U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

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

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

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

98–990 PDF 2016

S. HRG. 114–194 

THE PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2016 BUDGET 

REQUEST FOR INDIAN PROGRAMS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Chairman 

JON TESTER, Montana, Vice Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

T. MICHAEL ANDREWS, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

ANTHONY WALTERS, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on February 25, 2015 ....................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Barrasso ............................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Daines .................................................................................. 17 

Statement of Senator Franken ............................................................................... 2 

Statement of Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................. 30 

Statement of Senator Murkowski ........................................................................... 22 

Statement of Senator Tester ................................................................................... 19 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 26 

WITNESSES

Boyd, Rodger, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Native American Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ........................ 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 

Roubideaux, Hon. Yvette, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Advisor to the Secretary for 

American Indians and Alaska Natives, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services; accompanied by: Robert McSwain, Acting Director, Indian 

Health Service ...................................................................................................... 9 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 

Washburn, Hon. Kevin, Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs, U.S. Department 

of the Interior ....................................................................................................... 2 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 4 

APPENDIX

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 38 

Difuntorum, Sami Jo, Chairwoman, National American Indian Housing Council, prepared statement ........................................................................................ 40 

Response to written question submitted by Hon. Steve Daines to Hon. Kevin 

Washburn .............................................................................................................. 44 

U.S. Department of Justice, prepared statement .................................................. 37 

(1) 

THE PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2016 BUDGET 

REQUEST FOR INDIAN PROGRAMS 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m. in room 

628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Barrasso, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING 

The CHAIRMAN. Now I will call to order the oversight hearing. 

As members are aware, we have a roll call vote scheduled for approximately 3 o’clock p.m. So I want to move ahead with this as 

rapidly as we can while still giving full attention to those who are 

presenting information today on behalf of the President’s Fiscal 

Year 2016 budget for Indian Programs. 

This Country faces a continuing Federal deficit and tight budgets. The Federal Government also has important responsibilities to 

Indian people. Those responsibilities require funding. 

The President’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request calls for increases for both the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian 

Health Service. Whatever funding is provided for these Indian programs must be used efficiently and effectively in fulfilling Federal 

responsibilities. 

We will hear from key Federal agencies which serve Indian 

Country now. I am disappointed that the Department of Justice is 

not here to testify today. The Department of Justice provides critical public safety services to Indian Country. It also supports a 

multitude of important programs to tribes across the Country 

Individual tribal members in Indian Country as a whole cannot 

afford to be ignored by the Administration’s Attorney General. I 

have discussed the importance and responsibilities of the Department of Justice to Indian Country and this Committee with the Attorney General nominee. 

Before we hear from the witnesses present today, I want to see 

if, as the Vice Chairman is not here, if there is an additional statement before going to the witnesses. 

2 

STATEMENT OF HON. AL FRANKEN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA 

Senator FRANKEN. Well, I have an opening statement, but I just 

want to thank you for holding this oversight hearing and I want 

to thank the witnesses for being here today. 

Budget time is a critical time of year for this Committee. I think 

it is time to examine Native American programs across the Federal 

Government and evaluate priorities for Indian Country. It is also 

an opportunity to shine a light on an area of the budget that 

doesn’t receive the attention or the funding that it deserves. 

I hope we members who sit on the Committee can educate our 

colleagues who aren’t on the Committee, and get these issues to 

their attention, and the funding that they need. Very often what 

comes out of this Committee to me is underfunded. We need to do 

a better job, those of us on the Committee, of talking to our colleagues about the importance of this. 

I am going to keep this short and just thank you, Mr. Chairman, 

and thank all the witnesses. 

The CHAIRMAN. Any other members have an opening statement 

they would like to offer? 

Today we are hearing from the Honorable Kevin Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. We 

are hearing from the Honorable Yvette Roubideaux, Senior Advisor, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human 

Services. And we will hear from Mr. Rodger Boyd, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Native American Programs, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development. 

I want to remind the witnesses that your full written testimony 

will be made part of the official hearing record. Please keep your 

statements to five minutes so that we may have time for questions. 

I look forward to hearing your testimony, beginning with Assistant 

Secretary Washburn. Please proceed. 

STATEMENT OF HON. KEVIN WASHBURN, ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE 

INTERIOR 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and members. 

Thanks for being here. 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the President’s 

budget request for fiscal year 2016 for the U.S. Department of the 

Interior. As you know, my office oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education and several other offices at 

the Department. 

The Fiscal Year 2016 budget request for Indian Affairs is an increase of $323.5 million above our current budget. That is about a 

12 percent increase. It raises our budget to about $2.9 billion. We 

are obviously very happy with it. 

As you know, we serve about 566 tribes and Native villages 

across the Country. Sixty-eight percent of our budget request basically goes directly to tribes through self-governance contracts and 

compacts. So really, much of our budget is a pass-through to Native 

American tribes. 

This year, our budget supports an all-of-government approach to 

addressing Federal responsibilities, the trust responsibility. We did 

3 

something unusual this year. The White House Native American 

Affairs Council, which is chaired by Sally Jewell, the Secretary of 

the Interior, for the first time in history called multiple departments together to coordinate on our budget request. This has never 

been done. It probably should have been done every year. But this 

is the first time, at the request of Sally Jewell. 

We met with HUD and we met with HHS and our colleagues to 

talk about, how can we work together on a budget. This budget is 

the outcome of that. We have made great strides. 

Indeed, what is just as important in our budget is what is not 

in our budget. So let me first talk about that. Frankly, it gives me 

a chance to thank my colleague, Rodger Boyd. Because HUD has 

$10 million in its budget for teacher housing for our teachers in the 

BIE. That is a big increase. 

Another thing that is not in our budget, but you heard about it 

if you went to the President’s State of the Union address, is full 

tuition for two years for students to go to community colleges and 

tribal colleges. So that is a big increase that is not in our budget, 

but it benefits Indian Country tremendously. 

Chairman Barrasso, you expressed dismay that the Department 

of Justice is not here. Let me tell you that there is a $100 million 

increase in the Department of Justice’s budget for Indian Country. 

This again comes from all of us working together. 

Likewise, there are some other things that don’t appear as an increase in the budget, but they will help dramatically. So Arne Duncan at the Department of Education has made tribes eligible, along 

with States, to apply for early childhood education money. Before, 

they were not eligible to apply. So he has changed that. So that 

will bring a lot of new money into Indian education as well. 

So those are just some things that are not in our Indian Affairs 

budget, but they are very important. 

Now let me talk about the things that are in our budget. Among 

those things are tremendously increased funding for Native youth 

under the President’s initiative called Generation Indigenous. Our 

budget request for the BIE increases to about $1 billion. Some of 

that is for a range of things. We have a request this year for $45 

million for school construction, which will finish up the last two 

schools on our 2004 priority list and allow us to start planning for 

other schools so that when we put our priority requests together 

we can start next year with construction at those schools. 

We also have a new line for replacement facility construction. So 

where we have a school, for example, like the Bug School that has 

an elementary school that is fine but a high school that is really 

weak, we don’t have to measure the whole campus, we could be 

able to replace one building, for example. 

So those are some improvements. We also have $34 million, I believe, for improving internet access at these schools, because that 

is so important. A lot of our schools are on the wrong side of the 

digital divide. 

We have also been working with Verizon to provide better 

connectivity at these schools and provide better facilities and computers. We have also been working with the E–RATE program at 

the Federal Communications Commission. So we are trying to 

4 

leave no stone unturned for getting better funding for our Indian 

schools. 

We also this year have a request for mandatory funding for contract support costs. We have not fully funded contract support costs 

in the past. I think everybody knows the importance of self-governance. We have to fully fund contract support costs if we want selfgovernance and self-determination contracts to be effective. So we 

have asked for mandatory funding for contract support costs beginning next year. But we would be thrilled to start it this year, if 

that is what Congress so chooses. In my budget, we also have a funding request for $4.5 million for 

an Indian Energy Service Center to help tribes like Southern Ute 

that are in the audience, so that we can bring in the Bureau of 

Land Management, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, Office 

of Special Trustee under one roof so that they can work better to 

serve our energy-producing tribes. 

Finally, there is a proposed increase of about $40 million for climate resilience to help tribes along a range of programs that are 

affected by weather disasters and drought. We look forward to seeing this budget passed. We know this is a place where there is a 

lot of bipartisanship around Indian Country, and we really hope for 

our support to get the President’s budget for Indian Country across 

the finish line. 

So I congratulate you on your bipartisan support for Indian 

Country and I thank you for having us here today. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Washburn follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. KEVIN WASHBURN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN

AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Good afternoon, Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and members of the 

Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide a statement on behalf of the 

Department of the Interior on the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2016 

presented to Congress on February 2, 2014. The FY 2016 budget request for Indian 

Affairs programs within the Department totals $2.9 billion, which is $323.5 million 

more than the FY 2015 enacted level. 

As the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, I have the responsibility to oversee 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, along with other 

programs within the immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. 

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, BIA, and BIE programs expend over 90 percent of appropriated funds at the local level. Of this amount, over 

68 percent of the appropriations are provided directly to Tribes and tribal organizations through grants, contracts, and compacts for Tribes to operate government programs and schools. In sum, tribal self-determination and self-governance programs 

have eclipsed direct services provided by the BIA and BIE. Indian Affairs’ programs 

and funding serve 566 federally recognized tribes and more than two million American Indian and Alaska Native people. 

The 2016 President’s budget supports an all-of-government approach to addressing Federal responsibilities and tribal needs. Coordination of this work across the 

Federal government is being carried out through the White House Council on Native 

American Affairs, established by Executive Order on June 26, 2013, by President 

Obama, and chaired by the Secretary of the Interior. The Council has worked diligently to break down silos in Federal agencies and increase coordination on programs and budgets. As a result of this all-of-government approach, the Administration’s support for Tribal Nations goes well beyond the budget of Indian Affairs at 

Interior, or the Indian Health Service at the Department of Health and Human 

Services. Together, the IA and IHS represent less than one-half of the Administration’s overall budget request for tribal programs. 

The President’s budget seeks increases across more than 20 Federal departments 

and agencies serving Indian Country. In total, the budget proposes $20.8 billion, a 

$1.5 billion or 8 percent increase over the 2015 enacted level, across a wide range 

5 

of Federal programs that serve Tribes including education, social services, justice, 

health, infrastructure, and stewardship of land, water, and other natural resources. 

These increases support improved access to Federal programs and resources, particularly focused on youth through the Administration’s newly established Generation Indigenous initiative. Investments like these will provide real and sustainable 

improvements in Indian Country. 

Our funding priorities are guided, in part, by careful coordination with Tribes 

through a regional-to-national planning process through the Tribal Interior Budget 

Council. In addition, input from Tribal leaders gained from the annual White House 

Tribal Nations Conference has helped guide the Administration’s priorities and decision-making processes. These and other sources of Tribal input have informed legislative and programmatic initiatives and funding priorities in the 2016 budget, including full funding and a mandatory proposal for contract support costs. 

The Indian Affairs budget provides significant increases across a wide range of 

Federal programs that serve Tribes and supports improved access to Federal program and resources. Indian Affairs plays a unique and important role in carrying 

out the Federal trust responsibility and in serving Tribes. The budget capitalizes on 

the central role of Indian Affairs in coordinating with other agencies by proposing 

to create a one-stop shop approach for facilitating tribal access to Federal funds and 

programs across the U.S. government. 

Creating Opportunities for Native Youth 

The 2016 budget includes key investments to support the launch of Generation 

Indigenous, an initiative focused on addressing barriers to success for Native American youth. This initiative takes an integrative, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate approach to help improve lives and opportunities for Native American 

youth. Multiple Federal agencies, including the Departments of the Interior, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, 

Labor, and Justice, are working collaboratively with Tribes to implement education 

reforms and address issues facing youth. 

In today’s global economy, a high quality education is no longer just a pathway 

to opportunity—it is a prerequisite to success. President Obama set out a vision for 

a 21st century education system, grounded in both high academic standards and 

tribal values and traditions. The Indian Affairs’ budget proposes a $1.0 billion investment in Indian education to support a comprehensive transformation of the Bureau of Indian Education. The proposal recognizes the progress in self-governance 

in Indian education reflected in the fact Tribal Nations have contracted to run more 

than two-thirds of Federal Indian schools. The multi-year transformation process 

will improve the BIE’s ability to support Tribes in educating their youth and help 

them provide a world-class and culturally appropriate education across Indian 

Country. The budget invests in improving educational opportunities and quality 

from the earliest years through college. The budget request supports this transformation with increased investments totaling $93.9 million to improve outcomes in 

the classroom; provide improved instructional services and teacher quality; promote 

enhanced language and cultural programs; enhance broadband and digital access; 

and provide funds to Tribes to encourage creative solutions to school transformations. The budget includes an education construction increase of $58.7 million 

to replace the Little Singer Community and Cove Day schools in Arizona and to 

plan for future schools to be replaced. The increase also includes $11.9 million to 

address major facility repair needs. To foster public private-partnerships that will 

support improving student experiences at BIE-funded schools, the 2016 budget proposes appropriations language enabling the Secretary to activate the National Foundation for American Indian Education. The proposed bill language will initiate a 

foundation focused on fundraising to create opportunities for Indian students in and 

out of the classroom. 

Budget increases across other Federal agencies through the Generation Indigenous initiative will support educational outcomes and provide wrap-around services 

in the areas of behavioral and mental health, substance abuse, and job training. 

The President’s budget also requests an additional $3.0 million to support youth 

participation in BIA natural resources programs that focus on the protection, enhancement, and conservation of natural resources through science, education, and 

cultural learning. Tribal youth will benefit from the mentoring and positive role 

models provided by tribal personnel who work on the ground to manage and protect 

vital trust resources. Programs aimed at tribal youth will pay future dividends by 

opening future job opportunities, instilling respect for resources, and developing an 

appreciation of the importance of natural resources to tribal cultures and livelihoods. The request will support approximately 60 new tribal youth projects and 

training programs throughout Indian Country and supplement existing training proVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
6 

grams within the forestry, water, and agriculture programs. In addition, the BIE 

budget includes a $4.6 million increase for scholarships for post-secondary education, with a focus on recipients seeking degrees in the fields of science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics. Making advanced education opportunities available 

for tribal members is a high priority for Tribes, who see education as the path to 

economic development and a better quality of life for their communities through an 

educated and skilled tribal member workforce. 

Supporting Indian Families and Protecting Indian Country 

President Obama knows our youth must be well served in the classroom, but it 

is also important to support Indian families and ensure public safety in their communities. Children need a safe environment when they go home from school. That 

is why the President’s budget request is committed to promoting prosperous tribal 

communities and addressing problems of poverty, violence, and substance abuse. As 

part of the President’s commitment to protect and promote the development of prosperous tribal communities, BIA will continue the Tiwahe initiative. The initiative 

promotes a comprehensive and integrated approach to supporting family stability 

and strengthening tribal communities by addressing interrelated issues associated 

with child welfare, domestic violence, substance abuse, poverty, and incarceration. 

Tiwahe means ‘‘family’’ in the Lakota language. The Tiwahe initiative directly supports the Generation Indigenous initiative, which is focused on addressing barriers 

to success for Native youth, by leveraging BIA programs in concert with other Federal programs that support family and community stability and cultural awareness. 

Child abuse and neglect continue to be serious and persistent problems among Indian populations in the United States. The impact of child maltreatment in many 

Indian communities has been devastating. It has disrupted extended family support 

networks and broken up families through placements outside the community. Children living in poverty are far more likely to be exposed to violence and psychological 

trauma, both at home and in the surrounding community. Many Indian communities face high rates of poverty, substance abuse, suicide, and violent crime. The 

U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that between the years 2007–2011, 23.9 percent of the American Indian and Alaska Native population lived in poverty—a figure 

that exceeded the national poverty rate of 14.3 percent. 

Solutions lie in addressing the interrelated problems of poverty, violence, and substance abuse faced by many communities through a comprehensive, culturally appropriate approach to help improve the lives and opportunities of Indian families. 

This requires coordination of social service programs, taking steps to maintain family cohesiveness, preparing family wage earners for work opportunities, and providing rehabilitative alternatives to incarceration for family members with substance abuse issues. The proposed increase of $6.0 million for social services programs will support the Tiwahe initiative by providing culturally appropriate services with the goal of empowering individuals and families through health promotion, 

family stability, and strengthening tribal communities as a whole. The budget also 

includes $4.0 million for Law Enforcement Special Initiatives and $5.0 million for 

tribal courts to implement a comprehensive strategy for providing alternatives to incarceration and increases in treatment opportunities across Indian Country. The 

BIA will work with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to 

provide comprehensive suicide prevention training to police officers and work with 

tribal courts to identify and make mental health services and support more widely 

available. 

To promote public safety and community resilience in Indian communities, the 

2016 law enforcement budget builds on recent successes in reducing violent crime 

and expands efforts to lower repeat incarceration in Indian Country, which is a Department priority goal. In 2016, a pilot program to lower rates of repeat incarceration will be expanded from three sites to five, with the goal of reducing recidivism 

by at least three percent within these communities by September 30, 2017. To 

achieve this goal, BIA will implement comprehensive alternatives to incarceration 

strategies that seek to address underlying causes of repeat offenses—including substance abuse and social service needs—by utilizing alternative courts, increased 

treatment opportunities, probation programs, and interagency and intergovernmental partnerships with tribal, Federal, and State stakeholders. 

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act expands the jurisdiction of tribal law enforcement and justice systems to domestic violence altercations in Indian 

Country. The BIA Office of Justice Services is providing technical assistance to 

Tribes to change tribal legal codes to reflect provisions contained in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that provide stronger protections and safety 

for vulnerable populations. The BIA is also implementing training for direct service 

law enforcement program staff in the areas of law enforcement, social services, vicVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
7 

tim services, and courts and is making this training available to Tribes operating 

these programs under self-determination contracts and compacts. 

Tribal Nation-Building 

Programs run by Tribes through contracts with the Federal Government support 

tribal nation-building and self-determination. The 2016 President’s budget request 

for contract support costs is $277.0 million, an increase of $26.0 million above the 

2015 enacted level. 

Based on the most recent analysis, the requested amount will fully fund estimated 

2016 contract support costs. The budget also includes—for the first time—a new 

proposal to fully fund BIA and Indian Health Service contract support costs as mandatory funding, beginning in 2017. The BIA and IHS will continue to work together 

with Tribes and consult on policies to address long-term programmatic and funding 

goals to advance tribal self-determination. 

Tribal leaders and communities need access to quality data and information as 

they make decisions concerning their communities, economic development, land and 

resource management, and other decisions. The ability to access and analyze data 

to support such decisions is critical to understanding the benefits and impacts of 

policy and program decisions. The collection and analysis of data by the Federal government is also critical to ensuring Federal agencies and programs are delivering 

effective services to Tribes to meet tribal needs and deliver on Federal responsibilities. The budget includes a total increase of $12.0 million to help address longstanding concerns Tribes have expressed with the quality of data in Indian Country. 

This funding will enable Interior to work with Tribes to improve Federal data quality and availability, work with the U.S. Census Bureau to address data gaps for Indian Country, and create an Office of Indian Affairs Program Evaluation and Data 

to support effective, data-driven, tribal policymaking and program implementation. 

To deliver on an all-of-government approach to Indian Country, the BIA budget 

proposes an increase of $4.0 million to establish a One-Stop Tribal Support Center 

to make it easier for Tribes to find and access the hundreds of services available 

to Tribes across the Federal Government. The One-Stop Tribal Support Center will 

include an online portal and services to support Tribes in accessing Federal resources at the regional and local levels. The Center will make it easier for Tribes 

to find services and receive consistent information across Federal programs. Initially, the Center will focus on programs that serve Native American youth, in support of the Generation Indigenous initiative and to pilot this new approach to serving needs in Indian Country. 

The BIA budget also includes $4.5 million to establish an Indian Energy Service 

Center to facilitate energy development in Indian Country. It is imperative that 

tribal efforts to permit energy development on reservation lands are met expeditiously. Income from energy is one of the larger sources of revenue generated from 

trust lands, with royalty income climbing to $1.1 billion in 2014. Delays in energy 

development can result in delayed profits to Indian mineral rights owners. The Indian Energy Service Center will expedite leasing, permitting, and reporting for conventional and renewable energy on Indian lands, and—importantly—provide resources to ensure development occurs safely, the environment is protected, and risk 

is managed appropriately by technical assistance to support assessment of the social 

and environmental impacts of energy development. The Center will be composed of 

staff from BIA, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, Bureau of Land Management, and Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians—all of which have responsibilities related to tribal energy development. Working with the Department 

of Energy’s Tribal Energy Program, the Center will provide a full suite of energy 

development-related services to Tribes nationwide and meet current demands for 

services. The Center will coordinate and enhance BIA’s ability to process leases, 

BLM’s responsibility for Applications for Permit to Drill approval and monitoring, 

ONRR’s responsibilities for royalty accounting, and will institute streamlined processes, standardized procedures, and best practices for all types of energy at various 

locations and bureaus. 

Sustainable Stewardship of Trust Resources 

The BIA’s trust programs assist Tribes in the management, development, and protection of Indian trust land and natural resources on 55 million surface acres and 

57 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. 

Taking land into trust is one of the most important functions Interior undertakes 

on behalf of Tribes. Homelands are essential to the health, safety, social, cultural, 

and economic welfare of tribal governments. The Administration set an ambitious 

goal of placing more than 500,000 acres of land into trust by the end of 2016. To 

that end, BIA processed more than 1,835 land-into-trust applications, accepting 

8 

more than 281,755 acres in trust on behalf of Tribes since 2009. In 2014, Interior 

acquired 41,685 acres of land in trust on behalf of Tribes and individuals and approved 290 fee-to-trust applications. The BIA intends to meet or exceed the 500,000- 

acre goal in 2016. 

In December 2014, BIA announced a final rule that will allow the Department 

to accept land into trust for federally recognized Alaska Tribes. Previously, Interior 

regulations allowed tribal nations in the continental United States to seek to place 

lands into trust, but did not allow the same for federally recognized Alaska Tribes. 

Taking land into trust for a tribal nation makes the land eligible for certain Federal 

programs that can further tribal sovereignty and economic development related to 

agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and health and housing programs. The new rule 

confirms the Secretary’s pre-existing statutory authority to consider applications to 

take land into trust in Alaska and confirms this authority will be exercised. 

The BIA budget includes a total increase of $6.9 million for Trust Real Estate 

Services activities to bolster the stewardship of trust resources. The expanded capacity will address the probate backlog, land title and records processing, geospatial 

support needs, and database management. To foster utilization of tribal lands, BIA 

published a proposed new rule on June 17, 2014, to update BIA regulations—which 

were last revised more than 30 years ago—that govern rights-of-way across Indian 

land. The revised regulations are designed to result in faster timelines for BIA approval and ensure consistency with recently promulgated BIA leasing regulations. 

In addition, the proposed regulations would make the process more efficient and 

transparent, increase flexibility in compensation and valuations, and support landowner decisions on land use. 

Supporting Climate Resilience in Indian Country 

Tribes throughout the U.S. are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate including drought, intensifying wildfires, changes in plants and animals important to subsistence and cultural practices, impacts to treaty and trust resources, 

and coastal erosion and sea level rise. In November 2014, the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force—established under Executive Order 13653 Preparing the 

United States for the Impacts of Climate Change—formally released recommendations to the White House. These recommendations called on the Federal government 

to partner with Tribes in planning, preparing, and responding to the impacts of climate change. 

Responding to these recommendations, which included input from hundreds of 

tribal leaders, the budget provides a total of $50.4 million, a $40.4 million increase 

over 2015, across nine BIA trust resource programs to support tribal communities 

in preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change. Funds will provide support for Tribes to develop and access science, tools, training, and planning; 

and to implement actions that build resilience into resource management, infrastructure, and community development activities. Funding will also support Alaska 

Native Villages in the arctic and other critically vulnerable communities in evaluating options for the long-term resilience of their communities. 

Tribal lands, particularly in the West, on the Coasts, and in Alaska, are on the 

frontline of climate change, yet many of these communities face immense challenges 

in planning and responding to the far-reaching impacts of climate change on infrastructure, economic development, food security, natural and cultural resources, and 

local culture. Some communities are already experiencing increasingly devastating 

storms, droughts, floods, sea-level rise, and threats to subsistence resources. 

Strengthening access to information and resources, including technical and financial 

assistance to address the combined and cumulative effects, are among the highest 

priorities for supporting climate change adaptation and resilience. Examples of 

projects that may be funded include training, studies, scenario planning, natural resource and infrastructure projects, public awareness and outreach efforts, capacity 

building, and other projects. Criteria for tribal funding will be developed and 

prioritized in consultation with the Tribes and the interagency White House Council 

on Native American Affairs subgroup on environment and climate change. 

Indian Water Rights 

The 2016 budget request for Indian water settlements continues to demonstrate 

the Administration’s strong commitment to resolve tribal water rights claims and 

ensure Tribes have access to water to meet domestic, economic, cultural, and ecological needs. Many of the projects supported in these agreements bring clean and 

potable water to tribal communities, while other projects repair crumbling irrigation 

and water delivery infrastructure on which tribal economies depend. These investments improve the health and well-being of tribal members and preserve existing 

9 

economies and, over the long-term, bring the potential for jobs and economic development. 

The FY 2016 budget request for technical and legal support and for tribal water 

rights settlements totals $244.5 million, an increase of $73.0 million over 2015. This 

includes a total of $40.8 million for Interior-wide technical and legal support and 

$203.7 million for settlement implementation. Of the request for settlement implementation, $136.0 million is funded in the Bureau of Reclamation and $67.7 million 

in BIA. In 2016, Interior will complete the funding requirements for the Taos Pueblo 

Indian Water Rights Settlement Act. 

To strengthen the Department’s capacity to meet its trust responsibilities and 

more effectively partner with Tribes on water issues, the 2016 budget includes a 

$16.9 million increase across the budgets of BIA, Reclamation, BLM, the Fish and 

Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. This funding will support a more robust, coordinated, Interior-wide approach to working with and supporting Tribes in 

resolving water rights claims and supporting sustainable stewardship of tribal 

water resources. Funds will strengthen the engagement, management, and analytical capabilities of the Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office; increase coordination 

and expertise among bureaus and offices that work on these issues; and increase 

support to Tribes. 

Conclusion 

This FY 2016 budget maintains strong and meaningful relationships with Native 

communities, strengthens government-to-government relationships with federally 

recognized tribes, promotes efficient and effective governance, and supports nationbuilding and self-determination. The 2016 budget request delivers community services, restores tribal homelands, fulfills commitments related to water and other resource rights, executes fiduciary trust responsibilities, supports the stewardship of 

energy and other natural resources, creates economic opportunity, expands access 

to education, and assists in supporting community resilience in the face of a changing climate. 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am happy to answer 

any questions the Committee may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you so much, Secretary Washburn. Dr. 

Roubideaux? 

STATEMENT OF HON. YVETTE ROUBIDEAUX, M.D., M.P.H., 

SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE SECRETARY FOR AMERICAN 

INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES; ACCOMPANIED BY: ROBERT 

MCSWAIN, ACTING DIRECTOR, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and members 

of the Committee. Good afternoon. I am Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, I 

am the Senior Advisor for the Secretary for American Indians and 

Alaska Natives. 

With me today is Mr. Robert McSwain, Acting Director of the Indian Health Service. We are pleased to provide testimony on the 

President’s proposed fiscal year 2016 budget for the Indian Health 

Service. 

Since 2008, the Indian Health Service appropriations have increased by 39 percent, thanks to your Committee’s help. These investments are making a substantial impact in the quality and 

quantity of health care provided to American Indians and Alaska 

Natives. The President’s budget proposes to continue this progress, 

by increasing the IHS budget by $461 million to a level of $5.1 billion, which if appropriated will increase the IHS budget by 53 percent since 2008. 

The budget continues the Administration’s commitment to improving health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives. The 

budget proposes increases totaling $147 million to help address 

10 

medical inflation, population growth and pay costs to maintain current services. 

The budget also addresses a top tribal priority by proposing an overall $70 million increase in Purchased and Referred Care, formerly known as Contract Health Services, which will help us fund 

more referrals for our patients and it has enabled us to fund more 

referrals over the past several years with the increase. It is also 

helping us reimburse more high cost cases. The budget proposes an additional $25 million for IHS to expand 

its methamphetamine and suicide prevention initiative, to increase 

the number of child and adolescent behavioral health professionals 

who will provide direct services and implement youth-based programming as a part of the President’s Generation Indigenous initiative. 

The budget also includes other increases focused on improving 

access to affordable health care, improving third party collections 

and helping IHS continue to achieve meaningful use of its electronic health records. The budget proposes to reauthorize the successful Special Diabetes Program for Indians, or SDPI, for another 

three years at the current $150 million funding level, to continue 

progress in preventing and treating diabetes in American Indian 

and Alaska Native populations. 

The budget includes significant investments in IHS facilities, including increases in maintenance and improvements, sanitation facilities construction, health care facilities construction, which will 

help us make progress on the priority list. The budget proposes an 

$18 million increase to fund additional staff for three newly-constructed facilities scheduled to open in fiscal year 2016. 

A top priority is strengthening our partnership with tribes. I 

truly believe that the only way we are going to improve the health 

of our communities is to work in partnership with them. This includes honoring and supporting tribal self-governance and self-determination. That is why we are pleased to inform you that the 

President’s budget includes a two-part long-term approach to funding contract support costs, which is a result of our tribal consultation that was requested last year on the long-term solution. 

The first part is full funding for contract support costs in FY 

2016, for which the budget requests an increase of $55 million. The 

second part of the approach is a proposal to reclassify contract support costs as mandatory rather than discretionary, starting in fiscal 

year 2017, after tribal consultation and working with all of you in 

fiscal year 2016. The proposal is consistent with the top recommendation from tribes to fully fund contract support costs but 

separate from the rest of the budget. 

IHS has also worked in partnership with tribes to improve estimates of contract support cost need and the agency’s business practices related to CSC funding. The proposal to reclassify CSC as 

mandatory helps us continue progress on this issue. We really look 

forward to working with you on this approach. We have also made 

progress on our past contract support cost claims, which we put in 

our testimony. 

In summary, the Fiscal Year 2016 President’s budget helps the 

Indian Health Service continue progress on improving access to 

quality health care, changing and improving the Indian Health 

11 

Service and strengthens our partnership with tribes. I appreciate 

all of your efforts in helping us ensure a healthier future for American Indian and Alaska Natives. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Roubideaux follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. YVETTE ROUBIDEAUX, M.D., M.P.H., SENIOR ADVISOR

TO THE SECRETARY FOR AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

Good afternoon. I am Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for 

American Indians and Alaska Natives. I am pleased to provide testimony on the 

President’s proposed FY 2016 budget for the IHS and to describe our accomplishments that show the budgets enacted in recent years have made a difference in 

helping us address our agency mission to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) to the highest level. 

The IHS is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services 

(HHS) that provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2.2 million AI/ANs from 566 federally recognized Tribes in 35 states. The 

IHS system consists of 12 Area offices, which are further divided into 170 Service 

Units that provide care at the local level. Health services are provided directly by 

the IHS, through Tribally-contracted and operated health programs, through services purchased from private providers, and through contracts and grants awarded 

to urban Indian health programs. 

As an agency we are committed to ensuring a healthier future for all AI/AN people, and the IHS budget is critical to our progress in accomplishing this. Since 2008, 

IHS appropriations have increased by 39 percent, thanks in part to your committee, 

and these investments are making a substantial impact in the quantity and quality 

of health care we are able to provide to AI/ANs. The FY 2016 President’s budget 

proposes to increase the IHS budget to $5.1 billion, which will add $461 million to 

the FY 2015 enacted funding level, and if appropriated, will increase the IHS budget 

by 53 percent since FY 2008. 

The funding increases proposed in the President’s budget are part of an ‘‘all of 

government’’ approach to addressing Tribal needs, with a particular focus on AI/AN 

youth. For the IHS, the increases will help us improve the quality of and access to 

care for the patients we serve by expanding access to priority health care services 

that our patients need, which will result in better quality and health outcomes. The FY 2016 President’s Budget proposes current services increases totaling $147 

million, which are critical to maintain services of our IHS and Tribal hospitals and 

clinics, help address medical inflation, population growth and pay costs, and ensure 

continued support of services that are vital to improving health outcomes. 

The FY 2016 President’s Budget also addresses a top Tribal priority by proposing an overall $70 million increase to the Purchased/Referred Care (PRC) budget, formerly known as Contract Health Services. This increase includes $43.6 million in 

medical inflation, $1.2 million in additional staffing for new facilities and a $25 million program increase. PRC funding has increased almost every year since 2008 (58 

percent overall), which has allowed some of the IHS and Tribally-managed PRC programs to approve referrals in priority categories other than Medical Priority I— 

Emergent or Acutely Urgent Care Services (life or limb), including some preventive 

care services, thus increasing access to patient care services. In 2009, only four IHSoperated PRC programs were able to fund referrals that met PRC Medical Priority 

I. In FY 2013, 23 IHS-operated PRC programs were able to purchase services beyond Medical Priority I. This number increased to 41 of 69 IHS-operated PRC programs with the PRC increase in FY 2014. The recent increases in PRC have also 

enabled the Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund (CHEF) to reimburse high cost 

cases submitted through mid-September, rather than only through June as in the 

past. 

The FY 2016 President’s Budget proposes an additional $25 million for the IHS 

to expand its successful Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative (MPSI) 

to increase the number of child and adolescent behavioral health professionals who 

will provide direct services and implement youth based programming at IHS, Tribal, 

and IHS-funded Urban Indian health programs, school based health centers, or 

youth based programs. This funding will enable the hiring of more behavioral health 

providers specializing in child, adolescent, and family services, which will improve 

access to behavioral health prevention treatment services for AI/AN youth. This expansion of the MSPI is the central focus of the Tribal Behavioral Health Initiative 

for Native Youth, which is part of the President’s comprehensive Generation IndigeVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
12 

nous Initiative to remove barriers to success and to create opportunities for Native 

youth and reflects a collaborative effort between the IHS and the Substance Abuse 

and Mental Health Services Administration. 

The IHS and Tribes have made progress in improving behavioral health over the 

past few years with both the MSPI and the Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative 

(DVPI). The MSPI has funded 130 IHS, Tribal, and urban community developed 

programs since 2009 that have provided over 500,000 evidence-based and practicebased youth encounters in the first five years of MSPI implementation. The successes of the MSPI highlight the effective use culturally appropriate interventions 

and supportive environments, such as identification with Native culture, increased 

social connectedness, and discussing problems with friends or family, emotional 

health, and connectedness to family, consistent with the scientific literature on prevention of suicide and substance abuse among AI/AN youth. The increase in services 

is significant and, as a result, the percent of individuals receiving depression screening in IHS and Tribal facilities increased from 35 percent in FY 2008 to 66 percent 

in FY 2014. 

The DVPI currently funds 57 projects focusing on prevention, intervention, and 

treatment of domestic and sexual violence. Together these services have resulted in 

50,500 direct service encounters, more than 38,000 referrals, and the delivery of 

over 600 forensic evidence collection kits submitted to federal, state, and Tribal law 

enforcement. These are vital services. According to a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, American Indian women residing on Indian reservations 

suffer domestic and sexual violence at rates far exceeding women of other ethnicities 

and locations. Native women are over 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually 

assaulted compared to other women in the U.S. 

The FY 2016 President’s budget also includes other increases focused on improving access to affordable health care. With the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplaces and the Medicaid expansion, IHS has the potential to increase 

revenues to support more services through third party reimbursements when it provides services to eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives with other health 

insurance coverage. The FY 2016 President’s budget includes a $10 million funding 

increase to improve third party billing and collections at IHS and Tribally-operated 

facilities. Having more patients who are Medicaid beneficiaries or have private insurance is one part of increasing revenues for our hospitals and clinics. Improving 

our business practices to ensure timely and accurate billing, monitoring of open receivables, and follow up on unpaid bills is another critical component on which IHS 

has made progress. In FY 2014, IHS third party collections increased by $49 million, 

mainly due to improvements in business practices and from increased third party 

reimbursements from patients with health coverage. 

Another important component necessary to improving quality and ensuring better 

outcomes for our patients is an effective, state-of-the-art health information technology system that helps us measure outcomes and provide better patient care. That 

is why we continue to upgrade the capabilities of our IHS Resource and Patient 

Management System (RPMS), which includes IHS’ Electronic Health Record (EHR). 

The FY 2016 President’s budget will help IHS to comply with the requirements for 

the 2015 EHR Certification and Stage 3 Meaningful Use (MU), through an increase 

in funding of $10 million. Participation in MU is critical for the agency since it promotes activities to improve quality and penalties in Medicare payments will occur 

if IHS does not participate. 

IHS has implemented several major upgrades related to MU initiative. The IHS 

was an early adopter of EHR technology and achieved certification for Stage 1 MU, 

resulting in the IHS and Tribal health systems receiving over $120 million to date 

from the MU incentives. IHS recently received certification for the 2014 Certified 

EHR and is developing upgrades that will include the ability to achieve MU Stage 

2, which includes the ability to share records between facilities, have patients view 

their health records online, and even have patients send direct secure email to providers. IHS is also preparing to implement ICD–10 which can now proceed since 

IHS met the 2014 EHR Certification requirements. The IHS RPMS team is currently conducting testing of ICD–10 software upgrades with four sites and with external payers. We are on track to meet the ICD–10 implementation date of October 

1, 2015 and plan to begin upgrading local RPMS systems in June. 

Another successful program that is helping us improve the provision of quality 

health care is our Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI). The FY 2016 President’s budget proposes to reauthorize the SDPI for another 3 years at the current 

$150 million funding level to continue progress in preventing and treating diabetes 

in the AI/AN population. This program has shown that, in partnership with our 

communities, we can prevent and treat diabetes in Indian country with innovative 

and culturally appropriate activities. The most recent SDPI data reflect improveVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
13 

ments in diabetes care throughout our system. For example, the rate of increase in 

diabetes prevalence in adults is slowing and there is almost no increase in diabetes 

prevalence in youth. In addition, the most recent outcomes paper for the SDPI Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) suggests that the DPP may reduce new cases of 

diabetes through lifestyle changes. Preventing diabetes, especially among Native 

youth, is important since it will help them avoid a lifetime of diabetes and related 

health problems. 

Ensuring access to health care requires efficient and effective facilities and infrastructure, which contribute to improving public health and health outcomes. The FY 

2016 President’s budget includes significant investments in IHS facilities, including 

increases for maintenance and improvement, sanitation facility construction, and 

health care facility construction. Since 2008 the IHS has maintained the facility condition of its health care facilities, provided sanitation facilities service to 159,990 Indian homes, funded 2 hospitals, 6 health centers, and 2 youth regional treatment 

centers, and participated with Tribes in 12 joint venture projects. However, the 

backlog of essential maintenance, alteration, and repair is $467 million as of the end 

of FY 2014, over 34,500 AI/AN homes are without access to safe water or adequate 

wastewater disposal facility infrastructure and over 182,500 AI/AN homes that require upgrades and/or capital improvements to the existing sanitation facilities, and 

there remains $2 billion of construction projects still to construct on the IHS Health 

Care Facilities Construction Priority List. The FY 2016 President’s Budget proposes an additional $171 million for the Fa- cilities appropriation to address these needs. Included is $35 million to address the 

maintenance backlog and $36 million to provide sanitation facilities to 7,700 more 

homes than estimated to be served in FY 2015. In addition, the health care facilities 

construction budget is proposed to be increased by $100 million for a total funding 

level of $185 million, which will enable the IHS to complete construction of the Gila 

River Southeast Health Center, and begin construction on three other projects on 

the IHS Health Care Facility Construction Priority List including the Salt River 

Northeast Health Center in Arizona, the Rapid City Health Center in South Dakota, 

and the Dilkon Alternative Rural Health Center in Arizona. 

Additional staffing for newly constructed facilities is critical to achieving the 

planned increased access to health care. The FY 2016 President’s budget proposes 

to fund all three of the projects that are opening just prior to or in FY 2016. The 

requested amount is $18 million to complete the staffing packages for the Southern 

California Youth Regional Treatment Center and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw 

Indians’ joint venture health center, and to begin funding of the staffing package 

for the Fort Yuma Health Center. 

A top priority of the IHS is to strengthen our partnership with Tribes. I truly believe that the only way that we are going to improve the health of our communities 

is to work in partnership with them. This includes honoring and supporting Tribal 

self-determination and self-governance. That is why I am pleased to inform you that 

the FY 2016 President’s budget includes a two-part, long term approach to funding 

contract support costs (CSC), which is the result of our Tribal consultation that the 

House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee requested last year on a long-term solution for CSC appropriations. The first part of the approach is full funding of the 

estimated CSC need in FY 2016, for which the budget requests an increase of $55 

million. 

The second part of the approach is a proposal to reclassify CSC as mandatory, 

rather than discretionary, starting in FY 2017, after Tribal consultation in FY 2016. 

The reclassification of CSC as mandatory would be authorized for a 3-year period 

that specifies annual amounts that fully fund the estimated CSC need for each year 

for FYs 2017–2019. This proposal is consistent with the top recommendation in FY 

2014 from Tribes to shift CSC to a mandatory account as the long term approach 

to fully funding CSC, and will accomplish the top Tribal recommendation to fully 

fund CSC separately from the services budgets. In the past year, IHS has worked 

in partnership with Tribes to improve estimates of CSC need and the agency’s business practices related to CSC funding. IHS has also made progress on past CSC 

claims, with offers extended on 1,219 CSC claims and settlements on 883 claims for 

a total value of $679 million. The FY 2016 President’s Budget’s proposal to reclassify CSC as a mandatory appropriation helps us continue progress on this issue 

which is a top priority of Tribes and we look forward to working with you on this 

proposed approach. 

I want to close by emphasizing that even with all the challenges we face, I know 

that, working together with our partners in Indian Country and Congress, we can 

continue changing and improving the IHS to better serve Tribal communities. The 

FY 2016 President’s Budget helps IHS continue progress on improving access to 

quality healthcare and strengthens our partnership with Tribes. I appreciate all 

14 

your efforts in helping us provide the best possible health care services to the people 

we serve, and in helping to ensure a healthier future for American Indians and 

Alaska Natives. 

Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Dr. Roubideaux. 

Secretary Boyd, thanks for joining us. 

STATEMENT OF RODGER BOYD, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN PROGRAMS, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

Mr. BOYD. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and members of the 

Committee. Thank you for inviting me to provide comments on the 

President’s request for 2016 for the Office of Native American Programs. 

HUD’s programs are available to 566 federally recognized tribes, 

five state-recognized tribes, and the State of Hawaii’s Department 

of Hawaiian Homelands. We serve these entities directly and 

through their tribally-designated housing entities by providing 

grants and loan guarantees designed to support the development of 

affordable housing and to create greater reservation-sustainable 

economies and communities. 

In the proposal for fiscal year 2016, in the Indian Housing Block Grant program, which is the backbone of our programs, is $660 

million, an increase of $10 million over 2015. Title 6 loan guarantee, $2 million. Section 184, the Home Loan Guarantee Program, 

$8 million, which is a $1 million increase. Indian Community Development Block Grant, $80 million, which is a $14 million increase; $10 million will be set aside for the new initiative to address teacher housing in Indian Country. Altogether, the request provides a total of $748 million, which is $15.9 million more than in FY 2015. 

There has been an opportunity that is being proposed for 2016 

in the overall HUD budget. There is a request in the Department, 

a request of $177.5 million for a new special purpose vouchers to 

assist Native Americans, non-Native American families and veterans experiencing homelessness, as well as victims of domestic violence. The Jobs Plus program in the Department is proposing to 

expand its program to include Indian tribes and Native American 

families and has set aside $15 million for this purpose within the 

$100 million request for Jobs Plus. The Jobs Plus program provides 

support to help residents at assisting housing to obtain employment and increase earnings. 

ICDBG was mentioned, we are asking for an additional $10 million set aside for the ICDBG program to help tribes attract and retain high quality teachers in Indian Country by improving the 

availability and physical conditions of teacher housing. The setaside is one of several investments according to Generation Indigenous, an Administration initiative focusing on removing barriers to 

success for Native youth. 

In closing, HUD’s investments in Indian Country are yielding 

positive results as tribes continue to leverage and be resourceful 

with their Federal dollars. HUD strongly supports the reauthorization of NAHASDA, which authorized the single largest source of 

Federal funding for housing in Indian Country. Thank you. 

15 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Boyd follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF RODGER BOYD, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF

NATIVE AMERICAN PROGRAMS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN

DEVELOPMENT

Good Afternoon Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the 

Committee. Thank you for inviting me to provide comments on lending and 

leveraging in Indian Country. In my remarks today, I will focus on how HUD’s Indian housing programs provide the tools for us to work in partnership with Indian 

tribes to identify barriers and find solutions to further the development of better affordable homes for American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

My name is Rodger Boyd, and I am the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native 

American Programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At 

HUD, the Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) is responsible for the management, operation, and oversight of HUD’s American Indian, Alaska Native, and 

Native Hawaiian programs. 

HUD’s programs are available to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes; 5 staterecognized tribes; and the State of Hawaii’s Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. 

We serve these entities directly, or through their tribally designated housing entities (TDHEs), by providing grants and loan guarantees designed to support the development of affordable housing to create greater reservation sustainable economies 

and communities. 

From HUD’s perspective, our Title VI leveraging and Section 184 loan guarantee 

programs provide solutions to the barriers to Indian housing development. These 

programs have and are making great progress in providing housing opportunities 

to Native American families across the country because we do not take a ‘‘one-sizefits-all’’ approach to Indian Country. Our programs provide the flexibility for our 

grant and loan recipients to design their housing programs based on their unique 

tribal housing and economic development needs. We continue to build upon this approach by identifying new ways to work in partnership with tribes as we work together to build a better living environment in Native American communities 

through creating sustainable tribal communities and tribal economies. 

HUD administers four programs specifically targeted to American Indian and 

Alaska Native individuals and families, including the Indian Housing Block Grant 

program. 

Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) grantees received more than $10.6 billion in 

17 years of funding (1998 through 2014). Since the inception of the program, IHBG 

recipients have built or acquired almost 37,000 affordable housing units in Indian 

Country, and substantially rehabbed almost 73,000. IHBG recipients also currently 

maintain more than 46,000 ‘‘HUD units’’ that were developed before NAHASDA was 

enacted. 

In implementing these programs, the Department recognizes the right of tribal 

self-governance and the unique relationship between the federal government and 

tribal governments, established by long-standing treaties, court decisions, statutes, 

Executive Orders, and the United States Constitution. Each of the 566 federally recognized tribes has its own culture, traditions, and government. We view our role as 

a partner to tribes and TDHEs to face challenges and achieve successes in Indian 

housing together. 

A main barrier to Indian housing development is accessing capital on reservations. HUD, in partnership with tribes, has attempted to overcome this barrier by 

providing assistance in building capacity for tribes to gain private capital through 

sources such as Low Income Housing Tax Credits, the Title VI Loan Guarantee program, and the Section 184 Loan Guarantee program. A growing number of tribes 

are using these and other federal and state tools to leverage private funding on reservations and tribal lands. 

HUD has encouraged tribes to use leveraging as one possible tool to build capacity 

and maximize the impact of their IHBG funds through the Title VI program. Under 

the Title VI program, HUD can guarantee 95 percent of outstanding principal and 

interest on a loan made by a private lender to an IHBG recipient for affordable 

housing activities. Borrowers pledge a portion of their current and future IHBG 

funds as security for the repayment of the federally guaranteed financial obligation. 

The 95 percent guarantee has proven to be an incentive for private lenders to get 

involved in the development of tribal housing. To date, tribes have used the Title 

VI program for 80 loans representing $206.9 million in volume. 

There have been many success stories as a result of this strategy. 

16 

The Ogala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota is borrowing $6 million to build 45 lowrent homes (5 in each of the reservation’s 9 districts). They were able to almost double the number of homes by purchasing modular homes from a state program. This 

enables them to start meeting the housing demand across the reservation. 

The Yakama Nation Housing Authority has used two Title VI loans. The first was 

to finance water storage and wastewater infrastructure necessary to support existing housing and a 68-unit LIHTC project. Combined, the two loans came to about 

$15.8 million. 

The Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority (TNHA) in Alaska is currently 

using Title VI to build highly energy efficient homes using technology from the Cold 

Climate Housing Research Center. In Alaska, it is not uncommon for the cost of energy to exceed the mortgage payments. By using new technology, TNHA has developed an energy efficient housing program that is currently using a $6.7 million Title 

VI loan to build 24 homes in northern Alaska. 

Also, the Tohono-O’odham Ki:Ki Association in Arizona will borrow $2.5 million 

to substantially rehabilitate 20 vacant rental units. Twelve of these 20 units will 

receive accessibility upgrades for seniors and for persons with disabilities. 

HUD encourages tribes to continue to look beyond their IHBG grant funding for 

other sources of capital to further the expansion of housing and economic development in Indian Country. One example is the Section 184 loan guarantee program. 

This program promotes home ownership by encouraging lenders to finance mortgages in Indian Country. The program has proven successful in that it has produced 

more than 26,000 loans in 20 years. The program is continuing to grow in popularity, and is expected to exceed the 3,400 loans guaranteed in fiscal year 2014. So 

far in fiscal year 2015, the program has seen a 21 percent increase in firm commitments and a 37 percent increase in certifications issued, compared to the same period a year before. 

HUD is collaborating with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to strengthen its 

relationship with tribes as a means of increasing the inventory of available housing 

in tribal communities. The Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) and the 

BIA have committed to improve the loan closing process to reduce the time it takes 

to guarantee or insure loans. The Agencies are also emphasizing self-determination 

and self-governance through the HEARTH Act and by compacting the Land Title 

Records Office functions from the BIA. 

For Fiscal Year 2016, HUD is requesting: $660 million for IHBG, which is an increase of $10 million from Fiscal Year 2015 and includes $2 million for Title VI 

Credit Subsidy; and $8 million for Section 184 Loan Guarantees, which is a $1 million increase from Fiscal Year 2015. HUD is also requesting $80 million for the Indian Community Development Block Grant, which is a $14 million increase from 

Fiscal Year 2015, from which $10 million will be set-aside for a new initiative to 

address teacher housing in Indian Country. Tribes will be able to rehabilitate, acquire, and construct new homes to attract and retain teachers in tribal areas. All 

together, the request provides a total of $748 million for these programs, $15.9 million more than in Fiscal Year 2015. 

Two additional initiatives for Fiscal Year 2016 include the Special Purpose Vouchers and the Jobs-Plus set-aside. The Department has requested $177.5 million for 

new Special Purpose Vouchers to assist Native Americans, non-Native American 

families, and Veterans experiencing homelessness, as well as victims of domestic 

and dating violence. 

The Jobs-Plus program provides support to help residents of assisted housing to 

obtain employment and increase earnings. The Department is proposing to expand 

this program to include Indian tribes and Native American families, and has set 

aside $15 million for this purpose within the $100 million requested for Jobs-Plus. 

Closing 

In closing, HUD’s investments in Indian Country through leveraging and loan 

guarantees are yielding positive results while recognizing the important of tribal 

sovereignty and government-to-government relationships with tribes. In order to 

continue doing so, HUD strongly supports the reauthorization of NAHASDA, which 

authorizes the single largest source of federal funding for housing in Indian Country. We have seen the great strides that have been made by tribes under this seminal piece of Indian legislation, even in challenging fiscal environments. We look forward to working with the Committee and tribes to secure reauthorization this year. 

Thank you again, Chairman Barrasso, and members of the Committee, for the opportunity to appear before you today. I look forward to continuing to work with you 

and your staffs on these issues. I would be happy to answer any questions you may 

have. 

17 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Secretary Boyd. 

Senator Daines? 

STATEMENT OF HON. STEVE DAINES, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

Senator DAINES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Dr. Roubideaux, thank you for being here today as well. I spend 

a lot of time traveling across Montana in Indian Country. One of 

the concerns I hear within IHS is the administrative costs, that a 

lot of the expense occurs before the dollars actually get down to the 

people who need the help. 

About how much of IHS’s costs are estimated to be administrative? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. If you look at the overall budget, it is approximately 10 percent. If you look at the area office budgets, it is equivalent, around 10 to 11 percent as well. So most of the, really 90 

percent of the funds are used for service units, for direct health 

care for the services that we do provide. I do know that tribes have 

that concern and what we have been doing is putting together 

budgets to show them the actual numbers so they can see where 

that is. 

The administrative portion of IHS has actually been decreasing 

over time, as more tribes take their shares as they take over the 

management of the program. So I would say about an average of 

10 percent. 

Senator DAINES. I appreciate that, and I would be very willing 

to work with you all, looking at how we can reduce the overhead 

so the dollars are getting down to the people who need the help. 

I appreciate the comments on self-determination as well. I think 

that is a direction we probably need to head. I hear that from our 

tribes as well. So we would like to have more empowerment and 

control over those dollars, to spend them closer to where the people 

actually are receiving the services. 

We had a recent article in the Billings Gazette about a family 

that was in Ashland, Montana. The contractions came and they 

were making a mad dash to Billings, came through Lame Deer 

Clinic. But there were not facilities there for delivering babies. In 

fact, to quote the mom, she says, ‘‘We were flying all the way from 

Ashland to Billings and we almost made it.’’ And when she says 

flying, it wasn’t an airplane. They were going there quickly in an 

automobile. 

What kind of reforms do you believe are needed to ensure that 

folks have access to these kinds of services closer to home versus 

two and three hours away if you are driving fast and the roads are 

good? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. I completely understand what you are saying. 

When I was a doctor in the Indian Health Service, I delivered babies in the ambulance on the way to Globe, Arizona. I have delivered babies in a bathroom. And it is such a challenge on the front 

lines in the Indian Health Service to meet the need with the available resources. 

However, especially in Montana, we have been talking with 

tribes, and there is a great focus on wanting to improve access to 

care. There have been a number of improvements that have been 

18 

made by the acting director there, trying to expand access to services, have the clinics open more hours and actually talk with tribes 

about priorities. Given that we have a fixed budget for the amount 

of services we need to provide, and the need is great, trying to 

align how we spend that budget with tribal priorities. 

So for example, at Crow and Northern Cheyenne, they have already done renovations for the Adobe unit, and they are looking for 

ways to find revenue to be able to support that service and the providers. 

Senator DAINES. I appreciate that. I look forward to working 

with you on that as well, out there in the Crow and Northern 

Cheyenne, part of our State. 

Assistant Secretary Washburn, the Montana delegation has offered legislation to recognize the Little Shell Tribe for several Congresses. We have our entire delegation on board, introducing this 

legislation. I know you have been doing some work to reform the 

Federal recognition process for tribes. How might these reforms 

help the Little Shell Tribe? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Senator, thank you for the question. It is a little 

bit premature for me to say, honestly. The Little Shell have had 

a tough run of it in our process. That process came to near completion. We know that Congress has every right to recognize tribes, so 

we encourage your efforts over here. 

So I don’t want to go on record just yet saying what we are going 

to do. We are working on that. We are still sifting through lots of 

comments and trying to figure out exactly what the new regulations ought to look like. We want it to be a very rigorous process 

and it certainly is. We know that there are other mechanisms for 

recognition. Congress has recognized a lot of tribes over the last 

couple of decades. That may be an appropriate route for Little 

Shell recognition. 

Senator DAINES. I know they have stacks and stacks and stacks 

of paperwork as they move through the process. It has been decades. If I can get your commitment that we will work together, 

whether it is administratively or legislatively, to get that ball 

across the goal line. 

Mr. WASHBURN. We would be delighted to work with you. Thank 

you, Senator Daines. 

Senator DAINES. In terms of the Department’s resources, how 

much of an impact would Federal recognition of the Little Shell 

Tribe have on the BIA’s budget? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We don’t actually look at that as part of our criteria. Because if we have a Federal trust responsibility to that 

tribe, if they ought to be a federally-recognized tribe, then that 

shouldn’t be a big part of our consideration. We have 566 tribes. 

On balance, one additional tribe doesn’t add a lot of marginal costs, 

usually. 

I don’t know what the specific numbers would be with regard to 

Little Shell. 

Senator DAINES. Thank you, Secretary Washburn. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Daines. 

We are in the middle of a vote and a number of people have left. 

They are going to be returning, and I am going to have to leave 

shortly. It is interesting, the President’s budget request proposes to 

19 

transfer the contract support costs from discretionary funding to 

mandatory funding. The law states that costs like this have to be 

offset. I am just wondering what the Administration proposes to do 

as an offset for these costs shifting from discretionary to mandatory. Perhaps, Mr. Secretary, you can start, then I will ask you 

also, Dr. Roubideaux. 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Chairman. One of the things we propose to do, essentially, we have to fund contract support costs. So 

this year, what we would intend to do and what we have projected 

forward is to take the amount that would have been a discretionary 

fund basically and move that into the mandatory funding. So we 

would reduce what we ask for in our discretionary funding for that. 

So that is essentially, in the short term at least, how we figure this 

out. 

We are going to need your agreement to this, because I think 

this Committee even has jurisdiction over part of this question. So 

we definitely need your support to make this happen. 

We think tribes need to have certainty, and they need to be able 

to count on this money. We have not been very trustworthy before, 

neither the Administration nor Congress, in fully funding contract 

support costs. So this is a way, alluded to if not endorsed by the 

appropriations committees to deal with this issue. We hope that 

they do endorse it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Roubideaux? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes. We understand that it is a challenging 

budget climate. We also understand there is lots of need. We are 

hearing that tribes are really excited about this proposal. Secretary 

Burwell did testify today at the Labor HHS hearing, and I am 

waiting to get the exact language for that. But she did answer the 

same question that you have asked, which is, how are we going to 

pay for this. And she talked about how this budget was formulated 

over all the President’s budget to be able to pay for it. So I will 

refer staff to follow up with us, with the Department of Health and 

Human Services, and we can help show you how that works. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

Senator TESTER. [Presiding] It is always good to visit about the 

budget. I want to start out by saying, I have been critical in the 

past about the Bureau fighting for dollars in the budget. I am 

going to give you guys the credit for what is in the President’s 

budget. I think it is much better this time around than it has been 

in past years. So as I give you criticism when it is not good, I give 

you credit when it is good. I want to thank you for that. 

Kevin, it has been a while since you have been here. I know 

there was a point in time where you almost had a seat up here, 

because you were at every one of our Committee meetings. But this 

Committee has already reported a few bills out. This has nothing 

to do with the budget, it is just because I haven’t seen you for a 

while. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator TESTER. We have already reported a handful of bills out. 

That handful of bills we dealt with in the last Congress, too. And 

20 

we didn’t open it up for a new round of legislative hearings and I 

commend the Chairman for that. 

But what I want to hear from you is, can you say anything about 

the importance of the self-governance amendments or the energy 

bill that we passed out of Committee? We also had a couple that 

were focused on tribal youth that we all feel were pretty darned 

important. So could you just comment on those four bills for the 

record? 

Secretary WASHBURN. You bet. And Vice Chairman, I assure you 

that I have missed you. It is good to be back. And Senator Murkowski, you too. 

One of the bills that you passed out of the Committee was the 

Spotted Bear and Soboleff Commission on Native Children act, cosponsored by Senator Murkowski. We are really glad to see that 

one passed on. We are glad that you are moving fast. It looks like 

the new chairman is moving just as fast as you did. You laid the 

groundwork for a lot of this and we are really grateful for that. 

We also testified last year on the Native American Children’s 

Safety Act, sponsored by Senator Hoeven, primarily. And we 

worked with his staff, and that was a good bill, and that one has 

been passed on. So we feel really good about that. 

The Tribal Energy Bill as well, that would make improvements 

to that situation. We think that is terrific that you passed that out 

of the Committee. 

Finally, the Tribal Self-Governance Bill, we testified on that two 

Congresses ago. We testified on it last Congress, supportive both 

times. I understand that there weren’t changes in it, the bill that 

you passed. So we think that all four of these bills, we congratulate 

you for getting them out of the Committee and hope that you can 

make progress with them in the full Senate. 

Senator TESTER. It is my hope, and I think it is the hope of 

many, if not all, the people on this Committee, that we can get 

these through the Senate, through the House and on the President’s desk. I appreciate your support of them. 

Let’s talk about the budget for a second. When we do look at 

budgets for tribal programs, we look at the short term and we also 

look at the long term. I want to talk about the long term for a bit, 

because a lot of these problems are not going to be solved over a 

one-year period. 

So what is the long-term planning process, looking at some of the 

unmet needs in Indian Country? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We have to look long term, because frankly, the 

unmet needs are terrific. They are very high. We have additional 

needs and Senator Murkowski, I don’t want to preempt her, but 

the needs in Alaska are high, and we don’t provide for some of 

those needs currently. So if we had more money, there are a lot of 

great things we could do. 

However, one of the things we have to do is build up our infrastructure. So for example, we have included money for school construction this year. We have something near a billion dollars in 

needs in school construction. We haven’t asked for a billion dollars 

in part because we have to have the infrastructure to spend that 

money. If you gave us a billion dollars today, we wouldn’t be able 

21 

to spend it in the next year. We have to have the staff in place so 

that we can spend that in a responsible way. 

So we have asked for a responsible amount of money. We haven’t 

asked for everything that we ultimately hope for. So we think that 

we probably have a six-year or seven-year plan to address school 

construction in Indian Country. We can’t swallow it all in one year. 

So that is sort of the idea, and that is, frankly, the way we are 

working on several of our budget requests. 

Senator TESTER. Okay. Let’s talk about school construction for a 

second. It includes a new line item for replacement facility construction, which appears to fund replacement of individual buildings or portions of schools. 

My question is this. Can a piecemeal response ensure the problems of BIE school conditions is adequately addressed? I don’t 

think there is anybody on this Committee that doesn’t understand 

the need for BIE school construction and rebuilds out there. It has 

been reported on in the press, it is ugly. Could you tell me how you 

see the piecemeal response versus a different approach? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Yes, Vice Chairman, thank you. I would characterize it as thorough and comprehensive, not piecemeal. Frankly, it 

is piecemeal if you only focus on construction. Because there is a 

lot more to education than school construction. It is one of our more 

serious problems, but we are trying to be comprehensive. Not only 

are we focused on construction, we are focusing on getting IT support and internet access to those schools, crossing the digital divide. We are focusing on Johnson O’Malley to some degree, which 

helps schools in Alaska and other places, public schools. 

And we don’t have the luxury, unfortunately, of focusing just on 

one thing like school construction, even when it is abysmal. Because even in our functioning schools, honestly, our good condition 

schools, the quality of education is not high. So we have to focus 

on those issues as well. 

Senator TESTER. Yes, and I am going to turn to Senator Murkowski for a second. But you are never going to get good teachers 

as long as those facilities are tanked out. It is just not going to 

happen. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Tester follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

I want to thank the Chairman for holding this hearing on the President’s FY 2016 

budget. While it’s not possible to fix everything in Indian Country in one year’s 

budget, I think this is a good budget for Indian Country that keeps us going in the 

right direction. I want to thank the Administration for its attention to tribal issues 

and I want to thank our witnesses as well for their work on behalf of Indian Country. 

As everyone is aware, the President’s budget has increases almost across the 

board for tribal programs, while also reining in the deficit. While we can’t always 

agree on what issues should be prioritized, I think we all know that a responsible 

budget shouldn’t be balanced on the backs of Indian Country. 

I think the budget emphasizes many of the issues that tribes have prioritized in 

the past few years. Every year, for decades now, we’ve heard of crumbling infrastructure in our Bureau of Indian Education schools. Well finally, the Administration listened, and has asked for enough funds to finish the 2004 school construction 

list. 

Over the past decade, tribal leaders, and the federal courts, have said we have 

to fund contract support costs. This budget provides for full funding of those costs, 

while also proposing to make those costs mandatory funding in the future, so they 

22 

no longer cut into program and service dollars. This is a good thing that I hope all 

my colleagues can understand and agree on. Overall, the budget proposes over $20 billion across all the federal agencies targeting Indian Country. It is worth noting, though, this is only an 8 percent increase 

over 2015, and still does not meet the full needs of Indian Country. However, sitting 

on this Committee and hearing week in and week out about the unmet needs of 

tribal communities, I know that any increases will have an enormous impact on the 

well-being of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians across our 

country. The budget provides $2.9 billion for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Inte- rior, an over $320 million increase. Nearly half of the increase is intended to improve the Bureau of Indian Education. This Committee has heard ample evidence 

of the impact underfunding education has on our Native youth, so focusing resources here serves as a solid step in the right direction. 

The budget would also provide additional resources to allow for greater management of trust assets, address climate change in Native communities, strengthen 

tribal governance, and continue supporting tribal families through the ‘‘Ti-Wah-Hey’’ 

Initiative. 

At IHS, the budget proposes a $460 million increase, which would fully fund contract support costs, increase referred care, and provide for new facilities and staffing. The proposed budget provides for behavioral health targeting youth, and would 

strengthen third party billing and collection efforts. 

Similarly, there are increases at HUD to improve tribal access to a myriad of 

housing programs; DOJ grant programs improving law enforcement efforts in Indian 

Country; initiating a loan guarantee program at DOE for tribal energy development; 

the list goes on and on. 

I know some of my colleagues on the Hill have dismissed this budget as being 

a wish list from the Administration. Well, for Indian country, this is not a wish list, 

but steps towards keeping the promises made to tribes through treaties and legislation throughout our long history. 

So I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on the impacts that the 

FY 2016 budget will make in their respective departments and programs, and how 

we can work together to help fulfill the commitments we’ve made to Indian Country. 

Senator TESTER. Senator Murkowski? 

STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you. 

And thank you, to each of you, for being here this afternoon. I 

think that Senator Tester has stated it well, in terms of how we 

are going to meet the needs out there. We all have to be working 

together here. But it is difficult. Mr. Washburn, you point out the 

situation in Alaska quite well. 

I want to start, before I go to questions, I want to direct, instead 

of a question, a statement to you, Director Roubideaux. I do appreciate the Administration’s advocacy on fully funding contract support costs. But I also recognize that it didn’t come easy. It didn’t 

come without tribes having to win before the Supreme Court in the 

Ramah case. 

Then the Republicans, I was pushing really hard within Interior 

Appropriations, to deliver justice to tribes by taking on the Administration’s policy position of ignoring the responsibility of adequately funding tribal contracts. That was something that I really 

didn’t think that I was going to have to do. It just seemed to me 

that once the courts ruled that the Administration would follow the 

direction and do the full funding right away and it didn’t happen 

that way. 

I have committed to working with tribes in Alaska and advancing an effort to move contract support cost accounts into mandatory 

spending. I know it is going to be a heavy lift here. I don’t pretend 

23 

for a second that it won’t. But I think this should be a priority. I 

think we should make this a priority. 

Tribal self-governance is a model that must be supported. It 

must be expanded. We cannot, in this Country, fulfill a Federal 

trust relationship based on failed economic policies and models that 

are stifled by bureaucratic regulations and broken promises. 

So I have been asking to work with the Administration for a couple of years now in partnership. Yet it seems like I am having to 

fight the Administration on staffing packages, on contract support 

costs, on base operational funding for village-built clinics. We have 

this conversation every single time. We have urged your leadership 

on achieving an administrative fix to the definition of Indian within the Affordable Care Act to confirm the definition with Medicare 

and Medicaid. I have worked to safeguard the Indian Health Service from sequestration, to be equally treated as other Federal 

health programs. 

But at every turn, it seems I am not getting that partnership, 

that assistance from your side. There remains, in my view, no leadership from the Administration on advance funding for IHS. Tribes 

have been frustrated. They have certainly been frustrated when 

they have come to me, I know they have been frustrated when they 

come to you. 

So I don’t know what the White House is going to do with nominations. But I will just state here that should the White House be 

considering whether to just send your name forward for nomination, I am going to push back. I am going to suggest that they consider new leadership. Because we just haven’t seen the results and 

the partnership that we have been hoping for. And I regret that 

and I am sorry that it has not proven better. 

But I wanted it to be clear at the outset here in this Congress 

where I am coming from and what it is that we are looking for. 

Assistant Secretary Washburn, I wanted to ask you about the report we had requested in the Omnibus last year that there be coordination with the Department of Justice and your agency to report to the House and Senate committees on the budgetary needs 

of our tribal courts within P.L. 280 States. Can you give me an update on that, when we might anticipate that report, kind of where 

we are in the status? This is a big priority. 

We have talked about jurisdiction so much in Alaska. I keep arguing, we can talk about jurisdiction, but we must make sure that 

funds are there for these tribal courts. So do you know where we 

are? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We don’t have a report for you yet, Senator Murkowski. Actually, the report is not required by law. Although I 

don’t disagree that a report is a good idea. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. I thought it had to be within 180 days of 

when the Omnibus was signed. 

Mr. WASHBURN. We understand that it wasn’t in the bill. And so 

there’s no legal requirement for that report. Now, we don’t need to 

quibble over that too much, because again, you’ve asked for that, 

we have talked about that and I think I have even suggested it. 

We need to be thoughtful about these things, and preparing a report is a way to prepare a map on what we need to do. 

24 

So I am not quibbling that we should do one. But it sort of surfaced on my radar screen very recently. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Because we have been working with folks 

back home to get from them their costs, so that we can submit it 

to you all. That has been part of the problem, what is it going to 

take, what will it take to fund, to provide the funding for our tribal 

courts here. So I think we have been doing the leg work on our end 

with the assumption that this report was required. I don’t know, 

maybe it is part of the Committee report. 

But again, it sounds like you are willing to work with us to provide for this, because I think this is going to be key for us. 

Mr. WASHBURN. We will do that, Senator. And with regard to 

your report about contract support costs, your comments about 

that, Winston Churchill once said that the United States always 

does the right thing after it has exhausted all other options. He 

might have been talking about contract support costs. 

So I am really thrilled that we are now at the right place on contract support costs. I congratulate everybody who continued to beat 

up on us until we did get to the right place on contract support 

costs. As you said, you now have a heavy lift, and we support you 

in that lift. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. It was too long in coming, and I am glad 

that we are here. 

Mr. Chairman, I am going to be letting Mr. Boyd know that I am 

going to be sending you a letter on HUD income eligibility, which 

as you know, drives the NAHASDA funding. We have kind of an 

odd situation in Alaska, where in rural Alaska, the cost of living 

is almost double the cost of living in our urban areas. But in the 

reporting that goes out, it isn’t reflected that way. 

So we have provided you with the necessary data to support the 

conclusion that income limits for Alaska rural residents do not appropriately reflect the cost of living differential. So I will send that 

out to you and we would look forward to your response. I thank you 

for the indulgence of extra time. 

Senator TESTER. Senator Franken? 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Washburn, when I walked in from taking the vote, I heard 

Senator Tester talking about school reconstruction. And yesterday 

I asked Secretary Jewell about the funding and you mentioned the 

Bug School in your statement. I know that she says and you said 

you need to finish the remaining schools on the 2004 list, and that 

the Department of the Interior plans to issue a new list for school 

reconstruction later this year. 

I do want to know what the FY 2016 funding increase will mean 

for the Bug-O–Nay-Ge-Shig School in Leech Lake. Outside of school 

construction line items, your agency also has increased funds for 

technology, operations and instruction for Bureau of Indian Education schools. 

Will the Bug School be eligible for any of these funds this year, 

and what is your plan in the future to make sure the school finally 

gets replaced? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Franken. Our plan is to go 

ahead and run the new formula. I think that folks expect that it 

may very well be on the list, on the new priority list, when we run 

25 

the new formula. But as I have said, we have tried to be more flexible. We had never had this line for facility construction. We have 

had school construction. We have 183 schools around the Country, 

campuses, I guess I should say. And we have around 1,700 buildings. 

As you know, at Bug School, there is an elementary school that 

is in pretty good shape. There is a high school that is absolutely 

atrocious. And then there is the school out back where the language program is in, it is in a portable building. 

The problem, we haven’t been very holistic, well, we have been 

too holistic in how we look at these things. Because we rate the 

whole campus, rather than looking at individual buildings. So Bug 

School didn’t rate on the 2004 list, because part of the school is in 

fine condition. 

So we started thinking about, what are the solutions to this, so 

that we aren’t in this situation. So we have added a whole new line 

to our budget called, we have a school replacement line, we have 

added a facility replacement line. So theoretically we could replace 

just one building rather than having to replace the whole campus. 

We have put $12 million into that line. We also have increased operations and maintenance funding as well. 

So I can’t guarantee you about the Bug School. But I will guarantee you that it is on everybody’s radar screen. The Secretary has 

been to the school. I have been to the school. I have heard you talk 

eloquently about it and I have seen it for myself now. Exposed wiring throughout the school, no science lab, it is indeed a pole barn. 

It is not safe. The hallways are way too narrow. It has serious 

problems. Nothing would make me happier than if it was number 

one on that priority list. 

But Congress told us that we had to use this formula. We 

couldn’t pick and choose among our friends. We had to use the formula and we had to do that formula through a negotiated rulemaking. So I didn’t get to draft the formula, representatives from 

Indian Country drafted the formula. We just have to see how it 

comes out to see where the Bug School is going to be on that priority list. 

Senator FRANKEN. Okay, thank you. 

One area that I am seeing increasing concern about from tribal 

leaders in my State is drug abuse. Specifically, opioid and heroin 

use. This issue is particularly tragic among pregnant women, because of the extreme harm done to infants who are born addicted 

to opioids and suffer from withdrawal. 

Based on data from Minnesota’s state-run public health assistance programs, from 2009 to 2012, the prevalence of maternal 

opioid use has doubled. While American Indian infants make up 

only 3 percent of kids born in these public assistance programs, 

they are 28 percent of the infants born with withdrawal symptoms. 

Secretary Washburn, I know the Tiwahe Initiative is intended in 

part to address substance abuse in Indian Country. Are you hearing about similar rates of opioid use across Indian Country as I am 

hearing about in Minnesota? How will the Tiwahe Initiative or 

other programs in the budget fight this rapidly increasing problem 

in my State? 

26 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Franken. We have heard serious problems related to opioids and other narcotics. Before that 

it was meth, and it has always been alcohol and other drugs, other 

substances. I heard from a tribal council member from the Ho 

Chunk Tribe just over the border in Wisconsin from Minnesota recently, who had six babies born in that tribal council member’s district of one tribe within a two-week span. And each time that happens, you have to find a healthy family to place that baby with, because you can’t give it back to the mother that has been using 

drugs while being pregnant. 

And you know, there weren’t six sets, 12 parents, that you could 

give each one of those babies to. So it is really an epidemic, and 

it is something that has really informed our Tiwahe Initiative, as 

you recognized. 

One of the things the Tiwahe Initiative does is increases money 

for social services and for child welfare services, so that we can be 

better, more proactive. Our social workers tend to be running from 

one crisis to another, and they need a little bit more support. So 

it will help. We are also working on, in law enforcement, to prevent 

drug use and reduce recidivism. So to get people more help. 

This is somewhere where we have been focusing on an all-of-government-approach too. So SAMHSA over at HHS has been our 

partner, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 

in trying to address these issues. 

They are quite overwhelming. We are doing the best we can to 

try to figure out how to address them. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you. I am well over my time, Mr. 

Chairman, but I will submit for the record a question for Dr. 

Roubideaux on this and another question. 

The CHAIRMAN. [Presiding] Thank you, Senator Franken. 

Senator Udall? 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso. 

Secretary Washburn, you mentioned in your opening about the 

internet and hooking up the schools. We all know the internet is 

really a basic tool for students building skills and for testing and 

for research and other purposes like that. Part of Generation Indigenous is expected to address this. But what plans do you have to 

connect all BIE grant and all BIE-run schools to the internet and 

have sufficient computer technology for the use by students and 

staff? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Udall. We have $34 million 

in this budget request, just for that purpose. We actually think this 

is a multi-year proposition as well. But we have to get those kids 

to where they need to be. They need to have internet access. These 

days we are required to do all sorts of testing in schools. Some of 

our schools in New Mexico are using pencil and paper, using the 

old Scantron type cards. Nowadays, most kids do those on computers, in well-funded school districts. We need all of our kids to 

be able to take their tests that way as well. So we have increased, we have a lot of money in this budget, $34 

million, for this year. We are working with the Federal CommuVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
27 

nications Commission on their E–RATE program, to try to get more 

funding for our rural schools. We are also working with public-private partnerships, like with Verizon, to get computer access and 

routers and other technology that we can use in schools. We are 

leaving no stone unturned to try to solve this problem. Not just 

with our budget requests, but we are working with others as well. 

Senator UDALL. Great. The next issue I would like to raise is the 

one of safe and clean schools. I think Senator Tester raised it in 

terms of teachers wanting to teach in a school like that, and clearly, students be inspired to learn, if they are in a good learning environment. What creative solutions are you developing to accelerate 

the repair and replacement of tribal school facilities? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We have requested $45 million for school replacement for next year. We have also requested $12 million for facility replacement for next year. 

We have also, by the way, increased funding in some other programs. Last year, we had a really tough winter. The price of natural gas went through the roof and schools were having to use 

some of their repair money and their operations money just to pay 

the gas bill. So we have put more money aside in those other lines, 

so that they can pay their gas bills without robbing Peter to pay 

Paul. So we are working on that. 

We are also working on teacher housing. We have money for 

teacher housing. Because the housing, it is not just the classroom 

where we put the teachers, it is the housing that has been bad, too. 

So we have significant increases in those areas. 

Senator UDALL. And as you know very well, recruiting and retaining the best staff is a basic principle for success in business. 

What are your plans to improve the recruitment and retention of 

the best teachers and leaders for Indian schools? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Udall, that is a great question. One of the things we have done is we have increased, we have 

made a certification program, a professional certification program 

available to our teachers. Basically this is us saying, we are going 

to invest in you. And if you want to go through this program, we 

will pay for it. 

It is a lot of work for them to do it, but we want to invest in our 

teachers. If we are helping to improve them and investing in them, 

we hope that will be a significant retention effort. We are really 

hopeful that we can keep some of those. 

Senator UDALL. We are learning how important early childhood 

education is. There is no doubt about that. All the research is indicating that you can have a dramatic impact on human development 

if you do it in those early years. 

What further investment is BIA and BIE making in early childhood learning, especially through the Family and Childhood Education Program, the FACE program? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Senator, yes, we have not asked for big increases 

in our FACE program. But what we have done is we have asked 

Secretary Arne Duncan to allow the Department of Education programs to change. States get early childhood education funding. But 

tribes were not eligible to apply for that funding. And so Secretary 

Duncan has changed the rules so that tribes are now eligible to 

28 

apply for that funding. So that will make a lot more funding available to these programs. They are so important. 

Ultimately, that will help with K through 12 education, too, because the earlier we start with these kids, the more effective the 

education is going to be for them over the long term. 

Senator UDALL. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Tester, I know you have an additional 

question. 

Senator TESTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is for Rodger 

Boyd. 

Rodger, we have heard a lot about the 184 program at HUD and 

it is working well. One of the concerns is that it is focusing on 

home ownership off-reservation. Does HUD have a plan to make 

this program more supportive and really increase on-reservation 

home ownership? 

Mr. BOYD. Thank you for the question. And the answer is yes. 

We know that initially the 184 program was really designed to 

focus on trust lands. Over the years, many people were, because of 

the difficulties in obtaining that land and mortgages on reservation, what they were doing is they were going to border towns. 

These are still within the service area of the respective tribe. 

And at the request of many chairmen who still wanted to house 

their own tribal people, we expanded it to go off reservation. Fortunately, what has happened, and I have to thank this Committee for 

doing that, and that is the passage of the HEARTH Act. We have 

been, as Kevin mentioned earlier, we have been forming a really 

good working relationship between BIA and Interior and HUD to 

look at the development of the HEARTH Act because it is going to 

have a huge impact and allow tribes to do much better with regard 

to title searching and to set up the recordation of title. That has 

been one of the big barriers we have confronted in the past. 

Senator TESTER. I appreciate that, Rodger. We are in 2015. The 

HEARTH Act was passed in 2012. We should already be seeing an 

uptick in on-reservation housing, if we are depending on the 

HEARTH Act. Have we seen an uptick in on-reservation housing 

over the last two years? 

Mr. BOYD. Not to date. 

Senator TESTER. Okay, so what I would suggest that you do is 

get together, consult with Indian Country, try to figure out how 

you can make this money more focused on the trust lands in Indian 

Country. If you can do that, I think it will make you a hero. And 

it will solve a problem that is a big problem. 

Yvette Roubideaux, I have a real quick question. You said the 

President’s budget has a particular focus on American Indian and 

Alaska Native youth. Can you tell me how IHS plans to prioritize 

the needs of Native youth? Do you have criteria that you are going 

to utilize when you talk about supporting programs in Indian 

Country that are going to directly affect Native youth? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes. It is real challenging, of course, because 

there is so much need. But the proposal in the President’s budget 

for the Tribal Behavioral Health Initiative is to add funds to the 

methamphetamine and suicide prevention initiative to increase the 

number of behavioral health providers for youth, adolescent and 

family programming. 

29 

Senator TESTER. How will you know where to put those people? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. There will be an application process, and it will 

be a demonstration of need and a demonstration of the applicant’s 

ability to provide services to address that need. 

Senator TESTER. Okay. I want to talk about veterans for a little 

bit. What interagency initiatives are going to be created or 

strengthened to ensure that Native veterans, who serve at a higher 

rate than any other minority, are getting the best care that they 

deserve, regardless of where they live? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Well, we appreciate your advocacy on that 

issue. You have done a lot on that. We have an MOU with the VA 

and we have the reimbursement agreement now with the VA. We 

have been meeting regularly with the VA not only nationally, but 

locally. So we are seeing expansion of tele-medicine, sharing 

trainings on behavioral health initiatives. We are seeing more work 

on a variety of different things. 

Senator TESTER. Okay, in other words, you are building a partnership with the VA that needs to be built. 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes. 

Senator TESTER. Good. 

Rodger Boyd, last question. Since 1982, the Congress has prohibited the use of IHS sanitation facilities construction funds for 

HUD-funded homes in the appropriations bill. They have prohibited the use of IHS sanitation funds. Recent legislation has been 

proposed that would permanently remove that prohibition. 

Could you tell me what the impact would be on NAHSADA recipients? 

Mr. BOYD. As I am sure you know, through the block grant program, this is an eligible activity for tribes, for housing authorities. 

The problem, though, is that tribes sometimes have to make very 

difficult decisions on how they are going to spend these funds within their communities. 

Senator TESTER. But right now, right now, they can’t use sanitation facilities construction funds. If we change it so that when it 

comes to building homes, if they changed it so they could, what impact would that have? 

Mr. BOYD. Well, it would have a great impact. 

Senator TESTER. Positive? 

Mr. BOYD. Yes. 

Senator TESTER. Okay. Thank you. 

Dr. Roubideaux, you just heard Mr. Boyd’s response to the questions about removing IHS sanitation construction provisions. 

Would you like to respond? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes, thank you, Vice Chairman. Certainly, I 

want to support tribal decision-making on funding options. But the 

challenge we have is that we have a $3.4 billion need for sanitation 

facilities construction projects in the Indian Health Service, with 2 

billion feasible projects. And if that funding were now opened up, 

it is right now for Indian homes. It if was opened up for HUD 

homes, that would just add to the deficiency. So it is a challenge. 

Senator TESTER. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Tester. 

Senator Heitkamp? 

30 

STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

First off, I know that we have been kind of hard on you guys in 

the past when you came here and you are talking about your commitment, especially to Native American kids, and we say we don’t 

see that commitment in the budget. Well, we certainly feel like 

those concerns have at least been listened to. Whether that is a significant enough increase to deal with what we see as systemic and 

long-term historic issues in Indian Country remains to be seen, especially given what may or may not happen in the United States 

Congress regarding these requests for funds. 

But I wanted to, I think, kind of start out with you, Kevin. I applaud the focus on Native American youth. I think you know that 

has been a major interest and concern of mine. 

What do you think we can do to guarantee that if we give, if we 

approve this increase in funding that the American public will actually see an improvement in the conditions for Native American 

children, whether it is in Indian education, whether it is in housing, whether it is in health care, mental health? Whether it is in 

fact in education attainment standards? How will we be accountable for those dollars and how do you see deploying these dollars 

in a most efficient way? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Well, thank you, Senator Heitkamp. That is one 

of the things we are most concerned about. But keep in mind, we 

are not just asking for more money. We are also talking about 

transforming the organization of the Bureau of Indian Education. 

We are also talking about transforming and making more holistic 

our BIA services as well, so that they are all working together better. 

We think we need more resources, for sure, but we also know 

that we can deploy those resources better by working together, by 

breaking down the silos between Cabinet level agencies and in our 

own shop. So one of the things we are doing is really reforming the 

BIE so it works better. Monty Roessel, the Director of the BIE, is 

here with me. He is working hard on that so the BIE can be more 

effective, not just at providing services itself, but supporting the 

schools, the tribally-controlled schools. 

Senator HEITKAMP. One of the points I want to make about Indian education, I think there can be all good intentions at the top. 

But if those attitudes do not filter down, with respect to tribal sovereignty, and with tribal self-determination, those conflicts will 

continue to have a direct effect on the quality of Indian education. 

I just want to set that out there, Kevin, that you need to be very, 

very mindful of working in concert with tribal authorities and with 

tribal school boards, with public school boards that are working in 

Indian Country. 

Before my time runs out, I do want to ask you about an issue 

that is very significant, obviously, in my State. That is the status 

of the Spirit Lake Social Service Intervention that has been done 

by BIA. Can you provide me with just a real quick update and any 

kind of ideas of additional kinds of support that you would need in 

order to do the job that needs to be done at Spirit Lake? 

31 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Heitkamp. One of the requests that would help at Spirit Lake is our Tiwahe Initiative request. Because we are really trying to increase social services and 

provide more support, really nationwide, for social services. But it 

would help Spirit Lake. 

Your staff and our office have been right on top of this. I will tell 

you, we have seen a lot of improvement. We have fully staffed BIA 

social services out there, in part by hiring contractors, because we 

couldn’t always get full-time employees. But we have fully staffed 

them. 

We have a new superintendent out there who has a master’s in 

social work. So that is a plus. We are working on co-locating the 

law enforcement with tribal social services and BIA social services 

so that they can all work together. We have been working closely 

with the Casey Family Foundation, so we have a public-private 

partnership there. 

Actually, we didn’t really, I mean, we have been trying to pull 

out all the stops and think of anything we could do. Recently, our 

BIA Office of Justice Services took Spirit Lake leadership, including law enforcement leadership, social services leadership and the 

chairwoman herself down to the Salt River community in Arizona, 

where they are running a really good family advocacy center, and 

showed them how it works. 

Spirit Lake has been challenging. We feel like we have done everything we can do to support them. And we will continue to do 

that. But we really feel like they have the pieces in place to start 

to improve. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Mr. Chairman, if you could just indulge me 

one additional question? 

Do you believe that every child at risk has been accounted for, 

is in a placement that protects that child and that we are moving 

in the right direction to hopefully reunite those children back with 

their families? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We are cutting down on our backlogs of investigations that we need to do. I don’t know that there is any State 

in the Country or any tribe in the Country that meets the best 

practices requirement of small case loads for each social worker. 

But we are doing our best, and we now have staffing there to start 

to meet those obligations. We are doing the best we can. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thanks, Kevin. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Heitkamp. 

Secretary Washburn, you have heard a lot of questions about 

education and commitment from members of this Committee in a 

bipartisan way, focusing on education. Right now, the Bureau of Indian Education is undergoing a major reform that involves transferring the administration of Indian schools to tribes. Several tribes 

currently operate schools that are working to improve the academic 

achievements of their students. 

All the Indian schools could benefit from some technical assistance. So I am just curious, can you explain how the Bureau will 

assist these tribes in administering the educational services to ensure that these children’s learning experience and process isn’t disrupted? 

32 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Chairman. There is a lot to do there. 

That is exactly why we are reorganizing the BIE. It turns out that 

we have about 183 school campuses and boarding schools across 

the Country, and 125 of those are run by tribes. But we basically 

are still organized in the same way we were when we were running 

all the schools. So we need to be a different organization. We need 

to be an organization that provides technical assistance and supports tribes. 

That is what we are trying to re-make the BIE into. So that is 

job one for this reorganization. We have a way to go, and it has 

not been easy, frankly. 

A former assistant secretary told me, be careful in that area, because it is so dysfunctional you won’t be able to succeed. We have 

waded in anyway, because we have to do something. These kids deserve it. So we are doing the best we can and we have a long way 

to go. But we are working diligently on our reorganization effort. 

President Obama himself is committed to this, and raises it every 

time he sees Secretary Jewell. 

The CHAIRMAN. Your written testimony also talks about the BIA 

implementing comprehensive strategies for alternatives to incarceration. I wanted to visit a little bit about that. 

The strategies are going to seek to address the underlying causes 

of the repeat offenders, such as substance abuse and alcohol is a 

significant contributing factor. It also contributes, certainly, in Wyoming, to high rates of death on the Wind River Reservation. I 

would ask you to elaborate on the types of strategies that you intend to implement. 

Mr. WASHBURN. We are working on some specific reservations, to 

try to adopt new strategies. Some of it is job training, some of it 

is substance abuse counseling and other things like that. We are 

trying to provide more support for those people who are re-entering 

the community, so that they won’t re-offend. 

You have to be creative, we have found out. We need more social 

workers, we need more substance abuse counselors, and we need 

jobs. Those are the three basic legs of the stool, and we are working 

to increase those. 

The CHAIRMAN. Then you think that will lead to success in the 

long run to really make this a sustainable, rather than a one-shot 

problem? 

Mr. WASHBURN. We do. The question though, is, we are trying 

to pilot it at certain reservations. What we find as we pilot these 

programs, and sometimes we show that they succeed, but we don’t 

necessarily then have the money to go to 566 different tribes. That 

is one of the challenging things. 

But we need to prove it out, to make sure it works. 

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Roubideaux, kind of following on this issue 

of substance abuse, according to the National Tribal Budget Formulation Work Group that you are familiar with of the challenges 

facing Indian people, no challenge seems to be more far-reaching 

than the epidemic of alcohol and other substance abuse. It is often 

a precursor to other serious issues, including violence in tribal communities. You’ve also heard at prior hearings that alcohol contributes to unacceptably high rates of death, certainly on the Wind 

River Reservation. 

33 

Could you please explain how the behavioral health proposals, 

including this new Generation Indigenous Initiative in the budget 

request, is going to address these high rates of death on the Wind 

River Reservation due to alcohol-related injuries and abuse? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you for your question, and I know you 

have a big interest in this area. I hope that we can work together 

on the tribal behavioral health for youth initiative. 

As we thought about the Generation Indigenous Initiative as an 

overall government initiative, we thought about, what is the role 

of the Indian Health Service. We have the clinical providers that 

can provide the mental health and wellness and treatment services 

for youth and adolescents, families, and for individuals in the community. Our alcohol and substance abuse line item is about 80 percent tribally-run. So we already work with tribes on culturally appropriate, holistic ways to address alcohol and substance abuse. 

I think that one of the biggest requests from tribes is, we need 

more behavioral health providers. This particular proposal helps us 

get more trained behavioral health providers in the communities, 

not only just in the clinic, but working with the schools and working in other youth-based places. So we think it will add value to 

providing the actual clinical services that are needed. 

The CHAIRMAN. I had a chance to spend some time this morning 

with some remarkable young people. Senator Dorgan, former chairman of this Committee, former Senator from North Dakota, he has 

a program, Center for Native American Youth, and a number of 

their champions were here today, and I have the privilege of spending some time with them. 

They have great concerns in these areas, and I think they are 

going to be champions and partner with you. This Committee has 

received testimony at prior hearings regarding the relationship between the risk factors of physical abuse, alcohol abuse, even suicides among young people. We had that discussion and those young 

people brought those things up today. 

So the Administration’s Generation Indigenous Initiative is intended to improve programs or services for all Indian youth. In 

terms of families and adults in the households, I think if they are 

not included in any plan to address these risk factors that we may 

be missing a real opportunity to get a handle on these problems. 

That is what I heard this morning from these young folks. 

How is this new initiative going to address risk factors in families and communities? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. I absolutely agree with you. If we don’t address 

the issues in families, then the problems the youth are having 

won’t go away. We actually heard that when the President went to 

visit Standing Rock. The youth told him about all the issues 

around them that are barriers to their success. 

So the purpose of this initiative is to try to reduce barriers and 

create opportunities for youth and their families. The reason we 

are adding the funding to the methamphetamine and suicide prevention initiative is that it is already a successful program that has 

many examples of successful youth and family-based programs, and 

a more holistic approach to integrating behavioral health and primary care. So we really feel like this adding value to an already 

34 

evidence and practice-based program that will help address these 

issues. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Dr. Roubideaux. 

Secretary Boyd, the Committee held a hearing earlier this month 

on loan leveraging in Indian Country, highlighting in particular the 

Section 184 program that you have already discussed. This program provides access to mortgage financing and has been a fundamental driver, I believe, for tribal economies. 

There still is a high disparity of these loans approved for transactions occurring off-reservation compared to those on-reservation. 

I am wondering how we can even that playing field so that tribal 

members living on the reservation can then take full advance of 

this 184 program? 

Mr. BOYD. Yes, thanks, Senator. I mentioned earlier that our 

goal really is to increase the opportunities for members living on 

reservation lands. Certainly I think in working with BIA and working with the Agriculture Department, we are all looking at this as 

to how we can turn this around. Certainly, I believe, as tribes gather greater control through the HEARTH Act, on leveraging or taking control over the titles and the title searches, I think there is 

a tremendous market on-reservation. 

So we are hoping our work will bring fruit to increasing more 

184 on reservations. 

The CHAIRMAN. I want to ask you a question also about the Indian Community Development Block Grant funds, looking at fiscal 

year 2014. Over 1,100 affordable units were rehabilitated, and 86 

jobs were created. I think the statistics are that about 23 community buildings were built. The figures are notable. I think we must 

ensure that all the funds are being used effectively. 

The written testimony notes that the Indian Housing Block 

Grant Program and the Indian Community Development Block 

Grant programs have both been increased by about $24 million. 

Does the Department have any metrics or performance measures 

that can support this request for either of these programs? 

Mr. BOYD. Yes, well, one of the things that happens, especially 

with ICDBG, every year we have anywhere from two to three times 

more requests than we can fill. As I mentioned earlier, part of this 

increase of $10 million is set aside specifically for teacher housing 

throughout reservations, which is based really on a very high request and demand from tribal leaders who are trying to sort of 

complement some of the questions for Kevin, and that is to try and 

create an environment where teachers will come and want to live 

in the communities. I think that has been sort of a challenge. I 

think that will be extremely helpful. 

But this increase, since we do have anywhere from 50 percent 

more requests than we have funds for, that certainly, I think, will 

help us fill that gap. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Would any other members of the Committee like to ask additional questions? 

Senator FRANKEN. One I was going to submit, for Dr. 

Roubideaux. You have this crystal meth, or the meth program. Are 

you going to do a program for opioids? 

35 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes. The methamphetamine and suicide prevention initiative complements the alcohol and substance abuse 

funding. You can’t just treat one sort of addiction. There are multiple things that people get addicted to in our communities. So we 

have had a big focus on opioids. Actually, the tribes in your area 

have been the leaders in that. They convened the first summit to 

look at the problems of opioid drug dependence. Because of their 

effort, we have established a new chronic non-cancer pain policy. 

We have established a number of trainings for our staff. We are the 

first Federal agency to actually require training for providers to 

help handle drug dependence, with a focus on opioids. 

So I really appreciate your interest in this, and especially the 

tribes in your area, they really helped us spur the entire system 

to try to help address this problem. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Heitkamp? 

Senator HEITKAMP. Just one additional question for Kevin. Tribal 

colleges, there are really only five that don’t have forward funding. 

During the period of sequestration, this was hugely troublesome for 

the United Tribes. Obviously, providing for a one-time payment 

would do the kind of catch-up that we need to do. I am wondering 

what the Administration can do administratively to solve the problem of these forward-funded tribes, or the ones that are not forward-funded, and try and put them on equal footing with the other 

tribal colleges? 

Mr. WASHBURN. Thank you, Senator Heitkamp. I will look into 

that issue. I think that is statutory. I don’t think it is our rules, 

I think it is yours, in other words. 

So I would be happy to look at that. But I do want you to know, 

you were at the State of the Union, I think I saw you on TV at 

the State of the Union. The President rolled out the proposal for 

providing tuition for two years, and this is the Department of Education budget, for every student in community college and tribal 

college. There would be a big plus-up in this budget if it gets enacted for tribal colleges, many more resources becoming available. 

UTTC does a great job. They are one of the leaders of tribal colleges. They have great leadership themselves. I will look into that 

issue and talk about it with my staff and see if we can make a proposal to you or something like that. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Just want to make the point, as we look at 

building out education opportunities, the recruitment and training 

of a workforce that can bring that jobs development, it is critical 

that we make sure that we recognize the critical cultural importance of our tribal colleges but also the workforce training implications, whether it is in health care, which we have great concerns 

all across rural America, but particularly in tribal areas, whether 

it is in housing and building trades. 

This is really a building block of infrastructure that needs to be 

protected. I hope that as we talk about Indian education and we 

realize that that early childhood, that early experience that helps 

brain development of young children, so that they come ready to 

learn, they come already prepared, combined with that opportunity 

to transition into job training, which could in fact create real economic opportunity for jobs is also critical. 

36 

So it doesn’t just stop at that K through 12. It begins much earlier and hopefully continues that commitment in education to lifelong learning that will provide education and employment opportunities for tribal members. 

Mr. WASHBURN. Amen, sister 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. If there are no more questions for today, members may also submit follow-up written questions for the record. 

The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. 

I want to thank the witnesses for their time and testimony today. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:58 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(37) 

A P P E N D I X 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Chairman Barrasso, Vice-Chairman Tester, and members of the Committee: 

Thank you for inviting the Department of Justice to testify regarding the substantial support that the President’s FY 2016 Budget requests for the Department of 

Justice for public safety initiatives in Tribal communities. Improving public safety 

in Indian Country continues to be a top priority for the Department. If enacted, this 

budget would represent a historic level of funding for American Indian and Alaska 

Native communities. 

The FY 2016 President’s Budget for the Department of Justice requests $417 mil- lion in total resources to address public safety in Indian Country, or $296 million 

excluding funding for the Bureau of Prisons. Investments include significant and 

versatile grant funding totaling $221 million, an increase of 74 percent over FY 

2015 enacted levels. 

Among the grant programs is a $5.0 million request for a new Tribal Domestic 

Violence Criminal Jurisdiction program authorized by Congress in the Violence 

Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013). This program would 

provide grants to Tribal governments and their designees to support Tribal efforts 

to exercise special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian offenders 

who commit violence against Indian spouses, intimate partners or dating partners, 

or who violate protection orders, in Indian Country. The funds may be used by 

Tribes to implement a broad range of criminal justice reforms, including updating 

criminal codes, providing counsel to indigent defendants, and supporting victims. The Department is also requesting $20.0 million to support enhanced victims assistance services to Tribal victims of crime as part of OJP’s Vision 21 strategic plan. 

OJP’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) worked with service providers, advocates, 

criminal justice professionals, allied practitioners, and policymakers to develop 

OVC’s ground-breaking 2013 report, Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services, which 

outlines the difficulties faced by most providers in meeting the challenges of serving 

victims in the 21st century. One of the report’s key findings is that a number of 

subgroups among the general population of crime victims—including Native Americans and Alaskan Natives—are underserved by existing programs and services. 

Through a portion of the $12.5 million in discretionary funding provided to support 

Vision 21 in FY 2014, OVC began implementing new programs to help Tribal communities improve services to victims of crime. The FY 2016 request, which would 

be funded through the Crime Victims Fund, would further expand OVC’s efforts to 

develop evidence-based, culturally appropriate victims’ services programs for the nation’s Tribal communities. 

In addition to new grant funding, the Environment and Natural Resources Divi- sion is requesting an increase of $3.0 million to support an additional four attorneys 

who will work closely with federal and Tribal agencies to litigate cases addressing 

environmental violations in Indian Country, particularly violations resulting from 

the rapid expansion of oil and gas extraction on Indian lands. Additionally, the Office of Tribal Justice requests $240,000 in new resources for one additional attorney 

position to support the office’s efforts to serve as the primary Department of Justice 

point of contact for federally-recognized Tribes, to advise the Department on legal 

and policy matters pertaining to Native Americans, and to ensure internal uniformity of Department of Justice policies and litigation positions relating to Indian 

Country. 

The Department has worked hard to make its funding particularly responsive to 

the needs of Tribal communities. Departmental leadership, including the Attorney 

General, meets regularly with Tribal leaders through the Tribal Nations Leadership 

Council to gain valuable feedback about the most pressing issues in Indian Country 

and to discuss how the Department can work with Tribes to resolve these issues. 

The Department formalized its consultation policy in August of 2013 and issued a 

statement of principles to guide future interactions with Tribes in December of 

2014. 

38 

Closer collaboration and consultation led the Department to launch in FY 2010 

the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), which streamlines the solicitation process that encompasses most of our available Tribal government-specific 

grant programs. Through CTAS, the Department has awarded over $525 million to 

hundreds of American Indian and Alaskan Native communities to invest in a variety of public safety-related purpose areas. For FY 2016, the Department proposes 

a seven percent set-aside from OJP’s discretionary grant and reimbursement programs to support Tribal justice assistance. Based on funding levels requested in the 

President’s Budget, this set-aside would make $114 million available in FY 2016 to 

support flexible Tribal justice assistance grants. The set-aside will provide a consistent source of significant, Tribal-specific grant funding that can be distributed 

through a Tribal assistance grants model based on the lessons learned from CTAS 

and allow OJP increased flexibility in awarding funds and streamlining reporting 

requirements. 

A better understanding of Tribal needs also led the Department to include in the 

FY 2016 President’s Budget appropriations language changes that would provide 

two mechanisms for Tribes to access critical national crime information databases 

that do not exist under current law. A proposed change to the Department’s Working Capital Fund statute would allow Tribes to reimburse the fund for supplies, materials, and services related to access to law enforcement databases. Additionally, 

the Department is requesting a change to OVW’s appropriations language that 

would allow the use of certain prior year balances to develop and maintain tribal 

protection order and sex offender registries, to be used to enhance the ability of 

Tribes to access existing federal criminal information databases, which will provide 

Tribes with more comprehensive, national criminal history information. 

While federal taxpayer dollars are scarce and appropriators must consider many 

competing priorities, public safety in Indian Country is an investment that we cannot afford to forgo. As members of this Committee know, Tribal communities face 

severe problems: staggering violent crime and substance abuse rates, and unacceptable levels of domestic violence and sexual assault against Native women. The oil 

boom in the Bakken region has also brought increased crime, drug, and human trafficking, as well as potential environmental concerns, to Tribal communities in North 

Dakota and Montana. 

The FY 2016 President’s Budget request for the Department of Justice represents 

a historic commitment towards addressing the public safety issues plaguing Tribal 

communities, and maintains our promise to fulfill our trust responsibility to Indian 

Country. 

The Department thanks the Committee for its interest in these critical issues and 

for its support. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE

FLATHEAD NATION

Dear Senator Tester: 

The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) is another opportunity for this 

administration to express it priorities as you stated in your letter to me date February 10, 2015. The Tribal Council and I share your concerns and thank you for 

the opportunity to comment. We understand that you have a hearing on Wednesday, 

February 25 and that the record is open for comments for two weeks after the hearing. We may provide additional written comment as well during the comment period. 

First we recognize that the President’s budget is always subject to the Congressional action. Tribal Departments and Programs at the ground level can only partly 

interpret the numbers in the President’s budget. Increases that appear in the President’s budget are always welcome and appreciated. The challenge is in determining 

what will actually reach the programs. Our perspective is that even with increases 

at this time, historic cuts and sequestrations have depleted so many programs such 

that it is difficult to meet the many and growing needs of our people. 

I have attached a summary of some comments submitted to me by our Departments. We are still collecting comments from a few. We would be glad to expand 

on any part of the summary. If you have a specific point of interest or if you have 

any questions about any of our comments please let me know and we will be glad 

to answer your questions and provide more detail as needed. 

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes know you have our best interest in 

mind and we look forward to working with you on budget matters, especially those 

that affect the Federal trust responsibility. We appreciate all you have done and 

continue to do for Indian Country. 

39 

Attachment 

Introduction 

This summary highlights some of the important features of comments from CSKT 

managers in the Departments listed below. The comments are not in order of priority. 

Tribal Lands 

If resources for purchasing land and managing this asset are reduced it will affect 

our work in Appraisals, Fee to Trust transactions, Weed management, Land Title 

and Records, Range Inventory, probate processing and lease compliance. Each one 

of the areas listed is an important component to the management and protection 

of the Tribe’s land base. 

Natural Resources 

The Natural Resources Department is organized in three Divisions; Water, Environmental and Fish, Wildlife and Recreation. The Water Division includes Water 

Resources, Safety of Dams and Roads. 

Water Division: The shortfall comes in Safety of Dams rehabilitation, Road Maintenance, Water Management and Water Rights. 

Environmental Division: The shortfall comes in Non-Point Source program (an 

EPA program), Air Quality Improve Program (an EPA program), Air Quality monitoring (an EPA program), Pesticide Circuit Rider Program (and EPA program) and 

Water Quality related programs Including Clean Water Act 106 and Wetlands. 

Fish, Wildlife and Recreation (Wildlife Program): The Wildlife program funding is 

in the Bureau of Indian Affairs funding compact. Compact funding has been gradually reduced over the years and without an increase in funding the program has set 

the annual funding shortfall at about $132K. Reduced funding reduced core wildlife 

management functions, initiatives and comprehensive wildlife management activities. 

Housing 

NAHASDA funds have been flat lined since 2000 and a $10 million increase is 

nice but it falls way below what our appropriation should be if we apply inflation 

to $650 million in 2000. A steady $10 million increase per year would be nice just 

to somewhat keep up with inflation. 

In the NAHSDA act, section 703 provides that Tribes have control over any training and technical assistance funds made available to Native American Tribes. The 

intent of this section was to dedicate the funds authorized to the Native American 

Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) as the NAIHC is the most familiar and comfortable with Indian specific issues. The NAIHC serves the Native Programs best 

in terms of meeting and understanding Tribal self-determination and local Tribal 

housing program design. 

Section 703 was put into statue at the request of Tribes as a negotiated section 

agreed to by the Tribes and Congress, after lengthy consultation. 

However, in recent years, the NAIHC has been required to compete for the training and technical assistance funds thereby defeating the purpose of Section 703. It 

appears HUD has been transferring dollars out of program line items for the HUD 

‘‘Transformation Initiative’’. The transformation initiative funds reduce program operations and also fund training and technical assistance to ‘‘for profit contractors’’. 

These contractors are not familiar with the unique needs of Tribal Housing Programs. 

In the FY 2016 President’s budget the NAIHC is allocated a certain amount of 

funding, but they must compete for any additional funding above the designated 

level. This competition requirement defeats the prior commitment and understanding of Section 703. This seems arbitrary and contrary to our earlier agreements. Not only that, the competition requirement takes time away from other more 

meaningful tasks. This arbitrary action decreases the effectiveness of the NAIHC 

and its service to Indian Country. Our position is that this requirement for competition is a direct move to reduce NAIHC’s training and technical assistance efforts. 

The competition for training and technical assistance funds was put in place with 

little or no Tribal consultation. It disregards and dishonors prior Tribal—Congressional agreements. 

The CSKT Tribes are concerned as we have watched the Section 703 mandate and 

understanding be ignored. Further, we are not aware of any Tribal consultation on 

modifying NAHASDA requirements previously negotiated by the Tribes in good 

faith. 

40 

The CSKT remain concerned about any effort by the Native American Programs, 

HUD, to ignore the importance of past Tribal Nation agreements related to Indian 

Housing. 

We request that the Senate Committee Indian Affairs (SCIA) express opposition 

to any proposed HUD Native American Programs policy change which modifies earlier Congressional and Tribal agreements on how Indian Country is served. 

Cultural Preservation 

Two important parts of this program are Rights Protection and Historic Preservation. Bureau of Indian Affairs Rights Protection funding has and continues to be 

short by an estimated $16K. Historic Preservation funding may show an overall increase but with the decline in funding over the years the program considers the 

funding levels to be inadequate and unpredictable, and the increase in number of 

Tribal Historic Preservation programs (from 12 to 157) continues to reduce the each 

programs share of the allocation. 

Law and Order (Tribal Police) 

As with so many BIA funded programs, the historic decline in funding for Law 

enforcement has reduced the overall level of staffing. Any increase in the overall 

program is appreciated but more is needed to keep up with the increasing demands. 

Forestry 

Tribal Forestry is organized in two divisions, Forest Management and Fire. Forest 

Management overall may see an increase but on the ground we see a need for an 

additional $1M. Such an increase would (1) Begin to reduce the glaring funding disparity with other similar federal programs and (2) Strengthen base tribal forest 

staffing and management activities. Fire funding has been an issue for a number 

of years. CSKT leadership presented testimony at the House Committee on Natural 

Resources in April 2014. Issues that have been raised include lack of ongoing Tribal 

Consultation, and while progress was made on the funding formula the fear is that 

the funding formula process is reverting back to the old HFPAS. Forestry recommends for fire: 

1. Continue to work on implementation of the findings and recommendations 

from the Indian Forest Management Assessment Team report which included 

adding $100 million per year to BIA and Tribal forestry programs. Adding 

approximately 800 staff positions. And another $12.7 million annually for forestry education and training programs. 

2. Consider and evaluate separating BIA Fire Program Funding from any allocation formula developed by the Interior Office of Wildland Fire, Interior Fire 

Executive Council. We have requested a separate funding mechanism in the 

past. Fund BIA $50 million/year in fuels or not less than 25 percent of the 

total allocation. 

Education 

The proposed increase for BIE would potentially benefit Two Eagle River School. 

Other proposed increases aimed at systemic assistance to Indian families would synergistically assist our mission in Education. For example, again thinking of the 

needs at Two Eagle, the proposed $34.2 million for increasing broadband Internet 

and computer access would be beneficial. To the extent that the President’s request 

reflects increased attention to Indian Country’s needs, we are in support. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SAMI JO DIFUNTORUM, CHAIRWOMAN, NATIONAL AMERICAN

INDIAN HOUSING COUNCIL

Introduction 

Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and members of the Committee, I am 

submitting this prepared statement regarding the President’s Budget Request (PBR) 

for fiscal year (FY) 2016 on behalf of the National American Indian Housing Council 

(NAIHC). My name is Sami Jo Difuntorum and I am the elected Chairwoman of the 

NAIHC, the only national, Tribal non-profit organization dedicated to advancing 

housing, physical infrastructure, and economic and community development in Tribal communities throughout the country. I am also an enrolled member of the 

Kwekaeke Shasta in northern California, and the Executive Director of the Siletz 

Tribal Housing Department located in Oregon. 

I want to thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony for the Committee’s consideration as it reviews the PBR for the Department of Housing and 

Urban Development (HUD). 

41 

1There are approximately 566 federally-recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska Native villages 

in the United States, all of whom are eligible for membership in NAIHC. Other NAIHC members include state-recognized Tribes eligible for housing assistance under the 1937 Housing Act 

and grandfathered in to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act 

of 1996, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands that administers the Native Hawaiian 

Housing Block grant. 2 U.S. Census Bureau, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2011. 

See http://www.census.gov 

Background on the National American Indian Housing Council 

The NAIHC was founded in 1974 and has, for over 40 years, served its members 

by providing invaluable Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) to Tribes and 

Tribal housing entities; providing information to Congress regarding the issues and 

challenges that Tribes face in terms of housing, infrastructure, and community and 

economic development; and working with key Federal agencies to address these important and, at times, vexing issues. The membership of NAIHC is expansive, comprised of 279 members representing 463 1 Tribes and Tribal housing organizations. 

The primary mission of NAIHC is to support Native housing entities in their efforts 

to provide safe, decent, affordable, culturally appropriate housing for Native people. 

Brief Summary of the Problems Affecting Housing in Indian Country 

Historically, providing adequate housing throughout Indian Country has been a 

significant challenge, beginning with a lack of access to capital. Because of the trust 

nature of Tribal lands, title restrictions and jurisdictional issues, Native Americans 

have not been well served by traditional lending institutions when it comes to investing in economic, community and housing development projects. Private investment in the real estate market in Indian Country is virtually non-existent, with 

Tribes almost entirely dependent on the Federal government for financial assistance 

to meet their growing housing needs. Developing and improving housing infrastructure on Tribal land is critical to the promotion of economic development in Indian 

Country. 

A 2013 U.S. Census Bureau analysis reported that American Indians and Alaska 

Natives were almost twice as likely to live in poverty as the rest of the population— 

27 percent compared with 14.3 percent. Over 40 percent of Native Americans in 

North Dakota and South Dakota live below the poverty line, and in seven other 

states (Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah) Native American poverty rates are about 30 percent or more. In addition, overcrowding, substandard housing, and homelessness are far more common in Native 

American communities. 

Because of the remote locations of most Tribal communities, there is a lack of 

basic infrastructure, economic development opportunities are difficult to identify and 

pursue. As a result, the poverty rate in Indian country is exceedingly high at 25.3 

percent, nearly three times the national average. 2 These employment and economic 

development challenges exacerbate the housing situation in Indian Country. The 

First Americans face some of the worst housing and living conditions in the country 

and the availability of affordable, adequate, safe housing in Indian Country falls far 

below that of the general U.S. population, as demonstrated by the following: 

• According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 12 percent of Native American 

households lack plumbing compared to 1.2 percent of the general U.S. population. 

• According to 2002 statistics, 90,000 Indian families were homeless or underhoused. 

• On Tribal lands, 28 percent of Indian households were found to be over-crowded 

or to lack adequate plumbing and kitchen facilities. The national average is 5.4 

percent when structures that lack heating and electrical equipment are included, roughly 40 percent of reservation housing is considered inadequate, 

compared to 5.9 percent of national households. 

• Seventy percent of the existing housing stock in Indian Country is in need of 

upgrades and repairs, many of them extensive. 

• Less than half of all reservation homes are connected to a sewer system. 

There is a consensus among most members of Congress, HUD, Tribal leaders, and 

Tribal organizations that there is a severe housing shortage in Tribal communities; 

that many homes are, as a result, overcrowded; that many of the existing homes 

are in need of repairs, some of them substantial; that many homes lack basic amenities that most Americans take for granted, such as full kitchens and plumbing; and 

that at least 250,000 new housing units are needed in Indian Country. 

42 

The President’s FY 2016 Budget Request for the Indian Housing Block 

Grant 

On February 2, 2015, President Obama issued his PBR for 2016. The 2016 budget 

includes $49.3 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 

focus of this year’s HUD budget is helping to secure quality housing for Americans; 

to end homelessness; to make communities more resilient from natural disasters; to 

protect people from housing discrimination; and to provide critical rental assistance 

for millions of extremely poor families. The PBR proposes an increase of $4 billion, 

or 8.7 percent, over current levels, to fund the Department. 

The PBR includes level funding of $660 million for Indian Housing Block Grant 

(IHBG) accounts, and $2 million for the Title VI loan Guarantee. The PBR calls for 

$6 million for the Section 184 Loan Guarantee fund, and $80 million for the Indian 

Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG), an increase of $16 million over the 

enacted FY 2015 level. 

Inexplicably, the Administration has again zeroed out the T/TA program line 

item, typically included in the IHBG account. Similarly, the PBR does not include 

any funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant (NHHBG) or the 184a 

Loan Guarantee Loan program. The NHHBG was funded at $9 million in 2015 and 

the 184a program at $100,000. 

NAIHC respectfully requests that the IHBG be funded at $700 million, which is 

still far short of the estimated need of $875 million. Even at $875 million, this funding will not meet all Tribal housing needs. Instead, it will only keep pace with the 

increased cost of housing construction, energy costs, and other inflationary factors. 

An analysis made by NAIHC indicates that since the inception of the IHBG program, the flat-funded program has lost tens of millions in purchasing power due to 

inflation. The ICDBG program should be appropriated at $100 million for the muchneeded housing, infrastructure and economic development activities that the ICDBG 

provides, and the T/TA be funded at not less than $4.8 million and be delivered in 

accordance with the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination 

Act, the authorizing statute. 

In its March 2014 report, the General Accountability Office entitled ‘‘Native 

American Housing: Additional Efforts Needed to Better Support Tribal Efforts,’’ 

(GAO–14–255) the GAO found that limited capacity at the Tribal level is exacerbated by changes in the delivery of T/TA they receive under the IHBG program. 

After Congress stopped appropriating T/TA funding exclusively to the NAIHC in 

FY2012, the GAO found that Tribes experienced confusion, unresponsiveness and 

other problems in accessing these services from the 7 other entities receiving T/TA 

funds. See Report at pp. 19–22. 

The simple fact is that the NAIHC is the only national Indian housing organization that provides comprehensive T/TA on behalf of Tribes and their housing entities. Because they know the value added by NAIHC’s T/TA programs, the NAIHC 

membership has voted unanimously during each its annual conventions since 2006, 

to support a resolution that seeks to set-aside a portion of their own IHBG funding 

to support NAIHC’s T/TA program. In addition, many NAIHC members have expressed concerns with the HUD demand/response delivery system for training and 

technical assistance and prefer to receive T/TA directly from the NAIHC. 

Other Indian Housing and Related Programs 

The Title VI and Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Programs 

The PBR includes $2 million for the Title VI Federal Guarantee for Financing 

Tribal Housing Activities and $8.0 million for the Section 184 Indian Housing Loan 

Guarantee Program. The Title VI program is important because it provides a 95 

percent loan guarantee on loans made by private lenders, which is an incentive for 

lenders to get involved in the development of much-needed housing in Tribal areas. 

The target for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 is to guarantee five loans each year 

through Title VI. 

NAIHC believes that the PBR of $2 million for the Title VI program is insufficient 

and we strongly encourage an increase to $5 million to allow additional access to 

financing and credit to develop affordable housing in Indian Country. NAIHC respectively requests that the funding for the Section 184 program be increased from 

$7 million to the $9 million level that was Congress appropriated in FY 2009. 

The Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) 

While appreciated, the President’s proposal of $70 million for the ICDBG is insufficient to meet the current needs for essential infrastructure, including sewer and 

running water, in Indian Country. In recent years, HUD has received two or three 

times as many ICDBG applications as can be funded. NAIHC requests that this proVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:18 Mar 09, 2016 Jkt 098990 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\98990.TXT JACK
43 

3See GAO Report 10-326 at www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-326 

gram be funded at $100 million to provide additional resources for Tribes to rehabilitate, repair, acquire and construct new homes throughout Tribal communities. 

Native Hawaiian Housing 

Low-income Native Hawaiian families continue to face tremendous challenges, 

similar to those that Tribal members face in the rest of the United States. The 

President’s funding request of $13 million for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block 

Grant is appreciated. The PBR includes $1 million to the fund the Section 184A program in Hawaii, which should be sufficient to fund this important homeownership 

program. 

Training and Technical Assistance and the Proposed Transformation Initiative 

The PBR fails to provide the much-needed, exceptional T/TA that has been provided by the NAIHC since the inception of NAHASDA. The provision of T/TA is critical for Tribes to build capacity to effectively plan, implement, and manage Tribal 

housing programs. Eliminating funding for T/TA would be disastrous for Tribal 

housing authorities and would be a huge step in the wrong direction. Tribes need 

more assistance in building capacity, not less. 

The PBR proposes an agency-wide Transformation Initiative Fund (TIF) with up 

to 0.5 percent of HUD’s total budget, which would draw funds away from essential 

housing programs, including $3.3 million from the IHBG account ‘‘to continue the 

on-going comprehensive study of housing needs in Indian Country and native communities in Alaska and Hawaii.’’ While the NAIHC membership believes the TIF 

may have merit, it does not believe that transferring nearly $3.3 million from the 

IHBG is a wise or even defensible use of IHBG funds. 

More importantly, the $3.3 million affects funding that has historically been appropriated to NAIHC for T/TA. As I have previously noted, the NAIHC membership 

has consistently taken the position that a portion of the IHBG allocation should be 

provided to NAIHC for T/TA, which is a reflection of the continuing demand for the 

essential capacity-building services that we provide. We request that funding in the 

amount of $4.8 million for T/TA is appropriated in FY 2016 with 3.3 million provided to the NAIHC. 

Conclusion 

NAHASDA was devised and enacted to provide Tribes with new and creative tools 

necessary to develop culturally appropriate, safe, decent, affordable housing. While 

we value and appreciate the investment and efforts that this Administration and 

the Congress have made, NAIHC has very specific concerns with the PBR for the 

Indian housing funding levels and hopes that Congress, guided by the leadership 

of this important Subcommittee, will work with the NAIHC and the Administration 

to recognize the acute housing and capacity building needs that continue to exist 

in Tribal communities. 

Consider these needs against a backdrop that includes the following observation 

from the GAO in its February 2010 Report (10–326, ‘‘Native American Housing’’), 

to the Senate Committee on Banking and the House Committee on Financial Services: 

NAHASDA’s first appropriation in fiscal year 1998 was $592 million, and average funding was approximately $633 million between 1998 and 2009. The highest level of funding was $691 million in 2002, and the lowest was $577 million 

in 1999. For fiscal year 2009, the program’s appropriation was $621 million. 

However, when accounting for inflation, constant dollars have generally decreased since the enactment of NAHASDA. The highest level of funding in constant dollars was $779 million in 1998, and the lowest was $621 million in 

2009. 3

The path to self-sustaining Tribal economies is not achievable without a robust 

housing sector and Tribal housing conditions will not be improved without adequate 

funding. NAHASDA is not just about constructing houses. It is about building Tribal 

communities—communities where health and safety are a top priority and where 

education can take thrive. 

Thank you Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester for your continued support 

tribal housing programs, the housing and living conditions for America’s indigenous 

people, and pursuit of ways we can mutually address housing and housing-related 

community development throughout Indian Country. 

44 

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTION SUBMITTED BY HON. STEVE DAINES TO

HON. KEVIN WASHBURN

Æ 


225a1.eps