[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
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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
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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.
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