U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001

33–416 PDF 2007

S. HRG. 110–48

FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET

REQUEST FOR TRIBAL PROGRAMS

FEBRUARY 15, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC

(
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Chairman

CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming Vice Chairman

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii

KENT CONRAD, North Dakota

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii

TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri

JON TESTER, Montana

JOHN McCAIN, Arizona

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico

GORDON SMITH, Oregon

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina

TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma

SARA G. GARLAND, Majority Staff Director

DAVID A. MULLON JR. Minority Staff Director

(II)
(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Statements:

Boyd, Roger, deputy assistant secretary, Office of Public and Indian

Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development ...................... 8

Cabrera, Orlando, assistant secretary, Office of Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development .............................. 8

Cason, Jim, associate deputy secretary, Department of the Interior ........... 3

Corwin, Thomas, director, Division of Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Analysis, Budget Service, Department of Education ...................... 6

Dorgan, Hon. Byron L., U.S. Senator from North Dakota, chairman,

Committee on Indian Affairs ....................................................................... 1

Douglas, Peter, acting chief medical officer, Indian Health Service, Department of the Interior ............................................................................... 4

Freeman, Catherine, deputy assistant secretary, Office of Elementary

and Secondary Education, Department of Education ................................ 6

Grim, Charles W., director, Indian Health Service, Department of the

Interior ........................................................................................................... 4

Hartz, Gary, director, Environment Health and Engineering, Indian

Health Service, Department of the Interior ................................................ 4

Johnson, Jeff, policy advisor, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education ................................................................. 6

Keel, Jefferson, Lieutenant Governor, Chickasaw Nation, and first vice

president, National Congress of American Indians ................................... 26

Malina-Wright, Verlie Ann, president, National Indian Education Association ............................................................................................................ 30

McSwain, Robert, deputy director, Indian Health Service, Department

of the Interior ................................................................................................ 4

Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, U.S. Senator from Alaska ......................................... 16

Peter, Douglas, acting chief medical officer, Indian Health Service, Department of the Interior ............................................................................... 4

Posey, Ivan D., chairman, Shoshone Business Council, Wind River Reservation .......................................................................................................... 23

Schofield, Regina B., assistant attorney general, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice ...................................................................... 9

Shuravloff, Marty, chairman, National American Indian Housing Council 32

Smith, Sally, chair, National Health Board ................................................... 28

Swimmer, Ross, special trustee for American Indians, Department of

the Interior .................................................................................................... 3

Thomas, Hon. Craig, U.S. Senator from Wyoming, vice chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs ............................................................................... 2

APPENDIX

Prepared statements:

American Indian Higher Education Consortium ........................................... 42

Begay, Marjorie, school board president, Lukachukai Community Board

of Education, Inc. (with attachment) ........................................................... 49

Cabrera, Orlando (with attachment) .............................................................. 57

Cason, Jim (with attachment) ......................................................................... 69

Coochise, Elbridge, chief justice, retired, representing the Independent

Review Team on Tribal Courts .................................................................... 85

Eagelfeathers, Moke, board president, National Council of Urban Indian

Health ............................................................................................................ 89

Freeman, Catherine (with attachment) .......................................................... 97

Grim, Charles W. .............................................................................................. 35

Keel, Jefferson .................................................................................................. 119
Page

IV

Prepared statements—Continued

MacDonald-Lonetree, Hope, chairperson, Public Safety Committee, Navajo Nation Council (with attachment) ......................................................... 131

Malina-Wright, Verlie Ann .............................................................................. 145

Mann, Carla, member, Blackfeet Tribe .......................................................... 37

Pearson, Myra, chairwoman, Spirit Lake Nation, Fort trotten, ND ............ 38

Posey, Ivan D. ................................................................................................... 39

Schofield, Regina B. (with attachment) .......................................................... 154

Shuravloff, Marty ............................................................................................. 174

Smith, Sally ...................................................................................................... 183

Smith, Terry, assistant superintendent, Wapato School District, Wapato,

WA .................................................................................................................. 196

Swimmer, Ross ................................................................................................. 69

Wilson, Ryan, enrolled member, Oglala Sioux Tribe ..................................... 206
(1)

FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room 485,

Senate Russell Office Building, Hon. Byron L. Dorgan (chairman of

the committee) presiding.

Present: Senators Dorgan, Conrad, Murkowski, and Thomas.

STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM

NORTH DAKOTA, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

The CHAIRMAN. I am going to call the hearing to order this morning. This is a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Today, we hear testimony from Federal and tribal witnesses concerning the President’s proposed fiscal year 2008 budget request for

tribal programs.

The purpose of this hearing is to inform the committee about recommended funding levels, and also program priorities, as we develop our views and estimates letter to the Senate Committee on

the Budget. The Senated Committee on the Budget, in turn, will

consider our views and estimates letter as they prepare the fiscal

year 2008 budget resolution.

I want to thank all of the witnesses who have come this morning

to testify. We realize that the President’s budget for 2008 was only

recently submitted, I believe 10 days ago, to the U.S. Congress. We

do have 10 witnesses at today’s hearing. We have two votes starting at 10:30 a.m. Because of the number of witnesses, I would ask

that we summarize the testimony. All of your statements will be

made a part of the permanent record. But if you would cooperate

with us in summarizing your statements this morning, we would

very much appreciate it. We want to try to finish this hearing this

morning.

The budget request the President submitted to Congress on Feb- ruary 5 proposes to spend $2.9 trillion. There is a rather substantial increase for discretionary funding for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security, which one would expect given these

times and given our challenges, but only a 1-percent increase for

non-discretionary spending. Especially with respect to the budget’s

dealing with Indian accounts and Indian issues, I am somewhat

concerned about the lack in funding request and I hope that perhaps we can address some of those needs.
2

I know that the Indian Health Service [IHS] has proposed an increase for contract health services of $49 million. That is a 10-percent increase over the previous year, but it will still fall far short

of what is necessary. We have in contract health a dramatic underfunding. One tribal chairman recently said they ran out of contract

health funds in January, 3 months into the fiscal year. After that

point, you get health care if you have life or limb threatened. If

not, you are out of luck.

We have a number of accounts that I believe need to be strengthened. The post-secondary scholarship adult education program is

proposed for a reduction. I think those programs are very important. Johnson-O’Malley, that is a grant program that I think is

very important. They propose to eliminate that in the budget. The

budget proposes to eliminate the BIA’s Housing Improvement Program. School construction and repair has a reduction in funding.

The Urban Indian Health Care Program is once again proposed for

elimination, which I think is a very serious problem.

As I have gone through this, my own view is that we have a real

crisis, particularly in Indian health care, a crisis of health care,

housing and education. It does require some additional funding,

and the budget, I feel, falls short in that area, but we need to work

through this.

I want to hear from your testimony this morning what you perceive to be the priorities. I want to work with the vice chairman,

Senator Thomas, as we construct something that we will send to

the Committee on the Budget.

Again, I thank all of you for being willing to come and testify,

and I ask that you will summarize your testimony this morning.

Let me call on Vice Chairman Thomas.

STATEMENT OF HON. CRAIG THOMAS, U.S. SENATOR FROM

WYOMING, VICE CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

Senator THOMAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have a lot to

do, so I will be very short as well.

First, I would like to welcome Chairman Ivan Posey of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, who will be here today. I am delighted to have you.

We are faced, as you all know, with the question of balancing our

budget and controlling spending. So every budget that is currently

being reviewed almost every committee, I am sure, would like to

have more money. Who would not? But we do have to take a look

at some of the disparities that exist in Indian country, particularly

in health care, education, economic development, and make sure

that we provide an opportunity for the tribes to be able to strengthen their own positions.

Certainly, the budget is directed at holding down and making almost flat certain program appropriations, and clearly includes

elimination of program duplication and allowing agencies to focus

on their core responsibilities. I think that is an issue we should

talk about today. Certainly, I am, as always, interested in the economic energy policy portion of the budget, so that the tribes can

help themselves to be in a better position financially. I think there

are some things we can do there.
3

So I look forward to the witnesses, and thank you all for being

here. We will need to work on it.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Thomas, thank you very much.

The first witness today is Jim Cason, who is the associate deputy

secretary of the Department of the Interior. He is accompanied by

Ross Swimmer, who is the special trustee for American Indians at

the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Cason, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF JIM CASON, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY SECRETARY,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ACCOMPANIED BY ROSS

SWIMMER, SPECIAL TRUSTEE FOR AMERICAN INDIANS

Mr. CASON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Department’s fiscal year 2008 budget request for Indian Af- fairs is $2.23 billion, which is $1 million below the fiscal year 2007

continuing resolution level, and $7 million above the 2007 President’s request. The fiscal year 2008 budget request is consistent

with the President’s emphasis on fiscal discipline, while maintaining the Department’s commitment to trust management reform and

addressing the emerging areas of concern for tribes and Indian affairs.

The 2008 budget request for the Office of Special Trustee totals $196.2 million, which is $15 million above the fiscal year 2007 continuing resolution, $48 million below the 2007 President’s request.

Laying the foundation for the 2008 request are two secretarial

initiatives supporting safe Indian communities and improved Indian education. The Safe Indian Communities Initiative consists of

increases totaling $16 million to combat methamphetamine crisis,

and resulting increase in violent crime besetting Indian country.

The Safe Indian Communities Initiative focuses primarily on providing additional law enforcement detention officers, specialized

drug enforcement training for new and existing officers, and public

awareness campaigns on the dangers of drugs.

With the additional funding provided through this initiative, Indian Affairs anticipates a decrease in drug-related crime in targeted communities, greater crime deterrence through increased

public police actions, and fewer dangerous incidences reported to

the Bureau of Indians Affairs detention facilities.

On the Indian Education Initiative, the Bureau of Indian Education Elementary and Secondary School System is comprised of

170 schools and 14 dormitories, located on 63 reservations in 23

States, serving almost 46,000 students. The secretarial initiative

Improving Indian Education Initiative proposes increases totaling

$15 million, to ensure Indian students graduating from the BIAfunded elementary and secondary school systems possess the academic knowledge and skills necessary to successfully compete for

employment at home, and in the global economy.

The Improving Indian Education Initiative is part of the Bureau

of Education’s $562 million request for elementary and secondary

school operations, and supports the President’s commitment to

leave no child left behind.

On another area, the Department has responsibility for the largest land trust in the world, as far as we know. Today, the Indian

trust encompasses approximately 56 million acres of land. Of these
4

acres, nearly 45 million are held in trust for Indian tribes. On

these lands, the Department manages over 100,000 leases for farming, grazing, and oil and gas production on behalf of individual Indians and tribes.

In addition, the Department manages about $2.9 billion in exist- ing balances in tribal trust funds and $400 million for individual

Indian funds.

In the 2008 budget, the Department proposes to invest about $490 million in a unified trust budget. That is between OST and

BIA, to carry out our trust responsibilities.

That is a summary of my testimony, Mr. Chairman. I am happy

to answer questions.

[Prepared statement of Mr. Cason appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Cason, thank you very much. We will defer

questions until we have heard from all of the panelists.

Next, we will hear from Dr. Charles Grim, the director of the Indian Health Service. He is accompanied by Robert McSwain. Would

you identify yourself? Mr. McSwain is in the back. Deputy Director

Dr. Douglas Peter, is he here? He is the acting chief medical officer.

And Gary Hartz is the director of Environmental Health and Engineering. Mr. Hartz, thank you.

Dr. Grim, thank you very much, and please proceed.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES W. GRIM, DIRECTOR, INDIAN

HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ACCOMPANIED BY ROBERT MCSWAIN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR; DOUGLAS PETER, ACTING CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER; AND GARY

HARTZ, DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND ENGINEERING

Mr. GRIM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chairman.

We appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today.

I would just like to point out in summarization of some of the

testimony that we have I think in the IHS over the years displayed

an ability to effectively utilize the moneys that we have been given

by Congress. We have seen huge improvements in health care over

the last 3 decades.

We are pleased with that progress, but we realize that there is

still a lot of progress that needs to be made. We know that our population still have mortality rates for alcoholism, cervical cancer,

motor vehicle crashes, diabetes, and unintentional injuries, homicide and suicide, that continue to be higher than the mortality

rates for other Americans. Many of these health problems that contribute to these higher mortality rates are behavioral in nature.

The IHS and our stakeholders are deeply committed to trying to

address these disparities. We have begun three initiatives in the

agency that were launched in 2005 with the specific intent of

achieving positive improvements in the areas of these preventable

health problems. They are the Health Promotion Disease Prevention Initiative, the Behavioral Health Initiative, and the Chronic

Care Initiative, to target underlying risk factors for morbidity and

mortality in our population.

We are also working at re-engineering the IHS and tribal Indian

health delivery systems to incorporate some of these best practices

that have been documented in the scientific literature.
5

I am pleased to present a budget that allows the IHS to continue

these efforts and address the needs addressed by tribes. I would

also point out that both the IHS and the Department participate

in extensive regional and national consultation processes with the

tribal governments, and with just a couple of exceptions, the budget that I am going to present today addresses the needs that have

been emphasized as most critical by those tribal nations. The President’s budget request for the IHS totals $4.1 billion, a net increase of $212 million or 7 percent above the annualized fiscal year 2007 continuing resolution level, and also an increase of

$101 million over the 2007 President’s budget.

In comparison, the overall discretionary budget request for HHS was an increase of only $95 million, or .01 percent over the 2007

continuing resolution level. This request allows the IHS and tribal

health programs to maintain access to health care by providing $41

million to fund pay raises for Federal and tribal employees, $88

million to cover increases in the cost of delivering health care and

to address the growing American Indian and Alaska Native population.

Also, there are funds of $19 million to staff and operate two

newly constructed health facilities that will be coming online in

2008. One of those is in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It is a joint venture

project for the Cherokee Nation and funded the construction of the

health center. Now, IHS is requesting funds to staff and operate it.

The other facility is a youth regional treatment center located in

Wadsworth, Nevada. This YRTC will provide short-term structured

transitional living services to adolescents with alcohol and/or substance abuse addictions.

The budget request also includes an additional $64 million to restore program losses that would be experienced under the

annualized fiscal year 2007 CR level.

To target these priority increase, the budget request also has a

number of eliminations. As you pointed out, the Urban Indian

Health Program, which is at $33 million currently; and we are also

reducing the facilities appropriation by $24 million. The focus on

the President’s budget for IHS is the provision of health care services and ensuring that the basic needs of all IHS and tribal health

programs are met. Therefore, the budget request targets additional

funding for the provision of health care on or near Indian reservations in order to serve a population who can’t readily access health

care from outside our system.

The request in health care facilities is $12.7 million to continue

the construction of the Barrow, Alaska Hospital. Consistent across

all of HHS, facilities funding requests are maintaining existing facilities construction and completing projects that have already received initial funding.

The proposed budget that I just described provides a continued

investment in the maintenance and support of our health system

to be able to provide access to high-quality medical and preventive

services.

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to present this 2008 budget to the committee, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that you might have on it.

[Prepared statement of Dr. Grim appears in appendix.]
6

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Grim, thank you very much. We thank you

and your staff for being here once again.

Next, we will hear from Catherine Freeman, deputy assistant

secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the

Department of Education. She is accompanied by Jeff Johnson, policy advisor, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; and

Thomas Corwin. Where are they? Thank you for being with us.

Ms. Freeman, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF CATHERINE FREEMAN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT

SECRETARY, OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, ACCOMPANIED

BY JEFF JOHNSON, POLICY ADVISOR; AND THOMAS CORWIN,

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY AND

VOCATIONAL ANALYSIS, BUDGET SERVICE

Ms. FREEMAN. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the

Committee, on behalf of Secretary Spellings, I thank you for the opportunity to discuss our fiscal year 2008 budget request for Department of Education programs that address and serve the needs of

American Indians and Alaska Natives.

I request that my written statement be entered into the record.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.

Ms. FREEMAN. The Department of Education, led by Secretary

Spellings, is strongly committed to ensuring that American Indian

and Alaska Natives benefit from national education reforms and receive every opportunity to achieve high academic standards. Recent

data suggest that our investments in Indian education are beginning to take hold.

American Indian and Alaska Native students have scored higher

than some other minority groups on the most recent national assessment of educational progress in reading and math. Furthermore, American Indian students are pursuing post-secondary education at higher rates than ever before. The number of Indian students enrolled in colleges and universities has more than doubled

over the last 25 years.

Despite this progress, significant achievement gaps persist between the American Indian and Alaska Native student population

and the general population. Support from Federal programs remains an imperative in addressing the specific educational and cultural needs of the American Indian and Alaska Native population.

In the past 5 years since the passage of No Child Left Behind

Act [NCLB], States and local educational agencies have made significant progress implementing landmark education reforms. The

progress achieved to date under NCLB is extremely promising. The

most recent results from the national assessment of educational

progress shows scores rising significantly in both reading and math

in the early grades, and achievement gaps between some minority

groups and their white peers falling to all-time lows.

Building on these successes, it is now time to work on a reauthorization of NCLB that will preserve and strengthen its core

principles of high standards and accountability. Last month, the

Administration released ‘‘Building on Results: A Blueprint for

Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act.’’ This reauthorization

proposal, along with the Department’s 2008 budget request, focuses
7

new resources toward the important issue of turning around struggling schools and improving the academic performance of middle

and high school students.

The reauthorization proposal also focuses on strengthening Federal and State efforts to close the achievement gap through the implementation of high standards and comprehensive accountability

system; ensuring that middle and high schools offer rigorous course

work that prepares students for post-secondary education or the

workforce; providing flexibility and resources to help States restructure chronically underperforming schools; and, last, providing

families with increased options for educating their children.

Through these educational reforms, the Administration remains

committed to helping to ensure that all students, including American Indian and Alaska Natives, are proficient in reading and

mathematics by 2014.

The President’s fiscal year 2008 budget request increases total funding for NCLB by $1.2 billion, to $24.5 billion, a 41-percent increase since 2001. One of the most significant increases is for the

title I program, a $1.2-billion increase, primarily to provide additional resources to high schools serving large numbers of low-income students. Further, the President is requesting $500 million in

new funding for title I school improvement grants. This program

will help States restructure, reform, and re-staff chronically underperforming schools. These two initiatives would have important implications for the education of Indian students since many of these

students receive services through title I.

The 2008 budget request for the Department of Education also

supports the President’s commitment to provide resources to help

improve educational opportunities for all students. Overall, Department programs would, under the fiscal year 2008 budget, provide

close to $1 billion in direct support for Indian and Alaska Natives.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Education would receive over $220 million of Department of Education funds to support Indian education programs operated by that agency.

The 2008 request for the Department’s Indian education programs is $118.7 million. These programs, which are administered

by the Office of Indian Education, include formula grants to school

districts, competitive programs, and national activities for research

and evaluation on the education needs and status of the Indian

population.

In conclusion, the 2008 budget request for the Department of

Education programs serving American Indians and Alaska Natives

supports the President’s overall goal of ensuring educational opportunities for all students.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee.

My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions

which you may have.

[Prepared statement of Ms. Freeman appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Freeman, thank you very much. We appreciate your being here.

Next, we will hear from Orlando Cabrera. He is the assistant

secretary of the Office of Public and Indian Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Cabrera, thank you and welcome back.
8

STATEMENT OF ORLANDO CABRERA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY,

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING, DEPARTMENT OF

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACCOMPANIED BY

ROGER BOYD, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Mr. CABRERA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, and distinguished members

of the committee, thank you for inviting me to provide comments

on President Bush’s fiscal year 2008 budget for Native American,

Native Hawaiian Housing, loan guarantee, and community development programs.

My name is Orlando Cabrera. I am the assistant secretary for

public and Indian housing at the Department of Housing and

Urban Development. Mr. Chairman, I request that my written

statement be entered into the record.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.

Mr. CABRERA. Thank you.

From HUD’s perspective, much progress has been made. Tribes

are taking advantage of new opportunities to improve the housing

conditions of Native American families residing on Native American reservations, on trust or restricted lands, in Alaska Native villages, and on Hawaiian homelands. This momentum needs to be

sustained as we continue to work together toward creating a better

living environment in Native American communities.

At the outset, let me reaffirm the Department of Housing and

Urban Development’s support for the principle of government-togovernment relations with federally recognized Native American

tribes. HUD is committed to honoring this core belief in our work

with American Indians and Alaska Natives.

HUD’s Native American and Native Hawaiian housing and loan

guarantee programs are the linchpins for accomplishing home ownership within Indian country. For example, our latest figures show

that during fiscal year 2006, tribes and their tribally designated

housing entities used Indian Housing block grant funds to build,

acquire or rehabilitate more than 1,600 rental units and more than

6,000 home ownership units. Each of these units has become a

home to a Native American family.

There have been recent successes with our loan guarantee programs as well. I will tell you more about these later.

Let me now turn to the President’s budget request for fiscal year

2008. This budget proposes a total of $698.819 million specifically

for Native American and Native Hawaiian housing loan guarantees

and community development. There is $626.965 million proposed

for the Indian Housing Block Grant Program, which is authorized

by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, NAHASDA. Of that amount, approximately $620.735 million is for direct formula allocations through the IHBG Program.

There is $1.980 million in credit subsidy, which will leverage $17

million in loan guarantee authority is proposed for NAHASDA’s

title VI tribal housing activities loan guarantee fund. There is

$4.250 million allocated for IHBG–related training and technical

assistance; $57.420 million is for grants under the Indian Community Development Block Grant; $7.450 million in credit subsidy

which will support $367 million in loan guarantee authority is for
9

the section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Fund, the engine

for home ownership in Indian country.

The Native Hawaiian community would receive through the De- partment of Hawaiian Homelands $5.940 million for the Native

Hawaiian Housing Block Program, and there is $1.044 million for

the section 184 Native Hawaiian Home Loan Guarantee Fund,

which is the corollary to the section 184 program, and will leverage

approximately $41.5 million in loan guarantees. Finally, there is a total of $4.550 million available for training

and technical assistance to support the Native American and Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant Program.

Now, in brief summary and by way of highlight, the title VI program in 2005 underwrote four loans, and in 2006 underwrote 10

loans. So we are continuing to promote that program. That program helps tribes and Alaska Native organizations to develop infrastructure upon their lands.

In 2001, less than 100 loans were underwritten under the section

184 program. In 2006, 1,138 loans were underwritten under the

section 184 program, with a total volume of $190 million. As of the

first quarter of 2007, we have underwritten 266 loans. So that program is actually taking off quite well.

We are working very closely with the BIA in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, under our title search

components, in order to facilitate the underwriting of those loans.

Finally, we entered into an agreement with the Department of

Hawaiian Homelands in February of last year in order to make

loans more readily available. That program is now beginning to

take off simply because they have made the adjustments that they

have needed to make, and they intend to develop 6,000 units in the

next 5 years.

My last point, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman and members

of the committee, is NAHASDA is up for reauthorization, as are

other vital components of housing legislation this year. We strongly

encourage and support the reauthorization of NAHASDA.

This concludes my prepared remarks. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Mr. Chairman, I am

sorry, if I might be indulged, I was accompanied today by Roger

Boyd, who is our deputy assistant secretary.

The CHAIRMAN. Would he identify himself?

All right. Thank you very much. Welcome.

[Prepared statement of Mr. Cabrera appeaers in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Finally, we will hear from Regina B. Schofield,

assistant attorney general, Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Justice.

Ms. Schofield, welcome.

STATEMENT OF REGINA B. SCHOFIELD, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY

GENERAL, OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT

OF JUSTICE

Ms. SCHOFIELD. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, and other members of the committee.

I am pleased to be here today on behalf of the Attorney General

and the Department of Justice to discuss the Department’s proposed fiscal year 2008 budget priorities for Indian country.
10

The needs of Indian tribal governments in combating crime and

violence continue to be great, especially in the areas of substance

abuse, domestic violence and other violent crimes. I share the Administration’s commitment to addressing these needs, and have

made improving the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the Federal Government a personal priority.

One of my primary goals at OJP is strengthening access for

tribes. Too often, tribal government officials, law enforcement and

others who work on criminal justice issues find it difficult to locate

information about grants, training and other types of assistance. In

response, last November, I launched the Department of Justice’s

new website created specifically for Indian country,

www.tribalsafetyandjustice.gov. This website features information

on grants, training, technical assistance, publications and conferences that can help tribal communities.

The new website is one of many areas in which DOJ is reaching

out to tribal communities and governments. In 2005, I established

a Justice Programs Council on Native American Affairs. This council coordinates OJP’s efforts on behalf of tribes and serves as a liaison to other Department of Justice components on tribal issues.

We want to find out how we can better serve tribal communities;

how we can get information to them more quickly; how we can we

provide them with better training; and how we can make sure our

funding resources respond to their needs.

I am constantly striving to improve our other training and technical assistance efforts. This fiscal year, I implemented a series of

four national tribal justice and safety training and technical assistance sessions. In addition, as the national Amber Alert Law Coordinator, I am exploring ways to raise awareness about this program in Indian country.

The President’s proposed fiscal year 2008 budget creates new

competitive grant programs that will provide States, localities and

Indian tribes with flexibility to address their most critical needs.

Many of our current State and local law enforcement grants will

be consolidated into the Byrne Public Safety and Protection Program. States, local governments and tribal governments would be

able to use Byrne funds for many law enforcement and criminal

justice purposes. We are requesting $350 million for this program

in fiscal year 2008.

Another new initiative would be the Violent Crime Reduction

Partnership Program. This will help communities suffering from

high rates of violent crime to form law enforcement task forces, including local, State, tribal and Federal agencies. We are requesting

$200 million for this program in fiscal year 2008.

We also propose consolidating many of our juvenile justice and

child victimization programs into a new Child Safety and Juvenile

Justice Program. This will assist States, local governments, and

tribal governments in reducing child exploitation and abuse,

strengthening juvenile justice systems, and bolstering school safety

efforts. We are requesting $280 million for this program in fiscal

year 2008.

With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit a

list of my accomplishment at OJP, as well as those achieved at the

Department of Health and Human Services.
11

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions. Thank you.

[Prepared statement of Ms. Schofield and referenced document

appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Schofield, thank you very much.

Let me thank all of you for appearing. I know all of you work

hard to try to do the best job you can. I know your responsibility

also is to come here and defend the President’s budget. I respect

that and I understand that.

Mr. Cason, you have been here many times. You wouldn’t be

here again if you came here to say; ‘‘You know, here is what the

President’s budget requests, but I don’t agree with it. It is short

and we need to do better.’’ If you said that, the next time we invited you, we would be having you appear as a private citizen.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRMAN. So I understand the need to support the President’s budget. But I do want to say this, my colleague, Senator

Thomas, is absolutely correct. We have a devastating fiscal policy

problem, and we have to try to put it back on track somehow and

make sense of it, and try to move toward a balanced budget.

At the same time, it seems to me we have to deal with the most

crucial issues that people face in this country. One of the populations in this country that I think is at risk, lives often in thirdworld conditions, is the Native American people, the first Americans, who live on reservations. Frankly, I think much of what I

hear in these reports is at odds with what I see.

We have someone come to us and say to us, this is a tribal chairman; ‘‘My two daughters, one has eight children, one has three

children; They both live in used trailer homes that were brought

to my State,’’ in this case it was the State of South Dakota, ‘‘used

trailer homes moved to South Dakota from Michigan. They both

heat their homes with wood-fired stoves; neither have running

water and neither have indoor toilets.’’

Is that America? It sounds like a third-world country, doesn’t it?

Or a patient that comes from the Indian Health Service with a

serious knee ligament problem, and they wrap it in cabbage leaves.

That is the treatment, and that is testimony before this committee,

by the way.

Or a fellow that has an arm with a torn ligament who can’t get

help for 4 years because it is not life or limb, and he is a rancher.

What do you think a one-armed rancher does? And finally he gets

surgery after 4 years because one doctor threatens and says it is

life or limb for a rancher if you don’t have two arms.

My point is, I think in housing and health care and so many

areas, in many ways I think with these budgets we are managing

defeat, zeroing out Johnson-O’Malley funds; reducing funding for

school construction, when we know that these are some of the

schools that are in the worst shape in the country, the BIA schools.

So look, I welcome your testimony. I am pleased that you are all

here. I am pleased you are all doing the work that you are doing,

because I think you are doing as good a job as you can in circumstances where there is not adequate funding. But when a tribal

chairman says to me, ‘‘We run out of contract health funding in

January, January, 3 months into the year.’’ At that point, if you
12

have a medical problem and it is not going to threaten to cause

your death or the loss of a limb, you are out of luck.

So I mean, I just think that we have very serious problems here.

I am going to ask a couple of questions, and then let my colleagues

ask questions. I am not interested in managing defeat, nor would

I expect are you. I think we want to find ways to, in quantum

leaps, improve the life of Native Americans in this country through

decent health care, decent housing, and opportunities for a good

education.

Mr. Cason, the two initiatives that you talked about, the Secretary called me about those initiatives. I support both of them, but

it is a fact, isn’t it, that those two initiatives come out of expenditures in other areas? It is not as if two initiatives were added to

the budget. There are other areas that were decreased in order to

make room for those two initiatives.

Mr. CASON. Mr. Chairman, as you know from seeing our budget

submissions, we have essentially a flat budget. So there were a lot

of activities within our budget which resulted in prioritizing where

we spend money. We have had very active discussions with representatives from Indian country about what the priorities are. Our

budget reflects the results of those discussions, where we say, here

is the amount of money we have; how do we spend that money to

get the biggest bang for the buck in Indian country. Part of that

process resulted in the initiatives that recognize the huge responsibility that we have to educate our Indian children and achieve

success there, and to recognize the scourge of methamphetamine

production, use and distribution in Indian country, and try to attack that problem. So that is true.

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Grim, tell me about contract health care. I

think you have said before, not very publicly and perhaps not into

a microphone, but I think your agency has at my insistence finally

indicated to me that we are meeting about 60 percent of the health

care needs, which sounds to me like we are not meeting 40 percent.

I think most people would say there is full-scale health care rationing going on. Most of us recoil at the notion of health care rationing. It is happening.

So with that circumstance, and especially the circumstance I discussed with respect to contract care, what is the budget recommending with respect to contract care, as opposed to last year?

Mr. GRIM. I will speak from over the 2006-enacted level, since

that is where things were built. It is a $52-million increase on a

$517-million budget. So it is a 10-percent increase in that particular line item, which I think is significant. The Administration recognized the need. We have heard it through you. We have heard

it from tribal leadership. So it received one of the most significant

increases in our budget.

The CHAIRMAN. How short will it be, even with the increase, for

which I am appreciative? How short will it be to meeting the

needs? Because when I hear tribal chairmen tell me that they run

out of contract health care money by in January, other tribal chairmen tell me they know on their reservations the refrain is, ‘‘do not,

do not, do not get sick after June, because there won’t be money

available in contract health.’’ How short are we of meeting the

need, despite this increase?
13

Mr. GRIM. The way the agency manages those funds, as you are

well aware, is with a priority system, a health priority system.

Each particular service unit, hospital or clinic, gets a budget and

they are asked to manage within it for the entire year. So we really

don’t know entirely how short we would be of need until the end

of the year. We do track deferral and denial sorts of numbers.

The CHAIRMAN. One of the things I would like to do, and I am

going to work with my colleagues on this committee, I would like

to see if we can move toward a different model of health care within the IHS as well. In the commercial sector, there are developed

across this country now, or beginning to be developed, walk-in clinics 7 days a week, staffed by nurse practitioners for 80 or 90 percent of the routine diagnoses. I think we need to find a way on Indian reservations to have no reservation needed; walk-in capability;

staffed by a physician assistant and nurse practitioner 7 days a

week, with decent hours.

The fact is, on some of the reservations, if you are sick after 4:30

p.m. on Friday, the clinic is down. You are out of luck until Monday. They are in remote areas. I would like to work with you to

see if we can develop a different model with respect to some of

those issues as well.

I am going to submit a series of questions, Dr. Grim, to you, and

also to Mr. Cason.

Ms. Freeman, thank you for describing what the Department of

Education has done, but as you know, on the education side, in

other areas of the budget we are seeing the proposal to eliminate

once again the Johnson-O’Malley funding. Almost everybody tells

me that is critically important funding for Indian children ages

three to seventeen, really important. Do you have any observation

about that? Why would we see a recommendation to abolish the

Johnson-O’Malley Program?

Ms. FREEMAN. What we do see, sir, in the budget is a concentration on the priorities of assessment and accountability within No

Child Left Behind. There is an increase in the title I funds that go

directly to LEA’s, as well as an increase in the title I improvement

funds.

We also have, as you know, through title VII, moneys that go to

LEAs through formula and demonstration grants, which the Administration feels are equally important.

The CHAIRMAN. And you feel that will justify eliminating the

Johnson-O’Malley Program? Will there be funding that you think

will be a seamless transition for the replacement of funds that

tribes have normally been able to use under Johnson-O’Malley?

Ms. FREEMAN. Sir, the Johnson-O’Malley is funded through the

Interior.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand that, but it is still an education

function. When I asked the question, I recognized that is not coming from the Department of Education, but it is part of the education continuum. I am asking, I guess, and I have asked Mr.

Cason before why did they suggest that we dump or eliminate the

Johnson-O’Malley Program, because everyone tells me how important it is.

Ms. FREEMAN. Education is committed to working with Interior.

We recognize that there are some significant concerns with aca-
14

demic achievement on tribal lands, and we understand that the

Bureau of Indian Education is trying to look at those concerns, especially with the new director coming on board. The Department

of Education will be going out to the tribes and seeing how we can

partner with the Department of the Interior.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Cabrera and Ms. Schofield, I think all of us

perhaps have toured some of the housing circumstances and detention facilities and so on, and realize that you are trying to make

some progress in these areas. But we have so far to go, particularly

in housing stock. I mean, there is some housing stock out there

that really looks uninhabitable that people are trying to live in.

I appreciate your testimony about what is in the budget. We

need to work to deal with these issues, because as I mentioned, I

think there is a full-scale crisis in housing, health care and education. I appreciate your describing what is in the budget. We need

to try to see, is there a way for us to begin to deal with these with

some additional resources?

I don’t know the answer to that. I know we are going to now ap- prove very soon another $100 billion emergency supplemental dealing with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I understand why we

have to do that, but 1 percent, 1 percent of that single emergency

supplemental that will take us now over $600 billion, 1 percent of

that would be so important in terms of dealing with this range of

housing, health care, education crisis on reservations. So we need

to find a way to address those issues.

I want my colleagues to be able to have the opportunity to ask

questions. So what I am going to do is submit a list of questions.

Mr. Cason, I have a couple of other questions when my colleagues

are complete, but I thank all five of you for presenting testimony

today.

Senator Thomas.

Senator THOMAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Well, of course, budgets are never what we would hope they

would be for any of the programs. I hope that most of the opportunities here are for the tribes to help create some things that will

fulfill their own priorities. Mr. Cason, the Department has proposed $2 million for Indian

energy resource development in the title V of the Indian title of energy policy. What progress has the Department made, if any, on

implementing those provisions?

Mr. CASON. Senator, we have an active process in the Department, not only within Indian Affairs, but the entire Department

implementing the provisions of the Energy Act. Within our budget,

as you said, we are asking for $2 million for it.

Senator THOMAS. What have been the results?

Mr. CASON. We have been working on the domestic supply side,

both in Indian Affairs and in the other land management agencies,

particularly the Bureau of Land Management and the Minerals

Management Service. So there have been substantial results there.

Within our Indian budget, what we are looking at there is of all

the resources we have in Indian country that potentially contribute

to the energizing of Indian economic opportunity, energy and minerals is one of those. We have a division in Indian Affairs that is

specifically oriented to economic development, and that is where we
15

are trying to place the money and use that to spur economic development in Indian country.

Senator THOMAS. Well, I hope so. You know, we are in a whole

national situation with energy, and now is an opportunity for developing those things.

In law enforcement, your proposal increases the services, but proposes a $44,000-decrease in tribal courts. What is the rationale for

decreasing the tribal court funding?

Mr. CASON. One of the things we have done recently is integrate

all of our law enforcement public safety-related programs. We have

effectively put together the uniformed police officers, the COPS

part, with the courts, with the jails, put it under common leadership, and then looked at the various resources we have across all

of those to maximize what we think is the best mix of money for

each of those elements.

In the tribal court situation, we have some tribal courts and we

have some CFR courts, and some of the crimes go outside to State

or District Courts. So what we have tried to do is balance between

those three things, the investment of public safety money.

Senator THOMAS. Okay.

Mr. Grim, the budget proposes only $12.7 million for health care

facilities. I understand the unmet needs in 2005 were nearly $1.5

billion, yet the 2006 budgetimposed a 1-year moratorium on health

care construction by the Department. In this budget request, how

do you plan to address these unmet needs?

Mr. GRIM. We are trying to focus our budget, Senator, primarily

on the delivery of services now, and not infrastructure. That was

the rationale for keeping the facilities budget low over the last couple of the President’s budget proposals, as opposed to just the 1

year. As the budget began getting tighter and budget reduction

kicked in, it was our thought that the provision of services was a

higher priority than it was for the building of infrastructure and

facilities, although we recognize the importance of that program

and are trying to keep it moving forward.

Senator THOMAS. Have there been studies to confirm urban Indian patients’ access to other health care facilities?

Mr. GRIM. Not to my awareness, Senator Thomas. We don’t have

any studies, but we do know some percentage of the population is

eligible for Medicare or Medicaid or has private insurance, and

would have other options. We don’t know if that is 100 percent of

the patients that would be accessing our urban Indian health programs, though.

Senator THOMAS. Indian urban health care is one of the real

issues that seems to be out there, however, and there does seem

to be lots of facilities.

Does the Indian Health Care Improvement Act require urban

programs to show there is no duplication of services before they

qualify for funding?

Mr. GRIM. Yes; one of the numerous criteria used under title V

of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act includes that urban

Indian programs entering into contracts or grants with IHS show

to the extent, if any, any duplication of public or private health

services to the centers urban Indian population.
16

Senator THOMAS. Ms. Freeman, you state that Indian students

are subject to significant risk factors that affect their academic

achievement. What are these risk factors?

Ms. FREEMAN. Well, as you have heard in previous testimony,

the Department is aware of the seriousness of the amphetamine

problem that is found in many of the high schools. We also know

that there are significant dropout rates within the Indian schools,

and those risk factors are what we are trying to addres. As well

as we know that the academic achievement of these students is

below average in most cases.

Senator THOMAS. Well, I have some other questions to submit

also, Mr. Chairman, but I will stop there.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Thomas, thank you very much.

Senator Murkowski, go ahead.

STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI, U.S. SENATOR FROM

ALASKA

Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate the comments from all of you this morning, all your

good work. Thank you to those of you have taken the time to come

to visit the State. Mr. Cabrera, we appreciate your visit this summer. Dr. Grim, you are a frequent visitor and we greatly appreciate

that. Ms. Freeman, I can’t pass up the opportunity to again invite

the Secretary of Education to join us up in Alaska. I think we are

getting closer and we want to make sure that she has an opportunity to do that.

Let me start out with the education issues. I heard your comments about the perspective from the Department of Education in

supporting the President’s goals for educational opportunities for

all students. I was a little concerned, though, about your response

to Chairman Dorgan here with regards to the Johnson-O’Malley

funds. I think you made the statement that the priority from the

Department of Education is focusing on assessment and accountability.

We all appreciate that in the days of No Child Left Behind, that

is where the focus is and that is where the scrutiny is. But if we

recognize that we have a group of students, we have children that

are not performing well, we are going to assess and we are going

to get the response that we anticipate because we already know

that they are not performing well. So when we take away those

programs that might provide that level of assistance so that they

can get to a point where they will do better in terms of accountability and assessment, I am very concerned when we take the programs, where we know we have seen benefit. Johnson-O’Malley is

one of them.

Another one that I want to ask you about today is the Alaska

Native Educational Equity Funds. You are proposing that this program be zeroed out, and this, without any warning at all, so far

as I know, to our Alaskan school districts. I was drawn to this very

unwieldy matrix here that lists all of the various programs to the

villages throughout the State of Alaska. Significant hits to all of

them, and I am wondering what the justification for zeroing out

this specific program in the State of Alaska is, if you can speak to

that aspect of the budget?
17

Ms. FREEMAN. With any program elimination, we first looked at

whether there is redundancy in funding. The second issue is

whether the program is effective. And third is whether the funds

could be provided through State, local or private funds. But I think

the important point here is that we have asked for a $1.2 billion

increase in title I funds that do go directly to the LEAs and will

support Indian education, in addition to the school improvement

funds, which will also go to Indian education.

Senator MURKOWSKI. So essentially, you are taking title I money.

We need the title I moneys from the get-go.

Ms. FREEMAN. That is correct.

Senator MURKOWSKI. Whether it is Alaska or whether it is Wyoming, so are you saying that you are going to eliminate these programs and just say, well, we are going to put it all through title

I? Are you going to increase the title I funds?

Ms. FREEMAN. Title I has been increased.

Senator MURKOWSKI. But will the increase or the bump-up compensate, then, for all of the programs that have been proposed to

be zeroed out?

Ms. FREEMAN. I will let our budget analyst continue.

Senator MURKOWSKI. Okay.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you identify yourself?

Mr. CORWIN. Good morning, Senator. I am Tom Corwin from the

Budget Service, Department of Education. As Dr. Freeman said, yes, we have a $1.2-billion increase in for

title I. There is never a one-to-one correlation between the programs that are proposed for increase and the funds that are proposed for elimination. But we do think that is going to be an extremely important increase for title I. That is a very large increase

in a $12.8-billion or $13-billion program.

Those programs are targeted to the schools with the highest concentrations of poverty, such as schools that serve American Indians

and Alaska Natives, and I think they will have a major impact.

Senator MURKOWSKI. But you are acknowledging that it is not a

dollar-for-dollar match?

Mr. CORWIN. They are two very different funding streams.

Senator MURKOWSKI. I understand that they are different funding streams. My concern is, is that we are eliminating programs

that have demonstrated to be very beneficial to my constituents up

north, with the Alaska equity, the Native Educational Equity

Funds. If we are now eliminating those, we are plussing-up title I,

but we are not doing it sufficiently to take into account the zeroingout of this program, that causes some concern here.

Let me ask you, then, about another program that has been proposed to be zeroed out. This is the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program, the higher education institution program. This is also being proposed to be eliminated. This is

not one where you are going to be able to supplement it from title

I. What is the justification on that issue?

Mr. CORWIN. On that one, you have the larger strengthening institutions program, which is for colleges and universities that serve

concentrations of traditionally underserved populations, Native

Americans, Hispanics, African Americans and so forth. That program is funded at about $79 million. Our understanding is the Na-
18

tive Hawaiian and Alaska Native-Serving institutions can apply

under that program. Our hope is that they will, but this was just

one of the tough budget calls that we had to make in the Department.

Senator MURKOWSKI. We are going to be working with Senator

Inouye and Senator Akaka on this issue.

Mr. Grim, I want to ask you about two of our favorite projects

up in Alaska. The Native hospital in Barrow is on the list, number

one on the priority list to proceed, and we are very, very thankful

for that. We know that you appreciate the need for that, but the

project in Nome is not on the list. Because it is not on the priority

list, what does this mean to us in terms of being able to see a facility there in Nome?

Mr. GRIM. Senator, what we will be doing is we will be taking

a look at Nome as we develop our 2009 budget process. It was our

current understanding that the work that Nome is currently involved in won’t be completed until August or September, so latesummer, early fall. So we are looking at potentially raising that as

a 2009 budget issue.

Senator MURKOWSKI. So does it set the project back a full year

or more than that? Do you know?

Mr. GRIM. No; it doesn’t set it back. The design completion isn’t

scheduled until August of 2008, so it was toward the very end of

this fiscal year before they would be ready to begin construction

anyway.

Senator MURKOWSKI. Okay.

Ms. Schofield, this relates to the Alaska Rural Justice Commission. As you know, our former U.S. Attorney General Tim Burgess

was very involved and active in that commission. He has now

moved out of that position and has been appointed as a Federal

judge. We have a new acting interim U.S. Attorney General who

is from out of State. Can you give me some assurance that the Justice Department is remaining engaged in the work of the Rural

Justice Commission?

Ms. SCHOFIELD. I have read the report last year, as you mentioned, and I will back up in Alaska in September. I will make sure

through the Native American Issues Subcommittee that the Attorney General has someone chairing, that there will be someone very

much engaged in the Rural Justice Commission.

Senator MURKOWSKI. I appreciate that.

Mr. Chairman, I have other questions, but I know that we have

a vote at 10:30 a.m., and I see that Senator Conrad is here. So I

will submit the rest of my questions to the witnesses later.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Murkowski, thank you very much.

Senator Conrad.

Senator CONRAD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for having this hearing.

Thanks to all the witnesses for being here.

Perhaps it is best to direct these questions to Mr. Cason, but you

tell me who is the best to respond from your team. I look at the

President’s budget that has been sent up for Indian Affairs, $2.23

billion. I notice that that is a $7-million increase over his 2007 request. Have you done an analysis of how much money would be required to just stay even with 2007?
19

Mr. CASON. No; not in that way.

Senator CONRAD. Do you have some rough estimate? I assume if we were at basically the same level of funding in 2007, $2.23 billion, to actually deliver the same services would require at least an

inflation adjustment, and with the large amount of money that is

involved in health care, you would have to have more than an inflation adjustment just to stay even.

So would I be wrong in assuming you would have to have rough- ly $90 million in addition just to stay even?

Mr. CASON. Senator, as I am sure you know, we don’t construct

our budgets that way. I am certain that there are a lot of ways you

could go about constructing numbers.

Senator CONRAD. There is a CBO baseline. What does the CBO

baseline indicate would be required?

Mr. CASON. Again, as you know, we don’t construct our budgets

that way. We take a look at what we think our requirements are.

We prioritize them and we interface between our agency budget office, departmental budget office, OMB, and appropriations committees.

Senator CONRAD. I know exactly how it works. That is not my

question. My question, I am trying to find out how much money it

would take to deliver the same services that were delivered in

2007. It is obviously not the same amount of money this year. Year

2008 cannot be the same.

Mr. CASON. Well, we did not approach our budget that way, Senator. We basically——

Senator CONRAD. I got that message. Tell me, I have a question

I am trying to get answered here. You don’t seem to want to answer it.

Mr. CASON. I didn’t do that calculation, Senator.

Senator CONRAD. Well, I can do the calculation. I can figure out it has to be about $90 million, and the President has $1 million,

$7 million above his 2007 request; $1 million below the 2007 CR.

Isn’t that right? Isn’t what he has here $1 million below the 2007

CR?

Mr. CASON. Well, Senator, after four answers on this, maybe I

could share this with the panel. [Laughter.]

Senator CONRAD. Well, this question is very simple. How much

was in the continuing resolution? How much is in the President’s

budget? That is just a fact question. Can you tell me that?

Mr. CASON. I am not clear as to where we are with the continuing resolution. So I don’t think that number——

Senator CONRAD. I am told that for 2008 what the President is

asking for is $1 million less than it is in the 2007 continuing resolution. Does that sound about right?

Mr. CASON. That sounds about right, yes.

Senator CONRAD. So what the President has here is in real terms

a significant cut. That is the point. It is just as clear as it can be

that that is the case.

Tribal colleges, who is the best person to be able to answer?

Mr. CASON. That is probably mine as well.

Senator CONRAD. Well, good. [Laughter.]

Mr. CASON. I would be willing to share with Catherine. [Laughter.]
20

Senator CONRAD. You didn’t do so well on the first five questions.

Here is the bonus question.

Mr. CASON. Thank you. [Laughter.]

Senator CONRAD. Tribal colleges, $54.7 million. Is that more

than, equal to, or less than what tribal colleges got last year?

Mr. CASON. As I recall, our tribal college budget is relatively flat.

Senator CONRAD. So the answer to that question would be ‘‘the

same as.’’

Mr. CASON. The same as.

Senator CONRAD. The same as, but in real terms, of course, that

means it is a cut, because there is a thing called inflation.

Okay, so we have established that this budget is another one of

these budgets that is just detached from reality.

How much did you ask for from the Office of Management and

Budget? What was your request that you submitted?

Mr. CASON. Senator, the Administration’s position has been announced.

Senator CONRAD. I am asking, when you went, the way it works,

and we all know how it works. You go to the Office of Management

and Budget and you ask for a certain amount of money to do the

things that you believe are necessary to do. And then they make

a decision. We know that. And we know there is a difference between what you ask for. Was there a difference?

Mr. CASON. Yes.

Senator CONRAD. Can you tell us how much the difference was?

Mr. CASON. No.

Senator CONRAD. And why can’t you tell us? You know what you

asked for.

Mr. CASON. It is my understand that that is considered an internal deliberation within the Administration as to a process, as you

know, Senator. The bureau formulates its budget. It goes to the Department. The Department passes a budget request to OMB. We

get a pass-back and there is a dickering process in there. So as I

understand it, that is considered an Administrative deliberative

process.

Senator CONRAD. So you can’t tell us what you asked for?

Mr. CASON. No.

Senator CONRAD. But it is fair to say you asked for more than

you got.

Mr. CASON. It is fair to say that we had a lot of discussion about

my budget.

Senator CONRAD. Yes; did you ask for a lot more than you got?

[Laughter.]

Mr. CASON. Well, it was——

Senator CONRAD. Let me just say, the last person I asked these

questions of was promptly fired because they actually answered the

questions. [Laughter.]

Mr. CASON. I am aware of that. [Laughter.]

Senator CONRAD. You know, there is something wrong with this

hearing process, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Conrad, before you came, I pointed out

that were they to come and tell us their personal views of the

President’s budget, they would next appear as a private citizen.

They understand that. They are here to support the President’s
21

budget. But I have been trying for 4 years to get Dr. Grim to tell

me how much he asks for for Indian Health Service because it is

so dramatically underfunded. I have yet to penetrate the uniform

and the resolve of Dr. Grim. [Laughter.]

Senator CONRAD. I am so glad that you mentioned Dr. Grim, because he was the next person I was going to turn to. Dr. Grim,

could you tell us how much money is in the President’s budget for

your function, the health function?

Mr. GRIM. Yes; I can. Actually, it is a very good budget, Senator

Conrad.

Senator CONRAD. You actually got an increase.

Mr. GRIM. We got a $212-million increase.

Senator CONRAD. In percentage terms, how much would that be?

Mr. GRIM. Over the fiscal year 2007 CR level, it was a 7-percent

increase.

Senator CONRAD. Yes; that is my understanding. How much

more did you ask for?

Mr. GRIM. I can give you the specifics of what we asked for. We

asked for some funds to restore the base to a 2007 level that was

more consistent with the President’s budget. We did ask for $40

million in Federal and tribal pay raise costs; $51 million for health

care inflation at 4.2 percent, and non- medical inflation at 2.4 percent. We also asked for population growth at 36 million. Our population has been growing at about 1.4 percent to 1.6 percent a year,

and so have our service coverage population. So we have actually

been increasing the number of people that we see each year. That

recognizes that fact and gives us some funds to be able to cover

that increased service population. Then we asked for about $19 million for staffing of two new facilities that are going to be coming on-line. So the total overall was a very positive budget, $212 million over

fiscal year 2007 CR.

Senator CONRAD. Is that what you asked for in the budget process? Was that your initial request?

Mr. GRIM. It was very consistent with what we asked for, Senator Conrad.

Senator CONRAD. Did you ask for more?

Mr. GRIM. I would point out my perspective being very different

from the President’s. I am only responsible for this one program.

The President is responsible for the entire budget. We have different perspectives. I was very, very pleased with the budget that

the Indian Health Service ended up with after all deliberations.

Senator CONRAD. Let me just say this to you, that the truth is,

and we all know the truth, the truth is these accounts are terribly

underfunded. They have been for a long time. It really is shame on

us. If you didn’t ask for much more than that, shame on your, because you should ask for more than that because the truth is the

need is far more than that. And shame on us if we don’t do more

than what the President has sent up here, because the President

is not asking for enough. If there is one place where we have a responsibility, it is in the Indian community. I know that you believe

that personally, and are committed to that.

Let me just say it is really just wrong what we are doing in housing and health care. Tribal colleges, you know, I will just conclude
22

on this note. There is no place that I have seen that is making

more of a difference in the lives of people than at the tribal colleges. I have been at the graduations. I have seen the looks on the

faces of the people graduating, a sense of accomplishment, a sense

that they are advancing. I have seen the results.

I have had so many tell me that this is a life-changing opportunity. They are flat-funded, when we already know tribal colleges

are funded at a fraction of what we fund every other higher education community, whether it is the traditionally Black colleges or

the schools that we have that are State and federally supported

right across the board. Every single one of them has a much higher

level of funding than tribal colleges.

So Mr. Chairman, I just say to you, we have a tough order here.

The President has sent up a budget that is not real. These people

have been sent up here to live by it, and if they don’t, they get

fired. And that is an unfortunate commentary.

I thank the Chairman, and I thank the witnesses.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator, thank you very much.

We have a vote that has started. I do have just two or three very

quick questions. My intention would be to submit a list of questions

to the witnesses. We have five additional witnesses. We have two

votes, three votes. My expectation is that, well, at that point it will

be about 11:10 p.m. before we reconvene to hear the final five witnesses.

Let me ask Mr. Cason, how much is being spent on the Cobell

litigation from the Federal Government’s standpoint at this point?

Mr. CASON. Mr. Chairman, it depends on what you add into it.

We are spending on the order of, within the Department of the Interior, $60 million to $70 million a year recently on historical accounting activities and litigation support activities and other

things.

The CHAIRMAN. All right. Mr. Cason, you perhaps are the one to

answer this question. With obesity and diabetes very serious problems, particularly among Indian youth, in the BIA schools do we

have pop machines or soda machines and machines that dispense

snack food?

Mr. CASON. Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that the new

director of the Bureau of Indian Education, Tom Dowd, is actually

doing a survey right now of all of our schools to find the answer

to that question. We will get it to you.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you get that to me, please?

Mr. CASON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Grim, the reduction in construction, I understood your answer to my colleague, Senator Thomas, but I assumed

you would grit you teeth when answering that question. Why reduce construction funding at a time when there is such an unbelievable need for construction in health care, and you said, well, it

is to concentrate on service. The fact is, you know and I know that

reducing the construction funding for critically needed health care

facilities is just almost unbelievable.

The other point is, the urban Indian programs, health care for

urban Indians, you indicated that no study was done with respect

to zeroing out that program, what the impact would be. My col-
23

league Senator Thomas asked you, was there a study done, what

the impact might be on urban Indians? And the answer was no.

How on earth can the Administration recommend zeroing out a

program without knowing the impact? It just doesn’t make any

sense to me. Again, I understand you have come up here to represent this budget, but whether it is construction for health care,

elimination of the urban Indian programs, elimination of the Johnson-O’Malley Program, so many of these things, I don’t think they

are justifiable. I just don’t.

There is much more to say about it all, but we just have to do

better. You have to support the President’s budget. I understand

that. You work for him. I also understand how it works. It goes

through OMB. You won’t tell us that, but Dr. Grim, if you didn’t

ask for much more money, you shouldn’t be in the job you’re in. I

assume you asked for substantially more money than you are getting, because we are about 40 percent short of providing the health

care responsibility that we are supposed to provide.

So we have to do much, much better. I certainly agree with the

comments from Senator Thomas about the urban program and the

other issues.

I am going to submit a list of question to all five of you. I appreciate your willingness to share your time with us this morning. Because we have three votes, I think it will be 11:10 a.m. before we

convene. I would like all five witnesses to be available and ready

at that point. I would like them to think between now and then

about how they will summarize their testimony for us as well. We

have limited time. I thank you all.

We are in recess until about 11:10 a.m.

[Recess.]

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will reconvene. Let me apologize for

the delay. We have had a couple of votes over in the Senate, and

then there is just announced an 11:30 a.m. caucus. So things are

changing with respect to the Senate floor, and I apologize that it

has necessitated a delay.

I am going to recognize five witnesses. My colleague, Senator

Cantwell, will be here just prior to 12 o’clock to chair the final portion of this hearing.

Let me thank all of the witnesses for coming. Your entire statements will be made a part of the record. Let me ask, if you would

in the interest of brevity, summarize your testimony.

First, I will call on Ivan Posey, the chairman of the Shoshone

Business Council of the Wind River Reservation in the State of Wyoming. Mr. Posey, thank you for being here, and you may begin.

STATEMENT OF IVAN D. POSEY, CHAIRMAN, SHOSHONE

BUSINESS COUNCIL OF THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION

Mr. POSEY. Good morning, Chairman. My name is Ivan Posey

and I currently serve as the Chairman for the Eastern Shoshone

Business Council and cochair for the Eastern Shoshone Northern

Arapaho Business Council. We both share the 2.3 million-acre

Wind River Indian Reservation in west-central Wyoming, which is

the only reservation in the State. The reservation was established

in the 1868 treaty between the Shoshone Tribe and the Federal

Government.
24

There are currently 3,900 Eastern Shoshone and 8,200 Northern

Arapaho tribal members. Over 50 percent of tribal members from

both tribes are under the age of 30. The reservation is home to approximately 7,000 American Indians and 9,000 non-Indians.

First of all, I would like to thank the distinguished Senators on

the committee, including our own Senator Craig Thomas, for allowing me to testify on funding issues related to the President’s 2008

Federal budget. I am going to start my testimony with a statement

regarding the President’s budget for tribal programs in this manner. I have served the Shoshone Tribe for 11 years, and throughout

that time I have had the opportunity to our Nation’s capital to address the needs of tribal citizens and to share our positive contributions to our great country.

It has become more challenging over the years to receive the

funding needed to adequately address tribal needs. The President’s

2008 budget remains in the same mold, with cuts to Indian education, health care and other tribal programs drastically, while

completely eliminating other vital funding.

For example, the Johnson-O’Malley Program, which many tribes

utilize for language and traditional revitalization, has been completely eliminated from the budget. This would affect our school

systems and Head Start programs that rely on its funding to assist

tribal efforts to continue educating our youth in their heritage.

With the passing of many of our elders, this process becomes more

important to our tribal communities.

Cuts to other education matters such as construction and grant

assistance need to be increased, as well as the need for increased

funding to tribal colleges, which are all vital to the citizens of tribal

nations.

Cuts to our tribal court systems would drastically affect the administration of justice in Indian country, which in some cases is already underfunded. The tribal court system serves as the backbone

of our sovereignty and needs adequate funding. Without a strong

and reputable tribal court system, tribes will face the scrutiny and

criticism from Indians and non-Indians alike on the credibility of

our administration of tribal laws and codes. With the gains made

in Indian country to establish and manage tribal courts, we cannot

afford to continue to make progress in this very important area.

Law enforcement remains a top priority in terms of public safety

for Indian country. On the Wind River Indian Reservation, we currently have 10 officers to patrol roughly 3,500 square miles. We

need more uniformed patrolmen to continue to provide safety to our

communities and address the problems of substance and drug

abuse. Additional funding is also needed for tribal fish and game

programs, which oversee our natural resources and provides assistance to our law enforcement agencies when needed. Currently, the

Shoshone Tribe employs five full-time fish and game officers, which

are funded directly from tribal funds.

The need for adequate housing in Indian country continues to

grow. Although there has been progress in Indian country in addressing this matter over the past years, we still have a ways to

go. Through tax credits and utilization of the 184 program, some

needs are being met on and off reservations, but the need continues

with the growth of young families and the need to sometimes re-
25

store and rebuild aging infrastructure. The elimination of the

Housing Improvement Program in the President’s budget would be

very harmful to tribes who utilize the funding to renovate elderly

and handicapped homes, and at times provide homes to tribal people in need.

There are many issues in the area of health care that I would

like to address. Regarding the need for additional funding for IHS,

there are three areas that are of importance to tribal citizens. The

first is the need for additional funding for contract health services.

Contract health services allows for immediate care for those in

medical crisis. Over the past few years, these costs have not kept

up with the rate of inflation and have basically remained flat budgets. Tribal governments such as outs on the Wind River Reservation are currently covering costs associated with the inadequate

funding the IHS currently receives.

To receive contract health services, a person needs to be in a lifeor-death situation. For example, a person may be in a car accident

due to substance abuse and receive injuries which threaten their

life. This one-car accident in itself may cost the local service unit

$400,000 out of a $1.3-million budget. In the meantime, a person

needing a knee replacement for several years will be denied services. Many emergency room visits are not paid by the IHS, which

eventually falls on a patient who may not have the means to pay

and is soon turned into collection agencies. This has affected many

tribal members who may wish to finance homes through Federal

programs such as the 184 program offered through HUD.

Substance abuse and diabetes continue to rise in Indian country.

Methamphetamine use has a tremendous negative affect on our

community and resources are needed on the law enforcement, prevention, and treatment areas to address this devastating drug. Innovative programming that deals with family intervention and

after-care support are critical to the recovery and well being of individuals who seek help. Access to treatment in Indian country is

also a barrier at times when family involvement is needed. Regional treatment centers are needed across the country that will

assist tribes to provide their citizens with better access and support.

Diabetes is an area in which many tribal people are affected.

Many young people are now being diagnosed with this disease that

used to mostly affect adults. Funding to Indian country over the

past years have allowed tribes like ours to develop tribal gyms and

to promote healthy eating and exercise in our communities. Although there continues to be a rise in diabetes, I feel funding to

tribes has helped curb some of these numbers for the better.

With the continued cuts to health care in Indian country, I would

ask members of Congress from both parties and Independents, to

continue to address the reform of the health care system in this

country. The rising cost of pharmaceuticals and the lack of access

to health care in many communities has placed this country in a

crisis mode. For tribal nations to continue to look after the needs

of its citizens’ health care, I firmly believe these issues need to be

addressed. Corporate greed continues to have priority over the well

being of our Nation’s citizens. Tribal governments, as well as State

and other governments, are subject to this health care crisis.
26

I would also ask the members of Congress to carefully evaluate

the war in Iraq. With military spending up and a record deficit, the

President’s budget cuts domestic spending. Being an Army veteran,

I understand the importance of serving our great country and responsibility of safeguarding our people. Tribal people have, and

continue to serve in our armed forces at a rate higher than any

other group in the United States. We have always answered the

call. The cuts to the Veterans Administration are of concern to our

tribal communities as well. As many veterans return from service,

many need additional help. We would like our returning veterans

to receive the care and respect they deserve.

In closing, I would like to thank the committee on listening to

my concerns as an elected official of my tribe. I am encouraged that

many members of Congress acknowledge and respect the trust responsibility from the U.S. Government to Indian tribes. As we continue to defend our treaties and executive orders, we will also continue to defend this great country of ours.

Thank you very much. God bless.

[Prepared statement of Mr. Posey appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Chairman Posey, thank you very much. We appreciate your being with us.

Next, we will hear from Jefferson Keel, who is Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. Mr. Keel, thank you very much for

being with us today.

I should also mention that Mr. Keel is the first vice president of

the National Congress of American Indians as well.

STATEMENT OF JEFFERSON KEEL, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

CHICKASAW NATION, AND FIRST VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS

Mr. KEEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning.

My name is Jefferson Keel. I am the Lieutenant Governor of the

Chickasaw Nation, and also serve as the first vice president of the

National Congress of American Indians. I am honored to present

testimony on behalf of the member nations of the National Congress regarding the President’s fiscal year 2008 budget.

Last week, President Bush presented his moral choices for the

country in his $2.9 trillion budget proposal. Tribal leaders, through

consultation with various agencies and through NCAI convenings,

have identified the following areas for meaningful Federal investment in Indian country: Public safety and justice; health care; education; and natural resources.

However, NCAI would like to emphasize that although tribal

leaders have developed the above priority areas for fiscal year

2008, the unconditional underpinnings for all of the funding recommendations in this testimony are tribal self-determination and

self-governance. NCAI’s support for areas in the Federal budget

that support self-determination and self-governance is uncompromising.

Although tribal people in the United States have inherited the

challenges stemming from centuries of unjust policies and broken

agreements, a promising resurgence in self-government and self-determination has allowed tribes to flourish in ways unimaginable 50

years ago. When tribes are able to operate as governments respon-
27

sible for their own people and resources, which is the essence of

tribal sovereignty, the resulting achievements have led to reversing

the poor conditions created by centuries of injustice.

Accordingly, before addressing our various programmatic funding

recommendations, we would like to call attention to the very

alarming proposal for reductions to the very category at the BIA

that directly supports tribal self-determination and represents Federal trust responsibilities to the tribes: That is, tribal priority allocations, or TPA.

NCAI understands that the Administration and Congress must

make difficult budget decisions this year, and support the most efficient and worthy programs in the Federal budget by taking into account efforts to reduce the national deficit. While tribes will advance the priorities detailed in this testimony, the priority initiatives cannot come at the expense of TPA. In the BIA budget request, TPA would be reduced by $20.5 million from the fiscal year

2007 continuing resolution amount, which constitutes the majority

of the cuts proposed to the BIA.

TPA has long been one of the most important funding areas for

tribal governance, as they have the flexibility to use these funds to

meet the unique needs of the individual tribal communities, making TPA the main resource for tribes to exercise their powers of

self-governance. The current proposed reductions undermine the

very self-determination policy that has driven Indian country’s success in addressing long-enduring socio-economic disparities.

Considering that this committee and the Administration expressly support a tribe’s right to self-determination, NCAI hopes

that the Federal budget will follow through with material support

for these policies.

We ask that several recommendations be taken closely to heart

as the budget advances. First, public safety and justice are key concerns in the fiscal year 2008 budget. Tribal court systems frequently are overburdened due to lack of Federal funding. A recent

front-page Wall Street Journal article highlighted some of the

issues resulting from inadequate resources. The article illustrated

how the laws to protect the rights of Indian people cannot be effectively enforced due to lack of funding. Any discussion of public safety in Indian country is inextricably tied to the strength of the tribal

courts to maintain order in tribal communities.

NCAI commends the Secretary of the Interior’s departmental

Safe Indian Communities Initiative to help Indian country reduce

methamphetamine crime and the affliction it has brought to many

tribes, which includes a $16-million increase for public safety programs at BIA. This initiative is congruent with the tribal leaders’

priority to strengthen public safety and justice in Indian country.

Essentially, tribal leaders are urging Congress to take a step toward reaching parity in funding tribal public safety programs at

levels commensurate to non-tribal programs.

The second priority is Indian health. As has already been discussed, poor health continues to inhibit the economic, educational,

and social development in all of Indian country. American Indians

receive life-or-limb service under current conditions, meaning funds

are only available to treat the most life-threatening illnesses. NCAI

urges Congress to fund IHS at a level to at least maintain existing
28

health services and restore loss of buying power. We also oppose

zeroing-out of the Urban Indian Health Program.

The third priority is education. Although NCAI supports the Secretary’s proposal to increase funding for the Bureau of Indian Education as part of an education initiative, many of the education programs supported by tribal leaders were eliminated or reduced in

the fiscal year 2008 budget request, such as scholarships and adult

education and the Johnson-O’Malley Program proposed to be eliminated.

And finally, the fourth area prioritized by tribal leaders is natural resources. Natural resource programs are of immense importance to tribal cultures, including resource development, fish and

wildlife conservation, wetlands protection, and water resources.

Protection of these resources forms an integral part of the Federal

Indian trust responsibility. However, recent reductions are leading

to the dismantling of both the tribes’ abilities to manage their natural resources, and the Interior Secretary’s trust responsibility to

protect them. I would note, there is a $100-million proposal to celebrate the

Park Service’s 100-year anniversary. We would look at this as a

source. We, tribal leaders and the Native Americans across this

country, greatly support the parks, and we celebrate that every

year and every day. But we look at that as a possible source to offset some of these reductions.

Thank you for this opportunity for testimony. We look forward to

working with this committee, with the goal of making Indian country, as well as the United States, strong.

Thank you.

[Prepared statement of Mr. Keel appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Keel, thank you very much for being here.

Next, we will hear from Sally Smith. Sally Smith is the chair of

the National Indian Health Board here in Washington, DC. She

has appeared before this committee previously.

Ms. Smith, thank you very much for being here. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF SALLY SMITH, CHAIR, NATIONAL INDIAN

HEALTH BOARD

Ms. SMITH. Thank you very much.

Good morning, Chairman Dorgan and Vice Chairman Thomas,

and to the members of the Committee on Indian Affairs.

The National Indian Health Board has been around since 1972.

We represent federally recognized American Indians and Alaska

Natives as we advocate for better health care.

The President’s budget recommends increases in nearly every

line item of the IHS budget request. However, although we note

with appreciation that the fiscal year 2008 budget continues the

Administration’s slight trend of increase, when calculations of population growth are included as well as inflation, America’s Native

populations cannot maintain even the status quo under this budget.

We recognize that there are many realities facing the Federal

Government that create enormous fiscal challenges. America continues to be at war. However, you have heard that the American
29

Indians have the highest per capita participation in the armed

services of any ethnic group. No other segment of our population

is more negatively impacted by health disparities. We suffer disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease.

It is critical to realize that even the status quo for the American

Indians and Alaska Natives health should not be acceptable to

Congress. If your families had the type of health disparities that

American Indians face, it would not be acceptable to you.

We lag behind every group in America in most economic indicators, but we place number on in health disparities. In some cases

such as the speed with which we acquire HIV and AIDS in certain

age groups, and in infant mortality in the Northern Plains, we are

first in the whole world. There are many health care funding priorities in Indian country. The health care needs are great and vary

greatly from each area of Indian country.

Each year, we hold budget consultations, and I know you are

aware of these. What happens is a summary is created and those

funding needs are then identified by the NIHB for particular attention. Chairman Buford Rolin has testified on diabetes in the past

several days. You know that diabetes is epidemic in Indian country.

Cancer continues to be a huge area that needs attention. The President’s budget includes $2 million for building effective disease

prevention and health promotion at the local level. That amount of

funding is not sufficient to address these preventive-type services.

Contact health services, in much discussion this morning, the

budget includes a request for $570 million in contract health, which

is a $53-million increase from 2006; a $49-million increase over the

2007 continuing resolution. An increase of approximately $50 million to the contract health

service line is not sufficient. It has been identified by the Northwest Portland Indian Health Board that $302 million is needed. It

is not news to you that in some IHS areas it is not safe for Indian

people to be sick after June 1 because the contract health service

funding is no longer available.

I urge that a June 1 fund needs to be established to meet the

unmet health care needs in contract health services for American

Indians and Alaska Natives.

An important measure that will increase availability of CHS

funds is the publication of the final regulations required by section

506 of the Medicare Modernization Act. Section 506 requires that

the Secretary of HHS develop by regulations ‘‘Medicare-like rates’’

that Medicare participating hospitals would be required to accept

as payment of full services provided under this program. Although

the HHS published a proposed rule in April 2006, the Medicare-like

rates do not become effective until a final regulation is published.

We urge that the Secretary expedite publication of these regulations.

Poor Health Funding, we recommend $100 million increase for

the Well Indian Initiative, crafted to undertake disease prevention

and health promotion in Indian country.

Mr. Chairman, you discussed with the National Indian Health

Board 2 weeks ago in the President’s room at the Capitol, the need

for innovative health care delivery systems to address the lack of
30

after-hour health care needs in Indian country. We appreciate your

leadership with proposing to develop a new health care delivery

system in Indian country that are currently available to the general public. The National Indian Health Board supports your efforts.

We also wish to work with you on seeking innovative ways and

new funding mechanisms to develop health care services. This is

going to cost money. We also need to talk about the funding aspect

of it.

There is a lot of talk on contract support costs. We are requesting an additional $90 million over the current request in order to assure that contract support cost obligations are met.

Urban clinics, very quickly, we know that they have been zeroed

out. We urge that tribal consultations take place before any policy

decisions are made to close urban Indian clinics.

With regard to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, we

urge introduction of the reauthorization bill.

In conclusion, we respectfully request a financial and policy commitment from Congress to achieve true progress in changing the

reality of health care disparities so familiar in Indian country.

Thank you very much.

[Prepared statement of Ms. Smith appears in appendix.]

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Smith, thank you very much. And thanks for

the work that you have done over a long period of time dealing

with these issues of Indian health.

I am going to have to depart. It is necessary for me to be at the

Capitol at 12 p.m. Vice Chairman Thomas, will continue the rest

of the hearing.

Let me introduce the next witness. Dr. Verlie Ann Malina-Wright

is going to talk to us. She is the president of the National Indian

Education Association. Thank you for all of your work in these

areas.

Let me also apologize, I think the vice chairman would agree, for

the brevity today. It does not reflect our seriousness of purpose on

these issues. We apologize. There have been several votes and an

intervening caucus. We are very interested and concerned in the

testimony provided by the first panel and your panel especially. We

appreciate the time you have taken to come to this committee.

Dr. Malina-Wright, you may proceed.

Vice Chairman Thomas, thank you very much for proceeding.

STATEMENT OF VERLIE ANN MALINA-WRIGHT, PRESIDENT,

NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Ms. MALINA-WRIGHT. Aloha. My name is Dr. Malina-Wright. I

am in my 40th year of education. I am a Native Hawaiian and the

37th president of the National Indian Education Association. I will

be paraphrasing a lot of my presentation, and I would like to submit for the record our legislative packet, and also supporting testimony on behalf of the Johnson-O’Malley Program.

The key areas for funding that we want to focus on is the administration for Native Americans. This is the support for the Esther

Martinez Native Languages Act. As you know, in 1992, the Native

American Languages Act, [NALA] was instrumental in helping establish language immersion schools and language NES schools.
31

This particular act extends the concept to include language restoration programs, and with no additional funding. We ask a $10-million increase in the ANA allocation to promote languages.

At BIA, Department of the Interior, the funding of BIA’s Johnson-O’Malley Program, and I would just like to highlight it, because the President zeroed out this budget. There are two members

on the board of NIEA, Dr. Wilbur Gilbert had a son who benefitted

from Johnson-O’Malley by a violin. That son now is a professor at

the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. He used the

music, including classical guitar, and he has traveled all around

the world because of this investment in children.

On the board also is Robert Cook, an outstanding educator, and

his son also has a violin and he is now the third chair of violin for

South Dakota.

Okay, so what we are trying to say is this Johnson-O’Malley invests in children and the return on investment in these children is

extraordinary.

The President zeroed out this program and we ask, please sir, to

restore the funds. We ask that the funds be restored not only to

$16.4 million, but also to increase the funding to $24 million.

In the area of BIA school construction and repair, we request NIEA $106 million increase for Indian school construction and repairs. It is important that our children learn in safe learning and

culturally responsive environments. The construction funds are

sorely needed in order to take care of the backlog.

Another area is in the tribal education departments, the TEDs, and the BIA. NIEA encourages $5 million for the TEDs at the BIA

and $5 million at the Department of Education. It should be noted

that TEDs work with tribal education programs and schools on the

reservations. Perhaps when we talk about LEAs and SEAs, perhaps we should reconsider and also add TEAs.

The Department of Education in title VII funding is an impor- tant area. I can share that NIEA requests $195.8 million for title

VII, with a 5-percent increase over fiscal year 2007 CR. As you

know, the President’s budget eliminated the Alaska Native Education Equity and the Native Hawaiian Education Act budgets.

There are so many extraordinary things that have come out of title

VII that are unique and independent of title I. I have a very interesting example that I can share with you. The vice principal of a

Hawaiian language immersion school, where a K-12 and moving to

a P-16. We used title I to make sure that our students master language and reading and math, both in English and Hawaiian. We

also use title VII to take a look at architecture structures and software that we can put our Hawaiian language in, as our children

are learning how to read and compute. It is extraordinary to see

that the funding that takes place in title VII allows even our special education children to learn algebra II side-by-side with title I

tutors and instruction through the Native Hawaiian language.

The Impact Aid funding, this is such a critical area, again for

schools and reservations where there is no traditional tax base.

NIEA requests an increase of $85 million over fiscal year 2007 CR

level for Impact Aid.

In higher education, this is an extraordinary area of tribal colleges of universities. This is an area where students are 34 years
32

of age, who have never considered higher education for whatever

reason. My father came from a family of 19, and was not a high

school graduate, but he wanted his children to graduate from high

school, and the two youngest ones were definitely going to go to college. I am happy to say as a result of the Education Professions

Development Act and ECEA, in 1978, I got my doctorate at UCLA.

I am here 40 years providing service, again advocating education

for our children, their families and their communities.

Thank you on behalf of all Native people.

[Prepared statement of Ms. Malina-Wright appears in appendix.]

Senator THOMAS [presiding]. Thank you very much. Certainly,

that is an important issue.

Mr. Shuravloff.

STATEMENT OF MARTY SHURAVLOFF, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL

AMERICAN INDIAN HOUSING COUNCIL

Mr. SHURAVLOFF. Thank you, Vice Chairman Thomas.

My name is Marty Shuravloff. I am honored to appear before you

today.

As chairman of the National American Indian Housing Council,

I have the privilege to represent the housing interests of more than

460 tribes and Alaska Native villages. The National American Indian Housing Council was founded in 1974 to support and advocate

for tribes and tribally designated housing entities. NAIHC assists

tribes with their self-determined goals of providing housing and

community development for Indian people and Alaska Natives.

I come to you today with NAIHC’s thoughts on the Administration’s fiscal year 2008 budget request. With billions of dollars in

American taxpayer money flowing overseas, now more than ever is

the time we prioritize the needs of America’s neediest citizens; 1

in 10 Native American homes lack plumbing. One in five give Native Americans live in overcrowded homes. Nearly one-half of Native American homes are considered inadequate by all applicable

standards. Less than one-half of all reservation homes are connected to public sewer.

While we have heard it time and again, it bears repeating. The

United States has its own places of third world conditions, in its

own backyard. Indian people are consistently near the bottom of

every indicator of health year after year. In a country proud of its

democratic standards, we have whole nations of Indian people

doing without.

NAIHC’s recommendations are as follows. For the Indian Housing Block Grant, the primary funding for Indian housing nationwide, the Administration has requested $627 million. While remaining level from the previous two appropriations cycles, this

number does not take into account inflationary costs. For Federal

funding to approach even 2002 levels, accounting for inflation, the

minimum amount needed is $748 million. The National American

Indian Housing Council recommends that Indian Housing Block

Grant be funded at this level for fiscal year 2008.

For the Indian Community Development Block Grant, the Administration has requested $57.4 million. The National American

Indian Housing Council recommends funding at $77 million, a

$19.6-million increase over previous-year funding.
33

While not a specific Indian program, HUD’s Rural Housing and

Economic Development is one other tool Indian communities use to

help build homes. That is zeroed out in the Administration’s fiscal

year 2008 budget. NAIHC recommends the continuation of funding

for this invaluable program at $24 million.

The Direct Home Loan Program and the Rental Housing Direct

Loan Program, all under USDA, are zeroed out in the Administration’s budgetary requests. The cutting of these invaluable services

will adversely affect Indian people nationwide living in rural areas.

NAIHC recommends the continuation of funds for these beneficial

programs as well.

The NAIHC is the only national Indian-led organization providing guidance, technical assistance, training and related capacitybuilding services for Indian Housing Authorities and tribally designated housing entities. The NAIHC trains thousands of Indian

housing and associated staff each year with a full range of programs and services. In fiscal year 2005 and 2006, more than 5,000

Indian housing staff participated in our tuition-free training.

The NAIHC was instrumental in shaping discussions and in

helping to draft the Native American Housing Assistance and SelfDetermination Act of 1996. Although great strides have been made

since the act’s inception, much more is necessary to make an even

more powerful impact for Native people. The National American

Indian Housing Council is vital to that goal.

Section 703 of NAHASDA calls for the appropriations of funding

for a national organization representing Native American housing

interests to provide training and technical assistance to Indian

Housing Authorities and tribally designated housing entities. We

believe the National American Indian Housing Council is that organization. The Federal funding the NAIHC receives is not an earmark added to the appropriations cycle. The authorizing language

of NAHASDA calls for the direct appropriation of funds for the purposes the NAIHC provides, separate from similar activities under

HUD.

Yet, in spite of positive outcomes like increases in Native home

purchase loan originations, over the past couple of years NAIHC

has been zeroed out in the fiscal year 2008 budget request. NAIHC

recommends funding be restored to the council at $4.6 million in

fiscal year 2008.

Last, NAHASDA stressed the trust responsibility of the U.S.

Government to Native American people. With the implementation

of NAHASDA, the Federal Government recognized the uniqueness

of the problems facing Indian communities. NAHASDA replaced

confusing and scattered grant programs with one block grant that

afforded tribes the flexibility to design housing unique to each Indian community’s needs. It enabled tribes’ unprecedented opportunities to use different sources of financing to meet housing needs

in their communities.

NAHASDA is scheduled to be reauthorized this year. The lack of

significant private investment, functioning housing markets, and

the dire economic conditions most Indian communities face mean

that Federal dollars make up a significant amount of total housing

resources for Native people. NAHASDA is integral to these resources and without the legislation specific to Indian communities,
34

there would be few options left to house America’s neediest citizens. We respectfully request for this Act’s reauthorization and this

committee’s support for it in the Senate.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you, Vice Chairman Thomas,

and the rest of the Committee, for your continuing support of Indian people. The National American Indian Housing Council is

eager to work with the committee on all the issues affecting Indian

housing programs, no matter how difficult. Together, we can

achieve better housing and a brighter future for America’s first citizens.

Thank you.

[Prepared statement of Mr. Shuravloff appears in appendix.]

Senator THOMAS. I thank all of you very much for being here. I

know we are running a little late. Some of you look like you are

a little hungry, so just a couple of very short questions.

Chairman Posey, I again appreciate your being here from Wyoming. I see the Indian Economic Development Programs are dispersed among several agencies, HUD and Commerce. What has

your tribal experience been with these agencies? Have they been of

assistance to you?

Mr. POSEY. Of very little assistance, in my opinion, over the last

few years. You know, there is additional money through the State.

We are one of the few States in the Nation that have had billion

dollar surpluses over the last few years, as you know, Senator.

Some of the access to those funds have been hard to come by, although there is funding there.

Senator THOMAS. I see. Okay, thank you.

Mr. Keel, the Department of Energy was directed to establish an

Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, and establish the

DOE Indian Energy Loan Guarantee Program, but it has not. In

your opinion, what energy development opportunities are being

missed by not having that office?

Mr. KEEL. Senator, any opportunity for the tribal governments to

interact with Federal agencies in developing energy opportunities,

whether it be in wind power or hydroelectric or whatever, the tribal

governments are major players and can be major players in the design and production of energy, particularly on Federal lands.

So I think it is an opportunity that is being missed, when those

opportunities are not enacted and not established.

Senator THOMAS. Thank you all very much. I know we have

stretched this out a long time, and the voting kind of interrupts our

work around here, but we have to do that.

So thank you all. We look forward to working with you. This

budget is going to be very important to all of us, and we will be

working on it.

With that, we will adjourn the meeting.

Thank you.

[Whereupon, at 12:10 p.m. the committee was adjourned, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.]
(35)

APPENDIX

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHARLES W. GRIM, D.D.S., M.H.S.A., ASSISTANT SURGEON

GENERAL DIRECTOR, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:

Good Morning. I am Dr. Charles W. Grim, director of the Indian Health Service

. Today I am accompanied by Robert McSwain, deputy director of the IHS, Dr.

Douglas Peter, acting chief medical officer, and Gary Hartz, director, Environmental

Health and Engineering. We are pleased to have the opportunity to testify on the

President’s fiscal year 2008 budget request for the Indian Health Service.

The IHS is the Federal agency responsible for delivering health services to more

than 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. In carrying out this responsibility, the IHS maintains a unique relationship with more than 560 sovereign tribal governments that represent this service population in some of the most remote

and harsh environments within the United States as well as in modern metropolitan locations such as Anchorage and Phoenix. These relationships and the geographic diversity offer extraordinary opportunities and challenges to managing and

delivering health services.

The IHS and tribal programs provide a comprehensive scope of individual and

public health services, including preventive, clinical, and environmental health services. In addition, the IHS and tribal health programs purchase medical care and urgent health services through the Contract Health Services program, when the care

is otherwise not available at their facilities. For all of the American Indians and

Alaska Natives served by these programs, the IHS is committed to its mission to

raise their physical, mental, social, and spiritual health to the highest level.

This mission is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services

[HHS], as reflected in the many partnerships we have established with other HHS

operating divisions and the Department’s commitment to its Intradepartmental

Council on Native American Affairs [ICNAA]. I have the pleasure of serving as the

vice-chair of the ICNAA whose role is to assure coordination across HHS in support

of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native American health and human services issues. The Administration takes seriously its commitment to honor the unique

legal relationship with, and responsibility to, eligible American Indians and Alaska

Natives by providing effective health care services.

Through the government’s longstanding support of Indian health care, the IHS,

in partnership with the people we serve, has demonstrated the ability to effectively

utilize available resources to improve the health status of American Indians and

Alaska Natives. The clearest example of this is the drop in mortality rates over the

past few decades. More recently, this effectiveness has been demonstrated by the

programs’ success in achieving their annual performance targets as well as by the

intermediate outcomes of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. For example,

in fiscal year 2006 the IHS Tribal, and Urban programs increased the proportion

of diabetic patients assessed for kidney disease by 17 percent and increased the proportion of diabetic patients with ideal blood sugar control by 3 percent. Early identification of kidney disease and keeping blood sugar at the ideal level are significant
36

in preventing or delaying the onset of diabetic complications, which may require

costly care such as dialysis or renal transplant.

Although we are very pleased with these achievements, we recognize that there

is still progress to be made. American Indian and Alaska Native mortality rates for

alcoholism, cervical cancer, motor vehicle crashes, diabetes, unintentional injuries,

homicide, and suicide continue to be higher than the mortality rates for other Americans. Many of the health problems contributing to these higher mortality rates are

behavioral. For example, the rate of violence for American Indian and Alaska Native

youth aged 12–17 is 65 percent greater than the national rate for youth. And while

diabetes is a major focus of prevention and treatment efforts across Indian country,

the prevalence is still growing and occurring in an increasingly younger population.

The IHS and our stakeholders remain resolved and deeply committed to address

these disparities. We are joined in the implementation of three health initiatives I

launched in fiscal year 2005 with the specific intent of achieving positive improvements in these areas of preventable health problems. The Health Promotion/ Disease Prevention, Behavioral Health, and Chronic Care Initiatives target underlying

risk factors for morbidity and mortality as well as the re-engineering of the IHS and

Tribal Indian health delivery system to incorporate the best practices documented

in the scientific literature. Collaborations with other Federal agencies, States, and

foundations are also integral components of each Initiative.

I am pleased to present a budget request to you that allows the IHS to continue

these efforts and address needs expressed by tribes. As partners with the IHS in

delivering needed health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives, tribal leaders and health program representatives participate in an extensive consultation

process on the IHS budget. In addition, the Department holds annual budget consultation sessions, both regionally and nationally, to give Indian Tribes opportunities to present their budget priorities and recommendations to the Department. I

am pleased to say that this budget addresses health care needs that the tribes have

emphasized as critical by including the increases necessary to assure that the current level of services for American Indians and Alaska Natives is maintained in fiscal year 2008 and that additional services associated with the growing American Indian and Alaska Native population are covered.

The President’s budget request for the IHS totals $4.1 billion, a net increase of

$212 million or 7 percent above the annualized fiscal year 2007 Continuing Resolution funding level and an increase of $101 million over the fiscal year 2007 President’s Budget. In comparison, the overall discretionary budget request for HHS is

an increase of $95 million or .1 percent over the fiscal year 2007 Continuing Resolution funding level. The request will allow IHS and tribal health programs to maintain access to health care by providing $41 million to fund pay raises for Federal

and tribal employees, and $88 million to cover increases in the cost of delivering

health care and to address the growing American Indian and Alaska Native population. Staffing and operating costs for two newly constructed health facilities are

also included in the amount of $19 million. One of these facilities is the Muskogee

Health Center in Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation funded the construction of the

Health Center under a joint Venture agreement and now IHS is requesting funds

to staff and operate it. The other facility is a Youth Regional Treatment Center

[YRTC] located in Wadsworth, NV. This YRTC will provide short-term, structured

transitional living services to adolescents with alcohol and/or substance abuse addiction. The budget request also includes additional funding of $64 million to restore

program losses that would be experienced under the annualized fiscal year 2007

Continuing Resolution, which did not include increases necessary to maintain service levels.

To target these priority increases, the budget request eliminates funding for the

Urban Indian Health Programs, which is $33 million at the fiscal year 2007 CR

level, and reduces funding for the Facilities Appropriation by $24 million. The focus

of the President’s budget request for IHS is on provision of health care services and

ensuring that the basic needs of all IHS and tribal health programs are met. Therefore, the budget request targets additional funding for the provision of health care

on or near Indian reservations in order to serve a population who cannot readily

access health care from outside the IHS or tribal system. The request for Health

Care Facilities Construction is $12.7 million, to continue the construction of the Barrow, Alaska Hospital. Consistent across HHS, facilities funding requests are focused

on maintaining existing facilities and completing projects that received initial funding in previous years.

The proposed budget that I have just described provides a continued investment

in the maintenance and support of the IHS and tribal public health system to provide access to high quality medical and preventive services as a means of improving
37

health status. It reflects a continued Federal commitment to American Indians and

Alaska Natives.

Thank you for this opportunity to present the President’s fiscal year 2008 budget

request for the IHS. We are pleased to answer any questions that you may have.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CARLA MANN, MEMBER, BLACKFEET TRIBE, REPRESENTING

THE NATIONAL JOHNSON-O’MALLEY ASSOCIATION

Good afternoon. I would like to thank the distinguished Chairman Dorgan, Vice

Chairman Thomas, and members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for

holding this hearing regarding the President’s recommendation for the 2008 Budget.

On behalf of over 350,000 American Indian children attending our Nation’s public

schools, I thank the committee for this opportunity to provide testimony on education issues that directly impact our public school administrators’ ability to sustain

a high quality education for Native American students attending their schools. I am

honored to be here. My name is Carla Mann. I am a member of the Blackfeet Tribe

representing the National Johnson-O’Malley Association [NJOMA] who is the elected voice and liaison to Congress for Johnson-O’Malley Programs [JOM]. As Vice

Chairman Thomas knows, I live and work on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. I thank him for his support.

In his 2008 budget recommendations, the President has recommended that the

JOM funding be eliminated. We respectfully request that in its Views and Estimates, the committee reject that recommendation.

JOM is a program critical to our Indian students in public schools.

Over 75 years ago Congress recognized the inherent right of all Indian students

to receive a high quality education by passing the Johnson-O’Malley Act. The act

is a cornerstone for Indian communities. It helps our communities meet the unique

and specialized educational needs of Native students who attend public schools.

Many of our students live in remote and rural areas in high rates of poverty and

unemployment. JOM is responsive to the special circumstances of Indian Country

and provides funding that helps students stay in school and achieve academic success. JOM is a unique program that helps Indian students become productive members

of their community. For example, JOM provides students with academic enhancing

services and items including culturally based tutoring, school supplies, summer

school, scholastic testing fees, financial aid counseling, athletic equipment and activities, caps and gowns, accelerated college preparation classes, writing competitions, etc. Other programs administered by the Federal Government, such as the No

Child Left Behind Act do not allow funding for these types of activities and necessary items.

JOM funds impact the schools that serve the most tribal students.

In 2004–05, a Department of the Interior report stated that the Bureau of Indian

Affairs [BIA] provides an education to Indian children on federally recognized Indian reservations in 170 elementary and secondary schools across 23 States. Approximately 46,000 or about 7 percent of all Indian children attend elementary and

secondary schools administered by the BIA. By eliminating JOM funding, the 2008

budget recommendation ignores the special needs of the other 93 percent of all Indian students that attend public school.

The justification used in the 2008 budget recommendations is unfounded.

For the past 2 years, and again in fiscal year 2008, the Department of the Interior

and the Administration has requested severe reductions or elimination of funding

of the JOM Program. The President’s fiscal year 2008 budget request proposes

‘‘zero’’ funding using the same justification, as used in the President’s 2006 budget

request, in that the JOM program is ‘‘duplicative’’ of other Federal programs. In fiscal year 2006, the Interior Appropriations Committees determined that this justification was ‘‘unfounded.’’ BIA indicates that the Department of Education’s Title

VII Indian Education Act programs is ‘‘a similar funding’’ source of Indian Education. NJOM firmly believes that the programs are very different. First, the title

VII program is run directly through the school districts and is not subject to tribal

control. The tribes have no actual authority over the design, or implementation of

the title VII program.

JOM is the only federally funded program that statutorily grants ‘‘vested

authority.’’

Another important distinction, is the degree of influence JOM affords parents and

communities. Under the JOM regulations, the parents of eligible JOM students
38

have ‘‘fully vested authority’’ to design and implement their JOM programs. By regulation, the JOM programs are based on community needs assessment and not the

needs of the school district and serve a much broader range of needs and services.

The JOM program is the only federally funding program that allows for student,

parent and community involvement in meeting their educational needs which is

both academically and culturally based.

Restore the JOM funding.

For fiscal year, the National Johnson-O’Malley Association, along with the National Indian Education Association urges Congress to continue its 75 year old commitment to Indian children by not only restoring JOM [$16.4 million] but increasing

its funding to the fiscal year 94 funding level of $24 million.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank you for allowing the NJOMA to present testimony

on such an important program impacting our Indian students and communities.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MYRA PEARSON, CHAIRWOMAN, SPIRIT LAKE NATION, FORT

TOTTEN, ND

Good afternoon Chairman Dorgan [D–ND] and Vice Chairman Thomas [R–WY)]

and distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Thank you

for inviting the North Dakota tribal chairs to provide testimony on behalf of our respective nations. My name is Myra Pearson. I am an enrolled Dakota of the Spirit

Lake Nation and serve as the presiding chairwoman for the tribe. Our administrative headquarters is in the Fort Totten District of the reservation. We are located

in rural northeast North Dakota and many of our issues are related to the isolation

of our communities.

The numerous disparities experienced by our people call out for the Nation to respond and fulfill the trust responsibilities to our tribal nations. Spirit Lake tribal

leadership is also obligated to our constituents to ensure provisions of the 1867

Treaty between the Sioux—Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands and the United States

are upheld. The provision of health, education, housing, and welfare are critical to

this effort and we look forward to working with this Congress to address these disparities.

The inadequate and delayed funding to address the above mentioned provisions

creates additional hardships on a population already distressed by poverty and the

resulting social and physical ills noted in the statistics below.

Spirit Lake adults [18+] were:

• 59 percent less likely to have health coverage.

• 52 percent less likely to have a personal doctor.

• 193 percent more likely to smoke.

• 97 percent more likely to binge drink [5+ drinks on same occasion].

• And, 288 percent more likely to chronic drink [2+ drinks on daily basis].

• 73 percent more likely to have diabetes

Regarding chronic disease, Spirit Lake elders (55+) were:

• 44 percent more likely to have arthritis.

• 90 percent more likely to have congestive heart failure.

• 26 percent more likely to have experienced a stroke.

• 206 percent more likely to have diabetes.

• 375 percent more likely to have colon/rectal cancer.

The Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service Region, of which North Dakota is a

part, has the lowest life expectancy of all the IHS Regions in the Nation at 64.3

years of age compared to 77.6 years of age for the Nation, a difference of 13.3 years.

This disparity is partially a result of the rural isolation of the community, shortage

of health providers, and increasing poverty levels common among our people.

The Spirit Lake Tribe continues to subsidize the health care of our tribal members due to inadequate provision of IHS funding to our tribe. We were disappointed

to hear the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act was halted in December 2006 and

we request you continue your efforts to get this legislation reauthorized or an alternative source to fulfill the treaty obligations to our people. Millions of acres of land

were ceded to the United States in exchange for the provision of health, education,

welfare, and materials for houses and these provisions have never been provided at

the appropriate levels needed to meet the needs of our people.

Our children continue to test below their North Dakota counterparts, and increased funding is needed to provide a firm educational foundation for our children.

Tribal college students are funded at one-half of what non-tribal community college

students receive at $4,447 per full time student, 75 percent of what is authorized
39

and tribal colleges are not reimbursed for providing educational services to non-Natives.

Regarding education, Spirit Lake members were:

• 215 percent more likely to have not obtained a high school diploma. • 29 percent less likely to have some college. • 71 percent less likely to be a college graduate.

A housing shortage at Spirit Lake is denoted by the 239 families currently on our

housing waiting list. In most cases, overcrowding is occurring with multiple families

residing in homes built for single families. Recent flooding on our reservation and

the resulting high water table has also caused mold problems that have raised additional health concerns regarding asthma and other respiratory diseases. Last, substandard housing weatherization has resulted in increased heating bill costs that

are severely affecting our tribal member’s ability to make ends meet.

The correlation between health status, education levels, and socio-economic status

is well documented. Thus, the issue of education is critical to raising the health status and overall income for our people. By raising education levels, we not only increase earning capacity and one’s ability to access health insurance and healthcare,

but we also increase the amount of taxes paid into our Federal Government and the

family’s ability to address their housing needs.

The BIA is mandated by Federal law to provide accurate population estimates to

the national office. Because Federal funding is based on reservation residents, BIA

must supply correct information to everyone concerned at the tribal, regional, and

national level. Increased communication and tribal input for Federal programs such

as BIA and IHS are required to ensure not only population estimates are accurate,

but also trust responsibilities are being met.

At Spirit Lake, the tribal council has requested the superintendent of the Fort

Totten Agency to increase our population data from an estimated 4,000 enrolled

members to the accurate count of 6,128. The request has not been addressed to date

and we are at a loss to understand why.

The BIA and IHS are merely liaisons between the United States and our tribal

nations; however, they continue to conduct business using a top down method that

fails to recognize tribal sovereignty. This way of conducting is not acceptable and

has been antiquated since the beginning of treaties with the tribes.

The elimination of programs in the 2008 President’s budget regarding Housing

Improvement Program [HIP], Community Development, Indian Guaranteed Loan

Program, Technical Work Experience Program and the continued reduction of all remaining tribal programs such as tribal courts and similar programs. The halting of

the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act is unacceptable to the tribal nations considering this is the primary means for the United States to fulfill the trust responsibility to the tribes. The above mentioned health disparities are indicators of the dire

need for educational, health, housing, and welfare initiatives for the tribes.

The conceived notion regarding welfare is that tribes are looking for a handout;

however, the welfare mentioned in the treaty is reflective of the overall wellbeing

of the people. Our request is not to provide a handout to our people, but to fulfill

the federally obligated trust responsibility to the Native people and to the Spirit

Lake Nation.

Summarily, all of the above mentioned issues are critical and of priority to the

Spirit Lake Nation. We recognize the importance of applied research in developing

plans of action; however, we also recognize our culture and community expertise

must be implemented if these efforts are to be successful. We are open to working

with your committee to move forward in the effort of addressing the disparities

being experienced across Indian country. Furthermore, we applaud your efforts to

reach out to the North Dakota tribes to get a better picture of our needs.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF IVAN D. POSEY, CHAIRMAN, EASTERN SHOSHONE BUSINESS

COUNCIL

Good morning. My name is Ivan Posey and I currently serve as the chairman for

the Eastern Shoshone Business Council and cochair for the Eastern Shoshone and

Northern Arapaho Joint Business Council. We both share the 2.3 million acre Wind

River Indian Reservation in west central Wyoming which is the only reservation in

the State. The reservation was established in the 1868 treaty between the Shoshone

Tribe and the Federal Government.

There are currently 3,900 Eastern Shoshone and 8,200 Northern Arapaho tribal

members. Over 50 percent of tribal members from both tribes are under the age of

30. The reservation is home to approximately 7,000 American Indians and 9,000

non-Indians.
40

First of all I would to thank the distinguished Senators on the committee, including our own Senator Craig Thomas, for allowing me to testify on funding issues related to the President’s 2008 Federal budget.

Let me start my testimony with a statement regarding the President’s budget for

tribal programs in this manner. I have served the Eastern Shoshone Tribe for 11

years and throughout that time have had the opportunity to travel to our Nations

Capitol to address the needs of tribal citizens and to share our positive contributions

to our great country. It has become more challenging over the years to receive the

funding needed to adequately address tribal needs.

The President’s fiscal year 2008 Budget remains in the same mold with cuts to

Indian education, health care, and other tribal programs drastically while completely eliminating other vital funding.

For example, the Johnson O’Malley program which many tribes utilize for language and traditional revitalization has been completely eliminated from the budget. This would affect our school systems and Head Start programs that rely on this

funding to assist tribal efforts to continue educating our youth of their heritage.

With the passing of many of our elders this process becomes of more importance

to our tribal communities. Cuts to other education matters such as construction, and

grant assistance need to be increased as well as the need to increase funding for

tribal colleges which are all vital to the citizens of Tribal Nations.

Cuts to out tribal court systems would drastically affect the administration of justice in Indian country which in some cases is already under funded. The tribal court

system serves as the backbone of our sovereignty and needs adequate funding.

Without a strong and reputable tribal court system tribes will face the scrutiny and

criticism from Indians and non Indians alike on the credibility of our administration

of tribal laws and codes. With the gains made in Indian country to establish and

manage tribal courts we cannot afford to continue to make progress in this very important area.

Law Enforcement remains a top priority in terms of public safety for Indian country. On the Wind River Indian Reservation we currently have 10 officers to patrol

roughly 3,500 square miles. We need more uniformed patrolman to continue to provide safety to our communities and address the problems of substance and drug

abuse. Additional funding is also needed for tribal fish and game programs which

oversee our natural resources and provides assistance to our law enforcement agencies when needed. Currently the Eastern Shoshone Tribe employs five fish and

game officers which are funded directly from tribal funds.

The need for adequate housing in Indian country continues to grow. Although

there has been progress in Indian country in addressing this matter over the past

years we still have a ways to go. Through tax credits and utilization of the 184 program some needs are being met on and off reservations but the need continues with

the growth of young families and the need to sometimes restore and rebuild aging

infrastructure. The elimination of the Housing Improvement Program in the President’s budget would be very harmful to tribes who utilize the funding to renovate

elderly and handicapped homes and at times provide homes to tribal people in need.

There are many issues in the area of health care that I would like to address.

Regarding the need for additional funding for Indian Health Service there are three

areas that are of importance to tribal citizens. The first is the need for additional

funding for contract health services. Contract Health Services allows for immediate

care for those in medical crisis. Over the past 10 years these costs have not kept

up with rate of inflation and have basically remained flat budgets. Tribal governments such as ours on the Wind River Reservation are currently covering costs associated with the inadequate funding the Indian Health Service currently receives. To

receive contract health services a person needs to be in a life or death situation.

For example, a person may be in a car accident due to substance abuse and receives

injuries which threaten their life. This one car accident in itself may cost the local

service unit $400,000.00 out of a 1.3-million dollar budget. In the meantime a person needing a knee replacement for several years will be denied services. Many

emergency room visits are not paid by the Indian Health Service which eventually

falls on the patient who may not have the means to pay and is soon turned into

collection agencies. This has affected many tribal members who may wish to finance

a home through other Federal programs such as the 184 program offered through

Housing of Urban Development.

Substance abuse and diabetes continue to rise in Indian country. Methamphetamine use has a tremendous negative affect on our community and resources are

needed on the law enforcement, prevention, and treatment areas to address this

devastating drug. Innovative programming that deals with family intervention and

after care support are critical to the recovery and well being of individuals who seek

help. Access to treatment in Indian country is also a barrier at times when family
41

involvement is needed. Regional Treatment Centers are needed across the country

that will assist tribes to provide their citizen’s with better access and support.

Diabetes is an area in which many tribal people are affected. Many young people

are now being diagnosed with this. disease that used to mostly affect adults. Funding to Indian country over the past years have allowed tribes like ours to develop

tribal gyms and to promote healthy eating and exercise in our communities. Although there continues to be a rise in diabetes I feel funding to tribes has helped

curb some of these numbers for the better.

With the continued cuts to health care in Indian country I would ask members

of Congress, from both parties and independents, to continue to address the reform

of the health care system in this country. The rising costs of pharmaceuticals and

the lack of access to health care in many communities has placed this country in

a crisis mode. For Tribal Nations to continue to look after the needs of it’s citizens

health care I firmly believe these issues need to be addressed. Corporate greed continues to have priority over the well being of our Nation’s citizens. Tribal governments, as well as States, are subject to this health care crisis.

I would also ask the Members of Congress to carefully evaluate the War in Iraq.

With military spending up and a record deficit, the President’s budget cuts domestic

spending. Being an Army Veteran I understand the importance of serving our great

country and the responsibility of safeguarding our people. Tribal people have and

continue to serve in our Armed Forces at a rate higher than any other group in the

United States. We have always answered the call. The cuts to the Veterans Administration are of concern to our tribal communities as well. As many veterans return

from service many need additional help. We would like our returning veterans to

receive the care and respect they deserve.

In closing, I would like to thank the committee on listening to my concerns as

an elected official of my tribe. I am encouraged that many members of Congress acknowledge and respect the trust responsibility from the U.S. Government to Indian

tribes. As we continue to defend our treaties and executive orders we will also continue to defend this great country of ours.

Who Wee Who [thank you] and God bless.
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209

Æ