[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4631-4632]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF CARL ARTMAN

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, as of this month, it has been 2 full years 
that the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the 
Department of the Interior has been vacant--2 full years. There has 
been a Federal position specifically assigned for the responsibilities 
for Indian affairs since the year 1806.
  In the year 1849, that position was transferred from the Defense 
Department--or then the Department of War--to the Interior Department. 
The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and the Department of the 
Interior is responsible for managing the BIA, the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, and all of the programs that are important to the trust 
responsibilities and the fiduciary obligations the U.S. Government has 
to tribes. We do indeed have obligations to tribes through treaties and 
through other approaches, trust responsibilities. This Congress, and 
previous Congresses, and future Congresses, have obligations to tribal 
governments that we must meet. Those obligations are important.
  As I said, it has been 2 full years since we have had a person in the 
position of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Interior 
Department. For 2 years it has been vacant, which is unbelievable to 
me.
  We have a man who has been nominated now named Carl Artman, who is a 
member of the United Tribe of Wisconsin. Mr. Artman is a very capable, 
distinguished person. I met with him a couple times. President Bush 
sent his nomination down to the Congress last year. Apparently, a hold 
was put on his nomination and it did not move. The President re-sent 
the nomination recently. I chaired the hearing, and we moved his 
nomination out of the Indian Affairs Committee and now it is before the 
full Senate.
  My understanding is it has not moved because there has been a hold 
put on it once again. I spoke to the Secretary of the Interior today 
again about that subject, and my hope is--I indicated to him, and I 
think his hope is--this week we can find a way to resolve these issues 
and get Mr. Carl Artman confirmed by the Senate for the position of 
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. It is a very important 
position.
  We have a full-blown crisis in health care, housing, and education on 
Indian reservations. I have been doing listening sessions with Indian 
tribes. With respect to education, as an example, they tell about a 
young schoolkid who is living in a house, a 3-bedroom home with 23 
people. That describes the housing conditions on some of the 
reservations.
  But what about a young kid who is living in a 3-bedroom home with 23 
other people? What kind of homework do you think gets done there? What 
kind of opportunity is it for that young child to quietly be able to 
open a book and to learn a lesson?
  We have a crisis in housing. I have described it many times on the 
floor of the Senate. We have a crisis in health care. It is almost 
unbelievable to me, but we had a hearing recently in which a doctor 
described a woman who had a very serious knee injury who required 
surgery. She went to the doctor on the Indian reservation and was told: 
Wrap it in cabbage leaves for 3 or 4 days. That is right: Wrap it in 
cabbage leaves for 3 or 4 days. It needed to be operated on. It was a 
torn ligament. ``Wrap it in cabbage leaves''--that is health care? Not 
where I come from.
  Or a man who had a bad arm, a bad shoulder, a torn ligament, and for 
4 years he could not get it fixed on the Indian reservation because it 
was not ``life or limb''--4 years. This was a rancher. What do you 
think a one-armed rancher is able to do on a ranch? Haul hay? I do not 
think so.
  I told the story on the floor about the woman who was having a heart 
attack--an Indian woman--and was transported by ambulance to a 
hospital. She was hauled into the hospital on a gurney--having a heart 
attack--and they discovered there was a piece of paper taped to her 
thigh. What the paper said was: You should understand, hospital 
administrators, this person is not covered under the Indian Contract 
Health Services. We are out of money. So, therefore, if you admit this 
person, you are on your own.
  Imagine that: a woman having a heart attack, brought in on a gurney 
to a hospital with a piece of paper taped to her thigh that says: 
Beware. We won't pay for this treatment. That is unbelievable.
  We have a lot of problems we need to address in these areas dealing 
with Indian tribes and the first Americans. I understand the Indian 
Health Service is attached to Health and Human Services. But I also 
understand the issues of housing, education, and all of the other 
related issues belong to the Interior Department. That position in the 
Interior Department responsible for these issues has been vacant for 2 
full years, and I believe it is shameful. I hope this Senate, this 
week, can resolve this issue and get it done. I am going to push to see 
if we can't get that confirmation done this week.
  (The remarks of Mr. Dorgan pertaining to the introduction of S. 684 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence 
of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page 4632]]

  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER Mr. Durbin. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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