Native American Legislative Update April 11, 2008
This NALU contains information on: * Senate acts on Indian health. Urge your Rep. to act.
* Overall FY09 appropriations picture
* Chance of increased funds for health
* Environmental and energy appropriations
* Violence Against Women appropriations
* Law enforcement in Washington State
* Status of Cobell trust fund court case
* The Longest Walk
* Award for support to Indian Country
SENATE ACTS ON MODERNIZATION,
NOW URGE YOUR REP TO ACT The entire Senate approved the bill (S. 1200) to reauthorize the
Indian Health Care Improvement Act in late February. The system
has not been updated since 1992; yet, many senators did not want
to give time to considering the bill this year. Viewers of C-SPAN
watched Senators Dorgan (ND) and Murkowski (AK) make many
trips to the Senate floor to speak on behalf of expanding vitally needed
services. At the end of the protracted debate, the Senate voted 83-10
to pass the bill. Now the action has moved to the House which must act in the next
three months for the bill to realistically pass given the time pressures
in this election year. Speaker of the House Pelosi (CA) will be central in
whether Indian health will be a priority. Action: Call toll-free Capitol Switchboard: 1 (800) 828-0498 and ask
for your Representative. Ask the Representative to support H.R. 1328.
Leave a message if staff does not answer the phone. PRESIDENT'S PROPOSED SPENDING FOR 2009 The president's fiscal year 2009 budget would cut the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) budget by $100 million (4.4 percent). As in prior years,
the administration wants to eliminate funds for the Urban Indian Health
Care Program, Johnson O'Malley Education Assistance Grants, and
Housing Improvement Program. For the first time, money for land consolidation--needed for economic development-and the Strengthening
Tribal Colleges Program would be eliminated. Cuts are proposed for
community development, fire protection, and road maintenance. School construction funds would drop by $177 million. On a positive note, the administration would add funds to stop the spread of meth and to help
schools run by BIA to meet No Child Left Behind standards. SENATE WOULD INCREASE HEALTH FUNDING The administration proposes reductions of over $14 million for the
Indian Health Professionals recruitment and retention program,
over $11 million for the Alcohol and Substance Abuse program,
and over $35 million for the Health Care Facilities construction
program. But in its first reaction to the president's budget, the budget
resolution approved by the Senate rejects the president's cuts.
After hearing repeatedly about the current rationing of health
care in Indian Country caused by years of under-funding, the
Senate voted 69-30 to add language to the budget resolution
that would allow as much as $1 billion in additional funds in the
budget for the Indian Health Service. Senator Dorgan and
co-sponsors Senators Bingaman (NM), Johnson (SD), and
Feingold (WI) led this effort. This additional funding was not
in the House budget resolution. ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY IN NEWS, NOT IN BUDGET Climate change and alternative energy development are issues in
Indian Country as they are for the rest of the nation. Tribes, often
cash poor and energy resource rich, are striving to balance the
immediate needs of tribal citizens while also developing a long-term
energy infrastructure. Proposed cuts at the Department of Energy
(DOE) would eliminate Weatherization Assistance for low-income
homes, zero out the Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI),
and slash Tribal Energy Activities funds from $5.9 million to one million. The administration's budget would provide no money to the newly
formed Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs or the Tribal
Energy and Self-Determination Act. These budget choices compound
high energy costs. They also hinder tribal efforts to develop sustainable
and independent energy, while increasing private developers' access to
energy projects on tribal lands. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: FACTS AND FIGURES Native American women experience the highest rate of violence of any
group in the United States. A report released by the Department of
Justice, American Indians and Crime, found that Native American
women suffer violent crime at a rate three and a half times greater
than the national average. National researchers estimate that this
number is actually much higher than has been captured by statistics;
according to the Department of Justice over 70% of sexual assaults are
never reported. An Amnesty International report says that one in three
Native women is raped. The majority of perpetrators are not Native men.
For all other ethnicities, perpetrators and victims are most often from
within the same ethnic group. Though Native women have built momentum on these issues, Native communities have long lacked resources and authority both to assist
women, and to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators. The president's fiscal year 2009 (FY09) budget cuts the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) approximately 30% -- from $400 million in FY08 to
$280 million. The president's level of proposed funding for this legislation
falls far short of the $683 million in funds Congress authorized for this
program. Native American woman, because they have so little access to
other resources, were among the communities that benefited the most
from this legislation. A cost-benefit analysis, cited in Restoration of Native Sovereignty and Safety for Native Women, indicates that VAWA's
investment in violence prevention saved nearly $15 billion in net averted
costs in its first six years alone, mostly in money that did not have to be
spent on medical and mental health care. ENHANCED LAW ENFORCEMENT Without the authority to arrest non-Indians, "I can't protect my
community, and that's just ludicrous," decried Tulalip Tribal Police
Chief Scott Smith about law enforcement on the 22,000-acre Tulalip reservation, where the population is 80% non-Indian. Ludicrous though the situation may be, Smith's law enforcement problems
are the reality across Indian country, where the Supreme Court has
dictated that, unless Congress determines otherwise, a tribe has no
criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians. Indian lands are therefore seen by
some non-Indians as safe havens in which to commit crimes from rape to speeding in cars. Indian and Alaska Native people, especially those in
remote areas, live with the frightening consequences. Seventeen Tulalip tribal officers are cross-deputized by Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick and can now better protect all of their community.
This local action to ameliorate a problem repeated across the U.S. may
become a model until larger-scale resolution is achieved. RULING IN INDIAN TRUST MISMANAGEMENT CASE Federal Judge James Robertson has ruled in favor of half-a-million
Individual Indian Money account holders who said the federal government could not account for their money. He found the accounting by the
Department of Interior, while greatly improved lately, does not "remedy
the failures of the past" or meet the requirements of a trust reform law
passed by Congress in 1994. He determined that Indian account holders
will be unable to know the extent of their assets because Interior cannot
say how much money, from land and resource profits, was initially in their accounts. The Cobell plaintiffs are seeking $58 billion. The trial will resume
in June and last for two weeks. The fiscal mismanagement started in 1887. Read more. WALKING TO WASHINGTON, DC FOR A CAUSE As a way of highlighting concerns about sacred sites and the environment, Native people are walking 4,400 miles (between February 11 and July 11)
with the message "All Life is Sacred, Save Mother Earth." This walk commemorates one taken 30 years ago. Organizers remind us: "The Longest Walk of 1978 was a peaceful, spiritual effort to educate the public about Native American rights and the Native
way of life. The 3,600 mile walk was successful in its purpose: to gather
enough support to halt proposed legislation abrogating Indian treaties with
the U.S. government. On July 15, 1978, The Longest Walk arrived in Washington, D.C with hundreds of supporters including Muhammad Ali, Senator Ted Kennedy and Marlon Brando. The eleven legislative bills that threatened Native sovereignty were defeated protecting the remaining
Treaty rights Native Americans possessed." Those on the walk will convene in Greenbelt, Maryland, meet with their
elected officials, and propose policy changes to existing laws on sacred
sites and repatriation of remains from museums that currently have no enforcement mechanism. FCNL HONORED TO RECEIVE RECOGNITION Friends Committee on National Legislation received an award from the National Congress of American Indians whose president said, "NCAI appreciates FCNL's support for Indian Country, coordination of religious
groups on Hill action, and public education on Indian issues." At least 20
faith groups, including Catholics, Protestants and Jews, regularly sign-on
to letters to Congress to support or oppose legislation of concern to
American Indians, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians. Tens of
thousands of Quakers and members of other faith groups send individual messages to their representatives in support of tribal priorities. | 
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