[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2671-S2677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Violence Against Women Act

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, thank you for the recognition. It is good 
to see you today.
  I am going to be joined by a number of my Senate colleagues to talk 
about reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. We have many 
who are very concerned that we need to move this reauthorization, so 
they will be joining me here today.
  The first chart we are putting up here is of Hanna Harris, who is a 
member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. Here she is with her son just 
months before she was brutally murdered on the Northern Cheyenne 
Reservation. Hanna was all of 21 years old, and her son was only 10 
months old. We now honor Hanna and all murdered and indigenous women 
and girls each year on Hanna's birthday, May 5, as a national day of 
awareness.
  It is fitting to remember and honor these women and girls, and it is 
critical that we understand the magnitude of violence that Native women 
face. Eighty-four percent of Native women have experienced violence in 
their lifetime. That is four out of five. In some Tribal communities, 
Native women are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national 
average--10 times. One out of three Native women has been raped.
  Behind these statistics are thousands of faces, thousands of lives 
disrupted, shattered, and cut short--faces like that of Ashley Loring 
Heavy Runner. This is a photo of Ashley. Ashley was an outgoing 20-
year-old Native college student during the summer of 2017 when she went 
missing on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. Last December, I heard 
firsthand about the devastating impact of Ashley's disappearance when 
her sister, Kimberly Loring Heavy Runner, came before the Indian 
Affairs Committee to ask Congress to take action. Kimberly told us:

       We are going missing, we are being murdered. I am here to 
     stress to you . . . we are loved and we are missed. We will 
     no longer be . . . invisible people . . . we have worth.


[[Page S2672]]


  That is Kimberly talking.
  By the end of 2017, the FBI had identified 5,600 additional cases of 
missing Native women and girls. This number is likely a very, very 
severe undercount. This crisis is devastating Native families across 
the country. It is unacceptable.
  Just last week, the Senate passed a resolution remembering murdered 
and missing indigenous women and girls, and I thank Senator Daines and 
other Republicans for sponsoring this bipartisan resolution. Now we 
must make good on those words. We must walk the walk. We must take 
bipartisan action to end the cycle of violence, and we should start by 
reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and strengthening 
provisions to protect Native women.
  I have been a strong proponent of VAWA from the beginning, and I 
pushed hard for the law's passage in 1994 when I was New Mexico's 
attorney general. But it became clear early on that VAWA's provisions 
weren't reaching Tribal communities because of the Tribal 
jurisdictional maze put in place by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
  In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, the Court held that Indian 
Tribes cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who 
commit crimes on reservations. This ruling undermined the sovereign 
right of Tribes to enforce the law on Tribal lands. It undercut public 
safety in Indian Country, and it let violent offenders escape 
prosecution.
  An astounding number of violent crimes against Native women on 
reservations are committed by non-Indians. According to the National 
Institute of Justice, 97 percent of Native women who experience 
violence in their lifetime have been victimized by non-Indian 
perpetrators.
  While Tribal authorities' hands were tied, Federal law enforcement 
authorities weren't addressing these cases either. Investigations were 
not pursued because the crimes took place in remote locations. Federal 
prosecutors declined to prosecute cases. Crimes against Native women 
and children were pushed to the back burner. The inability of Tribes to 
protect their own members was an inexcusable hole in the law.
  By the time the Senate took up VAWA reauthorization in 2012 and 2013, 
we could no longer ignore Oliphant. We could no longer ignore that 
Oliphant left Native women at risk. In the Senate, I fought to restore 
Tribes' authority to provide for the safety of their members, and we 
ultimately reinstated their authority to prosecute anyone who commits 
domestic violence on a reservation through VAWA 2013. Since then, 18 
Tribes have begun exercising jurisdiction over domestic violence 
crimes. There have been 143 arrests of 128 violent offenders with 74 
convictions to date. This is a real step in the right direction.
  With time and experience, Tribes have seen there are still gaps that 
must be closed to stop violence against Native women. Tribes have 
identified four changes Congress must make to hold violent offenders 
accountable.
  First, Tribal jurisdiction under VAWA doesn't extend to domestic 
violence against children. If a Native child is caught up in the 
violence, as is too often the case, Tribal law enforcement can't 
prosecute the offender. We have to change that.
  Second, VAWA applies only to domestic violence. It doesn't apply to 
general cases of sexual assault, sex trafficking, or stalking. Like 
other types of violence, Native women face higher levels of sexual 
violence than other women in the United States. In fact, of the Native 
women who have experienced violence, 56 percent have experienced sexual 
violence. Yet VAWA 2013 didn't cover the entire range of sexual 
violence directed toward Native women. Congress must fix this.
  Third, VAWA 2013 wasn't clear whether Tribes have jurisdiction over 
attempted domestic violence. If a perpetrator swings at his spouse and 
misses, there is no crime until the next time, when he lands a punch. 
We must fix this loophole or Native women will continue to be at risk.
  Finally, VAWA doesn't cover crimes committed against Tribal law 
enforcement officers charged with responding to domestic violence. If 
an officer is responding to a domestic violence case and he or she is 
assaulted, they aren't covered under the law, so that needs to be 
fixed.
  Domestic violence calls, as all of us know, are some of the most 
dangerous law enforcement responds to. Police officers, including 
Tribal officers, are assaulted when responding to disturbance calls 
more than in any other circumstance. Yet Tribes can't protect their own 
officers. These gaps in VAWA undermine the very purpose of the law and 
put children, women, and police officers at great risk. We must remedy 
this.
  Senators Murkowski, Smith, and I have introduced the Native Youth and 
Tribal Officer Protection Act to ensure Tribes can exercise 
jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against children and Tribal officers 
and attempted domestic violence. The bipartisan bill is supported by 16 
former U.S. attorneys appointed under Republican and Democratic 
administrations and the Indian Law and Order Commission, a body of 
Tribal public safety experts established under the bipartisan Tribal 
Law and Order Act. We have also introduced the Justice for Native 
Survivors of Sexual Violence Act, which makes sure that Tribes have 
authority to prosecute sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking 
crimes.
  The House of Representatives already passed these measures last month 
on a bipartisan basis as part of the Violence Against Women Act 
Reauthorization of 2019. It is now our turn to take action. We cannot 
allow this bill to be buried in the majority leader's so-called 
legislative graveyard, not when women's lives are literally at stake.
  Friends, we must all agree it is long past time to address violence 
against women in Indian Country. I urge this body to reauthorize VAWA 
and pass the Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act and Justice 
for Native Survivors Act. Let the families of Hanna and Ashley and 
thousands of other missing and murdered Native women know that they are 
not invisible, that they have worth, and that they deserve justice.
  I mentioned earlier that 16 U.S. attorneys, both Republican and 
Democratic, wrote to us about the Native Youth and Tribal Officer 
Protection Act. They wrote very eloquently about what the situation is 
that we face today. These are U.S. attorneys who prosecuted in States 
that have Tribes. They were trying to do everything they could to bring 
justice to these situations. Their letter of support for S. 2233, the 
Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act, reads of some of the 
things here that I am going to quote, which, I think, make very, very 
poignant points about why we should take up this legislation and pass 
it immediately.
  The Supreme Court's 1978 decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish severely 
limits Tribal nations' ability to prosecute crimes committed against 
Indians by non-Indians. Congress removed Federal limits on the inherent 
authority of Tribal governments to prosecute the non-Indian domestic 
violence offenders in the 2013 followup reauthorization.
  Under current law, the Tribal justice system has arresting and 
prosecuting authority over a non-Indian domestic violence offender, but 
it has no recourse if that same offender commits a crime against the 
responding Tribal public safety officer.
  U.S. attorneys' offices with jurisdiction often decline to prosecute 
a non-Indian who commits a violent crime on Tribal lands. The absence 
of Tribal criminal jurisdiction over some non-Indian perpetrated crimes 
and low Federal prosecution rates for those crimes contribute to the 
high rates of violence against Native people, particularly women and 
children who live on Tribal lands.
  Due to the experiences of the letter's signatories--the 16 former 
U.S. attorneys, Democratic and Republican--they say public interest, 
safety, health, and welfare all support the concept that, if possible, 
crimes committed on Tribal lands should be prosecuted by the presiding 
Tribal government. These former U.S. attorneys support the goal of this 
legislation--to restore Tribal jurisdiction over crimes that have been 
committed against Tribal police officers and children citizens of the 
Tribal nations.
  The need for Tribal jurisdiction over crimes against Tribal law 
enforcement is absolutely clear here. Under VAWA 2013 Tribal 
jurisdiction, Tribes cannot

[[Page S2673]]

hold defendants accountable for violence against officers who are 
enforcing the law. This leaves arresting officers, court bailiffs, and 
corrections officers vulnerable. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 
is an example of the injustice here. It had one non-Indian defendant 
who had hit and strangled his girlfriend and, while in jail, had 
stricken the correctional officer who had been holding him after his 
arrest. He had threatened to come back and--this is his language--shoot 
up the reservation. The Tribe referred the assault and threat to 
Federal prosecutors, who ultimately dismissed the charges.
  If we pass this legislation that has come over to us from the House, 
the Tribes in this circumstance would have the ability to step in and 
do something about this. They don't have any option today. If they get 
a declination, if there will be no action taken on the Federal side, 
they will not have the ability to deal with crime and violence on their 
reservation.
  Let me talk a little bit about the need for Tribal jurisdiction over 
crimes against children. Fifty-eight percent of incidents reported by 
the implementing Tribes involve children. According to the Department 
of Justice, Native children suffer exposure to violence at rates that 
are higher than any other peer group in the United States. The Pascua 
Yaqui Tribe, which was one of the first five Tribes to implement the 
VAWA 2013 authority, identified at least 38 children involved as 
witnesses and victims with its VAWA 2013 cases.
  Clearly, when there is a domestic violence incident, one of the 
things that needs to be done by law enforcement is with regard to a 
woman's being assaulted in the presence of a child. You should allow 
the prosecuting authorities to take that into consideration and make it 
a part of the charge. With the law we have today, that is not allowed. 
So children are not protected.
  In another example, of the defendants and perpetrators who are known 
violent and criminal offenders, many defendants had run-ins with Tribal 
police for violence or criminal activity prior to getting arrested. For 
example, the Tulalip Tribe in Washington reported that the 70 
defendants it prosecuted by using its VAWA 2013 authority had had a 
total of 171 contacts with Tribal police prior to their arrests. A 
Tulalip Tribal member was assaulted and raped by the father of her 
children--a non-Indian who had had 19 prior contacts with the Tribal 
police. VAWA 2013 allowed the Tribe to arrest and successfully 
prosecute the man.
  This is a good example of how VAWA 2013 has worked, but in all of 
these circumstances I have talked about, we need to demand it--whether 
it is with a law enforcement officer who is assaulted in the course of 
enforcing the law or whether it is with a child who is a part of the 
circumstances that involve the prosecution.
  I see that my good friend Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is here on 
the floor. She is a very active member of the Indian Affairs Committee. 
I know she cares passionately about these missing and murdered 
indigenous women and children. I would ask to have a colloquy with 
Senators who show up, but I will be here on the floor. So don't worry.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, let me say to my colleague, the 
ranking member of the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee--with whom, by 
the way, I know I have 2 more years--that I am so going to miss working 
with him. I appreciate his passion, particularly on days like today on 
which he is highlighting issues that affect so many of our communities 
across this country, particularly when it comes to our Tribal 
communities and Native communities.
  Thank you for always being at the forefront, my friend.
  This past Sunday, many Americans joined thousands of survivors and 
supporters in solidarity across the country to honor the National Day 
of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. 
Organizers hosted rallies and benefit runs; communities honored loved 
ones lost; and supporters posted on social media with the hashtag 
#NotInvisible. For many, this was a day to raise awareness about the 
alarming number of murdered and missing indigenous women, but for our 
Tribal communities, a day of awareness only scratches the surface of 
what is needed to address this epidemic.
  Indian Country needs action. That starts right here in this Chamber, 
and it can start today. Right now, the Senate is considering three 
pieces of legislation--the reauthorization of the Violence Against 
Women Act and my bipartisan bills, Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible 
Act--which will help to combat this crisis. Passing these bills is 
critical in protecting the lives of Native women and girls.
  The numbers speak for themselves. More than 80 percent of Native 
women will experience physical, sexual, or psychological violence in 
their lifetimes, often in the form of domestic or intimate partner 
violence. One in three Native American women has been raped or has 
experienced an attempted rape, and murder is the third leading cause of 
death for Native women and girls. In addition, Native American women 
who experience sexual or domestic violence are far more likely to fall 
victim to sex trafficking.
  Even more distressing is the fact that we likely don't know the full 
scope of the problem because of underreporting. In fact, nearly half of 
the Tribal law enforcement agencies surveyed believe human trafficking 
is occurring on Tribal land beyond what has been brought to their 
attention. Because of a lack of coordination with Federal Agencies and 
because of sparse resources and limited jurisdiction in which to 
prosecute crimes, women across Indian Country are dying and 
disappearing, and far too many of their cases go unreported, unsolved, 
or untouched by law enforcement.
  This is unbelievable. We must act. Yet there is no targeted Federal 
plan or strategy to address this epidemic even as it becomes 
increasingly clear that we are failing to uphold our trust 
responsibility and, even more so, that we are failing Native women and 
their families.
  As former Nevada attorney general, I have heard directly from 
survivors, family members, Tribal leaders, and law enforcement about 
the need for immediate action and Federal support to address violence 
in Native communities. Congress must take concrete action to help 
support the Tribal governments, organizations, and law enforcement 
members who are on the frontlines every day.
  The House of Representatives has already taken an important first 
step this year by reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This 
legislation will protect Native women from the effects of domestic 
violence, which is an early indicator of nearly half of all murder 
cases involving women nationwide. I know it will have a positive impact 
because, as attorney general, I saw the impact it had on our Tribal 
communities in the State of Nevada. The reauthorization of VAWA also 
gives Tribal governments additional and much needed jurisdictional 
power to directly address violent crime against Tribal members on 
reservations.
  My Democratic colleagues and I are committed to fighting for the full 
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and especially for 
the important criminal jurisdictional expansions it gives Tribal law 
enforcement to help get violent offenders off the streets.
  We can't stop there. We need to shine a light on the staggering 
number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and ensure 
that we understand the full scope of the problem. That is why, with my 
colleague Senator Lisa Murkowski, I have also introduced Savanna's Act 
and the Not Invisible Act--both bipartisan bills. They are designed to 
work to directly combat the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked 
Native women, and they will give our law enforcement and communities 
the support they need to protect our Native women and girls. These 
bills help in stopping cases from falling through the cracks.
  Specifically, Savanna's Act works to ensure that Indian Country has 
access to accurate, up-to-date crime databases so State, local, and 
Tribal law enforcement can implement guidelines for responding to 
relevant criminal cases.
  The Not Invisible Act ensures the Federal Government works across 
Agencies to best use its resources when addressing violence against 
Native women while recognizing the unique

[[Page S2674]]

challenges that are faced within Tribal communities. The bill also 
creates an advisory committee to examine ways to reduce violent crime, 
sexual assault, and trafficking in Tribal communities.
  These bills, along with the reauthorization of the Violence Against 
Women Act, are critical to keeping Native women and girls safe.
  My home State of Nevada is home to many Tribal communities. These 
communities are full of mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends whose 
lives are vibrant and full of potential. I will not let these women 
become statistics. It is time to take action, and I am committed to 
doing all I can in the Senate to fight for justice for Native American 
women and girls.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I thank Senator Cortez Masto for her talk 
today. I can tell that she is very passionate about this issue. Both of 
us were State attorneys general from Western States. We have 
significant Native American populations, and we are very familiar with 
the jurisdiction issue.
  I have seen Senator Cortez Masto question many times in the committee 
on the issue of jurisdiction. And what I am talking about there--you 
have Tribal jurisdiction, and then you have Federal jurisdiction, and 
many times there is some State jurisdiction. So when the Supreme Court 
in 1978 came out with a ruling in the Oliphant case, they created a big 
hole, and for almost 30 years, there was a zone that really wasn't 
being prosecuted. Senator Cortez Masto is very familiar with this. 
Because of that, we had kind of a situation in Indian Country where, 
without enforcement, I think some of this violence grew.
  I am sure that ever since Senator Cortez Masto has been in law 
enforcement, she has seen this problem and advocated for changes to it, 
and we have seen dramatic changes with VAWA 2013, which allowed 
prosecution to take place. I don't know whether any of Senator Cortez 
Masto's Tribes within Nevada took cases and initiated things, but I 
think that across Indian Country, it is fair to say that there was 
very, very extensive effort. I think there have been a number of 
arrests--143, I think; 74 convictions--and things have really been 
moving along.
  Has that been your experience in terms of watching what has happened 
both at the State level and the Federal level since 2013? Have we been 
making some progress here?
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, to my colleague from New Mexico, 
absolutely. Let me just say I was attorney general in 2013 when you 
reauthorized VAWA and you included the Tribal provisions in there. 
There are about 27 Tribal reservations and communities in the State of 
Nevada, and I can guarantee you they were beneficiaries of what you did 
to prevent and address violence in Tribal communities through VAWA.
  I know that because I actually chaired the Domestic Violence 
Prevention Council in the State of Nevada. On my council--which, as the 
attorney general, came through my office--there were Tribal members. I 
also know that the VAWA funding that comes into the State of Nevada 
came through my office as the attorney general. So we made sure that 
all of our communities that were impacted by domestic violence in 
particular--any type of violence--had the benefit of this money that 
was coming in.
  I can guarantee you, working with my Tribal communities as attorney 
general, it was a benefit. That is why I am fighting now for that 
reauthorization and that funding to continue for our Tribal 
communities. There is no doubt in my mind that I saw the benefits in 
Nevada, and we can see that now across the country. I am really kind of 
baffled why it is not in this provision here. This really should be a 
bipartisan issue that we all focus on.
  So that is my fight. I have seen the benefits, and I know the impact 
it has on our Tribal communities.
  Let me just say this: We need to address any type of violence in our 
Tribal communities. And I thank you for highlighting this because it is 
not just the domestic violence; it is the issue of missing and murdered 
Native women and girls. My concern there is, we do not have enough data 
that tells us what is going on. The data we do report at the Federal 
level is underreported. I know the last data that we had was in 2016. 
That showed about 5,700 missing Native girls and women. That is 
underreported. But what we don't know is why they have gone missing.
  I have worked very hard to address sex trafficking prevention in the 
State of Nevada. This is happening across the country. There is no 
doubt in my mind that some of these Native women and girls are victims 
of sex trafficking, but we do not know it because of the challenges in 
capturing that data and then doing something about it at the Federal 
level. That is what I am fighting for. That is what my colleague from 
New Mexico is fighting for.
  I so appreciate the opportunity to talk about this on the floor 
today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I, too, want to thank the Senator from 
New Mexico for organizing today's effort on this very important issue.
  I rise today to join my colleagues in really shining a spotlight on a 
crisis that has brought terror and pain to Tribal communities across my 
home State of Washington and the Nation for far too long. It is an 
alarm that has been sounding, actually, for generations and one that 
has impacted literally countless families, robbing them of their 
mothers and grandmothers, their sisters, their aunts, their daughters.
  ``Family of missing Native woman demands answers in Wapato.''
  In Yakima County:

       A year after her body was found, officials are now 
     officially calling the death of this young woman a homicide.

  A year after.
  In Toppenish:

       16-year-old . . . disappeared after Christmas Eve in 1971. 
     Her sister refuses to give up the search.

  Those are just a few of the headlines that have appeared in news 
outlets in Washington State within just the last few months 
highlighting the scope of the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous 
women and girls in our communities.
  For far too long, our Nation has ignored or misclassified the 
terrible stories of violence against women and girls in Tribal 
communities, who have been reported missing or murdered at much higher 
rates than their non-Native counterparts or, worse, not reported at 
all.
  It is a crisis that is particularly salient in Washington State, 
which ranks second among States with the highest number of reported 
cases of missing and murdered Native women. Even worse, Seattle ranks 
No. 1 among cities with the highest number of cases. But it isn't just 
Seattle; it is the Yakama Nation, Spokane, Tacoma. The epidemic of 
missing and murdered Native women isn't an urban problem or a rural 
problem. It is not an issue just for western Washington or eastern 
Washington. This is an alarming trend that is devastating communities 
every day throughout Washington State and across the country, one for 
which Native women and girls are paying the ultimate price.
  Now, thanks to the determination of Native women who have spent years 
raising their voices to bring attention to this tragic pattern of 
injustice, we are beginning to develop the tools and resources we need 
to combat this epidemic.
  I am very grateful for Native leaders and organizations like the 
Seattle Indian Health Board, which last November released a landmark 
new report--the first of its kind--on the crisis of missing and 
murdered indigenous women, collecting important data and insights. It 
is a major step toward removing a significant barrier that has burdened 
efforts to end the decades-long epidemic, but there is so much more we 
need to do to keep Native women and girls safe and seek justice.
  As important as it is to bring awareness to this devastating crisis, 
more than awareness, we need action. Congress has to wake up to the 
crisis affecting Native women and recognize the Federal Government's 
responsibility and role in ending it, and that includes improving and 
reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act--a critical law which for 
years has worked to help communities decrease assaults against women 
and girls and which Republicans let lapse earlier this year.

[[Page S2675]]

  This law has long garnered bipartisan support. In fact, we were able 
to come together just 6 years ago to pass an even stronger version of 
the law that strengthened protections and resources for our Tribal 
communities. I know there are champions for this issue on both sides of 
the aisle, Members who have listened to Native voices in their own 
States and understand why we have to equip Tribal communities with the 
tools and resources they need to protect Tribal members and hold others 
accountable when they cause harm or bring violence. There is no excuse 
to not get this done. We have done it before; we can do it again.
  Now that VAWA has passed the House, know that I am going to keep 
working with my colleagues to push the Senate to get it over the finish 
line. In the meantime, I and others will continue lifting up the 
stories of Native women and girls, as well as Tribal leaders and 
members.
  As a partner to Washington State's Tribal communities here in the 
Senate, I am going to keep fighting to strengthen Federal support for 
Tribal priorities and listening to Native voices as well, as we all 
work together to end the tragedy of this senseless epidemic.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to take 
action to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women 
and girls in this country. It is a crisis that we need to address now, 
and we can do this in the Senate by updating the Violence Against Women 
Act, which expired earlier this year.
  I would like to thank my colleagues who have been able to join with 
us today to speak on this important topic led by Senator Udall, and it 
is wonderful to be here today with Senator Murray as well.
  Last month, I had an opportunity to lead a roundtable at the 
Minnesota State Capitol to discuss the crisis of missing and murdered 
indigenous women. This is a crisis that affects Tribal nations all over 
my State, as well as urban indigenous communities. I was there with Lt. 
Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is the highest ranking Native woman elected in 
an executive branch role here in the United States. It was wonderful to 
be there with her and all of the advocates who were present as well.
  At the roundtable, I heard about survivors who have experienced 
trafficking and sexual violence who feel invisible. I heard from Native 
advocates and families of victims who feel they are not being listened 
to by local law enforcement, and they also understand that there is a 
lack of knowledge about cultural and traditional practices that is 
impeding the efforts to end this crisis and to get help and healing to 
Native women who have been victimized.
  In Minnesota, I hear time and again from leaders of Tribal nations--
from Red Lake and White Earth to Bois Forte, Mille Lacs, and Prairie 
Island--who speak of violent crimes on their land, including the crisis 
of missing and murdered indigenous women. I hear from some of these 
leaders about how they are unable to take action against the nonmember 
offenders who are committing these crimes.
  According to the National Institute of Justice, 84 percent of Native 
women have experienced violence in their lifetimes--84 percent--and 
over half of Native women and more than one in four men have 
experienced sexual violence. Among those, almost all--96 percent of 
women and 89 percent of men--were victimized by a non-Tribal member. 
Few of these survivors end up seeing justice because what is happening 
is that the Federal Government is failing to address the scourge of 
violence against Native communities.
  Raising awareness of this crisis is important, and that is what we 
are working to do today, but there are several bipartisan measures in 
the Senate that would take significant steps to address it. We must 
take action, and I am here today to talk about some of the things we 
can do.
  In April, the House passed a Violence Against Women Act 
reauthorization bill with many strong Tribal protections to address the 
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, including my bill, 
with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, to help Tribes seek and get 
justice for their members and for survivors.
  Our bill, which is called the Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual 
Violence Act, expands upon the landmark special domestic violence 
jurisdiction granted to Tribes during the last rewrite of the Violence 
Against Women Act in 2013.
  Our bill would allow Tribes to prosecute cases of sexual assault, 
trafficking, and stalking, among other crimes of sexual violence, 
against nonmember offenders. Think about what this means today. If you 
are a nonmember and you commit a crime of sexual violence against a 
Tribal member, the Tribe, which is often in the best position to follow 
up on, investigate, and prosecute that crime, is currently unable to do 
that.
  The bill that I am working on with Senator Murkowski would fix that 
problem in the Violence Against Women Act. Without this jurisdiction, 
Tribes are unable to pursue charges against all offenders who commit 
crimes of sexual violence on Tribal land. Instead, those offenders go 
largely unpunished, as Federal courts fail to investigate or to 
prosecute these crimes. Passing our bill would go a long way toward 
deterring violence against Native women in Indian Country and holding 
offenders accountable when it happens.
  I call on the Senate to take bold action to address the crisis of 
violence against Native communities by taking up the reauthorization of 
the Violence Against Women Act and passing this legislation as soon as 
possible.
  Any reauthorization bill must include strong Tribal protections, such 
as our Justice for Native Survivors bill, so that survivors can begin 
to heal and we can prevent violence from happening in the first place. 
Survivors and families of victims deserve this at the very least.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, thank you for the recognition. I just want 
to say to my colleague from Minnesota that we very much appreciate her 
efforts on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. She has been a great 
member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. On all of these issues 
that are so pressing, whether it is violence or the lack of education 
or budgets that aren't adequate to support so many activities out in 
Indian Country, she has just been a terrific advocate. I know that she 
has followed this issue very closely in the years she has worked in 
government.
  One of the things that is really clear is we have given the Tribes an 
opportunity--and I know Senator Smith knows this very well--to 
undertake law enforcement in their communities as a result of VAWA 
2013. Now is our chance to improve upon that, to lower the level of 
violence in Native American communities.
  I yield to the Senator to talk about what she has seen as a State-
elected official--again, just as a citizen in Minnesota--to make sure 
that laws that have been passed are working well and working better, 
and there is a lot more we need to do.
  I yield to Senator Smith from Minnesota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, first, I just want to say, as Senator Udall 
knows, I was born in New Mexico, so I have a strong affinity for his 
wonderful State, my home State--my original home State--and I learned 
so much about the amazing cultural assets of indigenous people and 
Native American people in the Southwest.
  When I moved to Minnesota and I had an opportunity to get to know 
Minnesota's 11 sovereign Tribal Nations, that was sort of my foundation 
for that work. When I became aware of how Native women, who were so 
often the victims of sexual violence, are literally invisible in the 
criminal justice system, I was just really horrified.
  First, notice this: As Senator Udall and I were talking about this 
issue with many others in the Indian Affairs Committee, I became aware 
that there are thousands and thousands of women who have been reported 
missing, yet the Justice Department has on their big list only about 
100 of them. Literally, these women are invisible.
  In the roundtable that I had with Lieutenant Governor Flanagan last

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week and in other conversations I have had, I have heard personal 
stories so many times of women, like Savanna Greywind, who are murdered 
in terrible and violent ways and don't end up ever--their family never 
has the opportunity to feel the sense of justice and healing that you 
have from knowing that the perpetrator of this terrible violence has 
been brought to justice.
  I am just going to--I would like to tell one story about a woman whom 
I spoke with in Saint Paul whose daughter was murdered in January of 
2018. To this day, she still awaits the release of her daughter's body 
because of mixups and snafus in the system. Imagine what that would be 
like. This is just one example of how Native women in the criminal 
justice system don't get the dignity and the respect they deserve.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, one of the issues that has been highlighted 
by the two very capable Senators who are here on the floor, Senator 
Cortez Masto and Senator Smith, is that all of us--and I know that the 
Presiding Officer from the State of Utah also has many Tribes. All of 
us need to work in a very conscientious and deliberative way to try to 
make sure that we are able to do everything we can to bring forward the 
effort of the Federal Government to lower the violence level in Native 
American communities. The thing I saw over and over again in the State 
of New Mexico as I dealt with Tribes and then at the national level--I 
worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office for several years as an assistant 
U.S. attorney. I saw over and over again that we were unable to 
prosecute some cases, but we were well aware that the Tribes, if they 
were given the authority, would be able to move forward because they 
were closer to the circumstances and would be able to do the job. That 
is why it is so important that 16 former U.S. attorneys who have 
jurisdiction across the United States--full jurisdictions of an area--
have stepped forward and said that they really feel that these pieces 
of legislation that Senator Cortez Masto, Senator Smith, Senator 
Klobuchar, and many others are sponsoring and that the House has 
actually sent over to us are ready to go.
  I see my good friend Senator Tester is here. The vote is going to 
take place in a few minutes, so I am going to yield the floor so that 
Senator Tester can speak on these very important issues. He is a great 
member of the Committee, and I always enjoy hearing from him because he 
is always right on point.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I think that might have been a hint to 
make it quick. Is that right, Senator Udall?
  Mr. UDALL. Take your time.
  Mr. TESTER. All right, I will. Look, this is an issue that is 
critically important to this country. I think when people hear about 
it, they are astounded because this is a crisis we don't hear much 
about.
  According to the National Institute of Justice--listen to these 
statistics--more than 80 percent of Native women have experienced 
violence, almost half within the last year. On many reservations, 
Native American women face murder rates up to 10 times the national 
average. The majority of this violence is either sexual or domestic in 
nature, and too much of it goes unreported and unprosecuted. That is 
why I have taken a three-pronged approach to address this crisis.
  No. 1, we need to raise awareness; No. 2, we need to empower the 
Tribes around this country; and No. 3, this body needs to implement 
some solutions that will help those Tribes address this issue. But 
first we must acknowledge that there is an epidemic, an epidemic that--
if we acknowledge it--we can fix.
  We have made some progress on this front in the last few years. Since 
2016, we have introduced resolutions declaring May 5 the National Day 
of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. We 
introduced this resolution in honor of Hanna Harris, a Northern 
Cheyenne Tribal member who was murdered in July of 2013, and thousands 
of other voices that have been silenced. We introduced this resolution 
to underscore the urgency of addressing domestic violence and sexual 
assault in Indian Country. We introduced this resolution to amplify the 
voice of the people who are on the vanguard, fighting for change--folks 
like Briana Lamb, a Missoula-based activist, who was my guest at this 
year's State of the Union Address, or Kim Loring, who testified in 
front of the Indian Affairs Committee back in December about the 
disappearance of her sister, Ashley Loring Heavy Runner, from Browning, 
MT.
  Increasing awareness isn't where we end. We need to act, and we need 
to find and implement solutions. That is why, after leading a Senate 
hearing on the MMIW crisis in December, I drafted and introduced the 
Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act. This bill directs 
the GAO to conduct a full review of how Federal Agencies respond to 
reports of missing and murdered Native Americans and recommend 
solutions based on their findings.
  The House has already passed this bill, along with the rest of the 
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, more than a month ago. The 
Senate has yet to take up this package. So instead of waiting around 
for Senator McConnell to do his job and bring this bill up for a vote, 
I reached out to the GAO directly yesterday. A group of 10 Democrats 
and 7 Republicans wrote to the GAO, asking them to conduct this study, 
and the GAO agreed. But we can't keep waiting around for the Senate to 
actually do its job and legislate. We need to act, and we need to pass 
the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act so that we can start 
finding and implementing solutions--solutions to problems like Tribal 
jurisdiction.
  Before 2013, the jurisdictional maze surrounding these crimes made it 
nearly impossible for Native authorities to prosecute non-Native 
criminals, despite the fact that almost 90 percent of the Native 
survivors had experienced violence at the hands of non-Native 
offenders. When we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act back in 
2013, we gave Tribal governments the ability to arrest and prosecute 
non-Native offenders for sexual and domestic crimes. Since March of 
2015, 18 Tribes have used this authority to arrest approximately 150 
offenders. As of today, more than half of those arrested resulted in 
convictions, and many are still pending trial. Fort Peck is one of the 
Tribes on the vanguard, arresting 18 offenders over the last 3 years--
offenders who had gotten away with their abuse for far, far too long.
  This year's violence reauthorization act will build upon that 2013 
bill and extend Tribal jurisdiction even further, empowering Tribes to 
combat this crisis head-on. That is why the Senate needs to pass this 
critical legislation and start taking up dozens of other bills that we 
have introduced to combat this crisis--bills like Savanna's Act, which 
will improve information sharing between the Federal, State, and Tribal 
law enforcement agencies and establish better response protocols for 
cases of missing people or the Not Invisible Act, a bipartisan bill we 
recently introduced that would create an advisory committee to improve 
on how Federal law enforcement responds to cases of missing, murdered, 
and trafficked persons. Sure, it is nice to hold hearings and to write 
letters, but nothing can really happen unless we do our job.
  Take funding, for example. We worked hard to secure a 5-percent set-
aside for Indian Country in the Crime Victims Fund this year. That is 
$168 million that Tribes can now use to prevent violence and support 
survivors across Indian Country. But this set-aside disappears next 
year if we don't pass the SURVIVE Act to make this funding permanent.
  I hope that everybody in the Senate, including the majority, will 
finally get behind the Violence Against Women Act and help move these 
other bills forward also. Together, we can find solutions to this 
crisis and we can support survivors and we can bring their assailants 
to justice, but we can't do it if Congress doesn't act.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.

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