreciative of the inclusion of funding for
tribal nations in the recently enacted infrastructure packages,
this level of funding is insufficient to address centuries of
unmet infrastructure obligations. A much greater Federal
investment is necessary to rebuild tribal nation infrastructure
and economies. Similar to the U.S. investment in rebuilding
post World War II Europe via the Marshall Plan, the legislative
and executive branches should commit to the same investment to
rebuild tribal nations.
As we await details on the President's budget, we provide
our regionally identified priorities for IHS and Department of
the Interior in our written testimony. We continue to support
mandatory funding proposals for IHS as well as the 105(l), CSC
lines of the IHS budget, BIA, and BIE.
We would also like to highlight the following additional
priorities--payment in lieu of taxes for trust land
acquisitions, increased funding for tribal historic
preservation, interagency transfer authority for tribal
funding, $80 million for the Native Behavioral Health Resource
Program--and dedicated funds and permanency for the following--
Treasury's Office of Tribal and Native Affairs, OMB's Tribal
Adviser, and the White House Council on Native American
Affairs.
We now call upon Congress, and this subcommittee in
particular, to work with tribal nations and the administration
to fulfill the Government's trust and treaty obligations
through the Federal budget. While each Member of Congress
shares equally in these obligations, you have a unique
understanding of this charge, including the unmet funding
obligations and, more importantly, the opportunity to drive
historic change.
In closing, we implore you to lead this change within
Congress to improve how the United States views, honors, and
fulfills its promises to Indian Country.
Thank you very much, sir.
[The statement of Chief Francis follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Frank.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
WITNESS
FRANK STAR COMES OUT, PRESIDENT, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE
Mr. Star Comes Out. Yes, good morning, Chairman, Ranking
Member, and members of the subcommittee. I greet you all with a
warm handshake.
My name is Frank Star Comes Out. I am the current and newly
elected president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. I am also the
newly elected chairman for the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's
Association.
I will be brief. A little bit about my history and why I am
sitting here today is I served in the United States Marine
Corps. I am a proud veteran. I served in the Gulf War and in
Mogadishu, Somalia, during my tour of duty as a machine gunner,
and I truly believe--I have always been boots on the ground
from that day forward, as a young man to this day.
So I just wanted to mention that, and my fight for my
people, our people in Indian Country. So, with that, I also
served as--I started out in the districts, serving my
communities, and then now as a president of my tribe. And I
come before you to urge you to fulfill your treaty
responsibilities.
We face a lot of challenges on our Pine Ridge Reservation.
We have the lowest life expectancy in the entire United States,
high unemployment, and lack of business development, just to
name a couple. I could spend hours talking about issues, but I
will try to keep it under 5.
We suffer a lot of challenges. Law enforcement. We are in
dire need of manpower, equipment, resources, to meet our
challenges against violence and drugs.
Social services. We lack sufficient wages and housing to
attract staff. We are short social workers. We lack the basic
transitions to follow-up resources for reunification. Our youth
need emergency shelters, counselors, nutrition support, and
services.
Our healthcare. We have inadequate staffing, long wait
times, and very few providers because of our geographical
location and the situation on the reservation.
Our BIA roads. We lack qualified personnel, equipment, and
road maintenance. We have a lot of unimproved roads, and the
location of our reservation is huge. It is a huge land base.
Telecommunications. We lack coverage. We lack the BIA
towers, and they are old and outdated. So we have our Internet
access is limited.
Education. Schools need facilities upgrade, competitive
wages, counselors, and school resource officers. We have very
little funding for school resource officers. But our chief of
police will be testifying, I believe, tomorrow, and he can
cover all that, and we submitted our paperwork here. So it
covers a lot.
Indian Country formulas do not work for us. Prioritized
tribal allocations also do not work for us. True, meaningful
government-to-government consultation and coordination needs to
happen. I hear talks of leadership here in Washington, D.C.,
since I have been in--the short time I have been in office. I
have heard talks of treaty obligations, and I am going to be
looking forward to that, to having more conversations about
that.
I have highlighted important issues in our written
testimony like I just said, but there are many other equally
important needs, and it is not fair to prioritize--I feel it is
not fair because we are in desperate need of all funding in all
departments, programs.
So, with that, let me wrap it up. You know, the Oglala
Lakota are resilient. We are a proud people in culture and
spirituality, and that is what keeps us strong. We survived a
lot under harsh conditions, and we will keep going. But we need
your help to fulfill your treaty obligation.
I urge you to help us, fund us at the highest possible
level to ensure the money is being fairly distributed to all
tribes. Keeping in mind the unique challenges of the Great
Plains tribes like my tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe. For us, it
is not a policy question. It is life and death.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Star Comes Out follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. I thank you all for your testimony, and as I
am sitting here listening to you, and I have been to Pine Ridge
several years ago when I was chairman of this committee before.
And enjoyed the trip but also was, I think, amazed at the
needs.
Mr. Star Comes Out. Yes.
Mr. Simpson. And we visited other reservations. We went to
Standing Rock and to the Cheyenne River Reservation and Lone
Pine, and we were down in Oklahoma, too, and visited those
tribes down there. The differences between tribes is great.
But I got to tell you--and I think Chellie would probably
agree with me, having worked on this committee for years--it
will--it will be years before we can honestly say we have met
our treaty obligations. I mean, we have been so lack in it over
the century that it will be years before we can all stand up
and say we are where we need to be.
Our goal here is to move us forward and to continue moving
us forward to address just what you said. And I tell people in
Idaho all the time that if you really want to see poverty in
America, let us go visit a few reservations. Because it is
terrible. I saw schools at some of these reservations that I am
not proud to say, but I would not send my child to. But that is
what they had.
And so it is important that this committee get out and
actually see on the ground what works. And I can tell you our
visit to the Navajo reservation was fascinating. That is a
beautiful reservation down at Window Rock and other places. We
really--we really enjoyed that, and there are challenges there,
as you mentioned.
And while I know that these funding requests that you have
all asked for are significant, our goal is to move us, as I
said, in the right direction and not take a step back. Never
take a step back.
Yes, Frank.
Mr. Star Comes Out. Sir, if I may? I know, earlier, you
mentioned something about stability, and I would like to add on
to your comment there on stability. And that is the ultimate
goal of most of us--treaty tribes, I should say, because we
lack the--we had a formula that wasn't working for us, and it
is that formula, they have been using it for decades, and it is
slowly, slowly choking us out.
And all our programs can attest to that. We had no choice
to minimize some of the needs there and prioritize, where it
turns into a life and death situation. And right now, our
police force is feeling it.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Star Comes Out. We have 5 to 7 officers a day
patrolling 51,000--over 51,000 plus membership. The crime is
extremely high, the violence, the drugs, the alcohol. And it is
also affecting our families because the families are--because
of lack of funding, resources, who do we turn to?
I look outside our reservations and I see all these
organizations helping people overseas while you got a Third
World country right here in America, and we are not even
addressing it.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Star Comes Out. Our people suffered a lot. Our people
serve this country. I am also a proud veteran, a combat
veteran. And now I am fighting for my people, my tribe, and I
will continue to do that.
But I just want to make you, everybody aware here it is
time that we are heard. We need to be listened to. We are not
sitting here begging for help. We are asking you to hold up to
your end of the bargain with our treaty obligations because
that has definitely choked us out.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Star Comes Out. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson. I appreciate that, Frank.
Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Yes, and thank you so much. Thank you for your
service. And as Representative McCollum mentioned, tribal
members serve at a much higher rate than the general population
and that, too, should be considered, this complete lack of
respect and sufficient funding. And I really appreciated your
remarks.
And also your comment that when people suggest you
prioritize, there is really no way to prioritize because each
of these you are talking about fundamental basic needs that
aren't being met. So I hope we can continue to do more and
certainly not--not go in the wrong direction.
Congratulations on your new position. I guess you are both
fairly new here. And I didn't realize just--you brought up a
lot of important points, of course, but on the uranium mine
clean-up, is there current mining going on on the reservation?
And also just on the clean-up point, is that an EPA
responsibility that we need to be working on, or how does that
impact you?
Dr. Nygren. Currently, uranium mining is banned on the
Navajo Nation since the mid 2000s. But I also believe that
there is no clean-up happening at the moment, and there is EPA
involved. But just the lack of actually getting mines cleaned
up is the holdup. So definitely if we want to hold a hearing,
maybe a meeting with EPA, we are definitely open to that, to
try to figure out how do we streamline that.
Because I know, as of a month ago, there is a school out
in--Cove Day School. So kids are actually in school over a year
ago, and just from the uranium mines and all the weather, water
did come down the mountains, and it actually contaminated the
school site. So that is halting the BIA construction of the
school.
So just as of a year ago, kids were actually in that area.
So definitely over 500 mines, whatever we can do to really
collectively address that, that would be great because I think
that the safety and the well-being of our Americans should be a
top priority, and that is one of the things that I always like
to say is that we are Americans as well and also Native
Americans. But let us try to work collectively together so that
people can feel safe. So----
Ms. Pingree. Absolutely. And this committee also has
jurisdiction on the EPA's budget. So if we can facilitate a
meeting like that, we would be happy to do it.
And thank you, Chief Francis. We are all so proud of you in
Maine and the work that you do for all of the Maine tribes,
particularly in our legislative challenges that we have in
Maine, but also what you said in really representing so many
interests out there and supporting that with all of us.
I just want to remark that I thought your suggestion that
we create a Marshall Plan for the tribes kind of goes along
with your suggestion that we--you know, we just have to at some
point step back and take a look at this bigger issue that we
never catch up. We don't come close to meeting our obligations.
And while I know the chair is really dedicated to keeping us on
track and keeping the funding going, we are just never going to
get there if we don't, in a sense, just like we looked at the
infrastructure bill for the United States, saying what do we
need to do to have the infusion here to support our obligation?
And any other thoughts you have about that, I would be
interested to hear.
Chief Francis. Well, USET has really worked over the past
few years on this Marshall Plan theory for Indian Country and
approach. And as we looked at different--different things, it
is not just post World War II, but what we see going on in
Ukraine and different places, how can--and not saying those
decisions were wrong, by any means. But just that how can we
get to a place where we are having that type of conversation?
And so, so USET really has developed a step-by-step thought
on how to accomplish this. We have put it, I think some of it
in our written testimony and be happy to provide that to you
all as well going forward.
Ms. Pingree. Great, great. Well, I would really be
interested in working on that. So I will look for it in your
written testimony, and I can be in touch about talking about it
more.
Chief Francis. And it is great to see you, Mr. Zinke. I
think the last time I saw you, you were paddling the Penobscot
River.
Mr. Zinke. You know God has got a sense of humor. I am
back. [Laughter.]
Ms. Pingree. You can come back to the Penobscot River
anytime, Mr. Zinke.
Mr. Zinke. [presiding]. Well, thank you. Mr. Ellzey, would
you have any comments?
Mr. Ellzey. [Indicating no.]
Mr. Zinke. Thank you for your testimony. I will look
forward to working with you, and good to see new friends and
old. I have been to the reservations, and there is a lot to do.
Up front, I didn't realize how bad the BIA was until I was
in charge of it. I get it. At the end of the day, we also need
consensus among the nations on what to do. It is complex
because it is very difficult. It is hard in Congress to get
consensus. The nations and the points that I learned, that
every nation is different.
It is easy to combine and say, well, the Indian issue
problem. Well, each nation is a sovereign nation, and they are
different. And so how we go forward probably to empower the
front line. If there is one thing I learned as a SEAL--and
thank you for your service, sempre fi--is that you have got to
look at the front line.
It is how the E-5 is--what is his conditions in life? You
don't learn a lot from the headquarters. You learn when you go
to the front line. And more resources in the front line, how we
can make sure that resources get there without being caught up
in regulations.
In Montana, a little different. But the counties that are
adjacent to the reservations, if the counties had the same
amount of regulation, they wouldn't put up with it. But the
nations have far greater amount of regulatory oversight
problems and just trying to get to the first base. So I get it,
and I look forward--and this is a bipartisan committee. We work
with the nations. We work together. But we recognize the issue.
So, thank you, gentlemen.
[Pause.]
Mr. Zinke. In D.C., as you know, it is interesting. I am
still a Reagan optimist. I still think it is fixable. So that
is good, but it is important here. It is important to hear the
voice and to identify what we can do. So we look forward to
your testimony, and I look forward to working with you on it.
And I do remember my given name is [speaking Native
language]. So I do remember, sir.
So, with that, sir, we will begin with you, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey Stiffarm.
---------- --
--------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY
WITNESS
JEFFREY STIFFARM, PRESIDENT, FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY
Mr. Stiffarm. Good morning, everyone. I would like to say I
am sitting before you very humbly to speak about our needs, and
wants and needs back at Fort Belknap in Montana. Thank you for
listening to our story.
My name is Jeffrey Stiffarm. I am the president of the Fort
Belknap Indian Community, home of different tribes, the Nakoda
Assiniboine Tribe and the A'aninin, the Gros Ventre Tribe. I am
enrolled member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, and I have been the
president there going on year number two here. So I have a
little bit of experience in the political arena, but my career,
I was a law enforcement officer all in Fort Belknap, and that
is kind of what I want to testify on and tell my story about.
You heard a little bit of other stories from other tribes
about the issues that they have and the problems with public
safety and other issues in Indian Country. And the things that
I wanted to kind of point out is I can throw some numbers at
you here real quick. In the past, the U.S. Government sent over
$40 billion in foreign aid to other countries. That is over 10
times greater than they ever spent on anything in Indian
Country.
Afghanistan alone, they sent more money to Afghanistan than
they have ever done to Indian tribes in the United States.
Something to remember and think about as you guys hand out the
funding going forward. And the Federal Government gave $2.8
billion to farmers and ranchers in this country. They gave the
tribes half that.
And listening to some of the stories that the people talked
about earlier and their issues, and that is the same issues in
Fort Belknap. We are not asking for a handout. We are asking
for a hand up. We are the First People of this country. Yet we
are treated, still treated like secondhand citizens. Always
overlooked, always stepped over, always an afterthought.
And the issues that we have in Fort Belknap, in 1997, Fort
Belknap 638 contracted BIA law enforcement. At that time, the
base funding for law enforcement was $1.2 million. Here we are
in 2023, our base funding is $1.3 million.
Now how can you run public safety on that amount of money,
and nothing has increased. But the yet the cost of living has
probably increased a thousand times over since 1997. At that
time, we were funded to hire 10 officers at $10 an hour. We
have a reservation of over 600,000 acres. We have six officers
to cover that. So one officer per shift.
And in my years and experience in law enforcement, the lack
of funding, whether it was in housing, public safety, or IHS,
we didn't have an ambulance in the southern end of our
reservation. So our officers would have to respond to medical
calls and transport with their police units, and I remember
transporting people and them dying in my police unit because we
couldn't get there in time. We didn't have the medical
training. You know, a heart attack. We would pull over to the
side of the road, do CPR, things like that.
What we are asking for is to help us with the bare
necessities of life for our people. Most of the money that this
Government sends overseas is to help with wars, and that is to
help kill people. We are asking for money to help save our
people, and it is not a very hard thing to think about when you
talk about life.
Our children are always sent off to foster care. We don't
have enough homes. We got five families living in one home at
Fort Belknap, and I am sure the other reservations, the other
people have the same issues that we do. I know we all do. And
the hard times that we are having, like I said, it is the bare
necessities that are all we are asking for to survive and to
live on.
It is a very hard situation, and I know some of the people
that spoke before me said you guys visited their reservations.
And I don't know if you guys have been to Montana, except my
friend here, Mr. Zinke. He has been a champion for our people
back home, and I want to you for that and what you may do going
forward. And I want to congratulate you again for being re-
elected to take good care of us and to help us, and we will
work together with you to do that. And I mean that from the
bottom of my heart.
And a family from Fort Belknap adopted him because he was
their commander that went over SEALs. That was part of his
command that was killed. So he had enough compassion to reach
out to that family back in Fort Belknap, and he is part of our
reservation now. And I want to thank you again, Commander
Zinke, from the bottom of my heart.
That is part of our story that we have. And a lot of that
funding that we ask for is not just for law enforcement. It is
for social services. It is IHS, housing. Like I said, the basic
necessities that we have. We are trying to live.
We got homeless people. People still live off--you guys
remember the days they hand out rations. A lot of our people
still live off of rations, general assistance, because we can't
provide jobs. We can't provide income for our people. It is a
hard thing to watch when you are a cop or when you are a tribal
leader now, and you watch this.
And we are--reservations across the country are still
fighting for our water, and so is Fort Belknap. And water is
another basic necessity that we need it in the country. And our
prayer, sir, you know say you can't have the land without the
water. Well, we need water, too, and we need the money to build
the infrastructure to irrigate, to grow crops to feed our
cattle, our horses, things like that. To grow our medicines.
And I am a very strong believer in our culture. I am
holding a piece of bark that I hold and I talk and I pray with.
That is from our medicine lodge that I danced in. I asked my
relatives that have gone before me to say the words that I am
saying to you. And I speak from the heart to every one of you
to understand that it is not me speaking, it is the people back
home where I come from, that the basic needs that we need.
And I have to reiterate the basic needs--public safety,
health, housing, court systems, things like that--we really
need you guys to really think about that and the money that you
guys send to overseas of over $40 billion, and this is a couple
years ago. It is probably a lot more now what you guys are
sending over to foreign countries compared to what you are
spending on the First People of this country.
And I won't take any more of your time, but I want to thank
you for your time, for listening, and I hope that you don't
listen with your ears, but you listen with your heart to really
understand what we are going through, the people.
[Speaking Native language.]
[The statement of Mr. Stiffarm follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Zinke. Thank you, Mr. President.
And Council Member Lankford.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
TRIBAL COUNCIL OF THE CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE
FLATHEAD RESERVATION
WITNESS
CAROLE DEPOE LANKFORD, MEMBER, TRIBAL COUNCIL OF THE CONFEDERATED
SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
Ms. Lankford. Good morning. [Speaking Native language.]
My name is Carole Lankford, and it is an honor to be in
front of this committee today to be able to speak to you, but
especially in front of you, Congressman Zinke, Chairman Zinke.
It is a real honor, and I appreciate your service and honor you
for that.
Thank you very much.
My name is Carole Lankford. I am a member of the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.
The Flathead Reservation was reserved as our permanent homeland
under the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 and encompasses over 1.2
million acres in Western Montana, situated around the southern
half of Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the
Great Lakes.
Our tribes are made up of approximately 8,000 enrolled
members, with about 5,000 members living on the reservation.
With a total reservation population of approximately 30,000
people, we are the largest minority on our own reservation.
The past 3 years have been challenging for us as Native
peoples. The COVID pandemic claimed the lives of three to four
times that of other populations in the State of Montana. This
disease took from us elders, speakers of our language, and
carriers of our beliefs. It swept through our communities
despite our tribe's working tirelessly to keep our communities
safe.
But the pandemic taught us a valuable lesson. We learned
that if we work together and effectively work toward solutions,
we can overcome great challenges. We also learned how important
it is for resources to be deployed where they are needed the
most.
Now we must take what we have learned and apply those
lessons to the challenges ahead. We appreciate the opportunity
to share our thoughts on addressing these challenges and the
subcommittee's commitment to improve the lives of our shared
constituents. We face an ever-growing epidemic of untreated
mental illness and substance abuse. We also face threats to our
homeland, water, forests, and animals from fire and other
natural disasters, as well as from invasive species.
Our tribal council has endeavored to tackle the challenges
head on. Like the bison our people have been in a relationship
for thousands of years, we must turn into the storm. To that
end, our tribal council has resolved to eradicate homelessness,
to address and treat mental illness and dependence on drugs and
alcohol, to make our forests and fields resilient to fire and
other natural disasters, and to prevent the introduction of
invasive species that destroy our homeland, private property,
and economies.
We support full funding for the Indian Health Service. As a
self-governance tribe, we have been carrying out all the
functions of IHS on our reservation for decades. Local control
and otherwise fiscal management have resulted in significant
improvements in the delivery of healthcare services, but our
efforts continue to be limited by funding shortfalls. If we
have any hope to adequately address mental illness and
addiction, we need the necessary resources to do so.
We support additional funding for the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. I am incredibly proud of the essential governmental
services carried out by tribal staff under the self-governance
compact with the BIA. Our law enforcement officers, wildland
firefighters, and social services, for example, make sacrifices
every day to protect our people and our homeland. In most
cases, they do so for less pay and inadequate resources and
with substandard infrastructure.
Our reservation was ravaged by wildfire in 2021 by the 2021
fire season. The CSKT Division of Fire, which engages in a full
host of fire management activities, was stretched to the
breaking point due in part to inadequate infrastructure to
support an evolving fire landscape. Lack of available space and
facilities to permanent and emergency personnel, the equipment
is a problem, and it has exponentially over the past few years
as we adapt to changing snowfall patterns and drought
conditions.
And one area of critical concern for us is that tribal and
wildfire fighters providing fire suppression to our 638
contract are not paid equitably in relation to other Federal
firefighters. We need the tools to pay our firefighters the
same as our Federal counterparts.
Adequate funding for these essential activities is critical
as we face the challenges ahead. We appreciate the
subcommittee's commitment and partnership with us.
On behalf of the Tribal Council of the Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes, I thank you for this opportunity.
[The statement of Ms. Lankford follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Zinke. Thank you.
Ms. Ashleigh Weeks of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX RURAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM (ASRWSS)
WITNESS
ASHLEIGH WEEKS, GENERAL MANAGER, ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX RURAL WATER
SUPPLY SYSTEM (ASRWSS)
Ms. Weeks. Good morning, Chairman Zinke, Ranking Member
Pingree, and members of the subcommittee, my name is Ashleigh
Dupree-Weeks. I am the general manager of the Assiniboine and
Sioux Rural Water Supply System in Northeastern Montana.
There are 21 employees on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation
that operates, maintains, and replaces this vital system that
now serves a rural population of 18,000 persons and will serve
32,000 when the design capacity is reached in several future
decades.
This drinking water system supplies safe, high-quality, and
reliable drinking water from the Missouri River. A regional
water treatment plant operated by my certified and highly
capable staff delivers water through 3,200 miles of pipeline
when completed, with multiple pumping stations and water
storage tanks.
The construction of the project is 95 percent complete
within the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and 85 percent complete
in the area that we serve off the reservation known as Dry
Prairie, our non-Indian partners and a very successful part of
our project. The United States will invest $375 million in
construction to complete the project in Montana, and Dry
Prairie will invest an additional non-Federal cost-share of $47
million.
I have the responsibility of operating, maintaining, and
replacing the facilities on the reservation with a Federal
construction value of $239 million. The request we make of the
subcommittee for funding in fiscal year 2024 is $4.204 million,
or 1.75 percent of the construction cost, a modest percentage.
This is an increase over our fiscal year 2023 funds of
$772,000.
Our funding in fiscal year 2021 was $3.28 million. So our
request this year is nearly 28 percent higher than 3 years ago.
We only requested small increases in fiscal year 2022 and
fiscal year 2023, but we now need a significant increase due to
several factors I will outline for you.
The first is inflation. Reclamation construction cost
trends index for our type of construction rose from 505 to 654,
or over 29 percent, over the last 3 fiscal years. This is
reflective of the type of inflation for operation, maintenance,
and replacement.
The second, increasing water deliveries with service to
more people. Our deliveries of water rose from 795 million
gallons to 1.112 billion gallons over the last 3 years, an
increase of 40 percent.
Chemical costs at the water treatment plant increased from
$407,000 to $607,000, an increase of 50 percent.
Pumping costs increased from $266,000 to $378,000, an
increase of 42 percent.
We have also increased the staffing of highly qualified and
certified operators for our system to its full potential. Our
labor costs in fiscal year 2021 were around $1 million, and the
projected cost in this next fiscal year 2024 for current staff
is $1.5 million, an increase of 70 percent due to the increase
of manpower, increasing our FTEs from 18 to 21, and an increase
in average salaries.
FTEs increased by 17 percent. Average salaries increased by
21 percent, reflecting an increase in certification as well as
inflation. Fuel and maintenance cost of vehicles has also
increased over the last 3 years by about 16 percent.
Mr. Chairman, factors I have outlined account for the
increase in funding needed for fiscal year 2024. I thank the
subcommittee for the continued support of OMR funding for
ASRWSS, as authorized by Public Law 106-382.
Thanks.
[The statement of Ms. Weeks follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr Zinke. Thank you.
And my good friend, chairman of the great Assiniboine and
Sioux Tribe. And Mr. Chairman.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX TRIBES OF THE
FORT PECK RESERVATION
WITNESS
FLOYD AZURE, CHAIRMAN, ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX TRIBES OF THE FORT PECK
RESERVATION
Mr. Azure. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Zinke. We have
had a great relationship for the past few years, and I even
enjoyed it when you were at the BIA. That was a lot of fun.
Mr. Zinke. I am glad you did.
Mr. Azure. I would come to see you. I know what happened to
you. I didn't agree with it, but some people just do things.
And I went through the same thing, basically. So it is not
good.
And thank you, Ranking Member, and thank you, committee
members. Thank you for allowing us to be here today, and I want
to thank you for allowing my manager of our water treatment
plant give her report, and she does a great job.
Mr. Zinke. Mr. Chairman, you hire really good people.
Mr. Azure. I am Floyd Azure and chairman of the Assiniboine
and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation. Fort Peck
Reservation is in northeast Montana, 40 miles west of the North
Dakota border and 50 miles south of the Canadian border, with
the Missouri River defining its southern border.
The reservation encompasses over 2 million acres of land.
We have approximately 12,000 enrolled tribal members, with
approximately 7,000 tribal members living on our reservation.
We have a total reservation population of about 11,000 people.
We appreciate the subcommittee's continued commitment to
addressing substance abuse and the consequential challenges
that arise from this plague. When someone is suffering from
addiction, it is not just the person who is impacted, it is the
entire family. And for tribal communities, it is the entire
tribe.
The addictions our people are facing today, and
particularly meth and heroin, are so much more destructive than
alcohol. I am not sure we can survive another generation with
our people locked in the grasp of addiction to these drugs.
Thus, I would like to take the time today to talk about the
importance of supporting Indian Health Service, and we need to
support the Indian Health Service's capacity to collect from
third-party payers like Medicaid, Medicare, and private
insurance. From expanded Medicaid, Montana has allowed the
Indian Health Service to actually provide healthcare rather
than band-aids, which all too often were prescription
painkillers.
It is an old story across Indian Country that the biggest
drug dealer on the reservation is the IHS clinic. This is
because the IHS historically did not have the resources to
treat serious conditions like torn ACLs, rotator cuff injuries,
or even gallbladder disease because these conditions are not
life or limb conditions and would not qualify for PRC contract
care.
Consequently, the providers, who were led to believe that
painkillers would be a safe alternative to real care,
prescribed painkillers. Thus, for a generation, we have had to
deal with people who were given pills and became addicts, which
led to the destruction of lives, families, and in the end,
compromised the very foundation of our community and our
future.
However, since Medicaid expansion, the numbers tell us that
people are getting real healthcare, and their quality of life
is improving, which means the quality of life of our children
is improving. No longer are our people being told that they are
not sick enough to get quality healthcare and given a bottle of
pills for the pain.
Specifically, we have had scores of hip and knee
replacements and other orthopedic surgeries and other
preventive and screening healthcare, including substance abuse
treatment. While there is no magic solution to combatting the
many issues that are caused by drug and alcohol addiction, I am
certain that ensuring people have access to quality healthcare
is a big part of the solution.
As our people heal, we must work to heal our families, and
that is why I am here again asking for additional funding for
our tribal social services program. Over 35 percent of our
children are in foster care in Montana. They are Indian
children. Indian people represent only 10 percent of the State
population.
Finally, a key factor in keeping families together and
healthy is housing. Our reservation is in dire need of housing.
It is masked by the fact that we have families living in
overcrowded situations.
Thus, when someone is asked do they have housing, they
answer, ``Yes, I live with my grandmother.'' What they do not
disclose is that sometimes four or five other families live in
that house, and it is usually a two- or three-bedroom home.
We need additional Housing Improvement Program funding to
be able to meet the low-income housing needs for our members.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Azure follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Zinke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We talk a lot about treaty obligations, but there is also
an obligation to border security. There is also an obligation
to create the economic conditions where people can reach
prosperity.
So I recognize, fully recognize the obligations of treaties
because sovereign nations, it is one nation having a treaty
with another nation. So I understand that and respect that, but
also the U.S. can do a lot better with our obligations on
border and such.
Ranking Member, would you like to ask a question?
Ms. Pingree. Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I thought that was a
really good way of describing the issues when you don't have
sufficient healthcare and the IHS being the biggest drug
dealer. We understand the progression that has happened in so
many places where people start with a painkiller.
Did the tribes--or did your tribe receive any of the
settlement funds with the drug companies? Were you involved in
any of that litigation?
Mr. Azure. No. No.
Ms. Lankford. Yes.
Ms. Pingree. No. Yes, you are? Yes, that is interesting. I
think----
Mr. Azure. The issue with us----
Ms. Pingree. Go ahead.
Mr. Azure. You know, the drug problem we have is great on
our reservation, but the biggest issue I have to deal with is
the children that are affected by it. My wife has been a
schoolteacher for 33 years in kindergarten, and she deals with
it. And the children that come in have increasingly came in
with mental disabilities.
And not only that, but this drug problem we have increases
the burden on our healthcare and law enforcement and
correctional, our social services. And that is why we have the
majority of our children in social services. We got 97 of them
in foster care on the reservation, and they are not on a
reservation that is spread out through the State of Montana.
Ms. Pingree. Right.
Mr. Azure. But it all stems from the drug abuse that we
have, and there--in Montana, there was a representative in
Montana that was putting a bill forward to come to Congress and
ask to do away with the reservations with the drug problem, but
you have got to remember that our reservation is in the middle
of Montana. So it is not coming from us. It is coming from the
State of Montana.
And we have to work with the State of Montana. We have been
working with the State of Montana. We have a drug task force
with the State of Montana, and it extends to the state of
Minneapolis, and it extends to the State of Washington, our
ties. And we have been catching people on Burlington Northern
because they have no guidelines on Burlington Northern. Anybody
can get on Burlington Northern.
We caught one person that was coming from Washington--from
Portland, Oregon, all the way across going to Minneapolis. And
they stopped it, they have a stop in Williston, North Dakota.
Well, the agents from Williston, North Dakota, came in, joined
with our agents. We put them on the train in Wolf Point. They
pinned the guys down, who they were and where they were at in
the train, and they took them off the train in Williston, North
Dakota.
And my people, working with the State of Montana, we worked
with the Highway Patrol. We worked with the County of
Roosevelt. We worked with the County of--Valley County, the
City of Wolf Point. We all have the same issue. We don't have
enough officers.
But we have been doing a great job. We have had a bust
almost every week. The last bust we had was over 5 pounds of
marijuana, over a kilo and a half of meth, and I don't know how
many fentanyl pills in one bust. But that is what is destroying
our reservation. And if the State of Montana can't stop them
from coming into our State, how are we going to stop them from
coming into our reservation?
Ms. Pingree. Yes. No, and thank you for the good work that
you are trying to do. And you are right. It is certainly not
just specific to tribal reservations. It is a huge issue in all
of our rural communities in a State like mine, too.
So, but thank you all for your testimony. I really
appreciate it.
Mr. Zinke. Thank you.
Mr. Ellzey, do you have any comments?
Mr. Ellzey. [Indicating no.]
Mr. Zinke. Thank you.
One last, Mr. President, you had mentioned before that you
have five officers because you had to reduce the number of
officers simply to raise the pay. Because you get the same
amount over time, and 10 years later, you have the same amount,
obviously inflation, it is hard to recruit when they are so
underpaid.
But is that true? You had to reduce the number because the
budget has been the same. You got to hire somebody, and you got
to find someone to do the job.
Mr. Stiffarm. Yes, exactly. We had to reduce the number of
officers down to five to increase their wages, which their wage
is still incompatible to surrounding areas, the county or
Highway Patrol or anything like that. And we are not cross-
deputized. The only officers that serve our people back home is
tribal officers, 638.
And like I said, their starting wages in 1997 were $10 an
hour. That is minimum wage to put your life on the line, and
that is how when I started in law enforcement, I was at $9 an
hour. And people, the surrounding areas, counties, they are
offering $30, $40 an hour. And like I said, we are a training
ground.
The lack of funding throughout Indian Country also affects
the BIA. In my years of being a council member, every time I
came to D.C. I asked BIA for extra funding to increase our
baseline for our officers' pay and then give us one-time
funding, which was like around $100,000, and you couldn't use
it towards wages. You have to use it for equipment or things
like that. And I tell them it was a training ground for other
agencies.
And the BIA told us last year that they are going to
increase the BIA police officers' wages because they are a
training ground. And I told them, well, welcome to our world.
We have been living that from day one. And here you guys are
the people that distribute money down to the tribes that have
638 contracts, and you guys got to remember us. You know, you
give us pennies on the dollars you get.
But then what the BIA and the Federal Government gives to
BIA is pennies on the dollars to what they give foreign
countries and other entities. Something to think about going
forward is how much money you give other countries compared to
what you give to the tribal nations of this country, our First
People.
But I want to thank you again for this opportunity to let
us tell our story and the stories you are going to hear after
us, and I appreciate every one of you.
Mr. Zinke. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you all.
[Pause.]
Mr. Zinke. Well, thank you. I am honored to be chairman of
the next panel. So we will go right into it.
Doctor, we are interested and waiting for your testimony.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
UKPEAGVIK INUPIAT CORPORATION
WITNESS
DR. PEARL BROWER, PRESIDENT/CEO, UKPEAGVIK INUPIAT CORPORATION
Dr. Brower. Thank you. Thank you.
Uvlaalluataq. Good morning, Chairman Zinke, Ranking Member
Pingree, and honorable members of the Subcommittee on Interior,
Environment, and Related Agencies.
Uvuna Nageak, Taniktunsiniga, Dr. Pearl Kiyawn Brower.
Ukpiagvinmiuguru?a. Qaugliruna uvunga Ukpeagvik I?upiat
Corporation, UIC. Quviasuktuna maaniitchumi(ng)agama uvlupak.
So, good morning. My name is Dr. Pearl Brower, and I am
from Utqiagvik, otherwise known as Barrow, on the edge of the
Arctic Ocean in Alaska. I live, work, and have the
responsibility of caring for our land, the land of the Inupiat,
as the president of Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation.
I am here to talk to you about the clean-up, or lack
thereof, of the contaminated lands conveyed to Alaska Native
communities as part of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act, ANCSA. Specifically, I am here to testify regarding the
need for additional ANCSA contaminated land funding through the
Environmental Protection Agency. Quyanaqpak. Thank you for
allowing me the opportunity to provide our perspective on the
impact of contamination in Alaska.
UIC is an Alaska Native village corporation created under
ANCSA, and UIC has worked to become self-sustaining and provide
for the economic, social, and cultural prosperity of our
shareholders. We celebrate our 50th anniversary this year and,
as a company, are in the strongest position we have ever been
in.
As part of ANCSA, the Federal Government agreed to convey
to 12 Alaska Native regional corporations and more than 200
village corporations 44 million acres of land and $962.5
million in settlement of aboriginal land claims of Alaska
Native peoples. However, much of the land conveyed had serious
issues with contamination, including PFAS, gasoline and oil
spills, metallic debris, and other contaminants.
In 1995, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to
prepare a report on the extent of the contamination. The result
was a report to Congress entitled ``Hazardous Substance
Contamination of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Lands in
Alaska.'' The report acknowledged conveying approximately 650
contaminated sites to Alaska Native corporations with various
types of hazardous waste and toxic materials, which pose
significant health risks to humans, animals, and the
environment, including arsenic, unexploded ordnances, PCBs,
among others.
Since 2016, there has been very little progress regarding
remediation. There are 35 active contaminated sites in
Ukpeagvik, and UIC itself owns 11 of those sites. Currently,
the Navy, according to the Restoration Advisory Board meeting
held in October of 2021, was on its third 5-year long-term
monitoring review. Today, in 2023, we are in the 21st year of
the long-term monitoring, and this year started the fourth 5-
year review.
The results from the 5-year review show the absence of an
established contaminant degradation rate, and the 2021 trend
data make it unclear when this site will achieve clean-up
levels via natural attenuation. It is recommended that the
annual long-term monitoring program of active zone water
continue until clean-up levels are achieved.
So, basically, essentially, contaminants are not going away
naturally. In July of 2017, the Navy conducted surface water
sampling at Imikpuk Lake, found PFAS and PFOA was present above
the EPA lifetime health advisory, showing that the contaminants
are moving into previously clean areas. This lake, used by
hunters and animals alike, was transferred to UIC from the
military.
We, as a people, are heavily dependent on subsistence
resources consisting of migratory birds, caribou, fish, and
marine mammals. Our connection to the land and sea, which
surrounds us, is paramount. To sustain our culturally healthy
way of life, we must have healthy lands, waters, and animals.
It is our cultural belief that taking care of our environment
will continue to sustain a healthy way of life, which is why
the continued contamination of our land is so harmful.
We hunt on land and in the sea because hunting feeds our
children and ourselves. But we hunt on contaminated lands and
waters. We hike inland on tundra, looking for eggs, gathering
greens, but we encounter hundreds of barrels left by the
Federal Government while researching Arctic activity decades
ago.
This contamination seeps into the water we drink and the
land from which we feed ourselves and our families. The clean-
up is costly, but we cannot put a price on the health of our
families.
The fiscal year 2023 appropriation bill included $20
million for the inventory, verification, assessment, and
remediation of contaminated ANCSA sites. While this is a step
in the right direction, $20 million will not cover the
remediation of UIC lands, let alone all of the contaminated
sites in Alaska.
Therefore, I am asking the committee to include a larger
set-aside for ANCSA contaminated lands in your fiscal year 2024
appropriations bill to ensure the efforts to clean our lands
can and will be addressed. By mitigating these issues now, we
are preventing further problems in the future.
I look forward to working with the committee to address the
issues of land contamination in Alaska.
Quyanaqpak. Thank you so much for your time and the
consideration of your testimony, and come and visit us anytime.
[The statement of Dr. Brower follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Zinke. The good thing is you are a long way away from
it now.
Dr. Brower. We certainly are. I was looking--I think I have
traveled the farthest. Good to be here. Got in at 10:00 last
night. [Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson [presiding]. David.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
METLAKATLA INDIAN COMMUNITY
WITNESS
DAVID BOXLEY, COUNCIL MEMBER, METLAKATLA INDIAN COMMUNITY
Mr. Boxley. [Speaking Native language.]
Good morning to you all, Representatives of the United
States. Chairperson Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree, and
members of the subcommittee, it is my deep privilege to be here
before you today, and I am profoundly honored to speak to you
on behalf of my people, the Metlakatla Indian Community of the
Annette Islands Reserve. Thank you for the opportunity to share
our funding priorities for the 2024 Federal budget.
In 1891, Congress set aside the Annette Islands to create a
permanent home for the Tsimshian pioneers of Metlakatla in what
was then the colonial territory of Alaska. In doing so, a new
trust relationship was born between us.
I have traveled a very long way--not quite as long as
others, but a long way--to ask Congress to maintain this trust
to keep faith with Metlakatla, to redouble its efforts in our
shared commitment to face down every threat, to overcome every
obstacle, and build a brighter tomorrow for the next
generation.
We strongly recommend a substantial increase in baseline
funding to the BIA. Year after year, we have large funding
shortfalls across all BIA-funded programs, causing services in
our community to constantly depend on an inconsistent patchwork
of Federal funding. We have been forced to choose between
meeting water quality standards or providing scholarships to
our students.
It has sadly become the norm that we don't receive our full
yearly appropriation until several months, sometimes longer,
after the start of the fiscal year, making it nearly impossible
for us to plan, grow, or achieve self-sufficiency. Full advance
appropriations for the BIA would lead to better stability,
reduce dependence on uncertain grant funding, and improve
everything overall.
For many years, tribes have requested that IHS be funded on
advance appropriation cycle. Going forward, we urge the
subcommittee to take the necessary steps to continue advance
appropriations for the IHS for 2025 and beyond.
Like many tribal communities, we continue to be impacted by
the growing challenge of climate change. The Tongass National
Forest, a temperate rainforest, now sees droughts that can last
for years, bringing existential threats like water shortages
and wildfires closer and closer to our shores. Erosion,
landslides, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and changes in
seasons all contribute to the serious challenges that my
community currently faces.
We are forced to reduce emissions to mitigate and adapt,
but to be truly successful, we need additional support,
Government funding at levels that are equal to the threat.
On top of climate change, our shores have already been
invaded by the European green crab, an invasive species that
threatens to supplant native crabs, leaving desolation in their
wake, most significantly the potential of destroying the salmon
population, which we cannot allow to go unchallenged. Salmon
are a keystone species and have shaped the lives of my people
for millennia.
We are asking the subcommittee to continue increased
funding levels for fish hatcheries next year. Our own Tamgas
Creek hatchery has greatly increased production in recent
years, doing our part for the local economy as well as the
salmon fishing industry as a whole in southeast Alaska.
In addition to the critical funding needs I have mentioned,
the Federal trust responsibility does not and should not
require that we jump through hoops and compete against other
tribes to see that trust services are provided to our people.
We support moving away from competitive grants for Federal
funding mechanisms. We must be granted the flexibility we need
to respond to the specific needs of our own community, not
those prescribed by Federal grants.
There is also an invisible threat looming over my people.
Our heritage language, Sm'algyax, is dying. The Tsimshian
language is considered critically endangered. There are only a
few dozen speakers remaining in the world. We must impart the
grave seriousness of this to every member of this committee.
With permanent recurring annual funding as part of our compact,
we can, in partnership with Congress, help to save our
language, which will ensure a positive identity and future for
generations to come.
The challenges facing my people are many, but the
pioneering spirit of Metlakatla is as strong today as it was
when my ancestors first raised the star-spangled banner on that
sandy beach on Annette Island in August of 1887. The bravery
and patriotism of the Metlakatla proudly shows in the faces and
records of service of our veterans, as we have the most
servicemembers per capita of any city, State, or tribe in
America.
Metlakatlans have the fortitude to withstand the challenges
that face us if Congress will stand with us. We need funding
increases not to become more dependent, but to become more
independent. We want nothing more than to enjoy what many of
our American Tsimshian warriors fought and died to protect,
freedom. Freedom from poverty and freedom to determine for
ourselves how our destiny will unfold.
So when we recommend increases in baseline funding to IHS
and the BIA, we are asking in the context of the trust
relationship between Metlakatla and the United States that once
again is built upon the premise of making the Annette Islands
our permanent home.
I come before this esteemed committee today not to beg for
money, but to ask you to invest in Metlakatla's future, that
our trust relationship can grow stronger, that together we can
create opportunities that will bring prosperity to our whole
region because what is good for Metlakatla is good for Alaska.
What is good for Alaska is good for America.
[Speaking Native language.] Your time and attention has
been a blessing.
[Speaking Native language.] Thank you for listening to me.
[The statement of Mr. Boxley follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, David.
Cecilia.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
OGLALA LAKOTA NATION EDUCATION COALITION
WITNESS
CECILIA FIRETHUNDER, PRESIDENT, OGLALA LAKOTA NATION EDUCATION
COALITION, BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE, AND LITTLE
WOUND SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
Ms. Firethunder. Good morning.
Mr. Simpson. Good morning.
Ms. Firethunder. Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree
[speaking Native language]. I greet you with a warm handshake
with good feelings from my heart.
And I am one of those people who speaks two languages,
Lakota and English. Lakota first and English second.
So I would like to--Members of the House Subcommittee on
the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, thank you for
the opportunity to testify today regarding issues of importance
to my tribe, Oglala Sioux.
My name is Cecilia Firethunder, and I am the president of
the Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition of six schools on
the Pine Ridge, and we are pulling in additional schools to
help us on this work that we need to do to increase our budget
for our tribal schools. I am also on the Board of Trustees for
Oglala Lakota College.
Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition represents the
Oglala Sioux Tribe's six tribally enrolled controlled schools--
tribally controlled grant schools. And so one of the things
that we are so happy about is that back around 19--Senator
Abourezk, as you know, recently left us. And it was because of
Senator Abourezk's work, the Senate Committee was established
many, many years ago.
And one of the things that Senator Abourezk did was for
Public Law 93-638 that allowed tribes to take ownership of
programs in their community, and so we are part of that,
tribally controlled schools. So we have our own school boards,
and we administer and run our own schools. So, with that, I
just wanted to put that out there. Okay? Thank you.
One of the things--and I also want to be a good relative.
Us Indian people, no matter what tribe we come from, look out
for each other. So, today, I also want to acknowledge not only
the Federal schools on the Pine Ridge, but the 183 schools
across Indian Country that are under the BIE-administered
education. So we have relatives all over that we need to also
look out for.
100-297 tribally controlled grant schools are the primary
provider for education for on-reservation Indian students. Yet
schools operating within the BIE system are woefully
underfunded, outdated, and dangerous for students and staff.
According to the Department of Education, in fiscal year 2023,
the Federal Government funded Indian students at roughly half,
$6,283, versus what the public schools were getting on my
reservation, $12,500. That is like half. Half, okay?
This also includes the 9.24 percent increase from the
omnibus bill. I am also deaf. So you have to forgive me.
Sometimes I can't pronounce words very well. Omnibus bill. Did
I say it right?
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Ms. Firethunder. Thank you. [Laughter.]
Anyway, so even with the increase, we are still
underfunded. So what we wanted to do was to ask for your
serious consideration to support our request for the Bureau of
Indian Education to increase their budgets for our schools so
we can provide even greater, better services.
The ISEP, which is the Indian School Equalization Program,
funding--so, all Indians schools are under ISEP. ISEP dollars
are set aside to educate our children. Teachers' salaries,
books, supplies. Unfortunately, Congressman, what is happening
is that because of the underfunding of ISEP and all school
operations, including everything else, we are using money out
of the money set aside to educate our children to make up for
shortfalls in operation and maintenance.
Last year, my school, Little Wound School, we spent a
little over $300,000 feeding our students. So the USDA, under
CANS, is supposed to also help feed our children.
Unfortunately, there is not enough money there. The CANS
program only pays for one person in the kitchen, okay? And we
have eight people. So seven of them we have to pay.
So one of the things, and you will be hearing from us on
this on a nutrition bill, a demonstration project that we want,
too. So we want USDA to fund directly tribal schools. Right
now, USDA funds the--gives the money to the State. The State
puts regs on it, and they give it to us. And I am running out
of time here. So I just want to--you have my written testimony.
However, I also want to talk about our college. Our tribal
colleges are like the diamonds on our reservation. The Oglala
Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has done
some fantastic work in terms of graduating. Our president of
the college graduated from our college. He is a Ph.D.
Our schools on Pine Ridge, my school especially, our
principals graduated from our high school and went on to get
higher education.
So one of the things I want to ask you to do is to really
give a serious consideration and as we ask for an increase in
the ISEP funding and so our schools can provide better services
and, most importantly, use the money for education and increase
the line-items and all the other responsibilities the Bureau of
Indian Affairs has.
[Speaking Native language.] Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Firethunder follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your
testimony.
And you mentioned that we spend about half of the money
on--per student----
Ms. Firethunder. Yes.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. On Indian education as we do
other students.
Ms. Firethunder. Public schools.
Mr. Simpson. Public school students.
Ms. Firethunder. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Simpson. Same is true with health services. If you look
at the amount of money that is spent per individual on health
services versus what is spent outside that, versus what is
spent for veterans, it is about--it is about half of what we
spend for patients outside Indian Services. And I mean, that is
a dichotomy that we have got to address.
Ms. Firethunder. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, it really is.
You mentioned something else that I agree with, but if you
would explain it, please. You said that treaty obligations--I
will paraphrase--but treaty obligations shouldn't require
tribes to compete against one another for grants and stuff.
Explain to me where that comes from. What are the programs
that you are competing with other tribes for, for money for?
Because I agree with what you are saying.
Mr. Boxley. Well, and specifically for funding that should
be part of trust obligations anyway.
Mr. Simpson. Right.
Mr. Boxley. Grants, very often that they are competitive
grants are for base services in our community.
Mr. Simpson. So some tribes are going to get them, and
other tribes are not going to get them?
Mr. Boxley. Right. Or because of whether it is population
or land based, other tribes are favored, ignoring the needs,
the specific needs of the given communities that are up for
those grants.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Mr. Boxley. And just there is not quite enough
consideration there.
Mr. Simpson. Especially if it is a trust responsibility.
Mr. Boxley. Absolutely.
Mr. Simpson. If it is a trust responsibility, it is the
trust responsibility for all tribes.
Mr. Boxley. Absolutely. Yes, it shouldn't be one or the
other. It should be everybody.
Mr. Simpson. Yes. I appreciate you bringing that up. That
is important.
Thank you all for being here.
Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you. And I just want to emphasize that
whole point about the per student expenditure. It is just hard
to fathom like that you could ever do an adequate job with half
of the average that we spend in other schools.
And I wanted to just sympathize. I come from the coast of
Maine, and green crab invasion has been a serious issue for us,
too. So I guess they are hitting both coasts at the same time.
I certainly know the importance of your fisheries to the tribe.
Mr. Boxley. Absolutely. It is crucial to us. Our hatchery
is doing fantastic, but we are the first community in Alaska to
encounter green crab, and we are pushing the State also for
funding and because it is just going to keep spreading. Our
neighbors over in Canada, in Haida Gwaii, talked to their
dismay about how out of control it is. And as I mentioned,
salmon is a keystone species, and we have got to do everything
we can to protect it. Not just for economic reasons, but the
stability of our ecosystem.
Ms. Pingree. Absolutely, yes. We had a--I think we had a
contest in our State with chefs trying to develop recipes for
green crabs, but we are not going to eat our way out of this
problem. [Laughter.]
It is devastating to our shellfish industry, our clams and
other things.
And the number of contaminated lands and the sites that you
are dealing with is really staggering, and I am sorry that we
have not met the obligation. And when Representative McCollum
is back, we will remind her that the Navy has funds to do that
kind of clean-up, and at the very least, we should be pushing
and going after those places where we know the resources are
there.
I mean, all of this clean-up should be done. It is just
unfathomable that we would say, here, look at all this great
land we are giving you. Oh, by the way, we didn't clean it up
before we turned it over. And then not to fund the clean-up. So
I am supportive of helping you in any way we can.
Thank you. Thank you for traveling the distance that you
both did.
Mr. Simpson. I have got to be real honest with you. I have
never heard of green crabs.
Mr. Boxley. European green crabs, there is--I have heard a
couple of stories about their origin as to how they made it to
the United States. It sounds like there is one strain of it on
the coast that someone purposefully dumped off a boat at some
point.
They are--they are smaller than Dungeness. They breed
rapidly. They destroy herring and salmon habitat. They eat
through everything. It could be--it is to the--our knowledge so
far is that there probably isn't a way to eradicate them. We
have to learn how to maintain their population to prevent them
from destroying natural wildlife and habitat.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, I am very interested in salmon habitat. I
have been working on an initiative to restore Idaho salmon runs
that are--will be extinct if we don't do something about them.
And it is amazing how hard it is to do.
But the one thing I will tell people whenever they talk to
us, I said, you know, every tribe in the Pacific Northwest,
every tribe, when they sign treaties reserve their fishing
rights. Those fishing rights, those reserved fishing rights
don't mean anything if there is no fish. And especially if
there is no fish because of what we have done to destroy those
fish habitats.
So we have got to restore those, but it is going to be--it
is controversial. It is costly, but it has got to be done. Or
one day you are going to wake up and your children will say,
``What were you doing when the salmon went extinct in Idaho,
and why do they call that the Salmon River? There is no salmon
in it,'' you know?
Mr. Boxley. Well, and I would just like to add that it is
similar--actually, we could talk about funding for language
revitalization. Doing something now before it is too late----
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Boxley [continuing]. Is going to be less expensive --
Mr. Simpson. Exactly.
Mr. Boxley [continuing]. In many ways than if we just take
care of it now.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Boxley. As to whether that is salmon or our language,
it is a cheaper investment now than later. Yes.
Mr. Simpson. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you all for
being here today. We appreciate it.
Abigail Echo-Hawk and Aurene Martin.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Good morning.
Mr. Simpson. Good morning.
[Pause.]
Mr. Simpson. I have got Abigail Echo-Hawk first on here.
So, Urban Indian Health Institute.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
URBAN INDIAN HEALTH INSTITUTE
WITNESS
ABIGAIL ECHO-HAWK, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SEATTLE INDIAN HEALTH
BOARD AND DIRECTOR OF THE URBAN INDIAN HEALTH INSTITUTE
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Good morning. Thank you so much for the
opportunity to speak, Chairperson Simpson, Ranking Member
Pingree, and members of the committee. I would also like to
thank the staff, who did an incredible job of pulling us all
here together. It is always an incredible feat to keep this all
going.
I am Abigail Echo-Hawk. I am enrolled citizen of the Pawnee
Nation of Oklahoma and the director of the Urban Indian Health
Institute, along with the executive vice president of the
Seattle Indian Health Board, an Urban Indian Health program in
Seattle, Washington.
I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time working
to end violence against indigenous women and all women across
this country. Four years ago, I stood at the Capitol alongside
Senator Lisa Murkowski, where we released the very first data
report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that
has ever happened in this country.
In that data report, what we found is that there was a
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and
people. However, what we knew is that there wasn't any data
being collected, and our report 4 years ago pointed out this
gap. As a direct result of our report, the advocacy of tribal
leaders and grassroots advocates, there was legislation passed,
Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible Act, along with, and I am
very proud to say our report is cited in more than 40 pieces of
legislation in States across the country.
I self-funded that report with $20,000 I raised out of
speaking fees because nobody would fund us to do it because
nobody believed what was happening to our people. And then we
proved it.
But 4 years has gone by, and what has happened?
Unfortunately, we have seen the dismal, nonexistent work that
the Department of Justice was supposed to do under Savanna's
Act and the Not Invisible Act. And I want to share with you
what we have done instead.
As a result of the Department of Justice not fulfilling
their responsibilities under Savanna's Act and the Not
Invisible Act, Indian Country had to act. My organization, the
Urban Indian Health Institute, stepped up to do that because--
not because we wanted to, but because we had to because our
people were suffering.
We looked at and we found that under the--there was a
Government Office of Accountability report that looked at the
implementation of Savanna's Act and Not Invisible Act and found
that Department of Justice was lacking. And in fact, it took
them more than a year and a half to simply appoint people to a
committee to look at this crisis.
In the year and a half in which they did that, in a year
and a half, I was able to reform an entire law enforcement data
department for one of the largest counties in the country, King
County, Washington, where we reformed their data, and I was
able to train their law enforcement officers and fix the
problems that they said couldn't be fixed.
All of the things that my team and I are doing are actually
in the work of Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible Act. We are
doing this with a small amount of funding as a tribal
epidemiology center. We are 1 of 12 tribal epidemiology centers
in the country. However, we are drastically underfunded. Yet
despite that drastic underfunding, we continue to do the work
that nobody else is doing.
I remember when we released that report. I was standing at
the Capitol, and a woman from a tribe came up to me, and she
said, ``Abigail, I buried every single one of my four sisters
covered in bruises.'' She said, ``We can't keep doing this. We
have to keep working.''
And every time when I step into this work and I realize
that despite everything that we do and despite all of the work
that you have all done to ensure that this legislation passed,
we are not seeing the fulfillment of it happening within the
administration. They need to be held accountable, and those of
us who are doing the work need to receive the funding that we
desperately need to do so.
I have done and volunteered more than 20--my team and I
have done more than 2,000 hours of unpaid work in this 4 years,
along with right now I am actually funding the State of Hawaii,
who passed legislation to address missing and murdered
indigenous women and girls into a data report, but they didn't
give them any money. So I raised $100,000 and am currently
funding the work in the State of Hawaii because our women
matter that much.
Mr. Simpson. Let me--let me interrupt you for just a
second. I am sorry.
Would that funding that you are requesting come out of the
Department of Justice? Is that where it should be funded or
whatever? Or out of this budget?
Ms. Echo-Hawk. So we are asking for $474 million for a
line-item for the tribal epidemiology centers, which is the
work. The tribal epidemiology centers work across tribal
nations. The 11 represent every tribal nation within the IHS
regions, and the Urban Indian Health Institute works with the
urban Indian population, which is more than 70 percent of our
population. And so that line-item for $474 million would be
under IHS.
Mr. Simpson. Okay.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Am I willing to take DOJ money? Yes.
[Laughter.]
Well, I am tired of talking about what I can do with so
little. What we are looking for is parity.
And I will close with a story. I was working with a group
of young women who had been kidnapped, incarcerated,
trafficked. They were forcibly injected with heroin and other
types of drugs.
They had been recovered, and a tribal community was
bringing them together. They were working to bring healing to
them. They are using their traditional value system. Everything
every tribal leader here has been talking about--connection to
land, connection to culture, resources within the Indian Health
Service, which is why we need mandatory advance appropriations.
And I was sitting there with those young women, and I was
sharing with them my own story. I am a survivor of sexual
assault and of rape that was never prosecuted as a result of
being an Indian person on Indian land. And I told them the
story of the blueberry.
And a blueberry in my tribal community in Alaska, where I
was born and raised, it teaches us so many things. It teaches
us how to survive in the greatest cold and the most heat. It
has the most nutrients. It teaches us how to go out and gather.
It tells us that we can survive despite all obstacles. I shared
that with those young women.
About a year later, I was at another conference. A young
woman comes up, and she runs up to me, and she gives me the
biggest hug. And she grabbed me and she said, ``Abigail, I want
you to know that today I am a blueberry.'' She is like ``I can
survive. I can make it. And I didn't think I could. But I am a
blueberry because I am learning my language. I am connected to
my land again. I am incorporated in my community. I am with my
elders.'' She said, ``Abigail, I can be a blueberry, too.''
And so, today, I challenge you to think about what it means
for all of you to step into that same place, hold DOJ
accountable, get the resources to Indian Country and law
enforcement on tribal lands and urban Indian areas, to the
tribal epidemiology centers into the Indian Health Service,
appropriately in fulfilling treaty and trust responsibility.
Because you are a part of our story, too.
And when I go again and I see that young woman because now
this young woman is about to graduate college. She is going to
be stepping into these spaces and places and advocating for her
people, and we are going to work to ensure. And that is the
kind of healing we are bringing. When we bring our cultural
value systems in, when we fight for our people, we will see the
healing because opiates, substance misuse, health disparities
are all grounded in trauma. And until we address the root cause
of that, we are going to be sitting at these tables for
decades.
I don't want to sit at this table. I want to talk about
healing, and I want to be a blueberry along with all of you.
[The statement of Ms. Echo-Hawk follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Abigail. I let her go on because I
interrupted her.
Aurene.
Ms. Martin. That is a tough act to follow. [Laughter.]
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NATIONAL INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION
WITNESS
AURENE MARTIN, TREASURER, NATIONAL INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION
Ms. Martin. [Speaking Native language.] Good morning,
Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree, and Mr. Ellzey.
My name is Aurene Martin, and I am a citizen of the Bad
River Band of Ojibwe in Wisconsin, and I am also on the Board
of Directors for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
NICWA is a national American Indian/Alaska Native
organization with nearly 40 years of experience in policy
development focused on Native children and families. Our
mission is twofold.
First, it is to address issues of child abuse and neglect
through training, research, policy, and community development
and, two, to support compliance with the Indian Child Welfare
Act. And that is really my connection. I am an adoptive mom of
two Native children, and I practiced Indian Child Welfare Act
law when I was a practicing attorney.
But today, I am here to talk about BIA programs serving
Native children and families. And before I go into my comments,
I do want to thank the committee. I want to thank you
personally for what you have done in the last few years on
child welfare programs. You have created some increases that
have been extremely helpful, and we do appreciate that.
But your support for these programs is extremely important
because Native children are placed in foster care at a rate
higher than that of the general population. In some States, it
is 10 times higher than the general population.
Yet tribal governments have some of the most limited access
to Federal child welfare funding. In many cases, they don't
have any direct access, and they have to access funding through
States. We know and studies have shown that the surest way to
reduce the flow of Native children into the child welfare
system is to ensure that tribes have full capacity to protect
their children and families, whether they are at home or in
State care.
Accordingly, we make the following recommendations. First,
we recommend that Indian Child Protection and Family Violence
Prevention Act grant programs--get that wrong every time--be
fully funded at $90 million. These two grant programs remain
our highest priority.
The law creating these programs was enacted in 1990 to
address the lack of reporting, investigation, treatment, and
prevention of child abuse in Indian Country. The act was very
successful in improving the reporting of abuse because it
created mandatory reporting requirements for people that have
regular contact with Native children. It also created the
background check system for foster families.
But the unique provisions of the act authorizing direct
funding for child abuse prevention and treatment for Native
families was only funded last year by this committee in an
amount of $1 million. We request this program be funded fully
every year, but we hope you consider any increase because we
know that any access to this program will be groundbreaking.
The other priority recommendation I would like to make with
you is to increase funding for the ICWA on-reservation program
and off-reservation program, changing on-reservation from $17.8
million to $30 million and increasing the urban program from
$1.5 million to $5 million. The BIA ICWA program provides
dedicated funds for tribes to provide their own child welfare
services, both to children living on and off the reservation.
But even though tribal child welfare programs work with
some of the most at-risk and needy families in America, they
have access to fewer resources than their State counterparts.
Although almost every tribe receives ICWA funding from BIA,
almost two-thirds of tribes receive less than $30,000. This
$30,000 is expected to support a wide array of essential child
welfare services, including child protective services, family
reunification and rehabilitation, case management, foster care,
recruitment and retention, and adoption services. And that is
not even enough to fund one full-time position.
The same services are provided by ICWA off-reservation
programs usually through urban programs, but the funding is
even more scarce. We know that Native children living outside
of their communities face bigger challenges because they have
harder time connecting with their culture communities and
kinship networks. These services are crucial, as the 2020
Census indicated that nearly 87 percent of all individuals who
identified as Native lived off-reservation, up from 67 percent
in 2010.
And 60 percent of individuals live in metropolitan areas,
making urban programs vitally important to the tribal child
welfare system. We are so grateful that you appropriated $1.5
million last year, a $500,000 increase in this program, and we
are hoping that you will consider bigger increases for this
year.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the statistics
tell us that both the Native population and the number of
Indian families involved in the child welfare system has been
increasing for a number of years. We also know that prevention,
early intervention, and treatment of childhood trauma saves
lives, but it also saves money because children who experience
violence are more likely to have problems and enter the system.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I am
happy to answer any questions.
[The statement of Ms. Martin follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Thank you both for testifying.
You don't even want to get me started on this. This is a
huge problem. The abuse of Native American women in this
country is horrendous. They have just started making some TV
movies about it. I think that has raised the public's attention
to this.
But I grew up, the southern border of my town was Fort Hall
Indian Reservation. I went to school with a lot of kids. I saw
the abuse that Indian children took and stuff. Not just on the
reservation, but the abuse they took at school.
This is, to me, almost the largest problem that has got to
be addressed. I mean, there are other things. Yes, we need new
buildings for schools. We need--we can go on and on. This can't
happen in this country. We can't allow it to happen.
So I appreciate everything that you all have done and are
doing to try to address this problem.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Thank you so much.
And I did a study that was released in 2018 that actually
showed--it was a study in Seattle, Washington, where of the
Native women we talked to, 94 percent of them had been raped or
coerced into sex in their lifetime.
In addition to that, one of the things we found is that
they were more likely to have broken bones and large amounts of
broken teeth, which is not actually the same when you look at
other populations. And so my staff and I were thinking about
that. It is like we could think about it as people beat us
more, or we are fighting back harder.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. So we really want to see that strength. We
have been working with--for us at the Seattle Indian Health
Board, we have a full dental program, but we also--I have been
working with American--the folks from the American Dental
Association to think about what pro bono work looks like.
And unfortunately, because of the underfunding of the
Indian Health Service, because we need mandatory advance
appropriations, our programs don't always have what we need to
truly do some of the basic things. Cosmetic dentistry for
somebody's teeth who were all broken out because they were
beaten.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Those are the necessary things our people
need, and we deserve that. That is a basic dignity, let alone
now we need to have the mental health resources to address the
problem at the root cause.
Mr. Simpson. Yes.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. And so, again, mandatory advance
appropriations for the Indian Health Service is absolutely key.
Mr. Simpson. Having been a dentist in the real world, I
know exactly what you are talking about. And of course, you
don't have the same challenge in the urban Indian Health
Service. There are actually dentists within miles of where you
are. But when you are out on a reservation, Pine Ridge or
something, how do you get dentist to go out there? How do you
get a dentist to live there or a physician or something else?
And there are so many challenges, but I will tell you--and
I mean this from the heart--we cannot in this country allow
what is 94 percent----
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Yes. Yes.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. Of the women have been raped?
Ms. Echo-Hawk. In the study that I did in Seattle,
Washington, yes. And I do want to say for the urban Indian
health programs, as funded through a contract through the
Indian Health Service, we do receive less than 2 percent of the
overall IHS budget. We do struggle with getting dentists within
our program.
And while there are dentists, for example, outside of our
agencies, our folks, because of the socioeconomic deprivation
that they experience, don't have the resources to access those
services. So it is still an incredible gap and one that we are
always addressing across the urban Indian health programs.
Mr. Simpson. Well, I would be more than happy to work with
you with the ADA because I have a close association with them.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Love that.
Mr. Simpson. And see what we can do about pro bono. We can
find dentists that do pro bono work that are willing to do
that.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. I would really appreciate that, and so would
our women.
Mr. Simpson. You bet.
Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Yes, thank you. And thank you so much, Mr.
Chair. I really appreciate your strong commitment to dealing
with this.
And thank you so much for your commitment and the amazing
work you have done. And really, your personal commitment of
raising money. You should never have to be in that position,
but then we shouldn't have so much neglect of this problem. And
I would be fully committed to doing anything we can to make
sure that the Justice Department--we are a small committee, and
we should budget everything we possibly can to meet the
requests that you have mentioned. But also we can make sure
that the Justice Department in this administration is doing
their job because it is a just staggering issue that we are
still dealing with this.
Mr. Simpson. I can see some joint letters coming up.
Ms. Pingree. I can see so. Yes, yes.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. We would love to work with you on those.
Ms. Pingree. Put down on that. So, yes, we would love to
have your guidance on that. And really, thank you again for
your work and your support, and I am just anxious to work with
you in any way we can.
And of course, you two are dealing with two really critical
heart-breaking problems, the issues of women and the issues of
children. And so many of these issues that you brought up are
being under addressed.
And I just can't even imagine when you said that almost
two-thirds of the tribe received $30,000. And then the list
that you made of all the things that have to be done with that
money, that just doesn't even come close to being a drop in the
bucket to what is needed. So I hope we can continue to do more.
Thank you both, really, for the work you do.
Ms. Martin. Thank you so much.
Mr. Simpson. Mr. Ellzey.
Mr. Ellzey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for being here today.
This is my first hearing. I am new to this subcommittee,
and I am grateful to be on it. I waited to listen until I heard
all morning's testimony, and a lot of folks have gone, on the
problem that faces our tribal nations.
I am a husband, father, warrior, and protector, Navy 20
years. I live in Texas. I don't have any tribal--tribes in my
district, but what I have heard this morning is that we need to
break the cycle of hopelessness and dependence that has existed
for so long.
And as we talk about kids, as a Naval aviator, there is not
one thing that occurs to end up in a mishap. It is a chain of
things. We call it the Swiss cheese model. And everything has
to line up to have the end result being that mishap. And if you
take one of the--if you block one of those holes in the Swiss
cheese, you can effect mission success instead of mission
failure.
And so what I have heard this morning is we have a failure
of education, employment, addiction, abuse of women, crime,
housing, healthcare, and inflation. And we have to start with
stopping one of those issues going forward. It seems like from
where I sit, the easiest one--easiest. Nothing is easy. The
most direct one is safe communities with adequate law
enforcement based on full fricking treaty adherence to getting
the law enforcement that you deserve.
And as I have--it is very hard not to get emotional and, as
I think you said, don't even get me started, as a warrior
protector, and your staggering numbers. And of course, as you
mentioned, it is in pop culture now. But now that I am a part
of this committee, I would like to learn more. You have talked
about the victims. Who are the serial perpetrators of these
crimes over and over and over again?
Can you answer that in 1 minute or less?
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Yes. So we actually find that a majority of
the perpetrators are white men who have identified,
particularly in reservation areas, the opportunity to exploit a
maze of jurisdiction where they are not prosecuted.
So the things that are happening under the Violence Against
Women Act, the expansion of tribal authorities is absolutely
essential and needs to continue to grow and have further
funding associated with that. And we also need to be holding
law enforcement accountable that is outside of the reservations
in doing that.
And again, and when we talk about it being hopelessness
within our reservations, I would say this room here is full of
hope. Because when we have the full fulfillment of our treaty
and trust responsibility, we have the ability to stand up for
our people, and our culture community and commitment to each
other is what continues to give us hope, despite overwhelming
obstacles.
Mr. Ellzey. Thank you for that answer. It is staggering,
and I look forward to supporting in any way I can to--and as
you said, there is always hope. So I look forward to being a
part of that solution on this subcommittee.
Thank you for your testimony, everybody's testimony this
morning. Thank you for your time.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, one of the things that really is eye-
opening is to go visit our Indian brothers and sisters on their
terms, on their land, and see what is actually going on on the
ground and stuff. And we started that a few years ago. I think
we were the first committee, when I was chairman, that took on,
went out to Oklahoma and South Dakota and a few other place,
and then other chairmen have followed up.
We couldn't do it the last couple years because of COVID
and all that kind of stuff, but we are going to continue that.
And we certainly invite anyone that wants to go along, and we
will decide which areas we are going to go this year. We want
to go to some place we haven't been yet.
Because I think it is important not only that you come and
talk to us, as you are today, but we come and talk to you out
on your reservations and your places of living and stuff about
the challenges you are facing there.
So I thank you for your testimony today very much.
Ms. Echo-Hawk. Thank you so much.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you.
That concludes the morning session. We will begin again at
1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE PUBLIC WITNESS DAY 1--AFTERNOON
SESSION
WITNESS
DONNA THOMPSON, VICE-CHAIRWOMAN, FORT HALL BUSINESS COUNCIL OF THE
SHOSHONE-BANNOCK TRIBES
Mr. Simpson. The committee will come to order.
We now have Donna Thompson, vice chairman of the Fort Hall
Business Council of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Quincy
Ellenwood, Treasurer, Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, and
Keenan Groesbeck, councilman, Northern Arapaho Business
Council. Donna, you are up.
Ms. Thompson. Good afternoon. My name is Donna [Audio
malfunction.] I want----
Mr. Simpson. You want the mic.
Ms. Thompson. I want to thank Chairman Simpson, who is our
representative, for his continued efforts on behalf of the
Shoshone-Bannock tribes, and for his efforts on salmon recovery
for the Snake River. Thank you.
My written testimony includes several issues of great
importance to the tribe, including the need for more funding
for the Johnson-O'Malley Program, BIA road maintenance,
wildlife conservation, and wildland fire programs, as well as
the need to maintain advanced appropriations for the Indian
Health Service in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations. But
today, I will focus on one: the Gay Mine Superfund Site,
located on our reservation, BIE teacher salaries, and the need
for a comprehensive approach to the opioid epidemic.
The Gay Mine was an open pit phosphate mine that operated
between 1946 and 1993. Ultimately, the mine would cover 7,000
acres of reservation land with 158 pits, each ranging in size
from 15 to 20 acres, many with high walls of 50 feet or more,
and many with contaminated pit lakes. There are also 57 mill
shell piles with over 30 million tons of overburden. The
original lease in 1946 stated that Simplot would return the
land in ``as good condition as received.'' This did not happen
when the mine closed in 1993, and 30 years later, this has
still not happened.
Over the past 30 years, minimal reclamation work to make
the land usable, again, has occurred, and only recently has
environmental remediation work started to address the
contamination caused by the mine. While the EPA remediation
process is underway, the tribe would like to lead a strategic
study to plan the reclamation of the site in order to utilize
the area for future development of the tribe. When Gay Mine was
leased in 1940, the tribes never thought that when the mine
closed, we would never be able to use the land again. We,
again, ask for your help in reclaiming our reservation land by
directing the BLM and BIA to work with the tribe to undertake a
strategic reclamation study of Gay Mine.
Turning to the need for more funding for the BIE teacher
salaries, the current funding levels prevent providing
competitive salaries for qualified teachers at the Shoshone-
Bannock Junior/Senior High School, which is a tribally-
controlled BIE School on the reservation. Right now, the only
way our school can compete on teacher salaries with local
schools in Idaho is to use carryover funding, over $146,000
this school year. Over the last 2 weeks, the school has been
closed for 4 days due to a lack of certified teachers. This is
not sustainable for the school. While the BIE has informed the
school that additional funding was provided and the school
should be following the BIE teacher salary schedule, the school
is simply not receiving enough funding to meet the BIE teacher
schedule. As a result, the school is having great difficulty in
recruiting and retaining high-qualified certified teachers as
well as having funding to provide a guidance counselor and a
school resource officer. We urge the subcommittee to hold an
oversight hearing on the BIE and to increase funding for
teacher salaries.
Finally, I want to make an urgent plea to the subcommittee
to help us address the opioid epidemic that our community is
facing. In the past 2 weeks alone, we have lost four tribal
members to overdose. There is simply not enough funding for
prevention and treatment. The tribes lack any suitable detox
center or treatment facility on the reservation, limiting the
ability of those in need to get treatment. Further, the lack of
enforcement and prosecution of non-Indians on the reservation
by the Federal Government is making the reservation a haven for
drug dealers. We need immediate assistance to combat this
issue.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
[The statement of Ms. Thompson follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Donna. Keenan.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yes, sir.
---------- --
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NORTHERN ARAPAHO BUSINESS COUNCIL
WITNESS
KEENAN GROESBECK, COUNCILMAN, NORTHERN ARAPAHO BUSINESS COUNCIL
Mr. Groesbeck. Good afternoon, Chairman Simpson, Ranking
Member Pingree, and the members of the subcommittee. My name is
Keenan Groesbeck, and I am a member of the Northern Arapaho
Tribe, and I am business councilman from Wyoming. And I come
here to speak on behalf of the Native American Church and
peyote habitat that is being lost, you know. And I come before
you guys today, and I want to thank you for your time, you
know, to hear us out, you know.
And we are here as a representative for the Native American
Church, you know. I participate and run ceremonies as a tribal
leader for the Northern Arapaho Tribe, you know. And the issue
that we have now is the decline of habitat for the peyote
cacti, and it is a holy sacrament through our Native American
Church. And I come before the subcommittee here to ask for some
funding, you know, to help the decline of the habitat. And
through the efforts by us, sustaining the purity habitat is
going to sustain a way of life, you know, that we have as
Native-American peoples throughout Indian Country, you know.
And the Northern Arapaho Tribe are 1 of 5 tribes that
practice the Native American Church way of life, you know, and
it is going to be detrimental to our people and other people
for the loss of the habitat for the peyote cactus, you know?
And we are here to ask the subcommittee here for allocations of
funds, you know, to pay the private landowners in Southwest
Texas, Laredo area, for the habitat, for the peyote that grows
there. And through development of energy, and the roads, and
construction, and everything, you know, the habitat is being
lost at an alarming rate, you know. And we are here to put the
markers up, and I will have you guys look into that, you know,
see more Federal oversight on the issue of the peyote habitat
loss, you know? And for myself, you know, it is a pretty scary
time for our Indian people, you know, because we depend on this
way of life, you know? It is the way we worship, you know? It
is to the core over people, you know, how we get along with one
another and how we support one another, and it would really
hurt our tribe enormously, you know, if we was to not have the
peyote to use as a holy sacrament in our Native American
Church, you know.
So on that, we are just asking for some stability into the
habitat so we don't lose it, and that is what I have to say
today. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Groesbeck follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yep.
Mr. Simpson. Appreciate it.
Mr. Groesbeck. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Simpson. And then next, we have Quincy.
---------- --
--------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NEZ PERCE TRIBAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
WITNESS
QUINTIN ``QUINCY'' ELLENWOOD, TREASURER, NEZ PERCE TRIBAL EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
Mr. Ellenwood. [Speaking native language], Quincy,
Illinois. I am known to my people [Speaking native language],
the Nez Perce people, as [Speaking native language] after the
late John Miller of Clear Creek, Idaho. And I am currently
serving or the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee as the
treasurer, and I am also the Natural Resource chairman. I also
sit on Human Resources, Law and Order, and Land Commission. I
want to tell you all thank you very much for your time today,
and it is an honor to be here to testify on behalf of my Nez
Perce people. Although I want to only summarize a few of the
recommendations contained, you know, in this written testimony,
I hope that you will fully respect the request of the
subcommittee and the recommendations made by the Nez Perce
Nation, and also those from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission during their deliberations for fiscal year
2024.
I want to also give a big testimony towards our Indian
Health Services for the fiscal year 2024 and increased
appropriations on a bipartisan basis to the multitude of
programs under your jurisdiction, which tribal nations
administer and benefit from, funding increases to tribal
programs, including the fiscal year 2023 build on increases
secured to Indian Country in fiscal year 2022. We want to say
thank you.
The Nez Perce tribe does a tremendous amount of work
administering programs with the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Indian Health Services, and Environmental Protection Agency
under 638 programs and direct services. The Federal funding for
this work benefits tribal and non-tribal citizens within the
exterior boundaries of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. It is
very important to protecting the treaty-reserved resources to
the Nez Perce Tribe, and the tribe urges you to continue the
funding of these programs to the fullest extent.
The Nez Perce Tribe, we have our own law enforcement and
social services are two of the larger departments that the
tribe administers. Currently, the tribe, we have to subsidize
our law enforcement program to ensure services are provided
throughout the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. In addition, we
have constructed our own jail facility and finance all this for
the Nez Perce Tribe because of the lack of cooperation with
some of the local jail facilities in the five counties that we
have on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. So we would greatly
appreciate advocacy for work for more funding through the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Natural Resource Tribal
Priority Allocations, and Endangered Species Program funding.
This funding is key for our work related to salmon, [Speaking
native language] in our language, and the steelhead. And also
the Bureau of Indian Affairs Rights Protection Implementation
Account has also been critical in supporting our exercise of
treaty-reserved rights on and off the reservation, and
particularly, hunting and fishing and monitoring our fish
harvest. In addition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the tribe
operates a healthcare facility, which provides services to over
4,000 Nez Perce and non-Nez Perce. This computes to over 40,000
medical provider visits, and we have the main healthcare
facilities in Lapwai, Idaho, with a satellite facility in
Kamiah, to my people [Speaking native language] first, and then
Kamiah second.
The tribe's funding through the Environmental Protection
Agency comes from a variety of programs: the Clean Water Act,
Indian General Assistance Program, the Clean Water Act, just to
name a few. And remember, these programs have been funded at
the same levels for several years, and the tribe would
recommend and increase in fiscal year 2024. The Nimiipuu River,
salmon people, and we also travel to buffalo country. Since
time immemorial, we have fished in the Columbia, and the
Snakes, and the Clear Water Rivers. The tribe requests that
this subcommittee continue the EPA's Columbia River Basin
Restoration Program. We recommend that no less than $3 million
provided for fiscal year 2023 be appropriated for 2024.
We also work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
operation of the Kooskia National Fish Hatchery, which is
neighboring to where I grew up on the CERCLA area, which is a
tributary to Clearwater River. The tribe manages the hatchery
and the Snake River Rights Act of 2004. The hatchery is in dire
need of new water supply. An extraordinary amount of sediment,
it accumulates in the current water that is feeding Kooskia
National Fish Hatchery. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that
service should be allocated adequate funding with operations
and importance in the O&M of this hatchery facility. Also, the
State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program has enabled the tribe
to monitor gray wolves, conduct research on bighorn and
California condor habitat, and conserve rare plants. The tribe
does a tremendous amount of work with the Forest Service, and
we just recently signed a GNA, Good Neighbor Authority, and we
work with 12 different national forests that we deal with in
fishing, hunting, eating, and exercising our way of life, which
is now considered the treaty.
In closing, thank you all for your time. It is an honor to
be in your presence and also your attention to missing,
murdered indigenous women. It needs more and more advocacy, and
I stand with it, and I will do the best I can to always protect
the givers and takers of life: our women folks. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Ellenwood follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. You say it is an honor to be here.
You know, what an honor it is to have you, truthfully, so thank
you all for being here.
I have really enjoyed working with the Nez Perce Tribe on
trying to save the salmon in the Snake River. We are going to
get it done. It is going to take some time, something you have
been working on for years. I am a latecomer to it, but we have
been working very hard with your tribe, and with the Shoshone-
Bannock Tribe, and the tribes along the Snake River in Colombia
to try to restore these salmon. And it is hard to do. It is
controversial. It is going to take some changes to the way we
are doing things right now, but I appreciate working with you
on that and the other things that you have done on the Nez
Perce Reservation, the tribes have done. So great work.
Donna, have any of those high walls come down yet?
Ms. Thompson. No.
Mr. Simpson. None? Zero? I told them, give me some
dynamite, you know? [Laughter.]
Ms. Thompson [continuing]. Come back again.
Mr. Simpson. I enjoyed our tour up there, and it is such
beautiful country----
Ms. Thompson. Right.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. That it does need to get restored
to its original state, and we have got to make that happen.
Ms. Thompson. Yes.
Mr. Simpson. And as I said at the time, I don't know what
it is going to take, but it is going to take the cooperation of
all sides. And I was hoping that the company, Simplot, and the
tribes could get together and come to some resolution to start
working on this because it has got to get done, and it is just
getting more expensive as we wait. So I look forward to working
with you on that.
You know, I didn't know that we were having trouble keeping
teachers because of low pay on the reservation versus higher
pay in Blackfoot and Pocatello, I suspect. I knew that that was
a problem that I brought up earlier, in fact, in another panel
with police officers and firemen. I didn't know that that was
the case with teachers also. I don't have the answer to that,
but it is something we got to work on. It is an issue that not
just affects tribes, but I noticed when I was a city councilman
in Blackfoot, we would train all the police officers and
firemen for Pocatello and Idaho Falls, bigger cities, you know?
And as soon as they got trained, they would go there where they
get paid more. Well, tribes, it is the same problem with
tribes. They are the training grounds for the police and
firemen in the larger cities that really are on the borders of
the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, but I find that that is true
across the country.
I don't have the answer to that, but I brought it up with
several individuals, and it is something that I think we need
to work on very seriously. So I look forward to working with
you on that and trying to address that problem. But as you
know, I have always been thrilled to work with the Sho-Bans on
issues that they have out there. I sat one day in a classroom
where they were teaching Bannock language to bunch of
youngsters, you know, and just listened to them. You know, we
can't lose our languages of our Native-American tribes in this
country. We have to find a way to maintain those languages and
stuff. We have to find a way to maintain those cultures.
I got an award from American Rivers the other night, and I
said, you know, I have been working with the tribes on saving
salmon, and I told them, this was at the reception, I said, you
know what? I said, there is a wisdom there that we don't take
advantage of with our Native-American tribes. Sometimes we take
it too lightly, something we need to listen to and learn from.
So I appreciate all of you being here today. Where are you
located?
Mr. Groesbeck. Central----
Mr. Simpson. Central. That is right. Okay. Yeah. Ms.
Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you so much
for your thoughts are, and also your commitment to restoring
Salmon Rivers, also a main issue. And as you said, it is not
easy. It is often controversial, and it takes a lot of
dedication and a lot of time, but it is particularly important,
I think. Where our tribal communities have the salmon rights,
it is really extremely important, so thank you for that. And we
have learned a little bit about the disappearance of native
peyote today, and so I am interested to keep learning more
about that and seeing what we need to do to help preserve those
areas where it is growing.
And, Leslie, just tell me a little bit more, and I don't
have to take up too much time about this, but so, how has it
taken so long? If that was 1993 and there is still a company
actively involved--you said, Simplot and FMC--and it is a
potential or is a Superfund site, what is the barrier here?
Like, how did they walk away in 1993 and not do any of the
cleanup? And then I am pretty sure my calculations, it is 30
years now, right?
Mr. Ellenwood. Well, we could have a long discussion----
[Laughter.]
Ms. Pingree. All right. I may have to just buy the chair a
drink sometime and hear the whole story, but it just seems like
we need to do more. And you are not the only cleanup site or
Superfund site we have heard about from tribes today, just----
Ms. Thompson. We have two on our reservation, and, you
know, that is----
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Ms. Thompson. It is horrible because we cannot use the land
because, you know, just like I said, they were going to restore
it to its, you know, natural state, but that has not happened.
I would love if any of you could come out and see what we have.
I think you would be probably surprised. Unless you can see it,
I don't know if we can explain it.
Ms. Pingree. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Thompson. But thank you. Anything that can happen to
help us, that would be very well received.
Ms. Pingree. All right. I will try to learn more about it.
Thank you so much.
Mr. Simpson. Ms. McCollum.
Ms. McCollum. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Ms. Thompson, is
there a school shortage of teachers in Idaho that you are aware
of, I mean, because I think there is a national problem with
people not going into teaching.
Ms. Thompson. Yes, there is, but, however, because our pay
scale is lower than the State----
Ms. McCollum. Yeah.
Ms. Thompson [continuing]. School, and we have a hard
time----
Ms. McCollum. And then you have issues with housing and
where people live.
Ms. Thompson. Right.
Ms. McCollum. And if you are married and you have a spouse
that works, and that, but I think as we hear about this--I am a
former teacher--there is going to be a real crunch----
Ms. Thompson. Mm-hmm.
Ms. McCollum [continuing]. For teachers in general. And if
we don't get this fixed, you are always going to be behind,
yeah.
Ms. Thompson. Absolutely.
Ms. McCollum. Councilmember Groesbeck, so I want to
understand your journey. So you are in Wyoming now.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum. The peyote is in Texas.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum. So tell me your journey.
Mr. Groesbeck. We have the tribe, you could call it. You
could call it enough to pick it, to gather it, you know? And
what is going on now is the private landowners, you know, their
land is being developed, so it is being lost. We go down there
with the medicine, and when we bring it home, we use the
sacrament.
Ms. McCollum. So were there also tribes that also went
there? I mean, in Minnesota, we have Pipestone.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum. So tribes travel for Pipestone, so this is
just not an issue for your tribe.
Mr. Groesbeck. It is an issue for all tribes in Indian
Country, yeah, so that would be, like, a bona fide tragedy. It
would be, like, the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, you know, and
the Cheyenne-Arapahos in Oklahoma, and there are more other
tribes that use it.
Ms. McCollum. Are there any, and I can find out more about
this later, but are there any tribes where that was ancestral
homeland where maybe the Federal Government and tribes together
could work to, you know, purchase back some of the land or
something like that?
Mr. Groesbeck. I think there are some other tribes that
have done it. It can be, like, Comanche and Apache, you know--
--
Ms. McCollum. Okay.
Mr. Groesbeck [continuing]. Yeah, route through there. That
is what we are asking is for dollars from habitat conservation
demonstration project for fiscal year----
Ms. McCollum. Okay. So there would be many who would
benefit from something like that.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum. And, Treasurer Ellenwood, I really
appreciated the way that you talked about the whole of
government, not just in the Interior bill. So, you know, when
Forest Service isn't plussed up and Fish and Wildlife isn't
plussed up on the right lines, and you aren't plussed up. It is
a multiplying effect of almost like a death by a thousand
little cuts. You are not able to move forward. There are the
lines that go directly to your tribe, but then there are all
the other lines that go to other things that Mr. Simpson and
Ms. Pingree will be funding that that your tribe draws from.
Could you just expand on that a little more?
Mr. Ellenwood. So yeah, we do a lot of work through the
Forest Service, you know, through the culverts replacement,
salmon habitat, and particularly, it would be really beneficial
hugely to everybody be on the same page to protect each other's
work. You know, for instance, water quality, you know, we have
water quality issues in the South Fork area, South Fork of the
salmon, and so, you know, there is a huge site to be proposed
there, to protect each other's work that ultimately come
through the tribe, and to have the advocacy that we have. You
know, above all, you know, it takes a team. Teamwork makes the
dream work, and ultimately, we have a right to live our lives
as God has created us, and as you said, Mr. Chairman, you know,
there is a lot.
I urge you all to come out and visit Indian Country, Nez
Perce country, any other tribe that is out there, because you
said, Mr. Chairman, there is some huge wisdom that is there. We
have a right to live our lives as the way God created us, and
when we have pandemics like this, when people pass, sometimes
that history is gone. So I urge you as the way it is taught to
myself to teach it, to learn it, to observe it, to feel it, I
urge you to come out and do the same along with us. It is a
beautiful way of life, very, very beautiful way of life.
Ms. McCollum. Thank you, Mr. Chair [Audio malfunction.].
Mr. Simpson. Yeah, and we are going to do a little more
traveling up around there, and I would like to get out of the
Pacific Northwest, and, I think, down to the southern part of
this country where we haven't really spent any time down in
Mississippi, and Alabama, and those places. So we are going to
be looking at some of these places that we can visit because I
think, as I said earlier today, that it is important that we
actually get out and see where you live and the challenges that
you face and stuff.
So I thank all of you for being here today. Let me ask you
one question, Keenan.
Mr. Groesbeck. Yes, sir.
Mr. Simpson. Is South Texas the only place that peyote
grows?
Mr. Groesbeck. No, it grows across the border.
Mr. Simpson. Well, I am not sure I want to do that, but----
[Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson. Yeah, but its habitat is very small, huh?
Mr. Groesbeck. Right, so.
Mr. Simpson. So you couldn't take it up and say I am going
to grow it in Wyoming or----
Mr. Groesbeck. I don't know. [Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson. Pretty rough, huh?
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah.
Mr. Simpson. That would be like Maine trying to grow
potatoes, huh?
Mr. Groesbeck. Yeah, that is right? [Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson. I just get a shot in every time----
Ms. Pingree. You got my material----
Mr. Simpson. Yeah, that is right. Yeah. [Laughter.]
Thank you all for being here today, and thank you for your
testimony. I appreciate it.
Okay. Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian
Community; Tehassi Hill, chairman of the Oneida Nation, and
John Johnson, president of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa Indians.
Voice. They just called votes. Do you want to try to do
one person?
Mr. Simpson. They just called votes.
Voice. Yeah.
Mr. Simpson. Let's at least listen to one person before we
go.
Voice. Okay. Perfect. We will keep an eye on the time.
Mr. Simpson. We are going to be interrupted in the middle
of this. We will hear the first testimony from Stephen Roe
Lewis, and then we have got to go vote real quick. I think it
is two votes.
Voice. Two votes, yeah.
Mr. Simpson. We have two votes, and then we will be back
and continue, okay?
So, Stephen, you are up.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
GILA RIVER COMMUNITY
WITNESS
STEPHEN ROE LEWIS, GOVERNOR, GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY
Mr. Lewis. Thank you. [Speaking native language.] I am
Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community.
Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Pingree, Congresswoman
McCollum, and the committee, thank you for the opportunity to
provide testimony today, and also Congressman Elizey as well.
Thank you for allowing me to provide testimony on behalf of the
Gila River Indian Community.
Now, today I have two requests: first, funding to implement
the surveying of Federal rights-of-way on our community's
reservation, Chairman, which is required under legislation
unique to the community; second, funding for the Indian Self-
Determination Act Section 105 (l) Program, which will benefit
Indian Country as a whole. And I want to thank the
Congresswoman McCollum for being such a champion from the
beginning on the 105(l).
In 2018, Congress approved the Gila River Indian
Communities Federal Rights of Way Easement and Boundary
Clarification Act. This act was necessary to enable the
community to obtain the full benefits of the settlement that
the community reached with the United States to resolve
litigation that was filed in 2006. The act requires that all
Federal rights-of-way on the community's reservation be
surveyed within 6 years of enactment of the law, subject to
appropriations. So at the time the act was passed, the
estimated funding needed to complete these surveys was
approximately $15.5 million. Since the Act became law, the
community has requested $3 million annually to ensure the
completion of this work within the 6-year time frame. Now, we
are in the 5th year since enactment, and only $1 million has
been appropriated to date, and if annual appropriations
continue in the $1-million range, it will take another 14
years, Chairman, to fully implement a settlement that began
with litigation in 2006.
Now, the community entered into this settlement in good
faith with the United States, and Congress passed this act in
good faith as well, but unless appropriations are consistently
awarded in the amounts needed to complete implementation of the
act, that good faith will be breached to all of the committee
members and Chairman, leaving the community with an unresolved
portion of its settlement. So today, I am asking this committee
to allocate a minimum of $3 million to implement this
legislation so the community can begin the good work in earnest
as intended when the act was passed in 2018.
Now, my second request addresses mandatory funding for
sovereign tribal nation obligations under Section 105 (l) of
the Indian Self-Determination Act. Today and tomorrow, you will
hear from my fellow tribal leaders across Indian Country. You
will hear a consistent theme: the need for improved or newly-
constructed facilities for schools, law enforcement,
healthcare, natural resources, and administrative functions.
Now, Congress has already developed a solution to those
infrastructure needs for a majority of Indian Country. In 2018,
I sat in this chair before this committee and proposed a pilot
construction program, a program that would allow the community
to design and construct a new school, and then lease that
school facility back to the Department of the Interior under
Section 105 (l) authority. You took a chance on that program
then, and we were able to construct that school less
expensively and in half the time that it would have taken the
Federal Government.
Now, since that time, the community has successfully
utilized, moved this program forward to construct a second
school, and last fall, we broke ground on a new police
department. We have hosted tribes across Indian Country to
learn about this program to show them that this program works.
And with the support of this committee and the past two
administrations, the program has indeed grown. The funding for
the program has also grown an acknowledgement of this
innovative approach to meet the needs of Indian Country. The
funding has been elevated from pilot funding, to line item
funding, to indefinite funding. Now, the next critical step to
ensure that the program can be implemented to its full capacity
and in compliance with the statutory mandates under the Indian
Self-Determination Act and subsequent court cases is for the
funding to become mandatory.
Now, I want to note that this mandatory funding will not
necessarily help my community. Our construction program is well
under way, and we have entered into leases on our eligible
existing facilities, but with help with any rehabilitation and
repair needed on those buildings, that will help definitely.
But this funding will help Indian Country by allowing the
program to reach the potential anticipated by this committee.
Now, mandatory funding will provide the mechanism needed to
encourage the public/private partnership, that component of
this program, by providing the capital needed for tribes to
construct facilities, which is required before leases can be
negotiated with the administration.
Now, this program that I am describing is the embodiment, I
believe, of the intent of the Indian Self-Determination Act to
empower tribes to make decisions regarding the scope and type
of facilities needed to carry out our governmental
responsibilities to our members. I ask you to finish the job
and to make this funding mandatory in line with the sovereign
tribal obligations under this act. And also, in addition, I
echo my fellow tribal leaders on the need to provide resources
to tribal nations to address the MMIP issue, the terrible
scourge of fentanyl that is sweeping across not only this
Nation, but Indian Country as well, and also the necessary
behavioral health services that are needed throughout Indian
Country as well.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Thank you, Members of the
Committee.
[The statement of Mr. Lewis follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Stephen. We are going to have to
recess the committee to go vote, a couple of votes, and then we
will be right back. So have a Coke and a Snickers, but I will
tell you, Stephen, you mentioned in there that there was an
agreement you signed with The Federal Government that was
subject to appropriations. You always want to be really careful
signing an agreement with the Federal Government that says,
``subject to appropriations'', because sometimes it doesn't
come through. [Laughter.]
I appreciate it, but we will be back in just a few minutes.
The committee is in recess.
[Recess.]
Mr. Simpson. Tehassi, you are up.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
ONEIDA NATION
WITNESS
TEHASSI HILL, CHAIRMAN, ONEIDA NATION
Mr. Hill. [Speaking native language.] Greetings, everyone.
I am Tehassi Hill, chairman for Oneida Nation. It is the people
that I come from. So [Speaking native language]. Thank you,
Chairman Simpson, and Ranking Member Pingree, and members of
the committee. On behalf of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, I
submit the following testimony for the Subcommittee on
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies hearing on fiscal
year 2024 annual appropriations bill. The agencies and programs
involved in the Nation's request are Indian Health Service,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
Indian Health Service funding. I would like to begin my
formal remarks by offering the subcommittee and those who serve
on the full committee my gratitude from the Oneida Nation of
Wisconsin for your efforts to provide advanced appropriations
to cover Indian Health Services for fiscal year 2024. As you
know, providing health security to our members has been a
priority for our nation and all Indian Country for many years.
Your efforts will likely save lives and bring calm to the many
who depend on IHS for their services. This was a great step in
ensuring the Federal Government meets its trust and treaty
obligations.
The next step is full and mandatory funding for IHS. Access
to healthcare is a core element of the Federal treaty and trust
responsibility. Moving IHS funding from discretionary to
mandatory will ensure that the health of our people will no
longer be impacted by government shutdowns or delays in the
appropriation process. Long-term care. Groundbreaking language
giving IHS specific authorities for provisions of long-term
care was authorized in Affordable Care Act. These authorities
represented a major step forward for our communities.
Unfortunately, while authorized, these services have not been
funded. We request Congress fund long-term care in the fiscal
year 2024 appropriations. The nation has operated a long-term
care facility since 1978 and currently operates a 48-bed
multipurpose building they include skilled nursing, congregate
elder meal site, and physical therapy services. Currently we do
not receive IHS funding to provide our long-term care services.
Next item is BIA law enforcement. Our nation's law
enforcement program is severely underfunded, even by Indian
Country standards. We only receive about 4 percent of our
operating budget for criminal investigations. That doesn't even
cover payroll for 1 of our 22 officers. Our funding allocation
for public safety is so low because the BIA has chosen not to
fund police for tribes, and Public Law 280 States. The Bureau
tells us that in Public Law 280 States, like Wisconsin, that
the State, not our tribal government, has primary criminal
jurisdiction, so we don't need the money, they say. That is
wrong. If we don't provide emergency services for the 27,000
people living across our 102 square mile reservation, no one
will. In 2021, our officers made a hundred 173 arrests, of
which 133 were drug related. We cannot ignore these crimes and
just say someone else will handle it. To that end, I ask that
you set a minimum allocation of $500,000 for each tribe within
the BIA public safety line item.
Another item for BIA is the realty service funding. The
nation asks appropriators to increase funding for equipment to
assist and expedite our processes to acquire lands. The BIA's
Division of Land Title and Records is to maintain timely,
certified Federal land title ownership records. However, many
of these details associated with the work of this office are
carried out by tribes on their respective reservations. While
the BIA employees are provided with new equipment on a regular
basis, tribes, who are being asked to help carry out these
programs, are failing to receive similar upgrades, or, in some
instances, even enough computer hardware to carry out their
responsibilities.
Beyond the lack of support for technology, BIA has an
abysmal track record of completing realty transactions in a
timely manner. FETA Trust applications for even clear-cut
examples can take between 5 and 10 years to complete. Realty
transactions on tribal, residential, agriculture, and
commercially-leased properties can take 6 months to a year, if
not longer. Individual trust probates can take at least 5
years, if not longer. It is clear that BIA's trust and realty
offices are under resource and understaffed, and the nation
asks Congress to provide funding to rectify these chronic
issues.
The next section is the EPA funding. We would like the
committee to know that Oneida Nation takes the protection of
our lands and waterways seriously. To that end, we have
partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency for many
years. However, our resources are stressed, particularly since
funding has not increased in 24 years. We also take advantage
of Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, which partially funds
our Non-Point Source Program. This program did recently see an
increase after many years from $30,000 to $36,000 annually, so
thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Hill follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. I appreciate it. John.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
LAC DU FLAMBEAU BAND OF LAKE SUPERIOR CHIPPEWA INDIANS
WITNESS
JOHN JOHNSON, PRESIDENT, LAC DU FLAMBEAU BAND OF LAKE SUPERIOR CHIPPEWA
INDIANS
Mr. Johnson. [Speaking native language.] Thank you,
Chairman Simpson, Ranking member Pingree, subcommittee members,
and staff. I am John Johnson, Senior, president-elect of Lac du
Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. I am a second
term right now as president and have served the tribal
government for about a decade. I am also the current chairman
of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, GLIFWC.
I strongly commend to you the work of GLIFWC to protect the
treaty rights on behalf of the 11 Ojibwe tribes residing in
Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Thank you for your
invitation to testify regarding the fiscal year 2024 budget. I
will focus primarily on BIA and IHS.
Our small reservation is located North Central Wisconsin
with lands in Southwestern Vilas and Iron Counties. Half of our
reservation is lakes. The preservation and protection of our
water, land, and air are critical to the health and well-being
of all of our reservation residents. We have an enrollment of
4,141 tribal citizens. Roughly one-half of our members live on
the reservation along with over 1,615 non-residents. Our tribe
faces many challenges as a rural remote community that must be
most governmental services ourselves. Drug misuse is high. We
are fighting to maintain professional staff and provide them
with affordable housing, which we lack on our reservation. That
is why Federal appropriations to the tribe for the programs we
carry out on behalf of the Federal Government are so important
to us.
Despite the modest tribal casino, according to the latest
data from HUD, we have nearly 700 Native American households
that fall well below median family income in Vilas County, with
a population of 25,000 residents'. Median household income was
$57,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Our
median is $17,100 for a family of 4. Seventeen thousand one
hundred dollars is not a living income.
Many tribal leaders have come before you for decades to
repeat a simple truth. In most instances, Federal
appropriations for Indian tribes spell the difference between
the success and failure of Federal programs enacted for the
benefit of Indian tribes. If our tribal programs succeed,
tribal members lives improve. Funds for scholarships, the
Johnson-O'Malley Program, and social services, road
maintenance, law enforcement healthcare help tribes provide a
healthy and safe environment for our citizens. Since 1975,
under the Indian Self-Determination And Education Assistance
Act, Indian tribes have contracted BIE-funded and IHS-funded
programs and receive funds and the authority to administer
these programs.
First, we urge the subcommittee to direct the BIA and IHS
to reexamine outdated funding formulas and direct these
agencies to develop and implement more transparent formulas in
consultation with tribes that consider the geographical
challenges that each tribe faces. Second, please decrease
Agency preference for competitive grants and annual
appropriations. Instead, increase their recurring funding for
tribal programs that we contract from BIA and IHS under the
Indian Self-Determination Act. Third, please increase the
funding line items for the BIA accounts, including BIA, Fish
and Wildlife, and parks, public safety, and justice, and road
maintenance as I highlight in my written testimony.
For example, our fish hatchery operation has a total budget
of $1.2 million annually. That supports 260 lakes with stock,
including over 14 million fish, 212,000 fingerlings, including
walleye, musky brown trout, and perch. The Federal funds we
receive in our contract with BIA total $503,000. This amount
represents 46 percent of the total needs. Please increase the
modest BIA fish, wildlife, and TMDP programs within the BIA
budgets. Excuse me.
Our tribe alone requires an additional $432,000 this year
to address our current full-time employees for our law
enforcement program staffing needs to hire and recruit two
additional officers, one detective, one evidence technician,
and two additional surveillance operators. That figure
represents 95 percent of all BIA law enforcement funds,
$455,000 we receive annually. The BIA funding accounts for 17
percent of our $2.7 million annual law enforcement budget.
Narcotics and drug crimes are the most significant crimes and
public safety problems we face. Meth, heroin, and fentanyl
arrests have exploded in our community, along with drug-related
overdose calls our officers are called upon to respond. We
typically lose our officers when 3 years of employment due to
an existing retirement plan, which cannot compete with outside
jurisdictions. We need help.
Finally, please increase the BIA Road Maintenance Program
to allow us to purchase and replace outdated heavy maintenance
equipment and provide routine and emergency road maintenance
services, like snow removal, sanding, and salting. It has been
over 30 years, in 1990, since Congress included a significant
one-time appropriation increase to the BIA Roads Maintenance
Program Account to prevent BIA and contracting 638 tribes to
upgrade outdated equipment.
Thank you again for affording me the time and my tribe for
the testimony here today.
[The statement of Mr. Johnson follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you all for being here today. I
appreciate your testimony. And, you know, it seems like there
is a common theme running through all the testimony that we are
hearing from the various tribes about the need to increase law
enforcement funding, and road maintenance, and other types of
things. So I appreciate what you have to say, and we will
certainly work with you as we try to put together a 2024 budget
that isn't ridiculous. That might be hard to do, but we are
going to try. Anyway, Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. I am going to quote you on that, the not
ridiculous part. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much, Governor.
I really appreciate your description of the 105(l). I have
heard you talk about it before, and you are a great, real
proponent and a good example to other tribes of how that can
work, so we will try to continue to increase that funding. I
thought that was very helpful to hear about the Public Law 280
States where you don't get a minimum for law enforcement. That
sounds ridiculous really. Obviously, they are not going to come
in and do the law enforcement if they don't have to, and
hearing the representation of the family income of $17,000 for
4, we all know that is not doable. So my maiden name is
Johnson, so I am on your team.
Mr. Johnson. I just wanted to tell you, you know, a lot of
things that are going on up on our neck of the woods also comes
up with this heroin, and fentanyl, and stuff like that. There
are a lot of grandparents raising their grandkids now, and you
think about the money that they are getting. It was, like,
$3,200 a month, $3,600 a month. It costs $17,000 a year to
raise a child, and I just wanted to bring that up. So thank you
for letting me speak then.
Mr. Simpson. Ms. Pingree brings up a really interesting
idea. Your idea about schools and an alternative way on how to
build them and stuff. That is fascinating because I am all into
looking at other ways that might be better to accomplish the
same goal, so I appreciate your testimony. I am going to take a
look at that. Ms. McCollum.
Ms. McCollum. Thank you. I think we started working on that
when you became chair of Energy and Water.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum. And it is a great solution for some tribes,
but we also need to fund other lines for our other tribes. So
thank you very much for your testimony, Governor. I still
haven't gotten out to see the schools because of COVID, so you
are on my bucket list to see the school, but the other thing
that this committee helped do is the Bug School, which we are
all very familiar with what we were able to do with looking at
alternative ways to build, to build faster, to build cheaper.
And I want to get back to the Bug School, you know, like about
6 years later and kind of see how it is all holding up. But if
that works and a combination of that, I think we are well on
our way to be creative for ways to get schools done faster.
Mr. Simpson. Really?
Ms. McCollum. So, you know, because even if you get the
money, you can't let it sit there for year after year after
year and just be on a list to keep getting knocked down. That
was interesting with what you told me about the title records
because I know we were working with the Bureau of Land
Management with some of the tribes with some of the expertise
that was available to them for, whether it was oil, or coal, or
natural resource development, but just the whole issue of not
even having the right equipment. I hope you are not using DOS
computers like the Indian Health Service told us one time. So I
am going to look a little more into that.
And then, Mr. Johnson, GLIFWC, is near and dear to my
heart, and we need to make sure that that we fund that because
we are the flyaway for so much. I know you are feeling it in
Maine and Idaho has well. We are all Northern tier States.
People look at us and think climate resilience is not a big
deal for our lumber, for our fish, for our land, for our water.
It is. Our Lakes are suffering now because we don't get the
same kind of freeze-thaw. You know, the ice flow effects so
much to do with the fish and the walleye. And, you know, you
have your salmon, we have our walleye, and perch is good
eating, too, but thank you for all the work that you do with
GLIFWC.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. Mr. Kilmer.
Mr. Kilmer. I am happy to yield so we can get back on
schedule.
Mr. Simpson. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all for being here
today, and I don't know what you do with a walleye. I know what
you do with a salmon. Is a walleye a fish? [Laughter.]
So now I can tease Betty about walleyes and Chellie about
potatoes, so we will sit down and have a walleye and potato
dinner one day.
Ms. Pingree. I don't know that you want to bring up walleye
before the next three tribal----
[Laughter.]
Ms. McCollum. Yeah.
Mr. Simpson. I heard the moan out there.
Ms. McCollum. Not only that, Mr. Chair, I know who actually
ate the buffalo tongue when we were on a reservation.
Mr. Simpson. Yes, she did. I didn't, but you did. Okay.
Thank you all for being here today. We appreciate it very much.
Kevin DuPuis, Michael Fairbanks, Darrell Seki?
Mr. Seki. Seki.
Mr. Simpson. It looks like ``seek,'' Senior. Kevin, you are
up first.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
FOND DU LAC BAND OF LAKE SUPERIOR CHIPPEWA
WITNESS
KEVIN DUPUIS, CHAIRMAN, FOND DU LAC BAND OF LAKE SUPERIOR CHIPPEWA
Mr. DuPuis. [Speaking native language.] Good afternoon. My
name is Chairman Kevin DuPuis from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa. I just want to say Meegwetch to Chair
Simpson and the board for having the opportunity to come and
testify on appropriations. You have the paperwork that we sent
to you. I am not going to read from the paper. I am going to
speak the way I was taught to speak and what my uncles told me
always: talk from the heart the best that you possibly can.
With all the distinguished tribal leaders that came
forward, there is a commonality between everybody that is here,
and it is the lack of funding. I think with Fond du Lac and the
other tribes, I think the biggest thing we need to look at is
that direct funding that comes to the tribes. Direct funding
allows us to take care of the people the way that we are taught
and know how to take care of the people. When we take a look at
funding itself in general, it was talked about the police
departments, police staff. We talked about opiates. We talked
about COVID. On Fond du Lac, in 2020 when COVID hit, we had 102
people pass away. We have 4,200 Band members and approximately
1,200 people that live within the confines of our reservation.
This death rate that happened in Fond du Lac wasn't just COVID.
It wasn't about the virus. It was the effects of the virus that
hit, the acts of violence, the drugs, the alcohol, depression,
the rates of suicide, mental health. These are the effects of
COVID, and it is affecting any Indian Country in a manner that
is running wild.
In the state of Minnesota, there is approximately 5.7
million people. We make up 1.1 percent of the population. Every
formula that is put into place under the State level and in on
the Federal level does not include the tribes. I know some are
going to say that is crazy, but when you think about it
mathematically, we are not part of the formula. We can't be
part of the formula if we only make up 1.1 percent of the
population in the State.
Our disparities are higher than any ethnic group in the
United States--any ethnic group. Our people are dying, and they
are dying at rates that we can't control. We have a job as
tribal leaders. We are obligated to the ones who came before us
to pick up for the fight that they left off, to do what we can
do today for one simple purpose, and that is to ensure that we
have a future of our unborn. And to have a future of our unborn
means that we have to maintain our way of life and our belief
systems, and to do that we have to be able to do that in a
manner that carries it forward, and a lot of things that have
been talked here today as simple as appropriation is meaning
that to receive the revenue.
Tehassi Hill is a brother from Oneida talked about IHS.
Region 5 is the least funded region in the country, and it is
still the least-funded region. Even if we got full funding,
which we hope, it is about addressing the need so we can
eventually address the unmet need. The funding principles do
not address the simple need, and the simple need allows us to
look into the future to ensure that we have a future for our
unborn, and that is to meet the unmet need. We do not know what
the unmet need is yet because we haven't even addressed the
need, and it is important that we do these things. It is
important that we take a look at it. It is important that the
United States, the States, see a people whose lands they sit on
are dying at a rate that nobody else is dying in a State in the
United States.
We are the first, and we should be the last. Our rates of
passing away, our rates of dying, our rates of violence, our
rates are suicide, our rates of homelessness, every disparity
that you can think in your country, we are higher than
everybody else in the country. COVID came. The first call with
tribal leaders was to say we want to address the at-risk
communities. It was never done, but the tribes pulled together
in the State of Minnesota. We got together. We talked to each
other at 10:00 in the morning every day to see what one Band or
what tribe was you doing so we could work together so we could
ensure that we had a safety net for our people, but we always
have to do it.
If anybody knows how to stretch the dollar, it is the
tribes, and by giving us direct funding, it allows us to take
care of what we need to take care of so we can possibly address
the need to find out what the unmet need is. And, again, I
appreciate the time. I am here representing people. I am here
representing our past so we have a future for our people.
Meegwetch.
[The statement of Mr. DuPuis follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
WHITE EARTH NATION
WITNESS
MICHAEL FAIRBANKS, CHAIRMAN, WHITE EARTH NATION
Mr. Fairbanks. [Speaking native language.] Meegwetch. Thank
you, Chairman Simpson and the rest of the committee. You know,
I know listening to our leadership today, and, you know, the
panel before us, and I think all of us are on the same kind of
tome that funding, and allocations, and, you know, the
hardships that we have endured through the years of being
underfunded. You know, I think this is a good day today that we
testified with your group of representatives, that we come here
with an open heart and trying to find common ground on how we
can solve these issues.
You know, I know one thing that when I get back home
tomorrow, that I will be going directly to my nephew's funeral
who passed away from an overdose, so I know that these things
hit hard, you know. Back home, it is like, you know, we are the
biggest reservation in Minnesota, and I have a lot of members
that I have to talk to and communicate back to, too, like every
one of us in this room here that we have to address, and we
have to give our condolences and ask them why, and ask them,
you know, why aren't we helping as a nation to address these
drug issues. And I think that is one thing that I didn't really
put on my thing, but I think following this and listening to
everyone's heavy heart that we talk about this opioid epidemic
is something I really wanted to say today, too, that White
Earth Nation is making a hard stance against this, and we all
are, you know, declaring these emergencies for our people. So
but I guess I will get back on track now, and thank you for
that.
And, you know, the first thing I wanted to mention was our
roads department. You know, back in 2003, I know White Earth
Nation received over $5 million for our 150 miles of roads, but
since then, you know, I know the various acts that came along
that they cut us by 70 percent. We receive $1.4 million for our
roads, and I think that is not enough. I mean, right now, we
are struggling to tar our roads, to maintenance our dirt roads,
you know. I think this is one issue I think that you heard
today, too, is like, that is a huge part of why I am out here,
too, is our roads department.
And the next issue I have is on our health, and I talked
about the epidemic with the drugs, but I know the other one is
the IHS funding. Like we talked earlier, 37 percent of funding
that comes through our Midwest region is the lowest funding
amount that we have here in the Midwest. And, you know, I think
that is important that we are trying to pick it up, you know.
You know, for ourselves here at White Earth, you know, we have
clinics and we have suboxone clinics, and we are doing what we
can to help our people. The money that we do generate through
our billing, you know, does supplement and does help, and we
can offer services to ones that are sick out there. So I know
that is a huge part of this is to keep that funding mandatory,
that we get that money, and include the contract support cost
with that, too.
The next issue I have is, of course, what I think a lot of
us in this room, we had a meeting today with all the tribal
leaders across Minnesota, is the Four Walls, and I did talk to
her some of our representatives from Minnesota about this. You
know, after May 11th, we have 9 months to figure it out, so I
think that is one thing that I think all the leadership from
Minnesota here is. We were on the call today with that, with
our health directors on how we are going to address this Four
Walls issue, too, so I think that is something that I think
that we are going to have to revisit and come back, and
hopefully, you know, that Congress has a plan for us. And, you
know, we are working with our State. Our State is really
beneficial to us. They are helping us, you know, but, I mean,
this is something I think that could be an easy, easy fix at
the national level, too. So I am really, really addressing this
to this committee that you take a look at Four Walls, too.
And I guess the last thing I want to talk about is one of
the things that, you know, we brought up here not too long ago
was getting back some of our Tamarac National Refuge back home.
You know, there is a lot of history with Tamarac, and, you
know, when we talk about the horrible acts that came through
back in the 30s--the Nelson Act, these acts--that were behind
it that we were stealing our land from us, and Tamarac kind of
falls into that where there are our lands that were kind of
desecrated and that also that were taken from us. And I know
that as a nation, we are reaching out to Fish and Wildlife and
Department of Interior to work with us.
You know, maybe it could be a fix at the Interior, but, I
mean, we look at this, and, you know, if we look at history,
and I gave you the handout on that, that is just a history of
it. It is kind of like each President with the U.S. Forest
Service when they are giving back 13.6 thousand acres. So it is
something, hopefully, that you can look at, and we initiated
those talks with the National Fish and Wildlife, with the local
agency yesterday, so we are sharing those talks with them. And
I know that one thing that when we get these parks back, I
believe that us as stewards of the land, we know how to take
care of our land because we do have Wild Rice Lake in that
refuge that we take to heart, that we know how to take care of
our water.
You know, I appreciate it, and I really appreciate the
members of this committee for listening to me, and I appreciate
that you can work with us. So Meegwetch.
[The statement of Mr. Fairbanks follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Darrell.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS
WITNESS
DARRELL SEKI, SR., CHAIRMAN, RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS
Mr. Seki. [Speaking native language.] Now, I will speak in
my second language. Good afternoon, Chair Simpson, and the rest
of the staff, and our friend, Betty McCollum. Meegwetch for
being here and listening to us, and it is an honor for me to be
here to present our testimony. I am Darrell Seki, Senior,
chairman of the Red Lake Nation. Meegwetch for this opportunity
to testify today. This is my third term as chairman. I am proud
to say this subcommittee has always worked in a bipartisan
manner to do the best they can for the Indian Country, and I
believe all of you to continue this tradition. Today, I want to
talk about four appropriations requests. These funding requests
would help improve the lives of Red Lakes' 16,650 members.
First, we request additional $49 million for tribal law
enforcement operations, $22 million for detention operations,
and $4 million specifically for Red Lake law enforcement. Red
Lake is in the midst of an opiate crisis, spurred by non-drug
dealers. Red Lake law enforcement is doing their best, but they
are hamstrung by two things. One, our BIA funding is way too
low. Our BIA public safety expenditures were $5 million more
than BIA provided. Two, we have been hamstrung by the Supreme
Court decision that tribal police cannot arrest and detain non-
Indians. The drug dealers notice, and they keep coming back to
this reservation. Congress needs to authorize tribal police to
arrest and detain non-members, drug dealers because over 130
members of ours died from these fentanyl drugs that are brought
by non-members. Something needs to be done. I keep saying that
every time I talk to the feds or the State. We are not a 280
tribe, but yet we need help to get that fixed so we can
prosecute these non-members that come to our reservations and
do what you guys are supposed to be doing: saving lives of our
people.
Second, we request that you fully fund, make permanent, and
expand BIA's Tiwahe recidivism reduction initiatives. Tiwahe
addresses many vital needs in our community. It helps
strengthen youth suicide prevention efforts, made it possible
for our children's healing center to implement a 24/7 youth
residential treatment program for rehabilitative mental health,
substance abuse services, and combat tribal member unemployment
rates by providing classes, training, and workforce development
programs. We ask that you provide that additional Tiwahe
funding in fiscal year 2024, including $8 million for healing
and wellness courts. Third, we request that you direct BIA to
ensure that self-governance tribes, including Red Lake, that
operates natural resources tribal management development
programs, known as TNDP, are included in any increases. In
fiscal year 2023, you provided a $3 million increase to TMDP,
but BIA left Red Lake out of this funding.
Fourth, you must direct the IHS to meet immediately include
both depreciation principal and interest payments for eligible
facilities, just as BIE does. The BIA correctly reached the
Section 105(l) statute, which requires the payment of debt
service obligation, both principal and interest, as well as
depreciation. In 2021, the IHS would only allow depreciation,
not principal and interest. Then in 2022, IHS reversed course
and allowed principal and interest payments, but not
depreciation. You need to help us hold IHS accountable to the
law.
In my hand, I have the Red Lake Nation treaties and
agreements outlining the Federal trust responsibility to the
tribes. You must continue to enforce these agreements. And the
United States Constitution in my hand states in Article VI the
treaties were adopted under United States Constitution. The
Federal Government and the States have trust responsibility to
the tribes for the welfare, the safety, and health for the
people of all tribes, not just Red Lake, but everyone. And I
want to say [Speaking native language] for allowing me to speak
for all the things I presented, but 5 minutes is not enough. We
need more time to address this subcommittee, and I am glad that
I was allowed to speak. Again, I didn't have enough time. I had
to cut mine because the red light came on, but anyway, I am
going to [Speaking native language], and thank you. [Speaking
native language.] [Laughter.]
By the way, Chair Simpson, walleye is the best fish to eat,
and we have the best walleye in the whole world.
[The statement of Mr. Seki follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Voice. How big is the walleye?
Mr. Seki. They get big.
Voice. Twenty-some pounds.
Mr. Seki. But we have the biggest. You want to buy some?
Mr. Simpson. I got a 31-pound chinook on my wall in my
office. Anyway, thank you all for your testimony. We appreciate
it. You know, Kevin, you said you have an obligation to carry
out the wishes of your forefathers, something along those
lines----
Mr. DuPuis. Yes, we do.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. Abide by the wishes of your
forefathers, the obligations of your forefathers. We have that
same obligation, and that is called meeting the treaty
obligations that we have made in this country over the years
that we haven't done.
Mr. DuPuis. So are you guys going to start doing it
tomorrow?
Mr. Simpson. Well, we have been working on it for a number
of years, and it is moving toward meeting those obligations
that we are interested in. So, you know, we wish we could do it
tomorrow, as long as we are moving in the right direction.
Somebody once told me it doesn't matter where you stand. What
matters is what direction you are headed.
Mr. DuPuis. Meegwetch for that, Chairman, but can I make a
comment to that? And we do understand that, and we do know
that.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah, I know.
Mr. DuPuis. But 530 years is a long time, and we don't want
it to have 530 years to reverse that.
Mr. Simpson. I agree fully.
Mr. DuPuis. Meegwetch. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson. Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you very much. Thank you all for your
testimony, and I appreciate all of the comments that you made.
I mentioned this earlier. Betty is the true Minnesotan, and we
are so glad to have on the committee, but I was also born in
Minnesota, spent a lot of my childhood growing up on a lake
cabin around Brainerd. So very familiar with where all of you
come from. And my family sends me a big bag of tribal wild rice
every year, and I depend on that. So I am very interested in
all the concerns that you brought up today, and hopefully
sometime when I am home visiting my family, I will get to
visit.
Mr. Seki. Meegwetch.
Mr. Simpson. Now I know the challenge. We have got two
Minnesotans here. [Laughter.]
Ms. McCollum.
Ms. McCollum. And the bright wild rice from every tribe in
Minnesota tastes really good. I have never done a blind tasting
test, but I love it all. So I don't have favorites when it
comes to wild rice, but I do when it comes to fish walleye. To
the chairman of Fond du Lac, one of the things that really has
stayed with me the entire time last time I was at the
reservation is when I was looking at the water bottle facility
that is right outside of your tribal chambers, and so treaties
matter. Get things right matter. So when you are in Fond du
Lac's tribal facility, you walk right outside, and I won't
mention the company because I am not going to give them any
advertising, there is a company that that bottles water, and
they are denied access to a lake, a beautiful Lake, right by
them. It is all privately held, and it goes back to the Nelson
Act and some of the other things that that happened where
lumber barons here came in and got Congress to allow
subdivision of property. And Red Lake was the one tribal nation
that didn't do that. I want you to know that that is a powerful
memory with me, and thank you for sharing from the heart.
I would like you to, Chairman Fairbanks, to explain to the
committee why it is important for wild rice beds in the Tamarac
region, and how you have to get in a lottery basically to
harvest wild rice that is in Minnesota's checkerboard in this.
I was just shocked that Fish and Wildlife make you go in a
lottery, and I hope Fish and Wildlife is listening.
Mr. Fairbanks. Yeah, I mean, I know that is one part of the
lottery system is, I know that when we talked to him yesterday,
that we talked about the maintenance, just the levels of the
lakes themselves that we have to have a certain level.
Otherwise, if we get too much water, it gets uprooted, and then
don't have a crop. And I know all the leaders from Minnesota
understand what I am talking about, but the lottery system
itself, the racers themselves have to sign up to get into this
lottery to be one of the few that get to race on the lakes in
the refuge, so that is one thing, so.
Ms. Pingree. Can non-tribal members sign up? Can they get
into the levee?
Mr. Fairbanks. I don't believe, not so. No, I don't think
so.
Ms. Pingree. No, no, you have to be a tribal member.
Mr. Fairbanks. Yeah.
Ms. Pingree. Okay.
Ms. McCollum. But it is still a lottery system, nail-
biting----
Mr. Fairbanks. Yeah.
Ms. McCollum [continuing]. And everything else.
Mr. Fairbanks.
Ms. McCollum. Chairman, see, I always learn from you, and
so now I have learned about depreciation, interest, all that
other kind of stuff, so I am going to go to school on that. You
always teach me something new, and I am so glad that you do
every time I meet you. So thank you.
Mr. Seki. Mm-hmm. Meegwetch.
Ms. McCollum. And I just want to put in a plug for the
State of Minnesota. We are not perfect as a State, but the
State has taken great strides--great strides--over several
different governors. But right now, our lieutenant governor is
a tribally-enrolled member, and we have tribally-enrolled
members serving in our State legislature, and it has made a
difference. It made a difference in how COVID was administered.
I was on the phone calls with the State of Minnesota and the
tribes. We still had work to do, still wasn't perfect, but we
are learning from that. The State of Minnesota is discussing
how to support schools right now because we know of the
shortage, and we know that they are our future.
And I was just with the humanities folks from Minnesota,
and they have a brochure called Why Treaties Matter, which you
are part of. As a social studies teacher, it is going teach why
treaties matter, and it is going to teach dignity and respect,
and the wrong that was done to the tribes there. So as things
are different in different States, I am glad Minnesota is
stepping forward, but I am here to say we need to do our tribal
responsibility. Meegwetch.
Mr. Simpson. Mr. Kilmer.
Mr. Kilmer. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I will just say I
appreciate your statement in terms of having the Federal
Government step up and meet its treaty obligations. The U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights did an update to its Quiet Crisis
report called the Broken Promises report, and laid out stuff
that Congress ought to do. We turned that into a bill called
the Honoring Our Promises to Native Nations Act to step up with
funding, and I would just commend it to you, and I commend it
to my colleagues. With that, I yield back.
Mr. Simpson. You yield back? I called on you because you
are a salmon person----
[Laughter.]
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. And we got a little debate going
here about salmon and walleye, and I wanted some support.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Kilmer [continuing]. Last panel.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah. Thank you all for being here. I
appreciate it very much.
Okay. Edward Johnstone, Ron Suppah, Ann McCammon Soltis,
and Ron Allen.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
NORTHWEST INDIAN FISHERIES COMMISSION
WITNESS
EDWARD JOHNSTONE, CHAIRMAN, NORTHWEST INDIAN FISHERIES COMMISSION
(NWIFC)
Mr. Johnstone. Thank you, Chairman Simpson and members of
the committee. My name is Ed Johnstone. I am a Quinault tribal
member, and I am the chair of the Northwest Indian Fish
Commission. The Northwest Indian Fish Commission was formed
shortly after the United States v. Washington court, commonly
known, the Bolt decision. Our tribal leaders knew that in that
court case, which affirmed our off-reservation fishing rights,
was important, and we looked at the court case, and so we
created the Northwest Indian Fish Commission in 1974. That
decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1979.
I am honored to be here and represent the Northwest Indian
Fish Commission. The people that have done this work around
this table before me are instrumental in working with Congress
and working with you folks to tell our story about the Indian
people of the Pacific Northwest who signed those treaties in
1854 and 1855, the Stevens treaties, and what it means to us, a
salmon people, to our culture and way of life, that we view
things in a different manner. We are holistic, that everything
is connected.
And to listen to the tribal leaders before me, that is
telling the story of us as Indian people as Billy Frank,
Junior, would say. And we experience all of that when I hear
the health and so forth, and what it is to COVID when I worked
with a young man for 32 years, two doors down from me, that I
walked in one night late, and he said, hey, boss, and scared
me. I was after paperwork. So was he. Within a week, he had
died. He had visited his mother on the Muckle Shoot
Reservation, caught COVID over Thanksgiving. She died a week
before him. These are the stories of us Indian people and the
needs that we have. We have that great need here in Indian
Country in the Northwest and our salmon and our salmon story.
It is in our testimony, in our background, and a lot of
what you are hearing here is cultural identity. Our salmon
people, our young people are losing that cultural identity and
the connection to who we are through our fishing rights,
hunting and gathering, all those things that you see in the
testimony. And the different areas talk about, you know, Fish
and Wildlife, the parks, the Forest Service, national parks,
anywhere that we are connected, and the story of our funding
are important because that talks about our access and our
availability.
And, you know, when a young lady that sits on Council for
the Stillaguamish Tribe. For over 30 years, Stillaguamish have
not finished. She fights every day for that right that she has
never been able to do it herself, nor are those waiting, and
the young ones don't really know or understand because they
don't have the access. And so we are talking about Puget Sound,
and listed stocks, and recovery, things like the Pacific salmon
funds either through the PST, Pacific Salmon Treaty, and PSC,
Puget Sound through the Puget Sound funding. All of these
different funding sources that you see in our funding requests
are key to us tribes and those rebuilding process to do the
work. We know how to do that work. We put the data together. We
own the Bible, and in the recovery plans on every watershed of
the 20-member tribes, we have that. That is what everybody goes
to. It describes how to rebuild those stocks or protect them,
so it is all threaded in the information.
So I am here to bring that message, as short as it might
be, to answer questions, but we are very appreciative of this
committee. We have come a long ways in understanding. Some of
you have been around this table for a long time, and that is my
congressman from the 6th on the end, who I always appreciated
working with and listening to who we are as Indian people. But
we are losing our identity, and then you get the rest of what
happens when that happens. I work often with the Alaskan
natives, and that is very much evident up in Alaska. So with
that, I will close and just wait for remarks.
[The statement of Mr. Johnstone follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Ed. Ron, you are next.
Mr. Suppah. Good afternoon. Long time since when we were
wandering around in the backyard, and we ran into each other.
Mr. Simpson. A real long time ago, yeah.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
COLUMBIA RIVER INTERTRIBAL FISH COMMISSION
WITNESS
RON SUPPAH, CHAIR, COLUMBIA RIVER INTERTRIBAL FISH COMMISSION
Mr. Suppah. First of all, I would like to thank you guys
for allowing us to be here to testify today, and I appreciate
my staff because they did an excellent job with preparing the
written testimony that you guys each have, and they also did a
good job with my oral testimony.
Good afternoon, Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree,
and members of the subcommittee. My name is Ron Suppah, and I
have the honor of serving as chair of the Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission, or CRITFC. I am a member of the
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon. CRITFC was founded
in 1977 by the four Columbia River treaty tribes, Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs Reservation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of
the Yakama, and the Nez Perce Tribe. CRITFC provides
coordination and technical assistance to these tribes. Our
regional, national, and international efforts protect and
restore our shared salmon steelhead, Pacific lamprey, and white
sturgeon and resources, and the habitat upon which these
species depend. CRITFC's work is critically important. That is
why I appreciate the opportunity to share our funding
priorities with you today. Collectively, the priorities ensure
that we are able to continue exercising our treaty-reserved
right to harvest fish on the Columbia River.
First, CRITFC requests $5 million to fund implementation of
the Columbia River In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access Site
Improvement Act. This 2019 act recognized the failing
conditions of fishing access sites, which Congress authorized
$11 million to refurbish the site so meet human health and
safety standards. The assessment of the sites was completed in
2022. The additional funds will ensure architect design
designed and initial construction continues to successfully
implement the act. Second, CRITFC urges the subcommittee to
provide funding for Columbia River fishing access site
operation and maintenance. BIA contracts with CRITFC to provide
these services beginning in fiscal year 2022. Congress provide
$1.7 million for this program. We ask that the subcommittee
continue to fund these costs for tribal member health and
safety.
Third, CRITFC asks the subcommittee to increase funding for
law enforcement at Columbia River In-Lieu sites. CRITFC
appreciates the additional appropriations that were provided
previously to enhance public safety and law enforcement
services. CRITFC conservation and criminal enforcement officers
patrol 150 miles of the Columbia River in Oregon and
Washington, providing policing services at 31 fishing access
sites. Continued annual increases are important for retention
and long-term stability of public safety. Fourth, CRITFC
requests the subcommittee provide $624,000 in additional
funding for Columbia River fisheries management. Funding
shortfalls prohibit the achievement of tribal self-
determination goals for fishing management, ESA, recovery
efforts, protecting non-listed species, conservation
enforcement, harvest monitoring, and increased funding will
allow CRITFC to make core fishery efforts and maximize habitat
management in the Columbia Basin.
Next, CRITFC urges the subcommittee to provide funding for
youth program initiatives. CRITFC strives to build a tribal
workforce of skilled Native-American scientists, policy
analysis, technician managers who will serve tribes, fisheries,
and natural resources management's needs. Without an increase,
CRITFC and the member tribes may have to reduce youth
programming that enhances career readiness and workforce
development. Next, CRITFC encourages the subcommittee to
increase funding for Columbia River treaty modernization.
Rights protection implementation supports CRITFC participation
in the negotiation to modernize the Columbia River Treaty.
CRITFC urges ecosystem function as a third primary purpose of
that treaty.
In closing, I would like to thank you for listening today,
and we appreciate the opportunity to be able to participate in
this forum. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Suppah follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Simpson. Thanks, Ron. I appreciate it.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
GREAT LAKES INDIAN FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION
WITNESS
ANN MCCAMMON SOLTIS, DIRECTOR, INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, GREAT LAKES
INDIAN FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION
Ms. Soltis. [Speaking native language.] I am Ann McCammon
Soltis. I am the director of intergovernmental affairs with the
Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, or GLIFWC as
we call ourselves. The chair of our board, Jim Williams, who
also is the chair of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Chippewa,
regrets that he could not be here today to speak to you, but I
appreciate the opportunity to testify. So my testimony is going
to focus on rights protection implementation within the BIA's
budget and the Great Lakes restoration initiative within the
EPA's budget, two very important line items to us.
As you might recall from our testimony in previous years,
we are an inter-tribal natural resource agency of 11 tribes
that have reservations in what is now Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin. These tribes sold or ceded tens of millions of acres
of land in those States through treaties with the Federal
Government in the mid-1800s. In exchange, they reserved their
right to continue to live their life way on those lands by
hunting, fishing, and gathering within the ceded territory.
Court cases in the late 20th century reaffirmed the right of
our member tribes to govern their members in the exercise of
their rights by passing their own laws and enforcing those laws
against tribal members into tribal courts. Because the rights
are shared by multiple tribes, they created GLIFWC in 1984 to
help ensure that Federal court orders were being properly
implemented through intertribal coordination, cooperation, and
management. Our full-time staff numbers around 75, doubling
with part-time help during the spring fishing season when they
take all those very tasty walleye. [Laughter.]
Ms. Soltis. We have conservation officers that patrol the
ceded territory and cite tribal members into tribal courts for
violations of tribal law. We employ biologists, public
information staff, and experts in language and traditional
knowledge, and this traditional knowledge really embraces a
world view in which all beings, humans and non-human, are
interdependent, related, and deserving of our respect, and I
think you have heard that from many of the panelists who have
spoken today. GLIFWC appreciates the bipartisan support that
our programs have received from this subcommittee over the past
30 years. We believe that our programs are a good use of
taxpayer dollars, one that is efficient, effective, and takes
place at the most local unit of government that is appropriate,
which is the inter-tribal level.
We greatly appreciate the increase in RPI funding that we
received in 2023, and as we committed to do in our testimony
last year, we have used the increase to bring our pay scale up
from the 2018 GS level to the 2023 GS level, which is
wonderful. Unfortunately, we still can't afford to pay our
employees at salaries commensurate with their State and Federal
counterparts, and unfortunately, this led to us being able to
not fill three conservation officer positions, which is 17
percent of our conservation officer workforce. We did not
receive any qualified candidates, which was unfortunate, and we
really attribute that to the fact that we just can't match the
salaries that they can get at the DNR or at the Fish and
Wildlife Service, but any increase that Congress might choose
to provide for us would go toward remedying that situation. And
I would just note we do not get any separate law enforcement
funding. It all comes through our rights protection
implementation budget, so that is really the only source that
we have for law enforcement.
I worked with Federal agencies for, well, as you can see by
the color of my hair, 30 years now, and, really, I think it is
kind of an unprecedented time right now in many Federal
agencies' commitment to listen to tribes, and to talk with
tribes, and to consult with tribes, and to take things like
traditional knowledge seriously. I think there are tremendous
opportunities right now to advance tribal interests and really
engage the Federal Government, but I keep saying to people it
is a little bit like trying to drink from the proverbial fire
hose. There are a lot of Federal agencies that have a lot of
people working for them, and we have got 75.
We are very thankful that our RPI base budget has allowed
us to embrace those opportunities as much as we can--we are
doing our best--and expand on them by educating agencies about
tribal culture, world view, and knowledge. And, you know, those
perspectives benefit everybody, not just tribal members. The
benefits of our programs go beyond just tribal membership in
other ways. Our conservation enforcement staff are often called
on as members of our local and very rural enforcement community
to rescue stranded ice fisherman, and to search for missing
people, and to do all those things that, you know, all law
enforcement agencies are called upon to do when you don't have
a lot of them, and they are spread pretty thin.
The other program I would like to briefly address, though,
is the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which it would be
hard to overstate the importance of that program to our member
tribes that have treaty rights in the Great Lakes. This
committee has been very supportive of, and we have worked with
EPA staff to develop and implement a distinct tribal program,
the DTP, as we call it, that directs funding to EPA for further
distribution to the tribes through Self-Determination Act
contracting mechanisms, which has been really huge. This
increased the flexibility that our member tribes have and
provided certainty. We would just like to ensure that as the
GLRI receives increases, so does the DTP. EPA has been a very
committed and willing partner that has provided those
increases, and we just want to ensure that they are codified so
that they are not at the whim of one particular person.
I see that my time has run out, so I will just say
Meegwetch. Thank you for listening to me, and I appreciate the
opportunity.
[The statement of Ms. Soltis follows:]
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Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Ann.
----------
Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
JAMESTOWN S'KLALLAM TRIBE
WITNESS
W. RON ALLEN, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, JAMESTOWN S'KLALLAM TRIBE
Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, committee members, and
thank you for the opportunity. So I am Ron Allen. I am the
chair for the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, located about 60 miles
west of Seattle. I come here carrying a couple of different
hats that are critically important to us.
Mr. Simpson. One of those hats better be that salmon are
great. [Laughter.]
Mr. Allen. I am a commissioner representing the 25 tribes
that are part of the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon. Our charge is
to manage the harvest management from Alaska through British
Columbia, trying to get by a few dams up the Snake River. You
might have heard about them.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah.
Mr. Allen. So it is a very challenging job for our tribes
to engage with our State counterparts, our Federal
counterparts, and, of course, our Canadian counterparts. It is
a very complicated world for us in the models that we have to
model, the way we have to analyze the status of the stocks, et
cetera, to come up with who gets to catch what and how much,
all up and down the coast. And so what we are asking for in
that venue is that in the rights protection, there are about
$7.1 million for the 25 tribes to do our job with regard to
that international forum. And so we are urging that that get
bumped up to $8 million to help us deal with the complicated
issues, including, really, in the very near future, we will be
re-negotiating these annexes in the chapters that oversee all
the species, from chinook, coho chum, sockeye, et cetera. So
that is a very challenging job for us.
I do want to say as the chairman, we fully support the
National Congress of American Indians and National Indian
Health Board, Affiliated Tribes. They all made strong
recommendations to you categorically across the Indian programs
for Interior and over in IHS. So we deeply appreciate their
recommendations. I also am the chair of the BIA Interior TBIC
Tribal Advisory Committee, so all these conversations that you
heard from your previous panels, whether it is road
maintenance, public safety issues, natural resource management,
all the issues that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has to manage
helping tribes elevate their sovereignty and their self-
governing authority. So they are very important agendas for us.
One of them is an initiative that has been active now for
30 years. It is called the Self-Governance Movement, and self-
government is about the tribes negotiating their fair share of
Federal systems and taking over those Federal functions and
moving out into our backyard so that we can manage those
limited dollars that tribes receive from the Federal
Government, from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or Indian Health
Service, and make them more successful. The monies that go into
the program that manages that program is called the Self-
Governance Office. It is inside the executive section of the
budget. And so we would like to get a special line item for it
because it covers a lot of responsibilities to administer the
388 tribes that are actually currently participating and
growing every year. So that is a huge issue for us, and we urge
you to seriously consider that.
We fight for those monies, you know, in terms of
administering it. We are in the middle of negotiating the
negotiated rulemaking for PROGRESS Act, which extends the Title
IV to be consistent with Title V. Title V is IHS, and,
unfortunately, when that was passed, COVID happened and we end
up with this problem in terms of that the authorization in that
act to negotiate rulemaking, and we are hopeful that you might
be able to help us solve that problem. All we are looking for
is an extension. It is very complicated, every one of those
sections of the regulation, so that would be very helpful for
us as we move that agenda forward. We are making decent
progress, but April 21 is when the authorization of the
administration ceases, and we need to fix that and move that
agenda forward. But the self-governance line item is a critical
issue for us as well.
The last thing I want to emphasize is Fish and Wildlife,
and, you know, I listen to the Great Lakes tribes talking
about, you know, the Fish and Wildlife and the challenges. My
tribe happens to be currently negotiating a refuge from Fish
and Wildlife, and it is becoming very successful. So it is
actually in our backyard, right in front of our village, and we
want to take it over because we feel that we are as good as a
steward as anybody out there, including Fish and Wildlife. And
so there are lots of examples of that. There is an example in
Minnesota. There is an example in Kawerak up in Alaska, and my
tribe is joining that effort, the Bison Range over in Montana
with the Salish and Kootenai. And so that line item that
administers those programs, the refugee, et cetera, we really
do need some help so that we can, as we negotiate it, we also
negotiate the share of administering and managing those
refuges, and so it is a critical issue for us.
The administration currently is advancing this co-
management, co-stewardship, which is consistent with our
culture about, you know, we are as good as steward with the
guards of nature and natural resources as anybody out there.
You know, we feel that we understood conservation way before
the word emerged in the Federal system, so it is a big deal to
us. So looking for ways to get additional resources into that
line item for that would be very helpful for us.
Outside of that, there is a long list, and you have been
listening to it, you know, all day today and tomorrow. I always
want to say thank you for continuing to have these hearings. We
don't get these same opportunities over on the Senate side, so
at least somebody is listening to us. I go back to the Sadie
Yates days. I have been coming here for a lot of years, and so
I just appreciate these opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The statement of Mr. Allen follows:]
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Mr. Simpson. Thank you. I appreciate all your testimony.
Ms. Pingree.
Ms. Pingree. Thank you. I am sorry. I apologize for having
to leave a little bit during your testimony but just want to
reinforce that anything that has to do with salmon is important
to us on the East Coast as well, and we understand really the
cultural importance and economic importance of that to the
tribe, and just want to say that you are extremely well
represented by Mr. Kilmer, who keeps all of you in our minds as
often as he possibly can.
Mr. Simpson. Mr. Kilmer.
Mr. Kilmer. Thank you, Chairman. I just wanted to give an
opportunity to Chairman Johnstone, or Chairman Allen, or both
to speak a bit about two programs that get funded through this
subcommittee that really matter, one the BIA Rights Protection
Implementation, and two, the Puget Sound Geographic Program. I
think it would just be helpful to share with the subcommittee
how tribes use those dollars, why they are important, the
impact that they have.
Mr. Johnstone. Thank you, Congressman. I would definitely
yield to Chairman Allen----
[Laughter.]
Mr. Johnstone [continuing]. That is I work for, that is who
we represent----
Mr. Kilmer. Me, too, by the way. Me, too. [Laughter.]
Mr. Johnstone. I will be happy, you know, to help, you
know, that conversation, but it is hugely important. Number one
is the salmon. We are salmon people, and I listened to the
Great Lakes folks talk about walleye, how important walleye is
to them. That is who they are, right? That is the fish that
sustained them along with the other things that they always
have had access to and lived off from. That was their
subsistence as salmon is to us. That is who we are from the
salmon in Puget Sound, out the Straits and the Pacific Coast,
as well as what other resources they provide to us and for us.
So, you know, rights protection, Western Washington, Boldt
fundamentally is the base that Congress came up with after the
Boldt decision and the legislation that put us in the base.
That is where we started. And back then, that was reflective of
what we knew at that time in those court cases, which was U.S.
v. Washington. So we built the structure around that to comply
with what the judge ruled, and the conservation, and how to
manage. And for years and years and years, until this committee
took it up with 2010, that base had never been adjusted. We
went for years and years, and for us on the Pacific Coast and
Northwest, then you came along the Hoh v. Baldridge. Hoh v.
Baldridge talked about river by river, run by run, and
sustainability, but no funding.
And then you get the Pacific Salmon Treaty that is that
recognition between Canada and the United States to bring our
fish back to those rivers, run by run, accountability to catch
all the methodologies as we have gone forward. What the Coded
Wire Tagging Program means to us, all of that data collection
identified where our fish are caught, by whom, and when, as Ron
talks about. And then you come to Rafidi in 1992, another case
for our shellfish but does not come with implementation
dollars. In 2010, this committee upped it by--I can't
remember--$10 million? Ten million dollars. And then that goes
to all the treaty areas and how that is applied, and we did
what we did internally at Fish Commission with the member
tribes to help step that up.
And you saw these duties and responsibilities in these
graphs, and then you saw the inflationary dollars, you know,
going this way, and so those lines went up. Well, they were
going down, and so increases are over the long term. I heard
what we are talking about. We can't just do this overnight, but
with your help, we have been able to make some steady gains, so
critically important, same way as in Puget Sound with the
multiple amounts of funding that we connect to recovery of
salmon in Puget Sound, the Geographic Program, and then through
Puget Sound Partnership, all of these different cells that we
work together with, moving towards recovery of salmon, recovery
of the watersheds to support the recovery of the salmon.
You know, we are heavily embedded in climate scientists. We
recognized that as an organization over a decade ago, hired a
climate scientist. Then working through Congress and through,
you know, even State legislative process to put together
climate adaptation plans, and they thread all the way into this
management. They thread all the way into the recovery plans. I
mean, they are very vital and very important. And as we go more
in that direction of trying to figure out the work that we were
doing under the old before climate really became apparent and
really is pressing on us now to do more to react, and so much
is required in data. I mean, it is all embedded in our written
testimony. Most all of them intersect. I mean, harmful algae
bloom in the oceans. Ocean is too warm, can't harvest. You
know, you have to test all the time. They all are threaded
together.
Mr. Kilmer. Thank you. Thanks.
Mr. Simpson. Thank you. I didn't ask any questions because
I didn't want to get off on salmon. [Laughter.]
That is something I have been obviously interested in the
last several years, and those of you from the Pacific Northwest
know that we put out, oh, about 3 years ago, a Columbia Basin
Initiative to try to restore salmon runs. Idaho salmon runs
particularly interest me because I am from Idaho obviously, but
they are going to go extinct if we don't do something. And we
started off by saying, you know, there has got to be a way to
save these dams on the Columbia River and are on the Lower
Snake River and still say the salmon. We couldn't find one. We
couldn't find anything that we had not tried, you know? We have
tried everything in the world to try to save these dams and
still save these salmon runs, and they continue to decline. And
we came to conclusion the only way, as many fish biologists, as
all the tribes have, as have many other people, that the only
way you are going to save these salmons is to remove these
dams. That gets a little controversial.
And we took a political risk and put out our plan, and
said, you know, let people look at it, and it started a
conversation, and it has got to continue, in the Pacific
Northwest about how we are going to save them, because some of
the tribes are looking at it as, well, you are talking only
about the Idaho salmon runs. Well, we expanded it that we have
got to improve salmon runs throughout the Pacific Northwest. We
had money in there and programs in there for Puget Sound. We
had, you know, for different river basins, whether they were
the John Day or the Yakima, and that kind of stuff. We got to
improve them always, but everybody says to me, well, we got to
improve the habitat. We are not only taking on dams. We just
got to improve the habitat.
Idaho has some of the best pure habitat for salmon in the
world, in the lower 48 for sure. It is high elevation, cool
waters, and all that kind of stuff. Could we improve the
habitat at some point? Probably. That is not what we need
because you can have the best habitat in the world. If the fish
can't get there, it doesn't matter. I actually had a guy say to
me, this guy worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, say to me
that, well, do you know it is the dams that are causing these
salmon to go extinct. I said because if you look at the
recovery rates of the John Day or the Yakima, the fish that go
to Idaho then have to go over four more dams. The only
difference is they go over four more dams, and their SARS rate
drops to squat, to extinction levels. And he says, well, maybe
it is not the dams. I said what else is it? He said, it could
be the distance they have to swim, and I said to him, so what
you are telling me is, like, in 1940 or 1950 when they had
hundreds of thousands of fish coming back, somehow those fish
knew a secret path that they had to swim less distance than
these do now. Well, maybe that wasn't smart. [Laughter.]
Everybody is looking for an excuse, but some time we are
going to have to face it, and if nothing else, we started a
discussion in Pacific Northwest about what are we going to do
about this. So I appreciate all of your work on it. To me, it
is the most important issue that I have been working on in
Congress in the 24 years I have been here, so I look forward to
working with you.
Mr. Allen. If I might, Mr. Chairman, yes, we agree with
you. It is the four H's.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah.
Mr. Allen. It is the hydro. It is the habitat.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Allen. It is the harvest management. It is the
hatcheries.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Allen. They have to be advanced in balance----
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Allen [continuing]. In order to save this particular
set of species for the Northwest, from Idaho, all the way north
to Alaska.
Mr. Simpson. Yep.
Mr. Allen. And we agree with you.
Mr. Simpson. But if you look at Puget Sound, it is not dams
that are challenged for salmon in the Puget Sound.
Mr. Kilmer. Habitat.
Mr. Simpson. It is other things. It is habitat and stuff.
So, you know, you are right. It is all of them----
Mr. Allen. Yes.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. That we got to address.
Mr. Allen. Imbalance, and your initiative is a very
aggressive one, but it can be done.
Mr. Simpson. Yeah, appreciate it. Thank you all for being
here today. I look forward to working with you on walleye and
salmon. [Laughter.]
That concludes our testimony for today, so we will restart
tomorrow morning at----
Voice. Nine a.m.
Mr. Simpson [continuing]. 9:00 a.m. with the second day. So
thank you all for being here.
The committee is adjourned.
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