[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 145 (Monday, October 14, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6574-H6576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION, AND INDIAN HEALTH 
           SERVICE CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS RESOLUTION, 2014

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further 
consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 80) making continuing 
appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian 
Education, and the Indian Health Service for fiscal year 2014, and for 
other purposes, will now resume.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) has 
10\1/2\ minutes remaining, and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) 
has 9\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Idaho.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), a valued member of our 
subcommittee and an advocate for Indian issues.
  Mr. CALVERT. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, let's be clear--everyone in this body wants to end this 
government shutdown. We are all aware of the significant impacts the 
shutdown is having around the country; and I am pleased that, today, 
both sides have finally come to the table, and hopefully we will reach 
a compromise here in the next day or so. Today, we are here to consider 
a solution that aims to ease the urgent and substantial impacts to 
Indian Country.
  House Joint Resolution 80, the American Indian and Alaska Native 
Health, Education, and Safety Act, provides immediate funding for the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, and Indian Health 
Services. As a member of the House Appropriations Interior and the 
Environment Subcommittee, I am well aware that Indian Country was 
already experiencing significant challenges before the shutdown as it 
adjusted to reduced spending levels. Now, with the Federal Government 
shutdown, Native American tribes across the Nation are facing even more 
uncertainty. These tribes are now being confronted with different 
decisions about which services they can continue to provide without 
government resources. Just a few examples: tribal programs for home 
health care for the elderly and disabled, bus service for rural areas, 
and infrastructure projects that were suspended indefinitely. I believe 
we must take action and reopen these critical government operations 
throughout Indian Country.
  I am thankful that my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and 
the House Republican leadership share my belief. Specifically, I want 
to thank my good friend from Idaho, Mike Simpson, for bringing this 
bill to the floor and for his terrific leadership as chairman of House 
Appropriations Interior and the Environment Subcommittee.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill on behalf 
of all Americans in Indian Country. Let's pass this bill and reach an 
agreement to get our entire government back to work for the American 
people.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Oregon, Peter DeFazio, the ranking member of the Natural 
Resources Committee.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, this irresponsible, unnecessary, politically motivated 
government shutdown is unacceptable for all Americans, but it is 
particularly offensive to those in Indian Country.
  The government's trust obligation to the tribes is not a 
discretionary act; it is a fiduciary responsibility. To assume that 
money associated with that fiduciary responsibility can be bartered or 
used as a political football is more than insulting.
  It is another example here of tabloid legislating, ripping issues 
from the headlines and trying to legislate based on negative public 
reaction to just some part of the Republican government shutdown. It is 
kind of like a game of Whac-A-Mole, where an issue pops up and the far 
right pretends to care suddenly--Gee, we didn't know this would happen 
if we shut down the government--and they draft a continuing resolution 
to cover it--or their posteriors.

[[Page H6575]]

  Now, where was all of this concern for the tribes when sequestration 
kicked in? Where is the compassion for the poverty faced by our first 
Americans every day, not just when it is politically expedient? Where 
has the compassion been to address the high rates of unemployment, 
educational challenges, access to resources, challenges tribal people 
face every day, challenges that have only been made worse by the 
Republican sequester?
  This is so cynical. Not only does the temporary measure for tribes 
inadequately fund the few programs it identifies, picks, and chooses, 
but it neglects other critical programs inside and outside the 
Department of the Interior.
  What about the Office of the Special Trustee? We haven't done so well 
as trustees of the moneys of the Indian nations recently. We need the 
Office of the Special Trustee. Oh, it is closed.

  What about the Bureau of Reclamation office that disburses 
settlements for Indian water rights? Closed.
  How about the Native American Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program? Closed.
  Tribal nutrition programs? Closed.
  Even if this bill passed and became law, those would all still be 
closed. I guess their compassion only goes so far. There are many other 
things missing from this bill. I could go on and on.
  Already, sequestration has disproportionately impacted Indian 
Country. We don't need to rub salt in the wound with this continuing 
resolution that provides only one-third of the funding for these 
nations.
  The irresponsible tactics need to cease. We need to open up our 
government to the first Americans and all Americans. It is simple.
  We offered unanimous consent requests last Saturday before the 
Republicans adjourned in a huff and went off for a couple of days while 
the government was shut down. Any one of those acceded to could have 
brought a vote on a 6-week continuation of government at the Republican 
levels of funding with sequestration. That is a concession on the part 
of Democrats. It is your budget, those lower numbers, the Ryan budget. 
You could have done that. You wouldn't do it. You changed the rules of 
the House so we couldn't bring it up as a privileged resolution, and 
then you pretend to care.
  Come on, guys. You can do better than that.
  Mr. SIMPSON. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  So here we are, Mr. Speaker. We are 14 days into the government 
shutdown, the shutdown that has cost this country money, has created 
enormous anxiety on the part of the Federal workforce, the contract 
workforce, the entire country.
  In fact, there was a meeting of all of the leaders of the world over 
in Asia, and we weren't there because of the government shutdown. The 
Chinese, of course, took advantage of it. Both the President and the 
Prime Minister were over at this meeting of world leaders, trying to 
suggest to them that it is time that the world became ``de-
Americanized''--I think that was their term--because we can't get our 
act together. We can't even fund our own government. We can't even 
decide whether or not we are going to pay off our debts on time.
  And all of this, apparently, we are told, Mr. Speaker, was an idea 
that came from the Ted Cruz Tea Party wing of the Republican majority 
to shut down the government until they could have their way on what 
they call ``ObamaCare.'' Even though President Obama ran on the 
Affordable Care Act, which is its proper name, and was elected with 5 
million more votes, still, they wanted to stop it, to gut it, to gut 
its principal provisions.
  So here we are, 14 days into a government shutdown, which is really 
an embarrassment to the entire institution, but it certainly ought to 
be to the House majority. It is ironic with this particular bill 
because there are 579,000 uninsured American Indians and Alaska 
Natives, and they would get coverage under the Affordable Care Act. 
Nine out of 10 of them are likely to qualify for financial assistance 
either through tax credits or by purchasing coverage in the marketplace 
where you would get cost-sharing reductions, eliminate their out-of-
pocket costs, or through an expansion of Medicaid if their States 
choose to do that. So the vast majority of them--undoubtedly, hundreds 
of thousands--would be better off if we were not only to not have shut 
down the government, but certainly by our making available to them the 
Affordable Care Act. So how ironic that here we are with a mini bill, 
suggesting that we will fund a small share of the Interior Department 
to take care of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
  Obviously, we should be taking care of Native Americans--it should be 
our highest priority--and I know it has been for the chairman of the 
Interior and the Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, my good 
friend from Idaho, and our colleagues on that subcommittee, Mr. 
Calvert, Mr. Cole, a number of them. We have all agreed it ought to be 
a priority, but we also have a bill that needs to get passed. We have 
other agencies that need to be funded.
  If we were to continue in this manner, we would get the Interior 
Department funded by Halloween. That is not the way to do business. In 
fact, this bill doesn't fund Native American education programs and the 
Department of Education.
  It doesn't fund the law enforcement programs at the Department of 
Justice that carry out the Violence Against Women Act, which was a key 
component. Thanks to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the 
Violence Against Women Act that we passed makes sure that Native 
American women are protected.
  It doesn't fund Native American social service programs at the 
Department of Health and Human Services. They don't get the child care 
and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that they would otherwise 
get.
  It doesn't fund Native American housing programs at the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development. Almost 100 percent of HUD employees are 
furloughed.
  It doesn't fund the Native American employment and training programs 
at the Department of Labor, the Native American environmental programs 
at the Environmental Protection Agency.
  It doesn't fund the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian 
Affairs, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of 
Indian Education.
  It doesn't fund the Special Trustee for American Indians, which 
administers $3.7 million in tribal funds and more than $700 million in 
individual Indian accounts.
  It doesn't fund the Office of Navajo-Hopi Relocation, which 
administers the relocation settlement activities that arose from land 
disputes between the Navajo and Hopi tribes.
  It doesn't fund the Institute of American Indian Arts or the Native 
American water rights activities. It doesn't do what we need to do, 
which is to fund the Interior appropriations bill.

  So I have to ask the majority, since this bill only funds three 
agencies which represent 0.7 percent of the domestic discretionary 
budget, what are we going to do with the other 99 percent of the 
domestic discretionary budget? What about our other Federal obligations 
to Native Americans? What about their housing and their childcare 
services and their legal protections? This bill doesn't take care of 
that. It still leaves 50,000 Interior Department employees still 
furloughed.
  Even if this bill were to be enacted--which we all know it won't 
until the government opens--there is no money for the Bureau of Ocean 
Energy Management for new offshore oil drilling permits.
  There is no money for the Bureau of Land Management, which processes 
lease sales and permits for onshore oil and gas and coal and other 
mineral permits. They run the wild horse and burro adoption program. 
They award the timber sales. No money for that.
  No money for the Fish & Wildlife Service so they can manage visitors 
to our national refuges. No money for hunting or fishing permits. What 
about the Forest Service?
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to say this was well-intended, but I know 
that it is an attempted Band-Aid to hide the real problem, which is the 
government is shut down. We need to open it.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. SIMPSON. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page H6576]]

  Mr. Speaker, 521 years ago, an explorer named Christopher Columbus 
sailed west from Europe in an attempt to find a new route to the East 
Indies. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas, and as the story goes, he 
named the local inhabitants ``Indians.''
  I note the irony that today has been designated Columbus Day, and 
here we are debating a bill to reopen key parts of the government so 
the United States can honor the treaty obligations our forefathers made 
to the American Indians--the first Americans.
  The bill before us today is a good thing because it gives us an 
opportunity to continue to highlight the poverty and other hardships 
that exist today in Indian Country as a result of the long, 
complicated, and difficult history of relations between the United 
States Government and more than 500 other sovereign nations that were 
here long before we were.
  So while we recognize and honor Columbus for his impact on our own 
Nation's history, let us also recognize and honor the first Americans 
for their proud history and the sacrifices they made, and continue to 
make, for this great Nation.
  That is why I would encourage everybody to vote for this bill. 
Frankly, I hope this bill isn't necessary. I hope that we can find a 
resolution to the differences that exist between Republicans and 
Democrats and that we can reopen all the government, as Mr. Moran just 
stated is necessary. I agree with him fully. We need to get the 
government open again, and we need to address the issue of the debt 
ceiling.
  It is heartening to know that leadership in the Senate, and hopefully 
in the House and the White House, is having some quality time together 
and that maybe we can come to a resolution before more dire things 
happen and we can get this government open, but I don't know that that 
is going to happen.
  In the absence of not knowing that that is going to happen, wouldn't 
it be wise to have at least some of these bills that fund some key 
elements of our government ready to go in the Senate so that we can 
open some areas that I think have bipartisan agreement that need to be 
funded and need to continue?
  I said in my opening statement Saturday that Indian issues have been 
bipartisan on our committee. They have been supported by both 
Republicans and Democrats whether it was under Mr. Dicks' leadership 
when he was chairman, Mr. Moran's leadership when he was chairman, or 
under my leadership. It has been a bipartisan issue to try to meet our 
treaty obligations and the moral responsibilities we have to the first 
Americans--American Indians.
  I want people in Indian Country to know that regardless of the vote 
on this resolution, whether people vote for it or against it, that 
bipartisanship will continue. We will continue to work together to try 
to make sure we address these critical needs in our Nation and our 
treaty and moral obligations we have.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this 
resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 371, the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, and was read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further 
consideration of House Joint Resolution 80 is postponed.

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