[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 63 (Friday, May 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5037-S5039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  POLICIES ON OUR INDIAN RESERVATIONS

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, my colleague is here to speak, but I do 
want to make another comment about the health care policies on our 
Indian reservations, an important concern.
  I want to first say that we have to, in my judgment, deal with these 
issues in a manner that we have not previously done. On our Indian 
reservations in this country, in most cases, we have conditions that 
reflect Third World countries. We have four Indian reservations in my 
State of North Dakota.
  American Indians today have a life expectancy that is 6 years less 
than all the rest of the American people. Their rate of alcoholism is 
seven times the rate of the rest of the American people. Their rate of 
tuberculosis is over seven times the rate of the rest of the American 
people. Their rate of diabetes is four times the rate of the rest of 
the American people. For accidents, there are nearly triple the 
fatalities on reservations. For suicides, the rate is twice that of the 
rest of the American people. For homicides, the rate is more than 
double the rest of the American people.
  The fact is, we have a very serious problem on these Indian 
reservations. There is, in my judgment, despair and little hope. A 
young girl named Tamara Demaris, some years ago, was put in a foster 
home by a social worker who was handling 150 cases. She did not have 
time to investigate the home. At that home, there was a drunken party, 
and little Tamara was beaten severely. Her hair was pulled out at the 
roots. Her nose was broken. Her arm was broken. That little girl will 
probably never get over the scars of that terrible beating.

  That situation has changed. There is no longer one social worker with 
150 cases. We now inspect and investigate where a three year-old child 
will be placed. But that is the kind of circumstance that happened 
because the resources did not exist. We were supposed to protect that 
child and we did not. I am talking about our society--yes, our society.
  I will give you another example. The child in this picture died a few 
weeks ago. This young child's name is Avis. Avis missed 90 days of 
school this school year. She stayed in bed for many days curled up in a 
ball. She desperately needed help. All of her actions cried out for 
help. Avis, by all accounts, was a young girl who loved to ride horses, 
loved animals, and loved her family. But several weeks ago, Avis died. 
On that reservation, they had one psychologist, one social worker, and 
no automobile to take anybody to seek treatment. So when you talk to 
the relatives and the people whose lives intersected with this young 
girl named Avis, you understand the tragedy of her situation. Avis 
needed help and didn't get it. At a critical time in the life of this 
young 14-year-old girl, she didn't get the help she needed.
  The Indian Health Service budget for this year recommends cutting 
back on mental health services provided on these reservations. There is 
not enough as it is. It is painfully thin in terms of the amount of 
resources.
  The federal government has direct responsibility for the health care 
of several groups of people in this country, including Federal 
prisoners and American Indians. We protect American Indians, and we 
have a trust responsibility for their health care. With respect to 
Federal prisoners, it is our obligation. We spend almost twice as much 
money per person on health care for Federal prisoners as we do for 
American Indians. The result is that wonderful young people such as 
Avis lose their lives. It should not happen.
  I wish to mention one other thing and then I will conclude. While 
there is great despair about these issues--and we must confront them 
this year--there are some areas of hope.
  The one area of hope, in my judgment, is tribal colleges on 
reservations. The stepladder up and out to opportunity is education.
  I want to read something I have read before on the floor, because 
last year we made enormous progress in increasing the funding for 
tribal colleges around the country. I want to read from a letter from a 
woman I know named Loretta.
  She says this:

       I grew up poor and considered backward by non-Indians. My 
     home was a two-room log house in a place called the ``bush'' 
     on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. I 
     stuttered. I was painfully shy. My clothes were hand-me-
     downs. I was like thousands of other Indian kids growing up 
     on reservations across America.
       When I went to elementary school I felt so alone and 
     different. I couldn't speak up for myself. My teachers had no 
     appreciation for Indian culture. I'll never forget that it 
     was the lighter-skinned children who were treated better. 
     They were usually from families that were better off than 
     mine. My teachers called me savage. Even as a young child I 
     wondered . . . What does it take to be noticed and looked 
     upon the way these other children are?
       By the time I reached 7th grade I realized that if my life 
     was going to change for the better, I was going to have to do 
     it. Nobody else could do it for me. That's when the dream 
     began. I thought of ways to change things for the better--not 
     only for myself but for my people. I dreamed of growing up to 
     be a teacher in a school where every child was treated as 
     sacred and viewed positively, even if they were poor and 
     dirty. I didn't want any child to be made to feel like I did. 
     But I didn't know how hard it would be to reach the 
     realization of my dream. I almost didn't make it.
       By the time I was 17 I had dropped out of school, moved to 
     California, and had a child. I thought my life was over. But 
     when I moved back to the reservation I made a discovery that 
     literally put my life back together. My sisters were 
     attending Turtle Mountain College, which had just been 
     started on my reservation. I thought that was something I 
     could do, too, so I enrolled. In those days, we didn't even 
     have a campus. There was no building. Some classes met at a 
     local alcohol rehabilitation center in an old hospital 
     building that had been condemned. But to me, It didn't 
     matter. I was just amazed I could go to college. It was life-
     changing.
       My college friends and professors were like family. For the 
     first time in my life I learned about the language, history 
     and culture of my people in a formal education setting. I 
     felt honor and pride begin to well up inside me. This was so 
     unlike my prior school experience where I was told my 
     language and culture were shameful and that Indians weren't 
     equal to others. Attending a tribal college caused me to 
     reach into my inner self to become what I was meant to be--to 
     fight for my rights and not remain a victim of circumstance 
     or of anybody. In fact, I loved college so much that I 
     couldn't stop! I had a dream to fulfill . . . or perhaps some 
     would call it an obsession. This pushed me on to complete my 
     studies at Turtle Mountain College and to ultimately earn a 
     Doctorate in Education Administration from the University of 
     North Dakota.
       I've worked in education ever since, from Head Start 
     teacher's aide to college professor. Now I'm realizing my 
     dream of helping Indian children succeed. I am the Office of 
     Indian Education Programs' superintendent working with nine 
     schools, three reservations, and I oversee two educational 
     contracts with two tribal colleges. My life would not have 
     turned out this way were it not for the tribal college on my 
     reservation.
       My situation is not unique and others feel this way as 
     well. Since 1974, when Turtle Mountain College was chartered 
     by the Turtle Mountain tribe, around 300 students have gone 
     on to earn higher degrees. We now have educators, attorneys, 
     doctors and others who have returned to the reservation. 
     They--I should say, we--are giving back to the community. 
     Instead of asking people to have pity on us because of what 
     happened in our past, we are taking our future into our own

[[Page S5038]]

     hands. Instead of looking for someone else to solve our 
     problems, we are doing it.
       There's only one thing tribal colleges need. With more 
     funding, the colleges can do ever more than they've already 
     achieved. We will take people off the welfare rolls and end 
     the economic depression on reservations. Tribal colleges have 
     already been successful with much less than any other 
     institutions of higher education have received. That is why I 
     hope you will continue to support the American Indian College 
     Fund.
       I'm an old timer. The College Fund didn't exist when I was 
     a student. I remember seeing ads for the United Negro College 
     Fund and wishing that such a fund existed for Indian people. 
     We now have our own Fund that is spreading the message about 
     tribal colleges and providing scholarships. I'm so pleased. I 
     believe the Creator meant for this to be. But so much more 
     must be done. There still isn't enough scholarship money 
     available to carry students full time. That is my new dream . 
     . . to see the day when Indian students can receive four-year 
     scholarships so they don't have to go through the extremely 
     difficult struggle many now experience to get their 
     education.
       I hope you'll keep giving, keep supporting the College 
     Fund, so that some day this dream becomes reality. I know it 
     can happen because if my dream for my future came true, 
     anything is possible. Thank you.

  This wonderful woman describes hope and opportunity through education 
and achievement. Her letter proves that when we invest in the right 
things, when we care enough to give people the opportunity to step up 
and out of poverty and despair, toward hope and opportunity, then this 
is a better country for them and for all of us as well. That should be 
true with respect to our investment in the Indian Health Service. It is 
true with our respect to investment in tribal colleges. We must do much 
better as we approach these subjects this year. I will have more to say 
about the Indian Health Service later.
  I make the point that health care funding for American Indians is an 
issue, as we turn to the appropriations process, to which we must pay 
attention.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Will the Chair state the current parliamentary situation.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate is in morning business. 
Each Senator is permitted to speak up to 10 minutes.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I thank my friend from North Dakota on 
both subjects he just addressed. First, the American policy toward 
Cuba.
  For the life of me, I cannot understand why the U.S. Treasury 
Department, as the Senator so clearly explained, devotes 80 percent of 
its financing resources--that is, investigating financing--to tracking 
down American tourists who travel to Cuba, rather than Osama bin 
Laden's terrorist network. It is amazing.
  I have gone to Cuba a couple times with Montana businessmen. We 
signed a contract to sell agricultural products to Cuba.
  If more Americans could travel to Cuba, it would be more likely that 
we would be able to have a much better relationship with that country 
than we now have.
  Frankly, I also believe very strongly that the current U.S. position 
with respect to Cuba--namely, prohibiting most Americans from traveling 
to Cuba--and the export embargo the U.S. Government has against Cuba 
helps Fidel Castro. It is something he uses to rail against Americans. 
Ironically, if the embargo was lifted and the travel ban was lifted, if 
we were not investigating Americans going to Cuba, it would hasten the 
day for democracy in Cuba. It is clear to me that is what would happen.
  You might ask, Why is the American Government taking such an inane 
view, with most of its resources tracking down good, law-abiding 
Americans visiting Cuba, rather than trying to track down Osama bin 
Laden and his network? The answer is simple. It is basically politics. 
This administration is being ruled by a community in the U.S. that 
wants to get back at Cuba. I think it is regrettable that the 
Government would not adopt a policy that is good for all America, but 
rather one that just helps the interests of a very small group in 
southern Florida. It is an outrage. I, frankly, think the 
administration should be serving all of America and the Treasury 
Department should be devoting its resources to finding terrorists 
rather than checking up on American tourists traveling in Cuba.
  The second subject the Senator talked about needs to be addressed 
over and over again; it is the abominable plight and economic 
conditions on America's Indian reservations. The Senator from North 
Dakota mentioned poverty in many reservations in North Dakota. The same 
can be said for many reservations throughout the country. In Montana, 
we have several reservations and the conditions are, in some cases, 
just as bad. In other areas, it is getting a lot better. Fifty percent 
of all the welfare cases, TANF cases, are on Indian reservations. We 
have an obligation to address that in a solid and constructive way.
  I wish to explain a few of the positions in the bill that will be 
before us. It is not before the Senate at the immediate time, but we 
have considered the bill over the last week, the JOBS bill.
  Some of the provisions in that bill relate to helping people who live 
on Indian reservations to live a much better life. These are provisions 
to help build schools, provisions to help create good jobs on the 
reservations, and provisions to keep businesses investing on 
reservations.
  Let me explain a couple of them. First, the JOBS bill includes the 
extension of two provisions which allow tribes to issue tax-exempt 
bonds to build facilities just like the authority that State and local 
governments have. We believe, those of us who wrote the JOBS bill, 
treating tribes like State governments makes good economic sense; that 
it is just plain fair and it is the right thing to do. If State and 
local governments can issue tax-exempt bonds to construct facilities, 
so should reservations. I am glad we have that provision in the JOBS 
bill.
  It also includes a special allocation of what is called new markets 
tax credits for reservations. This provision allocates $50 million in 
new markets tax credits where poverty rates exceed 40 percent. The new 
markets tax credits are designed to spur investment in economically 
depressed areas. They are not going to solve all the problems that 
exist on reservations but they are certainly going to help, help bring 
jobs, help businesses, help spirit entrepreneurship that is so needed 
around our country.
  This allocation will apply to only the poorest reservations. Lifting 
these reservations out of the grip of poverty is a moral obligation 
that all of us in the Senate have.
  Finally, the JOBS bill addresses school construction on reservations. 
Education is the key to success in many areas of the country. Many of 
the jobs we hear about going overseas would probably not go overseas if 
there were more than high school diplomas and better education in 
America.
  We have good education but it has to be much better. Without properly 
educated citizens, we cannot compete in the 21st century.
  Many of the schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are woefully 
dilapidated and often dangerous, literally dangerous for students and 
teachers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are in generally poorer 
physical condition and have a much more unsatisfactory environment, and 
more often lack key facilities requirements for education reform, and 
are less able to support computer and communications technology. The 
Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are that bad.
  The JOBS bill includes a provision that will allow tribes to issue 
tax credit bonds to raise funds for construction, rehabilitation, or 
repair of tribal school facilities funded by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs. This provision gives hope to children stuck in third-rate 
schools. Every child deserves a decent place to go to school. This 
provision, again in the JOBS bill, will help tribes to raise the funds 
necessary to provide them.
  This bill will also bring opportunity to all Americans, an 
opportunity for jobs training, and entrepreneurship, and I am proud the 
JOBS bill also includes provisions aimed at bringing opportunity to 
reservations and tribal communities across the country.
  A provision I did not really explain in sufficient detail has to do 
with an employment credit that gives employers a payroll tax offset for 
hiring people on reservations, that would allow jobs to stay on 
reservations. In addition, the JOBS bill includes an extension of 
accelerated depreciation for equipment

[[Page S5039]]

purchased by businesses that are located on reservations. This is a 
huge benefit for small businesses on reservations and gives these 
businesses the incentives they need to expand.

  The JOBS bill also includes several new provisions to give an 
economic lift to tribes. Many tribes have difficulty raising capital in 
order to attract convention centers which work attract tourists to 
reservations. Unlike State and local governments, as I mentioned 
earlier, tribes do not issue bonds for many infrastructure investments.
  I spoke earlier about that provision and wanted to restate that the 
basic provisions allow tribes to issue tax exempt bonds to build 
facilities just as State and local governments now have the authority 
to do. I believe treating tribes as we do State governments makes good 
economic sense; it gives them an even greater sense of responsibility 
and destiny in controlling their own future. They should have that same 
ability just as State and local governments.
  So for all those reasons I think those Indian reservation provisions 
in the JOBS bill, which are designated to help Indians, will help. It 
is not going to solve all the problems on reservations, but it will 
certainly give a little more help, a hope, a future to some very 
depressed parts of our country, and if we fulfill our obligations to 
help out, I think we will have done a lot through the provisions of the 
JOBS bill directed at reservations. There are many other provisions in 
the JOBS bill, obviously, but those directed toward Indian reservations 
will certainly help those folks. I thank all members of the committee 
and the chairman of the committee, Senator Grassley, for including 
them.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes. I 
know the majority leader wants to come as well. I certainly want to be 
courteous to him. I will try to finish in less than 15 minutes, but I 
ask unanimous consent to speak at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That order has been provided.

                          ____________________