[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8001-8003]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        TRUST AND TREATY OBLIGATIONS TO INDIAN PEOPLE AND TRIBES

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, an historic gathering took place in South 
Dakota last week. For 2 days, Indians and non-Indians came together to 
discuss

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how they could improve the schools attended by Indian children in South 
Dakota.
  The South Dakota Indian Education Summit was sponsored by our 
Governor, Mike Rounds, and our state Education Department, working with 
tribal leaders and educators. It grew out of an extraordinary 
conference last October that I was proud to cosponsor. That Gathering 
and Healing of Nations conference brought Indians and non-Indians 
together to talk honestly about the issues that divide us, and the 
issues that unite us.
  At the Indian Education Summit last week, most of the discussion 
focused on how to make sure the No Child Left Behind Act improves the 
schools Indian children attend. As we all know, concerns about No Child 
Left Behind are not limited to Indian Country. But they are especially 
acute in many parts of Indian Country, largely because of the Federal 
Government's long history of severely underfunding Indian education. I 
have heard from many Indian educators who tell me they are deeply 
concerned that the Federal Government will not provide Indian schools 
with the resources they need to meet the higher standards in No Child 
Left Behind. They are worried as well that the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
and the Department of Education may be placing too much emphasis on 
testing students and labeling schools--and not enough emphasis on 
helping schools correct problems. They're concerned about preserving 
native cultures and languages.
  These are all legitimate concerns. We need to pay attention to them. 
That is why I have asked the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to hold 
hearings on how the No Child Left Behind Act is being implemented in 
Indian Country. I have not received a reply yet from the committee 
chairman, but I am hopeful that there will be agreement on the 
importance of holding such a hearing. I know he cares deeply about the 
need for the Federal Government to honor its trust and treaty 
obligations regarding education.
  President Bush has proposed three Federal budgets since he signed the 
No Child Left Behind Act. All three have shortchanged No Child Left 
Behind. The President's proposed budget for next year--fiscal year 
2005--underfunds the new law by $9.4 billion. Schools serving Indian 
children are among the oldest, poorest, and most crowded schools in 
America. They have been drastically underfunded for decades. The last 
thing children attending Indian schools need is to be denied the 
opportunities, resources, and good teachers the new law promises--and 
then have their schools labeled as ``failing.''
  That is why, during debate last month on the budget resolution for 
next year, Democrats offered an amendment to fully fund No Child Left 
Behind for all schools, including BIA schools. Regrettably, Republicans 
defeated our amendment. But we are not giving up. We will continue to 
press to make sure No Child Left Behind is funded adequately and 
implemented sensibly in Indian Country, so that this Nation leaves no 
Indian child behind, either.
  America also needs to face up to the massive school facilities 
problem in Indian Country. There is an overwhelming backlog of facility 
repair and construction projects for BIA schools, and the BIA estimates 
the cost of completing those projects at nearly $1.2 billion.
  In 2000, when he was running for President, then-Governor Bush met 
with tribal leaders in New Mexico and promised to invest $1 billion to 
fix crumbling BIA schools. Yet the President's proposed budget for next 
year cuts funding for Indian school, reconstruction for the second year 
in a row. That is wrong.
  Crow Creek Tribal Schools in Stephan, SD are among the nearly 200 
BIA-funded and BIA-operated schools in the United States. Their 
buildings are typical of schools throughout Indian Country. They are 
crowded, crumbling, and outdated. Some of them date to the 1930s. 
Between 500 and 600 students attend classes in them. Two years ago, 
Crow Creek's middle school was condemned and replaced with modular 
trailers. An elementary school also need to be replaced. The high 
school gym is in such poor structural condition that it can only be 
used for limited purposes; the district has to rent gym space from 
other schools for basketball games. They don't know where they will 
hold their graduation this year.
  Crow Creek Tribal Chairman Duane Big Eagle has been lobbying for 
money to fix the schools on the reservation for 25 years. Two months 
ago, he drove 4,000 miles to try to find someone in the Federal 
Government who would help him. He drove first to the BIA facilities and 
construction office in Albuquerque. When he found no help there, he 
drove to BIA headquarters in Washington, DC.
  Senator Tim Johnson and I met with Chairman Big Eagle while he was in 
Washington, and I have since spoken with BIA officials about the Crow 
Creek schools. I am pleased to report that the BIA has agreed to 
provide $2.5 million for a new 17,000-square-foot gymnasium.
  But there are still schools all over Indian Country where conditions 
would shock most Americans--schools with no heat and schools where the 
cold wind whips in through broken windows. Schools where trash cans are 
positioned in classrooms to catch the rain water that pours in through 
holes in the roofs.
  The He Dog Tribal School in Rosebud is a two-story brick building 
built in the 1930s. Its ``library'' is three shelves of books on one 
bookcase.
  A while back, leaders from the Dakota Area Consortium of Treaty 
Schools proposed a smart way to address the backlog of school 
construction needs in Indian Country. Their proposal called for the 
creation of a new Indian school-bonding authority that would use 
Federal dollars to leverage other funds.
  We have been working with Senator Johnson to help create this 
authority, and we now have bipartisan support. We ought to consider 
it--and any other innovative ideas people may have to deal with the 
school-construction backlog--and then we must act.
  It shouldn't take a tribal chairman driving thousands of miles for 
Indian children to be able to attend safe schools with adequate space 
and up-to-date books and computers. The right to attend a good school 
should be the birthright of every child in America. But Native American 
children have a special claim on this right.
  Our Government has given its word, in treaties and laws, to provide 
education, health care, housing, and other basic necessities to Indian 
tribes and their members forever.
  Education and other Federal programs serving Native Americans are not 
handouts; they are treaty obligations. They are installment payments 
the United States Government owes for land the tribes surrendered 
reluctantly more than a century ago. America has never even come close 
to meeting those obligations. You can see the legacy of this neglect in 
the harsh realities of life in Indian Country today: houses with no 
electricity, plumbing, or telephones. On some reservations in South 
Dakota, people live in homes with no running water; they have to haul 
water from 15 or 20 miles away. It is not unusual on reservations in 
South Dakota for 20 members of an extended family to share one small, 
three-bedroom home. Three hundred families on Pine Ridge are living in 
homes that are contaminated with black mold. The Pine Ridge Reservation 
needs 3,000 new houses just to meet the current demand.
  During the depths of the Great Depression, 25 percent of Americans 
were unemployed. Today, on many reservations in South Dakota and other 
States, the unemployment rate is twice that high--or higher.
  Native Americans live sicker and die younger than other Americans as 
a result of inadequate health care. Their higher rates of diabetes, 
heart disease, sudden infant death syndrome, tuberculosis, alcoholism, 
and many other serious health problems are the direct result of our 
Government's long history of dramatically underfunding Indian health. 
Our Government spends twice

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as much per person on health care for federal prisoners as it does on 
health care for Native Americans. I am still baffled by that statistic. 
We spend twice as much per person on health care for Federal prisoners 
in this country--$3,800 per capita--as we do on the children on Indian 
reservations--$1,900 per capita this year. The rationing of health care 
at Indian Health clinics and hospitals is so severe that sick and 
injured people who are not in immediate danger of losing their life or 
a limb are routinely turned away and denied any care. This is immoral.
  Tribal roads make up two-and-a-half percent of Federal roads in this 
country, yet tribes receive only one-half-of-one-percent of Federal 
road funding. The poor condition of many tribal roads is a significant 
reason that the rate of fatal traffic accidents on tribal roads is four 
times higher than the national average. It is also a major obstacle to 
economic opportunity in Indian Country.
  These are just a few of the ways the Federal Government is failing to 
meet its trust and treaty obligations to Native people and tribes. 
Unfortunately, President Bush's proposed budget for next year would 
make things even worse. Dozens of programs serving Native Americans and 
Alaska Natives are flat-lined, reduced, or simply eliminated.
  According to the National Congress of American Indians, the 
President's proposed budget cuts Indian hospital and clinic 
construction by 56 percent; Indian school construction by 19 percent; 
and tribal college funding by 11.5 percent. The tribal COPS program is 
slated to be cut by 20 percent, the tribal courts program by 26 
percent, and the Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Program by 83 percent. 
The President's proposed budget also cuts $52 million from the BIA for 
tribal law enforcement, tribal roads, and Indian child welfare 
programs.
  Earlier this month, BIA Assistant Secretary Dave Anderson shocked 
tribes with an announcement that BIA programs will be slashed another 
$79 million in fiscal year 2006.
  The president of the National Congress of American Indians, Tex Hall, 
has said, ``Asking us to somehow prioritize which programs in the BIA 
should be cut is like asking Indian Country to decide which child 
should go hungry, which elder should go unprotected, and which of those 
who need medical help should go untreated.''
  Rather than do that, the National Congress of American Indians and 
BIA's Tribal Budget Advisory Council met recently with BIA officials in 
Washington over 2 days to develop an alternative budget. A tribal 
leader from my State, John Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, 
is a member of that advisory council.
  Assistant Secretary Anderson visited South Dakota reservations 
recently, so I know he is familiar with the staggering unmet needs of 
Indian Country. He surely must know that cuts such as those recommended 
by the White House will do real harm to people and communities that 
have already suffered greatly because of the policies and neglect of 
the Federal Government.
  I hope Assistant Secretary Anderson will consider carefully the 
recommendations of the Tribal Budget Advisory Council as he prepares 
his budget request for fiscal year 2006. If he will take a strong stand 
for this government to meet its trust and treaty obligations, I know he 
will find many allies in Congress. I am one of them.
  But Assistant Secretary Anderson and Interior Secretary Norton do not 
have to wait until the department completes its fiscal year 2006 budget 
proposal. They can do something today that will not cost a dime and 
will make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of Native 
Americans, especially children.
  Three times now, the Federal judge hearing the Cobell v. Norton 
Indian trust case has had to order the Interior Department to shut down 
its computer system to protect individual Indian money accounts from 
hackers. Every time BIA has shut down computers in the Office of 
Special Trustee, it has shut down the computers serving Indian schools 
as well. The last time, the shutdown lasted for 5 days. Such 
disruptions cause serious problems for teachers, students, and school 
administrators.
  In response to a recent letter from me, Interior Department officials 
said they did not choose to shut down the BIA school computers; they 
were forced to do so when the judge ordered the Indian trust computers 
shut down.
  I have been told there is a simple solution: All Interior Department 
officials have to do is properly certify and verify to the court 
hearing the Cobell lawsuit that the BIA school computers are separate 
from the trust fund computers and protected from intrusion. Based on 
the department's certification and verification, if the trust fund 
computers ever have to be shut down again, BIA school computers will be 
spared. It is a simple step that can make a difference in the education 
of Indian children, and I urge the Interior Department to do it as soon 
as possible.
  I also ask the Interior Department, the White House, and our 
Republican colleagues to work with us to come up with budgets that 
honor America's trust and treaty obligations to Indian people and 
tribes--next year, the year after that, and every year. This should not 
be a partisan issue.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader's time has expired.

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