[Senate Hearing 109-396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 109-396, Pt. 2
FISCAL YEAR 2007 BUDGET
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE PRESIDENT'S FISCAL YEAR 2007 BUDGET REQUEST
FOR INDIAN PROGRAMS
__________
FEBRUARY 23, 2006
BISMARCK, ND
__________
PART 2
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
26-593 WASHINGTON : 2005
_____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800
Fax: (202) 512�092250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402�090001
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, Chairman
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Vice Chairman
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming KENT CONRAD, North Dakota
GORDON SMITH, Oregon DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota
MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
Jeanne Bumpus, Majority Staff Director
Sara G. Garland, Minority Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Statements:
Clancy, Lynn, on behalf of Hon. Kent Conrad, U.S. Senator
from North Dakota.......................................... 5
Davis, Ken W., chairman, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
Indians.................................................... 6
Dorgan, Hon. Byron L., U.S. Senator from North Dakota, vice
chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs...................... 1
Gipp, David, president, United Tribes Technical College,
Bismarck, ND............................................... 2
Hall, Tex G., chairman, Three Affiliated Tribes.............. 12
Pearson, Myra, chairwoman, Fort Totten, ND................... 9
Skaley, Gail, on behalf of Hon. Earl Pomeroy, U.S.
Representative from North Dakota........................... 3
Strongheart-Lopez, Matt, on behalf of Ron His Horse Is
Thunder.................................................... 15
Appendix
Prepared statements:
Conrad, Hon. Kent, U.S. Senator from North Dakota............ 31
Davis, Ken W. (with attachment).............................. 37
Gipp, David.................................................. 32
Hall, Tex G.................................................. 70
McCain, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Arizona, chairman,
Committee on Indian Affairs................................ 31
Pearson, Myra................................................ 74
Pomeroy, Hon. Earl, U.S. Representative from North Dakota.... 34
Strongheart-Lopez, Matt, on behalf of Ron His Horse Is
Thunder.................................................... 34
FISCAL YEAR 2007 BUDGET
----------
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2006
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
Bismarck, ND.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:34 a.m. at
United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, ND, Hon. Byron L.
Dorgan (vice chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senator Dorgan.
STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH
DAKOTA, VICE CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
Senator Dorgan. We want to begin the hearing this morning.
My name is Byron Dorgan. I am a U.S. Senator serving on the
Committee on Indian Affairs with Senator John McCain and a
number of our colleagues.
We are holding today a hearing of the Committee On Indian
Affairs in Bismarck, ND. Senator McCain has sent with me a
statement that he wishes to be a part of the record. He was not
able to be with me this morning.
One week ago we held a hearing in Washington, DC, of the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs dealing with the President's
budget, its impact on Indian tribes and Indian people across
this country.
I am holding a hearing today to talk with Indian tribes
from our region here in North Dakota and to receive more
specific information about the impact of particularly the
President's budget cuts and the impact those cuts will have on
tribes and will have on the citizens living on Indian
reservations. We will be holding some additional hearings
around the country, as well, on these subjects and other
subjects, including Indian education, in the weeks and months
ahead.
I do want to say thanks to United Tribes Technical College
for allowing us to use these facilities. Dr. David Gipp is a
recognized national leader in education. He's president of a
college that I have enormous respect for. I'm a real believer
in United Tribes and what it does to enrich the lives of many
young people.
And I would also like to say to Dr. Gipp and to others
gathered here who care about the future of United Tribes that
although the President has once again recommended zero funding
in his budget for United Tribes, I intend, once again, to write
in the funding for United Tribes in the Interior subcommittee
on which I serve. We have been doing that. I serve on the
subcommittee that provides the funding and I'm the ranking
member on that subcommittee on appropriations and I will see to
it that we once again provide funding to this great college. My
colleagues, Senator Conrad and Congressman Pomeroy, feel
similarly strongly about this institution and I just want you
all to know that although the President's budget does not
request funding, I am confident that funding come from the
Congress because the Congress has on many occasions represented
its belief that this college is a wonderful college and worthy
of funding.
So let me ask Russell Gillette from the Three Affiliated
Tribes to come forward and he will provide an invocation at the
start of this hearing. Mr. Gillette.
[Invocation given by Mr. Gillette.]
Senator Dorgan. Russell Gillette, thank you very, very
much.
Next, I would like to, for a welcome, call on Dr. David
Gipp, president of United Tribes.
STATEMENT OF DAVID GIPP, PRESIDENT, UNITED TRIBES TECHNICAL
COLLEGE, BISMARCK, ND
Mr. Gipp. Thank you, Senator Dorgan and vice chairman of
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. We're honored that you
have brought the committee here today to listen to our tribal
leaders and allow them to speak about the issues that relate to
their budgetary needs and the future of their tribal citizens.
This is a historic occasion, I should add, for all that are
here today because, as far as I know, in my recollection, this
is the first time that we've had the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs have an official hearing that relates to the budgetary
matters of our Indian tribes. So we're very pleased and honored
to host you today, as well as all of the other guests that have
come today, Senator, and we appreciate your remarks about
restoring or getting Congress to restore the funding of United
Tribes Technical College. It's going to be the fifth time that
we've engaged in this issue with the current administration in
which they have left us out of the budget, and it would
officially become the sixth time in 2008 fiscal year 2007 and
2008 that we would have been left out of the budget.
Only yesterday I was with some of our chairmen, Chairman
Davis and Chairman Hall in Washington, talking to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs [BIA] and the Department of the Interior about
restoration of funds and about the issue of adequacy of Indian
budgets for our various Indian tribes. So we recognize and know
the tremendous importance of these kinds of hearings to assure
that the administration is doing their job in serving Indian
country adequately.
Here at United Tribes, of course, we're going to be 37
years old as of July 1, 2006, and that means we have been in
the business for some years of serving thousands of children
and adults over the these years. As of this year we are going
to have served 1,114 adults and about 400 children on our
campus and that's not counting the on-line students that we're
beginning to offer through our long-distance or distance
learning programs. So we are a growing institution and we
represent what is happening throughout Indian country.
I've said repeatedly that in Indian country when we talk
about our tribes in places like North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Montana, and other places that 51 percent or better
of our populations are under the age of 25. We have the growing
population particularly here in North Dakota. We have the
growing challenges to assure that everyone of our children and
our young adults and older adults receive access to good
education quality education and can be successful.
At United Tribes here Senator our return on investment is
20 to one in terms of the dollar return of our graduates. We're
seeking about $4.5 million for our 2007 appropriation and we
hope that you can look into that matter as you deliberate on
the issues of the budget.
I'm not going to digress too much. We have submitted record
testimony. We would ask that testimony be accepted by the
committee for purposes of the budget, Senator.
In closing, I just again want to welcome all of you and
mention a couple things. First, that we hope that our tribal
colleges will be adequately funded. There are 26 of them funded
under the Tribal Control Community College Act. Of course,
United Tribes is outside of that and doesn't receive funding
there.
The second is that of assuring that we have safe,
comfortable and affordable housing with respect to our tribal
nations and the needs out there and certainly housing here at
United Tribes. We're seeking housing for many, many new
students that are entering here and, most importantly, the
issue of health care. Health care remains a major, major issue
for all of our tribal citizens here and throughout the Nation.
Again, thank you for being here, and we will do all that we
can to assist you and our tribal leadership, as well.
Senator Dorgan. President Gipp, thank you very much. We
appreciate those great comments and, again, thanks for the
wonderful work you do.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Gipp appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. I'm joined today by Sara Garland, who works
on the Committee on Indian Affairs in the U.S. Senate, Peter
Kiefhaber, who works on the Interior Appropriations
Subcommittee in the U.S. Senate and also Gail Skaley, who works
with Congressman Pomeroy here in North Dakota.
Gail, did you want to say a word on behalf of Congressman
Pomeroy?
STATEMENT OF GAIL SKALEY, ON BEHALF OF REPRESENTATIVE EARL
POMEROY
Ms. Skaley. Yes; Congressman Pomeroy apologizes for not
being able to be with you today, but he sincerely appreciates
you bringing this hearing to United Tribes in Bismarck and
appreciates that opportunity for him. I have some written
testimony that I will submit on his behalf, and just thank you
again.
Senator Dorgan. Gail, thank you very much. Congressman
Pomeroy is not a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, but
I did invite him to sit in. He was not able to do that. But I
think you all know and it's safe to say that our entire
delegation, myself, Senator Conrad, Congressman Pomeroy, work
together on priorities dealing with the Indian nations and
United Tribes, and I very much appreciate his statement. We
will, without objection, put it in the record and also will
enter into the record the statement of President Gipp.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Pomeroy appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Let me make just a couple of brief comments
before I call on the testimony from the tribes, and Tex Hall, I
believe, will be here in a bit. He, I believe, was landing at
10:30 this morning and so we will expect him to join us as
well.
Back in the late 1990's I asked then President Clinton to
host a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House of tribal
leaders from our region of the country. We worked on it for
some while, and then on 1 day we gathered in the White House
and met with President Clinton. Were you there, Tom?
Mr. Disselhorst. I remember the day well.
Senator Dorgan. And I did that because I said to President
Clinton, We have people in this country who are living in
third-world conditions and we have a bona fide crisis in a
number of areas, housing, health care, education, and we need
to talk about that. And so President Clinton agreed to do that
and we gathered at the White House for this meeting with the
President, and I have never forgotten the testimony that was
given. It wasn't a formal meeting, but the testimony given by
the tribal chairs who said to the President--one of them said
to the President, you know, I come from a third-world country,
but it exists inside the United States, and then he cited all
the statistics about the incidence of disease and poverty and
accidental death and substance abuse and a whole range of
things and it was very compelling. And President Clinton said,
you know, we've got to do better, we've got to work on that.
And, you know, we've made some progress. I think it's safe
to say that we've made some progress, for example, in trying to
finally address the scourge of diabetes. We've got diabetes
clinics and dialysis centers. We've invested a lot. Have we
solved that problem? No, but we're making some progress in
certain areas. But I would say that 8 years later, 9 years
later after that meeting there is still so much yet to do. We
still have so many who live in poverty and so many who don't
have adequate access to mental health services or to general
health services or to the kind of education they should expect
to have access to or housing. There is so much yet to do.
And that's why I suggested to Senator McCain that we begin
to hold these hearings. Senator McCain, as I do, cares very
much about what we can do to address the human needs and
address the investment needs to make life better for all
Americans.
Now, the point of this hearing is to hear from the tribal
chairs. We have Ken Davis, the tribal chairman of the Turtle
Mountain Chippewa Tribe; Myra Pearson, the tribal chairman of
the Spirit Lake Tribe; Tex Hall will be with us, who is the
tribal chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes; and we also
have Matt Lopez, who is in place for Ron His Horse Is Thunder
from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe today.
My intention would be to ask that we have statements from
each of the tribal chairs and allow them to tell us what they
perceive as the needs, what they would like to see happen, and
then we will have time for questions and answers.
I do want to say that the President's budget is a
significant disappointment to many of us. It's quite clear that
we have to address this Federal budget deficit, there's no
question about that, and we have to tighten our belts. It's
quite clear there's waste in the Federal Government and we
ought to cut out the waste. It's also clear to me, however,
there are a number of things that we do that address poverty
for people in this country that really need some help, and to
have budget cuts in those areas I think is just wrong.
The President zeroes out the Johnson O'Malley Program,
which is a very important program for Indians, zero funding for
United Tribes I mentioned, zero funding for Urban Indian Health
Program, zero funding for the Tribal College Endowment Program,
funding for only one Indian health facility in the entire
country, you know, a $50-million decrease in school
construction for BIA schools.
This is a budget that's a significant disappointment
because there's so much we need to do, and this budget in most
areas retreats from that obligation. And my hope is that as
Congress grasps this budget and begins to debate it and thinks
through this budget, we can come to a better conclusion and
come to a conclusion that we have a responsibility to make good
investments and to improve the lives of Americans who are
living, in many cases, below the poverty level and living
without the basic services that you need in this country.
So having said all of that, there are a couple of things in
the President's budget that I should mention. He does include
several million dollars for an Indian suicide prevention
program. My guess is that that's because we held a hearing here
in North Dakota, held a hearing in Washington, DC, and began to
shine a spotlight on a very serious problem. We need to begin
moving down that road to provide the resources to address it,
and I appreciate the President's willingness to do that.
So on relatively short notice, the tribal chairs have made
themselves available to speak on behalf of their tribes here
this morning, and I want to thank them for doing that. Before I
call on the tribal chairs, I want to recognize Lynn Clancy, who
is here representing Senator Conrad's office. Lynn, would you
like to say a word on behalf of Senator Conrad.
STATEMENT OF LYNN CLANCY, ON BEHALF OF SENATOR KENT CONRAD
Mr. Clancy. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And thank
you for holding this hearing. Senator Conrad regrets that he
cannot be here, but I do have testimony from him that I would
like to have entered in the record. I don't intend to read it,
but he would like to just express his disappointment in the
President's budget and especially in the area of education and
housing and health, but this is the fifth year that the United
Tribes Technical College has been deleted from the budget, and
he would like to support this effort today to make the record
that things need to change.
[Prepared statement of Senator Conrad appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Thank you very much, Lynn. Let me point out
that Senator Conrad is a member of the Committee on Indian
Affairs in the U.S. Senate and does an excellent job and I'm
pleased to work with him. He's in another part of the State
today and simply could not be here, but I appreciate very much
his statement.
As I indicated previously, Congressman Pomeroy is the voice
in the U.S. House that allows us to keep this funding for
United Tribes, among other things, in the appropriations
process, so I thank both of my colleagues and I thank them very
much for their statements.
I'm going to begin with Ken Davis. Ken is the tribal
chairman from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe. In fact, I
believe he has just arrived back from some meetings in
Washington, DC, about this budget. The reason I've chosen you,
Ken, I think you actually have some seniority over the chair;
is that right? I think you became tribal chair before Myra did.
Mr. Davis. One year before that. Myra used to be chair.
Senator Dorgan. Myra used to be chair. Well, then skip it,
Ken.
Mr. Davis. There's been a little confusion.
Senator Dorgan. Let me call on Chairman Ken Davis, and Ken
Davis has been very active working on a range of issues on
behalf of his tribe and, as I said, just arrived back from
meetings in Washington, DC, on this very budget. So, Chairman
Davis, thank you very much for joining us and why don't you
proceed.
STATEMENT OF KEN W. DAVIS, CHAIRMAN, TURTLE MOUNTAIN CHIPPEWA
TRIBE
Mr. Davis. Good morning, Senator Dorgan. Good to see you
again. Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
and other visitors and distinguished guests. I want to thank
you first for holding this hearing today and I'm glad to be
here to provide you this testimony. I know this committee,
especially you, Senator Dorgan, Senator Conrad, and also
Congressman Pomeroy, are special friends of Indian people and
that you do the best you can to help us out and look out for
our best interests.
For those of you, as I've been introduced, I am the
chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and I
am a member of the National BIA Budget Advisory Task Force
along with Chairman Hall.
I want to give you a little background very quickly here on
the Federal budget process. I don't know if many of you
remember, but in fiscal year 1996, there was a major across-
the-board reduction in what we call the tribal priority
allocations, and Senator Gordon at that time led that charge,
and I just want to say those tribal priority allocations at
Turtle Mountain, those reductions, those are the local funds.
There's different parts, of course, of the BIA budget, but the
local funds, we had a reduction from a little over $6 million
to a little over $5 million, over a $1-million reduction.
I want to say that we've never recovered--these programs
that work at the reservation level have never recovered from
those reductions. And now we see in the President's fiscal year
2007 request a continued attempt, more significant reductions.
And we understand there's a Federal deficit--budget deficit, we
understand that there's a disaster in New Orleans in Katrina,
we understand there's a war going on, but at the same time the
needs of Indian people in this country, the first Americans,
also are needed to be considered as we go forward with the
Federal budget process.
I want to remark that I think it's very important that the
Cobell case gets settled because it is having a budget impact,
not only the fact of what we've seen recently of the $7 million
to pay attorneys and accountants, and so forth, but the
priorities for the BIA to reform itself are siphoning off major
resources that have been needed to be able to fund essential
programs at the reservation level.
I've got a philosophy that I've been promoting with the
National Budget Committee. I call it a do-not-harm budget, that
as we look forward and we look at the increased need due to our
populations and also the cost-of-living increases and the pay
cost increases as we move forward, even if we can't get
significant increases, I respectfully ask those of you that
appropriate this money consider do no harm, keep our people at
a level at least that we're not going backwards.
You had a hearing recently, Senator Dorgan, on suicide, and
I don't see a lot in this budget to address many parts of
what's needed to provide the types of necessary support
services for suicide prevention.
At Turtle Mountain you'll see in our testimony--I have
provided written testimony that we do--we will be working with
you and Senator Conrad and Congressman Pomeroy on some special
requests for a community youth center for the young people of
Turtle Mountain. And we recently got selected by the Northwest
Area Foundation for a major poverty reduction initiative, and
we hope to be able to leverage and broker some assistance there
and other sources to deal with issues such as the high risk of
suicide at Turtle Mountain.
We have a continuing--and I've worked with your staff. We
have a continuing crisis developing in Indian country on
welfare assistance. Until we get our economic development and
the tribal economies at the level that the rest of this country
and the State of North Dakota is in, that we're going to
continue to have to depend upon Federal assistance for the most
basic essential needs of our people, and welfare assistance in
the BIA is a necessary ingredient to be able to take care of
those basic needs of a certain segment of our population. And
if you wouldn't have restored the money in 2006--the President
was planning to totally, totally wipe out welfare assistance in
the 2007 request, but instead there's an $11-million reduction.
And I've got information again in my testimony here that
you will see that at Turtle Mountain that our numbers continue
to increase. I'm providing you data to show you from 2002 the
general assistance and burial assistance and emergency fire
assistance and tribal work experience. Our caseload continues
to increase, our total dollar amount continues to increase,
while the administration says we need less money. And last year
they started taking people off of welfare assistance and, of
course, with your help again, we were able to get the
administration to provide some supplemental assistance, and
that is going to have to be done again in 2006. We can't wait
until 2007.
I want to thank you for your support and the committee's
support of the IHS budget. I realize the medical needs of
Indian people have always been a priority. I know you can't
give us all we ask for, and the budget again is increasing in
2006 and the administration is asking for an additional
increase. That doesn't tell the true picture.
I've got testimony again--written testimony that gives you
a better insight into the true picture. The local budget that
we have at our local facility is only able to provide priority
1 contract health services. These are the life and death type
of services. Other essential contract needs where you need to
go to specialists for a variety of reasons, IHS--you're on a
waiting list. And at the local level we're now using generic
drugs, not being able to get some of the best drugs this
country has to offer. Instead, we're having replacements with
generic drugs.
I want to also mention that we do have a tribal community,
outer tribe, and in this President's budget request where they
intend to wipe out Johnson O'Malley, reduce job training and
the wildlife and parks, that's going to have a major negative
effect. They get very little out of the Federal Government.
They have been kind of a hybrid satellite community of ours and
they've grown over the years, but, also, they are a part of
this budget.
I do want to mention this realignment issue, and I want to
say the task force on reorganizing BIA in the 1990's came out
clear that the BIA needed to delegate its authorities to the
lowest levels in the BIA, not build up the hierarchy to the
tune in 2007 of an additional $17 million to support education
management at the central level. And they expect us to accept a
diminishment of the federal presence and responsibility on our
reservation. Every tribe I've talked to over the past 2\1/2\
years opposes this alignment, yet the BIA continues to move
forward. Congress needs to require the BIA in fiscal year 2007
to get our consent before any more dollars are spent on this
realignment.
I also want to say that in the early 2000's that there was
a major backlog in construction and repairs.
Again, I want to thank you for the assistance on the new
school construction that we have at Turtle Mountain, but that
doesn't tell the true story again nationwide. The construction
and repair program since 2001 has been reduced 134 million by
the administration, and this was a time when the backlog--we
had the support of the Congress to get that backlog completed.
I've gotten, as I said, considerable testimony here from my
tribal program directors, and I do want to say we continue to
support the restoration of the money for United Tribes and we
also support the college movement and the need there. We
understand that the ISA program for our children is probably
underfunded to the tune of about 1,800 to $2,000 per weighted
student unit, and I will be providing you additional
information, Senator, as we go forward.
I am going into Washington, DC next week. I hope to get a
meeting with you and your staff, but there's more details in
what I've provided in the written testimony. So with that I'll
be glad to answer any questions or if you want to wait until
the rest get done.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Davis appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Chairman Davis, I'm going to wait until all
of the testimony has been completed, then I have a number of
questions of you, but let me next turn--we are asking for 10-
minute statements and you were right on the button, Chairman
Davis.
Myra Pearson is the chairperson of the Spirit Lake Tribe.
Myra, thank you for joining us and you may proceed and your
entire statement will be part of the record.
STATEMENT OF MYRA PEARSON, CHAIRWOMAN, SPIRIT LAKE NATION, FORT
TOTTEN, ND
Ms. Pearson. Thank you, Senator Dorgan. Again, I'd like to
say good morning, Vice Chairman Dorgan and distinguished
members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the North
Dakota tribal chairs to provide testimony on behalf of our
respective nations.
I am Myra Pearson, chairwoman of the Spirit Lake Nation,
headquartered in Fort Totten, ND. Before beginning, I would
like to thank the committee for supporting American Indian
initiatives at the national and State level, and especially
those projects where Spirit Lake was involved.
By being here today, we as tribal leaders have been asked
to testify about the needs and priorities of our tribes in
terms of funding. These areas of need and priority are not an
exhaustive list of our needs, but they are a start. By
providing for these needs, we as tribal governments can
carryout the mission that we undertook when we were sworn into
office.
Our tribal government is the primary policymaker for the
four tribal communities on Spirit Lake. Because of this
responsibility, we have come to realize the importance of using
objective data to guide our decisionmaking and addressing the
needs of our people. These needs vary by the age of our
enrolled members and are influenced by our culture.
We consider our children the future of our people, we
respect our elders as keepers of our traditions, and value our
veterans as protectors of our people. However, there are three
issues that affect all groups. These are poor health status,
access to health care and lack of housing. For Spirit Lake,
most transportation issues such as distance and cost fall under
barriers for access in health care. All of these issues are a
result of poverty; thus, education and economic development are
critical to addressing these needs.
Health status and access to health care are the primary
concerns for our tribal council as we continue to subsidize the
health care of our tribal members due to inadequate IHS
funding. Senator Dorgan and other distinguished members, we are
aware of your support of the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act
and request that you continue your efforts to get this
legislation reauthorized. Your support is necessary to
assisting our Federal Government in fulfilling one of the most
important trust responsibilities for our people.
The Aberdeen Area IHS Region, of which North Dakota is a
part of, has the lowest life expectancy of all IHS regions in
the Nation at 64.3 years of age compared to the 77.6 years of
age for the Nation, a difference of 13.3 years. This disparity
is partially a result of the rural isolation of the community,
shortage of health providers and increasing poverty levels
common among our people.
According to research conducted by the University of North
Dakota Center for Health Promotion and the UND Center for Rural
Health, Spirit Lake adults, when compared to their North Dakota
counterparts ages 18 and over, were found to have poorer health
status, inadequate access to health care, higher health risk
factors, less health screenings, and lower chronic diseases.
The results of this data are listed in my testimony, and due to
time restraints I'm not going to go into those percentages, but
I hope that they become a part of my testimony.
The lack of screenings and health promotion activities
among our young and elder population are of special concern for
our tribal council as we see a significant change in health
once our population reaches elder status at age 55. We believe
the lack of disease prevention, health screenings, chronic
disease management, and health promotion efforts seen among our
young tribal members eventually results in increased health
disparities among our elders.
Another primary issue to our council that is also a Federal
trust issue is education of our young people. Results from the
previously cited report indicated that Spirit Lake adults were
less likely to have achieved higher levels of education when
compared to their North Dakota counterparts.
These results mirror national statistics provided in recent
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs testimony on February 16,
2006, by Ryan Wilson, president of the National Indian
Education Association. Increased funding initiatives to raise
the educational status of our people are imperative. Our
children continue to test below their North Dakota
counterparts, and increased funding is needed to provide a firm
educational foundation for our children. Tribal college
students are funded at one-half of what non-tribal community
college students receive at $4,447 per full-time student, 75
percent of what is authorized. Regardless of the age of our
student population, we request your support for the NIEA
initiatives proposed in last week's testimony.
The correlation between health status, education levels and
socioeconomic status is well documented. Thus, the issue of
education is critical to raising the health status and overall
income of our people. By raising education levels, we not only
increase earning capacity and one's ability to access health
insurance and health care, but we also increase the amount of
taxes paid into our Federal Government.
A housing shortage at Spirit Lake is denoted by 233
families currently on the housing waiting list. In most cases
overcrowding is occurring with multiple families residing in
homes built for single families. Recent flooding on our
reservation and the resulting high water table has also caused
mold problems that have raised additional health concerns
regarding asthma and other respiratory diseases. Substandard
housing weatherization has resulted in increased heating bill
costs that are severely affecting our tribal members' ability
to make ends meet.
I also want to make a part of my testimony that the law
enforcement and tribal courts are severely underfunded. At
Spirit Lake our tribal court is currently staffed with two
judges, three clerks and a juvenile officer. Our law
enforcement agency is forced to work in conditions where often
only one police officer is assigned to a shift. Further budget
cutbacks for these programs has an effect upon the ability of
law enforcement and the courts to administer justice. Not only
that, but these law enforcement officers are placed in extreme
risk of injury by being forced to patrol an entire reservation
alone.
These issues facing our communities in the area of public
safety not only affect our community, but also neighboring
communities with such issues as sex offender registration,
domestic violence and an emergence of drugs such as meth. We
are seeing a need for State, tribal and Federal law enforcement
agencies to cooperate now more than ever. In order for tribal
communities to be safeguarded, we need to be sure that our law
enforcement and tribal courts are adequately equipped to do
their part in combating these social problems.
Also, we have a tremendous need for a detention center. At
Spirit Lake we have no juvenile detention at all. We are forced
to contract with state facilities when funding is available,
and much of the time it is not. The end result is that many
juveniles are committing crimes more often and it is becoming
more serious in nature. I believe that this is due to the fact
that a juvenile offender knows when they come before the court,
the judge will not be able to send them to detention because no
detention exists. With no alternatives such as work service
programs or home monitoring, the juvenile court is extremely
limited in what it can do to hinder juvenile crime on the
Spirit Lake. We need funding for juvenile facilities and
alternative programs if we are to end this cycle among our
youth.
As a part of our mission, our tribal governments are
responsible for ensuring that general health and well-being of
our people are provided for and protected. There is no doubt
that these budget shortfalls significantly impact our ability
to carryout this mission.
Beyond the budget shortfalls, I am concerned over the
apparent unwillingness of the Federal Government to listen to
the tribes when we do provide comments and input in budgetary
needs. The 2007 budget cuts are a clear reflection of this
unwillingness. Tribal leaders were among the many consulted
with Federal agencies on the 2007 budget, and still the
comments and input from those tribal leaders were seemingly
ignored.
All of the above-mentioned issues are critical and of
priority to Spirit Lake. We recognize the importance of applied
research in developing plans of action. However, we also
recognize our culture and our community expertise must be
implemented if these efforts are to be successful. We are open
to working with your committee to move forward in the effort of
addressing the disparities being experienced across Indian
country. Furthermore, we applaud your efforts to reach out to
the North Dakota tribes to get a better picture of our needs.
And I thank you for this.
[Prepared statement of Ms. Pearson appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Chairperson Pearson, thank you very much. I
want to read into the record just a couple of statistics that
you did not. There are a number of them that come from the
University of North Dakota Center for Health Promotion and some
that come from the National Resource Center on Native American
Aging and they relate to the adults on your reservation.
Spirit Lake adults were 59 percent less likely to have
health coverage, 52 percent less likely to have a personal
doctor, 78 percent more likely to be obese, 193 percent more
likely to smoke, just to pick out some, 288 percent more likely
to chronically drink. The National Resource Center on Native
American Aging in your statement says that Spirit Lake elders
were 44 percent more likely to have arthritis, 90 percent more
likely to have congestive heart failure, 206 percent more
likely to have diabetes, 375 percent more likely to have colon
or rectal cancer.
I just point out that your testimony includes some
statistics that also describe some very serious problems and
some very serious, especially health care, issues faced by
members of your tribe.
Tex Hall is here. Did he just leave? Tex is hard to pin
down, you know. Tex Hall has now joined us. I indicated,
Chairman Hall, that you were coming in on an airplane. We have
a seat up here and we're about ready for you if you're willing
to offer us testimony. What we have been doing is asking for,
Chairman Hall, a 10-minute oral testimony, if you will.
Mr. Hall. Oh, I'll keep it to 10 minutes, Senator.
Senator Dorgan. Then we will hear from Matt Lopez, who is
speaking on behalf of Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder from
Standing Rock. As I introduce Tex Hall, I should say that we in
North Dakota have been enormously proud of his national
leadership, two terms as president of the National Congress of
American Indians, and Tex has been very involved.
Chairman Davis, you mentioned the Cobell case, and I know
all of you have been involved in that, none more so than Tex
Hall, in trying to develop a national concensus on how we try
to address the Cobell case, because, I agree, Chairman Davis,
that we have to find a way to see if we can resolve that. It
has an impact on so many other things. At any rate, that's a
long introduction. Chairman Hall, we know you have been flying
this morning, but we're very pleased your being with us to
speak on behalf of your tribe, the Three Affiliated Tribes.
STATEMENT OF TEX G. HALL, CHAIRMAN, THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES
Mr. Hall. Good morning, Senator Dorgan, all of the staff
that are here and Dr. Gipp and all of the public that's
gathered here. I want to thank you, first of all, for the
hearing. We're very proud of your leadership in bringing the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs basically right here to
United Tribes College in Bismarck.
As you mentioned with Chairman Davis and Chairman Pearson
and Matt Lopez, we have been working with the BIA--on the BIA
2007 budget and we're very concerned that--``consultation'' is
a word that I really think that we would like to work with the
committee on defining what that means. And I caught the end of
Chairwoman Pearson's testimony about when we prioritize law
enforcement because of the problems that we have and the lack
of law enforcement officers--they say there's 15 million short
nationwide--and we don't get adequate funding for that, it
appears that that's not real meaningful consultation. So I
really would like to look at it. There's a past--President
Clinton and President Bush have an executive order that
requires meaningful consultation, but I guess if we meet and
discuss and agree and if we come back and then the priorities
change, maybe we have to define even further what ``meaningful
consultation'' means.
I do want--a second point, Senator. I do want to touch on
the recent 7.7 million that was paid for the--to the Cobell
attorneys. And in talking with Jim Casson, I believe there was
a--I want to say a .1 percent across-the-board rescission with
the exception of, I believe it's education and law enforcement,
but still, nevertheless, the rest of the programs were an
across-the-board cut, and I really question the legality, Mr.
Chairman, on that.
I believe that the budget should be a do-not-harm budget as
it comes to the Cobell lawsuit because that is clearly an
attack--to me, in my opinion, Mr. Chairman, it's an attack on
the plaintiffs or the allottees trying to seek justice, and my
understanding the judge paid--required a payment of 7.7 for the
attorneys under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Well, there's
not equal justice for the 500,000 Native Americans who are
seeking justice through the Cobell to amend their programs to
get an across-the-board cut. We're very concerned about that
and look forward to your leadership in S. 1439, the McCain-
Dorgan Trust Reform and Settlement bill, and I understand
there's a hearing that's coming up.
I do want to mention the ILCA under that section of the
bill, S. 1439. Fractionation is a huge problem for our tribe,
the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation. For all of the tribes here
in North Dakota it's a major problem. And the amount and the
probates are backlogged and the budgets just don't reflect
adequately our backlog of just trust transactions, lease and
approval. Land sales, land trades, land exchanges, gift deeds
are just a tremendous backlog. Then if you look at the 2007
President's budget, there is a cut in realty transactions. So
you can put all the money you want--there's an increase in the
ILCA budget, Indian Land Consolidation Act budget, but if you
don't put the increases in the people that do day-to-day land
transactions, you'll never get to the backlog and the money
will just sit there and the BIA will be forced to reprogram to
another priority so the money will not be used for what it's
intended for.
The last point on ILCA I would like to make is currently
the way the law reads is that the family members or family
farmers or ranchers cannot access this program. Only the
tribes. So if there's a fractionation for a family, that
they're out of luck. And I would recommend that maybe in S.
1439--I know there's a land consolidation piece of your
legislation, Senator Dorgan, that we look at that and we
discussed that here at the United Tribes College among the
tribal chairs previously.
I received testimony from all of our staff and they're all
very concerned. We have 64 departments and 550 staff members at
the MHA Nation. Welfare assistance is proposed to take a cut in
the President's budget. Road maintenance is proposed to take a
cut. The Johnson O'Malley Program is to be eliminated. The fire
protection program is to be eliminated. So we're very concerned
that--these programs are so vital. That's what we were talking
about, Chairman Davis, yesterday about do not harm. There
should be a do-not-harm mechanism for these budgets because
there's a treaty obligation and trust responsibility. And if we
lose our fire program, we have no access to protect our
communities. We can't have safe and self-sustaining
communities. If we lose our law enforcement officers, and we
have 6 BIA cops and 10 tribal cops that were funded under the
COPS DOJ grant that expired now this year. So as of January,
last month, the tribe is using JTAC funds to pick that up.
On health care, we're supplementing over 2 million a year
for our CHS and our contract health--JTAC funds. We're afraid,
Senator--JTAC funds were not intended to supplant the BIA, and
that is exactly what is happening over and over, and I can go
down the list.
On higher education--we really place a strong emphasis on
our education and our higher education. We're now down--with
the reductions we're down to 1,350 each--$1,350 for each. And
we had over 350 eligible. Now we'll have to cut that down to
probably 100 less. And our statistics--it's in our testimony,
Mr. Chairman, we're very proud. For those that have a 3.5 or a
better--20 percent of the 350 are over a 3.5. For those that
are 3.0 and above, we are 55 percent. For those that are 2.0
and above, we're 20. So basically 95 percent of our higher
education students are over 2.0 GPA. So the results--this is a
good investment, the results are there, and, unfortunately, the
budgets are getting less and less. So we just really want to
emphasize.
And, of course, our college here is again eliminated from
this budget. And we really get confused when we go into the
administration meetings like yesterday and they talk about PART
and they talk about GPRA, about how the Government Performance
Results Act, requires all these tribal programs to produce good
results and then we give them statistics and then we don't know
what happens to those statistics when the budgets get cut. It
doesn't add up. We're trying to really make these dollars--and
we could go to law enforcement. Crime is being reduced because
of our law enforcement, but the budgets are not. We can go to
education on Johnson O'Malley and higher education. The results
are there, but our budgets are being cut. So it's really
confusing on how the Government Performance Results Act or
PART, the Program Assessment Rating Tool, is administered. It
appears to be arbitrarily administered to us, Mr. Chairman. So
I don't know what the committee can--how they can help the
tribes look into that because we get--we kind of get the run-
around when we ask the administration, and they just say, well,
you got to keep doing the PART, you got to keep doing the GPRA.
On health care facilities, we're very concerned, of course,
of that cut again, and it's only down to 18 million, and
there's a number of facilities to be constructed on the
priority list in the Aberdeen area, and including our tribe,
which is looking to get outside that area, because if it's
under that 18 million, as you know, under the President's
budget, Mr. Chairman, we have been waiting since 1948, it will
be another 50-some years beyond this before--at 18 million
it's--they know--the administration knows that there's a $1-
billion backlog. Again, it's confusing. I don't know how they
justify their budgets. So our tribe and all the tribes will be
waiting for another 50 years to get either on a priority list
or to get adequate funding.
And I see Urban Indian Health is entirely eliminated, and
half of our people live off the reservation. Many of our people
live in Bismarck, Mandan, Fargo, and Grand Forks. And I do not
understand, Mr. Chairman, how the administration again
justified eliminating a program when they have a trust
responsibility. And that to me, I guess, would be--my own
opinion is they don't understand the trust responsibility.
And, anyway, Mr. Chairman, I could go on and on, but I want
to submit my entire testimony for the record, Mr. Chairman. I
would be happy to answer any questions.
Senator Dorgan. Without objection--I have a number of
questions, but we will have your entire statement printed in
the record.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Hall appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Next, Matt Lopez is here on behalf of
Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder from the Standing Rock Tribe.
Matt, would you want to proceed?
STATEMENT OF MATT STRONGHEART-LOPEZ, ON BEHALF OF CHAIRMAN RON
HIS HORSE IS THUNDER, STANDING ROCK SIOUX TRIBE
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. Good morning, Senator and members of
the committee, and welcome. We also want to thank you for being
here this morning.
My name is Matt Strongheart-Lopez and I'm a councilman at
large, also the vice chairman of the HEW Committee for Standing
Rock. And Chairman His Horse Is Thunder regrets that he could
not be here this morning for sake of the loss of one of our
constituents. James Jamerson passed away last week, and he was
recently elected from the Running Antelope District,
representative to the council, so his memorial service is today
and so he will be there. But, nonetheless, I just want to give
you, Senator and your office, our regards there from Standing
Rock.
And this morning, as you know, we do have many, many issues
which have already been addressed, and so forth, for your
hearing today, but for us, you know, we want to prioritize
education and the restoration of the Johnson O'Malley and the
higher education and the BIA education, and so forth.
The main--one of the reasons that we want to bring this
forward, just to be able to tie together the BIA cuts and IHS
cuts, is that, just for an example, with the new regulations,
you know, being passed down With No Child Left Behind, many of
our schools, of course, are not maintaining their adequate
yearly progress, [AYP] but they're identifying attendance as a
major factor in that. And so when we as a tribal government go
forth to pull on those resources within the BIA judiciary or
law enforcement to address this issue, they're not there, it's
not happening for us. So the effects for these budget cuts to
our communities impose a significant malfunction in our society
and for those lack of law enforcements and to maintain our
courts and, also, you know, allowing for our children not to go
to school, and so forth. But, most importantly, where it ties
the IHS in, and I know you have paid close attention to,
Senator, is that this opens the door for unsupervision for our
children and which leads to the suicides and, you know, we just
can't put a figure on this human life, and so forth.
So, you know, as you ask, how is this going--how are these
budget effects going to affect Indian country? Well, in that
area is one and, you know, of course, as you know, we maintain
an economy in surrounding communities, but also just the
economy within the communities of our reservation. You know,
it's important to us just to have that IHS not only in mental
health, the health budgets restored, but also our construction
dollars in the IHS.
So I'm sure that we'll have other testimonies dealing with
those treaty rights--it's been mentioned--and trust
responsibility, but I'll just close with that. I do have more
testimony to submit there to you, but, most of all, Senator, we
want to thank you for your work and, most importantly, for your
loyalty to Indian country. So thank you.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Strongheart-Lopez on behalf of
Ron His Horse Is Thunder appears in appendix.]
Senator Dorgan. Matt, thank you very much. Your entire
statement will be made a part of the record.
Let me ask first about Johnson O'Malley funds. Many people
wouldn't know what Johnson O'Malley funds are. My understanding
is that the Johnson O'Malley funds are allowing you to provide
for after-school programs that provide for young students'
tutoring and counseling after school, and I think it's an
investment of about $80 per student. Can you tell me how the
Johnson O'Malley funds are used and how many students on your
reservation are affected? And, as you know, the President would
zero out this program. What would the impact be on the children
of your reservation? Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis. Senator, at Turtle Mountain Johnson O'Malley
funds the students that attend the surrounding public schools
at St. John's, Dunseith Public, Rolla, Rolette, and those
moneys come through the tribe, and roughly the number is
around, I believe, 700, 800. The program has been decreased
significantly over the years. It's on a formula basis. But the
actual money does a lot of things. And I look at it, Johnson
O'Malley is supplemental--exclusively supplemental.
When it was passed in 1934, there was a big provision for
direct primary support of public schools, but that got done
away with in the seventies and since then it's been only a
supplemental program. And I consider it the type of program
that helps us build self-esteem of students for areas that
their parents cannot financially help them or else the school
system can't actually help them. It could be after-school
tutoring, it could be helping getting class pictures, because
if you couldn't afford them, a kid's self-esteem would be hurt,
for camps, both academic camps and other sports camps some kids
get sent to. It's a variety of supplemental services.
Senator Dorgan. All right. But, also, it includes the
principal after-school programs for children who in some cases
have nowhere else to go and get tutoring in these programs. Is
that correct?
That is correct.
Senator Dorgan. Chairman Hall.
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, real brief, the way--as an old
superintendent, the way I look at it is that it's so important
for those kids that need the program for after-school
activities, for extracurricular, including tutoring. For some
kids, if they don't get tutoring, they're not going to pass.
They need extra help in math or English or science, wherever
their weakness is. For those kids that can afford tutoring or
for those districts that have--real wealthy districts, those
kids are going to make it.
On my reservation it's between 100 and 150 kids. It's about
$80,000 to $100,000, the budget fluctuates. But those 100 to
125, 150 kids, they will be eliminated, I envision, because a
lot of these kids are at that place in their school where they
can succeed or they can't succeed. So the program clearly makes
a difference, and, again, I don't understand why it was
eliminated when it makes such a tremendous difference for those
kids and families.
Senator Dorgan. Was there any consultation with any of you
by the administration, by the BIA about the potential
elimination of the Johnson O'Malley program?
Mr. Hall. Absolutely none whatsoever. We were actually on
record, the Tribal Budget Advisory Council, [TBAC]. That's
where Ken and I represent the region, as well as Cecelia Fire
Thunder from Pine Ridge. We represent the Aberdeen Area Office
TBAC, which represents the 12 regions of Indian country. Nobody
wanted this program cut. We're hearing from Alaska tribes, the
Dakota tribes, the Oklahoma tribes--these areas are really
concerned--and Mexico--are very concerned where most of the
Johnson O'Malley funds are.
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask just 1 moment about contract
health. The Indian Health Service has not been very forthcoming
when I've asked them some pretty tough questions about this,
and I understand why, but, you know, I have been asking them
what are the unfunded health care requirements as a result of
your budget. In other words, stated another way, what percent
of the need for health care is being met under the trust
responsibility here? I finally have gotten an answer from them,
although it's not on the record, it's on background, but the
answer is between 60 and 65 percent of the health care needs of
American Indians are being met. Translated, 35 to 40 percent of
the health care needs are not met.
Now, as I try to answer the question and, I guess, ask the
question, what are the needs that are not being met? Part of
it, I think, was in the testimony that you've given today. You
talk about the contract health care waiting list. My
understanding is that the funding for the contract health
care--that is, health care that you're going to have to get at
some other facility--is sufficiently low so that only a certain
kind of life-threatening disease or life-threatening event is
able to be covered and other things you just wait for. So tell
me, what are those things that you can't get health services
for? What are they waiting for? Because there's not sufficient
money in the contract health care area?
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, that's really a red flag for our
tribes. Actually, we're funded at 45 percent. We did an
analysis. Again, that's part of our JTAC funds that supplement
what we can. But priority 1 is what you're alluding to, Mr.
Chairman, and that has to be life- or limb-threatening in order
for you to get a referral approved. Then there's a report done
now in Aberdeen that's called Don't Get Sick After June. That
means your budget runs out in June in contract health. This is
the facts. And some of the folks are laughing in the audience.
They're laughing because that's how crazy it is. This report
really was done--I think it was targeted for Aberdeen. Don't
Get Sick After June means they run out of contract health, so
you've got to postpone that surgery, you've got to postpone
that operation, so many people just simply go without.
And the troubling part of it is what happens when it's
carried over to the next year? If I was a priority 1 client and
it was after June, I wouldn't get that surgery, so they may
tell me I have to come back, you know, next--maybe October 1 or
October 2 you could get that surgery. Well, what happens if my
priority gets changed to priority 2 or 3, which I know it
happens, and when it goes to 2 or 3, then I'm not eligible for
contract health because only priority 1.
Senator Dorgan. And priority 1 is life and limb?
Mr. Hall. Yes.
Senator Dorgan. Myra, what are the examples of that?
Ms. Pearson. Exactly what Chairman Hall said. IHS is
prioritizing your illnesses and stuff and only if you're a
priority 1 is when you're going to receive your health care.
But I also ran into this the other day when I was home. I
get all those calls at my office, you know, when something is
going on down there, but I got two calls and they both were in
regards to diabetes. There was a young girl, 17 years old, who
needed her insulin and then there's an elderly lady in her
eighties that needed her insulin. When they went down there to
get their medication for them, they told them they were out of
the insulin. So it's things like that. You know, there's
shortages on the medicine. Your priorities have to be dealt
with either in Grand Forks or here in Bismarck. Grand Forks
don't take any of the people from Spirit Lake anymore because
they haven't paid the bills and now they're referring them down
here to Bismarck.
Senator Dorgan. And they haven't paid the bills because of
contract health payments. Let me ask you this. Under contract
health, under the old system, if you actually went and got the
service, then somehow contract health didn't pay for it, isn't
that a circumstance where it comes back and ruins the credit of
the individual that got the service?
Ms. Pearson. Your names are entered into the credit bureau.
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, could I just make one real brief
comment?
Senator Dorgan. Yes, Tex.
Mr. Hall. I have tribal members, that they stop by my house
because the debt collector--because IHS has not paid for their
medical bill even though they were approved but ran out of
money. They were garnishing their income tax that comes into
their bank account. I've had ladies--men and women come in with
their five or six kids. I think they just did that just so I
can see who's not getting that money, that income tax return.
Senator Dorgan. That's shameful. Ken.
Mr. Davis. Well, a couple cases that I've had--under
contract care there has been a few and I've been unsuccessful.
We've had some tribal members who have been off the reservation
and all of a sudden this one lady had certain abdominal pains
and she came into the emergency ward here in Minot and she
ended up getting hospitalized. The doctors determined that she
needed to be put under surveillance, and she was, she went back
and requested for coverage. They have a 72-hour rule. They
turned her down and said it wasn't life-threatening.
You've got a whole bunch of specialists also, whether it's
a knee surgery, whether it's a hip replacement, whether it's a
foot, and in some cases detoxification--individuals have to be
sent to other places for detox. Sometimes it's youth placements
for mental health reasons or other reasons, but, again,
contract care moneys are not available so they have a waiting
list, and those waiting lists are never reached anymore because
priority 1's are all they do.
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask which of you have any community
youth centers? That issue came up when I held the hearings on
youth suicide. Matt, does your reservation have a community
youth center?
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. I believe we do, Senator. It's the
Boys and Girls Club. And, you know, we've, of course, continued
to find funding and activity for them in this facility. But,
again, I would have to pull on staff to get figures of what
kind of numbers are run through the facility, but I think,
also, we need to develop--we need to advance that also into the
youth--you know, not just the younger children, but into the
youth, as well.
Senator Dorgan. But I don't believe you have a significant
youth facility, do you, at Standing Rock----
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. No.
Senator Dorgan [continuing]. Where you can conduct
substantial organized activities? Let me ask you a question.
What is the unemployment rate at Standing Rock. Do you know?
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. Well, the unemployment is going to
run between 60 and 70 percent. This is of enrolled members who
are able and willing to work, but don't--but can't have that
job.
I just wanted to mention something, Senator, on this with
the IHS and the staffing of these facilities and the doctors.
One of the things, we know we're running into patients having
lack of services with patients, and so forth, but, you know, we
also lack the number of doctors to provide that service, as
well. It's similar to the BIA law enforcement thing, as I
understand it. But I just want to make mention of that, that we
do have that lack of doctors. And many of our facilities run
into problems with that in the weekend service, as well, with
the IHS.
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask, if I can, of Chairman Davis,
what is the unemployment rate on your reservation?
Mr. Davis. The last labor force report that was done had it
around 65 percent, Senator.
Senator Dorgan. Okay. And I'm going to come back to that
and ask about economic development. That is the reason I'm
asking that question. Do you have a significant community youth
center on your reservation?
Mr. Davis. No; we don't. We have been in a planning process
and I've included some in testimony here, but it was a priority
of my administration that I wanted to address this particular
need, and we're in the process right now working with an
architectural firm. We've laid out the program, we're doing the
initial design of it--or we're doing the fund-raising now. And
the intent there, I'll just give you an example. I've got a
grandson of mine that I raised, 15 years old. Every time I
wanted to take him to the swimming pool in the summertime, I
had to take him off the reservation. Every time in the
wintertime I wanted to take him to an ice-skating rink, I had
to take him off the reservation. Every time I wanted to take
him to a movie, I've got to take him off the reservation. Not
everybody, with the high rate of poverty we have, has that type
of resource and ability to do that with their children, so
their children don't get those opportunities. And we realize
there's a segment of our population that were like me when I
was growing up, that were not a part of the--I call it the
reservation middle class the reservation has. They are the ones
that are stuck away in the bush or they're stuck away in some
of these housing projects and they're not into the mainstream
of youth activities, and we need to reach those kids because
those are the ones that are vulnerable for drugs and other
delinquencies.
Senator Dorgan. Myra, do you have a youth community center
of any significance on the reservation?
Ms. Pearson. No; we've got a recreation center in each of
the districts, but like Standing Rock said, we're working with
the Boys and Girls Club, which we've only started working with
them. They've been around, but because they didn't, you know,
combine the two programs, they finally started working with us,
and they agreed to come into the tribe as part of the tribal
programs.
But, again, we have a lot of youth out there that, because
of transportation, aren't able to get into these centers for
activities. We did have a little $9,000 grant that we were able
to go and buy some computers that were set-up in each of the
districts so the students can use them for perhaps after-school
tutoring and stuff.
Senator Dorgan. And what is the unemployment rate on your
reservation?
Ms. Pearson. Oh, it was 65 and I think it's higher now. We
just had--we had Golden Eagle Wireless now almost completely
shut down.
Senator Dorgan. Tex, what is the unemployment rate of the
Three Affiliated Tribes?
Mr. Hall. It's about 50 percent, Mr. Chairman. But like the
other tribes have mentioned, North Dakota and South Dakota
tribes, the average is 75 percent. We just looked at those
numbers. This is the poorest region in the entire country and
one of the largest land base, just under 9 million acres for 16
tribes in the Dakotas and Nebraska, and probably just under
300,000, so it's one of the most populated and biggest land
base regions and the most allottees and landowners, but yet
still economic development has not come to our region.
Senator Dorgan. Let me ask you about economic development
because that has a pretty big impact on the question of what
social services are needed. You know, obviously a good job that
pays well is a pretty significant part of someone's life,
allowing them to do a lot of the other things, and yet with
high unemployment rates, because there's just a lack of
employment opportunities in many of these areas, there then is
increasing claim on the human services needs. Can you just give
me a brief description of your view of economic development in
the future on your reservation?
Mr. Hall. Well, thank you for the question. I really--as
the tribal chairman for quite some time now, since the
beginning I've always focused--my focus has always been on
creating a real economy, a self-sustaining economy that
includes both tribal businesses and individual entrepreneurs
because, in my opinion, that's what builds Main Street, and
many of our communities now have a community center and they
now have a small convenience store with gasoline sometimes.
Every now and then we get a daily newspaper in some of our
isolated communities. And we just started getting--in my
community, Mandaree, we're just now starting to get a regular
daily newspaper, so we're really proud of that, even though
many of us still haul water and we're really isolated. So
economic development is critical because----
Senator Dorgan. Can I stop you at that point? You talk
about hauling water and I've heard this discussion before just
in recent days. Are there a fair number of people hauling water
on your reservation?
Mr. Hall. Just under 300, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Dorgan. 300 citizens are hauling their water for
their daily water needs?
Mr. Hall. Yes; they are. Only the communities--the six
communities on Fort Berthold in part of the Dakota Water
Resources Act are hooked up. The outlying rural houses are not.
The water pipelines have not reached. And, of course, that's
under your leadership with the 70 million that was authorized
for the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Senator Dorgan. Right.
Mr. Hall. So hard work and finding good jobs is critical,
especially when you can't get sick after June with IHS.
Everybody looks for trying to get a Blue Cross and Blue Shield
medical card. Many of our people don't have a 401(k) or a
403(b), that's just absent, because that's like chocolate on an
ice cream cone. A lot of our people never accomplish a 401(k)
or a 403(b). So we're looking for real jobs that pay real good
wages. And, of course, we have a couple of construction
companies that are looking at 8(a) contracts.
And, Mr. Chairman, I understand that the 8(a) USDA program
is under attack by many people in Congress that want to
eliminate it that don't understand for those tribes where real
gaming has not really been a real huge impact for us out in
rural North Dakota, the 8(a) program is critical because it
gives you preference to your tribal or individual business to
get contracts. And so, of course, Mandaree Enterprise
Corporation, MHA Systems and our Buffalo Enterprise and all of
our businesses are really dependent on that 8(a) program to
supply the USDA or the school hot lunch program.
But equity--getting equity for finance--enhanced financing
just continues and just business development continues to be a
real tough battle for us.
Senator Dorgan. Myra, are there people hauling water on
your reservation for their daily water needs, as well?
Ms. Pearson. Out toward the western part of the
reservation, yes, for drinking water, and some of them don't
use it for doing the laundry or house chores or anything like
that.
Senator Dorgan. Ken, what about your reservation, do you
have people hauling water still?
Mr. Davis. Senator, we've got a number of people that are
on a waiting list for water and sewer, and so, yes, they must
be hauling water because they don't have it hooked up. So we
got a rural water system on the reservation, it's a fairly good
delivery system, but, still, if you don't have the sewage
system set up, it doesn't help you a heck of a lot.
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. Senator, yes, we do have--we are
hauling water here on Standing Rock. And we're also looking at,
again, furthering development of our water lines, water
resources there. And so we do, also.
Senator Dorgan. All right. Could I just get a brief
description of the fire prevention program and what impact that
has on your funding of the reservations? Tex, you mentioned the
fire prevention program, and I don't know if you did, Ken, or
not. Do you want to tell me?
Mr. Davis. The program that's targeted for elimination is
community fire protection. That's structural programs. And at
Turtle Mountain the tribe runs the structural fire protection
program. Years ago we used to have to rely exclusively on the
facility management, planned management of the BIA. They were
the only one in town that had a fire truck. So about 20 years
ago we had some tribal members that started the department and
ended up combining the BIA program with the tribal program, and
we get about $30,000 a year to run a portion of the program. We
get funding from other sources, but the backbone of it has
always been the money on TBA and structural fire, 24-hour
coverage reservationwide for any home fires, and we've had
them. We've lost tribal members and babies, and so forth, in
some of the home fires. Just recently a couple years ago we
lost a couple children. But this program is a public safety
program and, you know, there's no other resource available to
replace it.
Senator Dorgan. I want to ask you just for 1 moment about
hunger and the issue of feeding programs on the reservation.
Some years ago then Congressman Tony Hall from Ohio and I held
a gathering at the Standing Rock Reservation about the feeding
programs, the food that was coming from USDA, and particularly
it was canned meats and other things, that we were doing some
work on the quality of it, which was horrible quality, very
high in fat, and so on. Tell me now about the programs that
would address hunger on the reservation, and is there hunger,
how effectively is that addressed?
Mr. Davis. Well, we have Meals on Wheels for elders, which
is not adequately funded. We've got the USDA hot lunch programs
at the schools and we also got the commodity programs, and then
we have the food stamp programs. And, of course, the intent of
the administration is to totally eliminate the commodity
program in USDA that comes through the State to the
reservations.
And the problem there, Senator, is that the people right
now have a choice between going and applying for food stamps or
USDA commodities. And there's a sliding scale for the food
stamp program, so you can get, say, $200 of food stamps or you
can get $25. On the commodities, if you're eligible, you get
everything. So a lot of individuals that just get a small
amount of eligibility, instead go under the commodities program
so they get the full amount for their families. And the program
has improved drastically over the years.
I grew up on commodities and, you know, I know that the
cheese and the flour and the fry bread and the lard, and so
forth, attributed to my obesity. But the program nutritionally
has improved drastically over the years, and I am opposed to
any elimination of the USDA commodity program by the
administration.
Senator Dorgan. Ken, I hope you're starting to substitute
for that lard. We've learned a lot since the old days and get
that lard out of the diet they tell us, I guess, anyway. Thank
you very much, Ken, for that. Myra, the feeding programs, the
commodity and hunger programs.
Ms. Pearson. We have the same programs, but the only thing
is our elderly feeding program is--you know, they don't get
enough money to provide food year-round for the elders, and
they do deliver most of the meals again because of
transportation, but we do supplement them somewhat, too, to see
that they make it through to the end of the fiscal year.
The schools have the hot lunch feeding program, but, again,
some of the kids, because of the mere fact that, you know, the
applications aren't turned in, they have to pay the full price
for some of those meals. A lot of our children attend school
off the reservation to the Minnewaukan, Warwick and Sheyenne
School Districts, Devils Lake School District, and they also
have to pay for their meals when they attend there. If it's not
full cost, then they pay, you know, part of the cost of their
hot lunch, so we try to supplement in those areas.
Senator Dorgan. All right. Tex.
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, can I briefly go back to the fire?
Senator Dorgan. Yes.
Mr. Hall. The fire program has about 185,000 for our tribe.
It employs two fire people per segment, so it's 12 total.
That's the only fire program that we have. It's for grassland
mainly, but it also protects home, because if that's the only
water truck in town, that's what you have to use when there's a
fire. We tried to apply for the Homeland Security grants that
come down for a nice, state-of-the-art fire truck, and their
answer was, well, you don't have a structural program. You just
have a grassland program. So if we lose our grassland program,
there will be nothing out there. So I'm really concerned about
not having any fire protection at all in our community.
On the commodity program we probably have over 1,000 people
that use the commodity program, so it is a critical program.
And kind of like Ken, I went to college on commodities because
at Dickinson State you only had a meal program Monday through
Friday. You didn't get a meal on Saturday, Sunday, so if it
wasn't for those commodities, I wouldn't have stayed in
college. You either eat or you go home because there's no food
there on a weekend program at Dickinson State--well, back in
the seventies, anyway. Maybe they do now.
But, anyway, over 1,000 people use this program, and it's
really improved tremendously. Our program--Joe Henry runs our
commodities program and works with Red Gates down at Standing
Rock. And it's really a more healthy product now. It's got real
fruit, real vegetables. It eliminated that chopped meat with
all that lard in it and it's got margarine instead of butter
and it's got real brand-name cereal. So the work that you and
Congressman Hall did must have really completely turned that
program around, because I remember what it was like in the
seventies and it doesn't look like that today.
Senator Dorgan. You know, Red Gates is one of the reasons
that we decided to go down to Standing Rock and take a look at
those commodities and meet with people, and I remember Tony
Hall's reaction when we opened up those cans and those jars and
we saw the kind of meat that was in it and the lard, and so on.
But he's been working on those issues for a long, long time--
Mr. Gates has.
I want to ask if there are other issues that you would like
to comment on before we adjourn? And I want to say a couple
other things, too. The issue of human needs, especially with
respect to the choices by the Congress and the President, the
issue of human needs is really very important. And sometimes in
the Congress, especially at a national level, this is debated
in the guise of statistics, but it really is not about
statistics. It's about families. It's about people who are
living in poverty. It's about people who seem hopeless and
helpless and wonder how they're going to get out of the
circumstances they're in. And it's about a country deciding to
pay attention to those that are struggling. And there's no
greater need, I think, than the need that exists on Indian
reservations, and part of our responsibility, I think, is to
help with economic development. Part of it is funding
education. Economic development is about jobs. Education is
about opportunities. But at the start you also have to take
care of the basic human needs, and that's why I wanted to have
some discussion from you about the issues of hunger and poverty
and school children needing tutoring, the basics. You've got to
take care of the basics first and then work on the other
issues.
On health care, I know that there are statistics I've seen
that say to us--we have a trust responsibility for health care
for Native Americans. That's not an option. That's a trust
responsibility that our country inherited, agreed to, and we
spend, I believe, about one-half as much per person on health
care for American Indians as we do for those who are
incarcerated in American prisons. We also have a health care
responsibility for those who are incarcerated. They're our
charge, our responsibility. So we spend twice as much per
person for them as we do for health care for American Indians.
And it describes, I think, how underfunded the Indian Health
Service is in a circumstance where we meet, Tex, you say on
your 68 reservation, 40 or 45 percent, the national figures I
think are probably around 60 percent, but where we don't meet
40 percent of the health care needs, and there are people on
reservations walking around today who have a condition that is
chronic and painful and difficult, it may not threaten their
life and limb, but it desperately needs treatment and they're
not getting the treatment because they're told they're not
priority 1 and contract health service won't pay for it. That's
shameful in my judgment. And this country needs to do much,
much better than that.
I would like to offer each of you the opportunity to make
any closing comments, and let me start with you, Matt.
Mr. Strongheart-Lopez. Thank you, Senator. I just want to
thank you for your comments, as well, and your concerns for the
human needs in Indian country and your concern for the
economics, and so forth, and poverty levels. You know, to tie
all these things together, you know, we see that poverty level
as a cutting-off place if one should choose to get that job in
construction, or so forth, that then begins to make him
ineligible for our programs that we have set up in the system
for them and it gives them--they lose that desire and that
drive to continue on, and so we need to adjust that poverty
level somehow within that government.
So I just wanted to mention back again also for the
economics that on Standing Rock, as you know, we've been 3
years in construction with our streets and highways programs.
The win thing for our tribal government in that is that it
provided those jobs for our enrolled members in that
timeframe--in that 3-year timeframe.
And we just want to thank you again, Senator, for your work
and your input on that, and I know we have looked for target
projects of that magnitude in other areas and trying to
resurrect the bridge over Oahe project in looking at trying to
see if the same results as the Government raising that poverty
level and the employment issues and also helping the people
meet the needs of their health insurance, and so forth, so it's
important for us to look at that great project, and I know it's
been a sore point at times and we need to understand that if we
can pursue that, it will increase and it will grow our economy
here at Standing Rock.
Senator Dorgan. Matt, we tried very hard for a period of
time almost 10 years ago where there was, I think, a window to
try to get that done and we were unsuccessful in working with
the tribe. As you know, there were burial ground issues, and
every time we thought we were making progress, another issue
was raised. And I think, you know, we may well be beyond that,
but we'll talk about it. It is an authorized project, but has
not ever been funded, and we've had two occasions where we
worked pretty hard to see if we could get something started and
it just--the tribe was impossibly divided, as you know, on a
wide range of things and it just took forever and ever and
ever, and I finally said, you know, we've got to some closure
and it was impossible to do. We will continue to talk about
that at some point in the future. Thank you very much.
Thank you. In our instance, as we grow, as we mature in
Indian country, we appreciate that. Thank you.
Chairman Davis.
Mr. Davis. I didn't get a chance to comment much on the
economic development, but when you compare the unemployment of
Indian tribes in North Dakota and the State as a whole, there
is a horrific difference. We're not making these figures up,
Senator. I've given you statistics here that shows that we had
over 1,400 people last year on welfare assistance at Turtle
Mountain, plus there was another eight to nine hundred
individuals over in Rolette County that got TANF assistance. So
the figures are not made up. It's a real world out there.
We have been getting a lot of lip service about economic
development from the Administration and they say it's a
priority. Of course, they look at our gaming enterprises and
think, well, things are all hunky-dory, everybody is making a
whole bunch of money, but, as we've shown you this morning,
that is not really the case.
I do think that the Indian Finance Act of 1974 had
authorizations in there. Of course, no money has been
appropriated in a couple of those vital areas, particularly the
grant program and the direct loan program, and I know that
there was a sense that those were failures, but I'm going to
tell you they were not failures. They were Indian people's
first opportunities to go into business, private commercial
businesses in Indian country. That generation planted the seed
for what's going on today for more business conscious, for more
entrepreneurial conscious and that money was not wasted. And so
if we're going to continue--and I think Indian tribes are going
to have to compete in the global economy, starting in the state
and going national and going global, and we're doing some of
that right now with some of the businesses, and with assistance
from yourself and Senator McCain and Senator Inouye, some of
the contracts we've gotten on a national basis.
I want to say one more thing in closing, that we had a
celebration 1 year ago at Turtle Mountain that we commemorated
the last signing of our agreement, the McCumber agreement, on
February 15, 1905, with the United States of America, and at
that time we had no welfare at Turtle Mountain, we didn't have
any jails at Turtle Mountain, and it was only 100 years ago.
Our people were fairly self-sufficient and we just went through
a drastic change in our way of life. We were a buffalo tribe.
And the last 100 years have been a shameful history for people
in many areas. And I think that I've given you information in
my presentation about some very vital statistics, and over an
extended period of time now vital programs for us have not
fulfilled the needs of our people. You only have to go to the
U.S. Office of Civil Rights report on a crisis to know that
Indian people in this country have not participated in our fair
share of the public support of needed programs.
One last comment. I belong to the Aberdeen Area Tribal
Chairman's Health Board, and we have provided you additional
testimony here today to answer some of the questions you had
about the priority 1, and so forth.
Senator Dorgan. Chairman Davis, thank you.
Mr. Davis. Thank you very much and your committee for your
presence today.
Senator Dorgan. Chairman Davis, thank you very much.
Chairwoman Pearson.
Ms. Pearson. I, too, Senator Dorgan, would like to thank
you for allowing us here today and hope you've listened to all
our needs and our priorities and stuff, but at the same time
life goes on, and we as Indian people, Native Americans, we
have a sense of humor that, you know, we'll laugh our way
through this and hopefully that we come out on the good end of
it.
I was on the council before and things haven't changed much
since then. I come back to address the same needs that I left
with back then, and hopefully this time I'll stay a little
longer to see something get done. It's not an easy job and I've
got some good people helping me, as well as my counterparts
here at United Tribes. I also want to thank Dr. Gipp for all
the assistance and help that he's given me and for the great
job he's doing at United Tribes, and I hope you can do all you
can to assist him. My voice is going out a little bit so I
better quit.
But I do have some good things that have happened at Spirit
Lake. We are going to have our own propane company. One of our
enrolled members have started that up. We've got the wind
energy that one of Chairman Hall's members have come in to help
us with, and hopefully we can get that going.
We have our commodity program that we talked about, and
what we do there, and I should have mentioned it, but we do
process our buffalo. We have a 200-head herd of buffalo that we
use and we process and that is taken down to the commodity
house and it's stored there for our diabetics. Our diabetic
people are allowed to go down there and get what they can
because it's supposed to be good for their diets.
And as far as our fire department, I want to remind
everyone that the reason why we got that fire department was
because of the disaster that, you know, took the lives of three
children and we didn't have a fire department then, and because
of the deaths of those children, our housing authority with the
fire hall finally made it a reality to have a structural fire
department. The day that those children died there was a fire
truck sitting across the street that was a BIA fire truck, and
because of their restrictions on where they service, they
weren't allowed to put that fire out, but when they did put it
out, those children were still in that house and that was the
reason why our fire department was started back then. And I
hope you can give us some support there in retaining that fire
department. We're down to a minimum now, too, but if we can
keep it without a problem.
I think I've said enough and, again, I would like to thank
you all for allowing me to sit here today and express my views.
Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you very much. Chairman Hall.
Mr. Hall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a comment on two
things, the human side of things as you mentioned and then I
want to mention on S. 2078.
I think of the old people as we were all talking today. I
think about our ancestors. And there's something about our
tribes, we never forget where we came from, from our fathers
and mothers and our grandparents and our great-grandparents and
our chiefs that settled this country and lived here thousands
of years and how they must have felt when they entered into
treaties with the United States. They weren't certain in 1851
what that meant. But when the United States came and said if
you sign this peace treaty, as long as the grass grows and the
wind blows and the water flows, we'll provide for your health,
education and welfare and you can trust the great white father
in Washington. Then, of course, we know what happened, they
took the land.
And then in 1948 I think of our relatives, too, that they
said they signed the Garrison Dam with a heavy heart and it
split our people almost 50-50, those that said, well, we got to
trust the United States, we got to trust them. If they flood
us, they say they're going to provide for a new health facility
they're going to provide for a new education facility and it
was half of our people that didn't believe them. They said
remember the treaty in 1851. They never lived up to that and we
have to think of our children so, no we're not going to support
the Garrison Dam, so it divided us completely in two. And now
we're coming back around, we're seeing a budget that takes away
from school construction, a budget that takes away from
facilities construction, a budget that takes away from economic
development, a budget that wipes out Johnson O'Malley for
after-school children.
And getting back to health care, Mr. Chairman, you
mentioned the prisoners and there's a joke in Indian country if
you want to get a surgery you've got to commit a crime, you
know because you'll get a surgery there.
You know, that priority 1 and priority 2 and 3 is all
hogwash. That's rationed health care. That's not providing real
health care for people. Our people are prisoners after 5
o'clock or on weekends because you can't get access to the
clinic after 5 o'clock or you can't get access to that clinic
on Saturday or Sunday, so if you've got a gallbladder, tough
luck because that's not going to be approved for your priority
1 because that's a priority 2 or priority 3. Or if your mother
needs a mammogram or your grandmother, your aunt needs a
mammogram, tough luck, she's got to wait until she's got cancer
before she gets approval for priority 1, then we know it's too
late.
I could go on and on, Mr. Chairman, and you know these
things. I'm basically talking for the record, you know, because
I know you understand the needs of our tribes. But I think
about those things about our ancestors and about how they would
think about where we've come. We make progress and then we go
backward, and we're going backward in this 2007 budget, so I
wonder not only about today, but I wonder about 2008 and 2009
and I wonder when I'm not in this chair, what is it going to be
like in 10, 20 years from now, where are we going to be. So I
just wanted to state those things and it really concerns me
about where we're going and why we're not providing for our
people.
And then in closing I just want to mention, Mr. Chairman,
on McCain's S. 2078, the North Dakota tribes are totally
opposed to it. It appears that Senator McCain wants to make the
NIGC the BIA of Indian gaming and that totally goes against
self-determination. We have tribal gaming commissioners that
all have been approved. We have State compacts that the
attorney general of North Dakota and the state have negotiated
and we've provide regulation, yet it appears 2078 wants to
completely put the NIGC on every tribal council. That's
basically--it would be like the BIA managing every piece of our
land. The NIGC now under this S. 2078 would manage every aspect
of gaming, and I think that would be an economic detriment.
And if somebody committed some wrongdoing in some other
State, why do we have to pay that price in North Dakota when we
need those dollars to replace what those charts are saying that
we're losing under the Federal Government? So we ask for your
consideration in that, Mr. Chairman.
It's been a great honor to testify here today in North
Dakota at United Tribes Technical College with you as the
chairman of the committee today.
Senator Dorgan. Chairman Hall, thank you very much. We will
have in the future discussion about Senator McCain's bill. In
fact, there will be a hearing on that very soon, and I will
have a discussion with the tribal chairs in North Dakota about
it. It's a very important issue.
I want to just make one final comment. We have necessarily
been talking about what's wrong and how to fix it today, and
when you do that at a hearing, you talk about what isn't
working. I held a meeting in Minot once, among many town
meetings, hundreds and hundreds that I've had over the years,
and started the meeting--it's the only one I've ever done this
way--I said to the people who came to the meeting, I want to do
something a little different. We're going to have a town
meeting to talk about our lives and what's going on. I don't
want anyone to do anything other than talk about what's right
in their lives, what works in their lives. We can't criticize
anything. We just want to talk about what's right. And it was
very hard for all of us to do that because our nature is to
figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. But it was very
interesting, as well.
After about 15 minutes where I said, no, no, you can't say
that, no, no, you can't do that, pretty soon they would have to
start thinking, I had this wonderful teacher that had a
profound impact on my life or I've got a person down the street
that has this business, it's the most unbelievable person
you've ever met, and pretty soon people were talking about what
really works in their lives.
Now, we could, because we're talking about what's wrong,
and we have four tribal leaders here, we could have spent the
time perhaps differently, and my guess is if we had allotted a
couple of hours for you to talk about what's working and what's
right, my guess is you can tell me about the 41-year-old mother
of four that graduates from a tribal college against all the
odds, you can tell me about all those success stories. And I
just don't want the fact that these hearings--the nature of
these hearings is about what's wrong and how to fix it, I don't
want that fact to obscure the leadership that exists and the
interests of individuals, as well as tribal leaders, to better
their lives and to invest in making life better for themselves.
That's going on all around the country on reservations and it's
going on right here at United Tribes.
So I want to end by saying I think there are enormous
challenges, and there are misjudgments being made about
priorities and choices in these budgets, but there are also
some really good things happening, and if we work together I
think all of us can amplify those good things and build on them
to create a much better and brighter future. That's what we owe
our children and that's what we owe our elders and we inherited
that responsibility. There's nobody--nobody better to do that
than us. That's why we're here at this time and it's our job.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:38 p.m. the hearing was concluded.]
=======================================================================
A P P E N D I X
----------
Additional Material Submitted for the Record
=======================================================================
Prepared Statement of Hon. John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona,
Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs
Good morning. I'm sorry that I cannot be with you this morning, but
want to thank my friend and colleague, Senator Dorgan, for holding this
hearing, and thank the witnesses for testifying on the President's
Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2007.
While we must all be concerned by our country's burgeoning budget
deficit, we must also be mindful of the Federal Government's trust and
moral obligations to Native Americans.
In evaluating the budget request against this backdrop, I am
disturbed by many of the cuts that have been proposed to programs that
already fall far short of meeting needs. I look forward to reviewing
the testimony from today's hearing.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Kent Conrad, U.S. Senator from North Dakota
I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to Senator Dorgan for
holding this important hearing on the President's fiscal year 2007
budget request and its impact on the tribes in North Dakota. Thank you
to each of the tribal leaders who is here today to present testimony.
While I am unable to attend today's hearing, I did want to share
some of my observations and concerns with this budget. Overall I must
say that I am deeply disappointed with the President's budget and his
disregard of the Federal Government's clear trust responsibility to
American Indians. This budget fails in every conceivable way to address
the growing unmet needs in education, housing, and health care.
I am very troubled that for a fifth straight year the budget fails
to provide funding for United Tribes Technical College [UTTC]. This
administration simply has no justifiable reason for eliminating its
funding.
For 37 years UTTC has been providing a quality education for many
across the Great Plains. The college has had the strong support of past
administrations to provide educational services to students and
families. Only when this administration took office did this college,
its students, and faculty come under attack. It is hard to comprehend
why the administration wants to close this college which, has an 87-
percent retention rate, a 95-percent placement rate, and a return on
Federal investment of 20 to 1.
The BIA argues UTTC's funding through the Department of Education
is sufficient to meet the needs of the college. However, the funding
provided through the BIA accounts for one-half of UTTC's annual
operating budget and is critical to keeping its doors open.
More than 1,000 ``real'' people are impacted by this cut. It is
shameful that this budget would again yank the rug out from under these
students.
On a more positive note, after several consecutive years of deep
cuts, the administration is finally recognizing the importance of
tribal colleges.
Tribal colleges provide hope and opportunity to thousands who might
not otherwise get the chance to achieve a higher education. For far too
long, this administration had short-changed these successful colleges,
providing less and less funding. This budget takes a positive step in
providing the necessary resources to support these valuable
institutions; however, I and many others will be working to boost
funding for the tribal colleges even more as the budget and
appropriations process gets underway.
The President's budget is also very troubling in the area of
American Indian housing. Housing is a basic fundamental need. Yet, the
reservations here in North Dakota are plagued by a chronic shortage of
decent, affordable housing. The President's answer is to cut funding
for Indian housing block grants, even though the needs reach $1
billion.
Finally, let me say a few words about health care, because the lack
of adequate funding in the President's budget is very concerning to me.
In 2004, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on the
Native American health care system. The Commission's report noted
``persistent discrimination and neglect continue to deprive Native
Americans of a health system sufficient to provide health care
equivalent to that provided to the vast majority of Americans.'' It is
very troubling that in the 21'' Century Native Americans still do not
have the access to the quality health care to which they are entitled.
Unfortunately, the President's budget fails to bridge this gap. It
fails to address the increasing health care demands due to population
growth and increasing medical costs, which have resulted in ballooning
unmet needs.
In North Dakota, where certain kinds of health services are not
available through IHS, tribes rely on contract health care. However,
because of the limited funding available to purchase contract care, a
patient must fall within the priority 1 category, which means the
patient must have a life threatening illness or injury to receive care.
At present, only one-half of the needs in contract health are being
met, leaving many without access to the care they need. The President's
response is to only include about a $37-million increase for contract
health care, hardly enough to expand services beyond priority 1
patients.
The road to reverse these cuts will be difficult. Yet, if we
continue down this road, the gap between needs and funding to meet
those needs will continue to enlarge to a point of no return. We simply
cannot allow this to happen. We cannot continue to ignore the Federal
Government's trust responsibilities to tribes.
Again, I thank the witnesses for being here today and look forward
to your input on how we can make real progress on these serious
challenges.
______
Prepared Statement of David Gipp, President, United Tribes Technical
College
Welcome, Senator Dorgan, members of the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs, tribal leaders, guests, and members of the public. Thank you,
Senator, for allowing me to make an opening statement on behalf of
United Tribes Technical College at today's historic hearing regarding
the impact of the President's proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 on
Native Americans. United Tribes is honored to be able to host the
hearing today on the campus of United Tribes Technical College.
As you know, of course, the core funding for United Tribes
Technical College provided through our Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act [Public Law 93-638] contract was once again left out of
the President's budget proposal for fiscal year 2007. This represents 6
years in a row that funding for our institution has been omitted. Yet,
the Self-Determination Act requires that the President request the
funds each year a valid contract is in effect. This year is the third
year of a 3-year contracting cycle for us, and we are now a self-
determination contractor with mature status, which should make renewal
of the contract automatic. Yet, these legal obligations were ignored in
the President's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget.
Leaving us out of the budget for fiscal year 2007 is now even more
painful, because we serve over twice as many students as we did just 2
years ago, and yet we have not received any increase in funding. Our
student count for this school year is over 1,000 students, and we serve
nearly 400 children of students and staff in our day care and K-8
elementary school facilities. Thus, we are doing twice as much on the
same amount of funds. Our cost per student has decreased dramatically,
but we cannot sustain the present level of students on the same amount
of funding.
Without the core funding we have received every year since our
founding in 1969, the impact of the President's budget on us could be
severe. We are very thankful and grateful that in previous years,
largely through the efforts of you, Senator Dorgan, our core funding
has been restored.
But we should not have to go through this exercise every year, as
we know that we provide a vital service to many, many, tribal citizens
and their families as they seek a solid education and seek to improve
their lives. Our retention rate is more than 85 percent. We place
nearly all of our graduates in meaningful jobs they would not otherwise
have been able to obtain if they had not come here for there education.
Based on a recent survey, verified independently, the return on the
investment the United States makes in our institution is 20 to 1. For
every dollar invested by the United States at United Tribes, the
students who graduate return $20 over the course of their lifetimes to
the U.S. Treasury. Few investments anywhere have that kind of rate of
return.
Therefore, we are requesting $ 4.5 million in direct funding from
the BIA as our core funding under the Self-Determination Act for fiscal
year 2007, an increase of $ 1.05 million from our current funded
amount. We believe the BIA would be providing that kind of funding if
it were operating this program, and more. This amount remains a modest
request. For fiscal year 1978, we requested $2.75 million for the core
funding of our self-determination contract with the BIA. In today's
dollars, that amount would be more than $10 million. We are truly doing
more with less money, but that cannot continue indefinitely.
Just as important as our core funding is the need for housing for
our students. Most of our students do not have funding for off-campus
housing, and we prefer that they stay on campus as much as possible,
because all of our services our here--cafeteria, elementary school,
security and day care, among other things. For fiscal year 2007, we are
asking for a facilities grant of $5 million to enable us to provide
housing for as many as 100 students now housed off campus. For fiscal
year 2008, we anticipate making a similar request for facilities, to
begin to assist us both with our new campus and to keep up the
buildings we are now using, many of which are more than 100 years old.
For operational funds, we will also request an amount similar to what
we are requesting for fiscal year 2007, and further, we expect that we
will finally be put back in the President's budget.
And that is just the impact of the President's budget on United
Tribes.
I know that there are many other issues that tribal leaders in this
region want to talk about today, and I will conclude shortly. But I
would be remiss if I didn't mention briefly three other areas, as well.
First, we need to make sure our tribal colleges in general are
adequately funded. It is unconscionable that the President's budget
once again treats tribal colleges as the stepchildren of the higher
education system in this country. Operating without a tax base, they
receive less than one-half per student of what non-tribal publicly
supported community colleges receive. The tribal colleges provide
critical pathways for tribal citizens learning new skills, and are
often exactly the training ground needed for students to be able to
attend 4-year institutions. And not only do tribal colleges train
tribal citizens, they also serve, most often without additional
funding, non-Indians from the local communities.
Second, obtaining enough safe, comfortable and affordable housing
remains a critical need for the citizens of most our tribal nations in
the Great Plains. The President's budget is woefully inadequate in this
regard. Housing has always been a fundamental trust responsibility,
under the treaties signed with our tribal nations in this region.
People are still on waiting lists for housing for up to 20 years,
living two and three families to a house, and that includes tribal
citizens who can afford to pay for housing. The President's budget also
eliminates a key program for improving existing housing stock; the
Housing Improvement Program [HIP]. Without adequate housing, economic
development that creates jobs does not happen. Without adequate
housing, many social problems will continue unabated. Housing is
another tremendously effective investment, if done correctly. We have
seen too often in Indian country how cutting corners on safe and
affordable housing, and forcing people to do without adequate housing,
creates negative social and economic impacts. The problem with black
mold in our region is but one example of inadequate housing
construction techniques.
Third, we need to insure that appropriate health care is provided
to all tribal citizens of our region. Once again, the President's
budget does not even keep pace with inflation in this area. A Federal
prisoner receives twice as much funding for health care as a tribal
citizen receives from the Indian Health Service. Further, if a tribal
citizen from the Cheyenne River Tribe is living in Bismarck, that
citizen ought to be able to receive health care in Bismarck and expect
that the Indian Health Service will pick up the cost if he or she
cannot afford insurance or the cost of that health care. Some of our
staff have had their credit ruined because of the lack of IHS funds for
off-reservation care. We also need adequate funding for our injury
prevention programs across the United States. Too many tribal citizens
die needlessly from preventable accidents. Health care, like housing,
is a fundamental treaty obligation that ought to fulfilled.
I know there are many other issues that tribal leaders will be
speaking about. Again, welcome to all, and Senator Dorgan, we thank you
again for your continued support of our efforts at United Tribes
Technical College.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Earl Pomeroy, U.S. Representative from North
Dakota
First, I would like to thank you and the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs for holding these hearings. The Federal budget contains many
programs that are important to North Dakota's tribes. I want to thank
the tribal leaders for being in attendance today and discussing these
issues.
With strong leadership, North Dakota's American Indian Tribes have
worked hard to meet the needs of their people. North Dakota's tribes
have developed strong tribal colleges, which help lay the foundation
for growth and renewal on reservations. North Dakota's tribes also have
improved the infrastructure in the region with the opening of the new
Four Bears Bridge and procuring the National Scenic Byway designation
for Standing Rock Scenic Byway. However, North Dakota's tribes still
face many unique issues. The inflexibility and underfunding of No Child
Left Behind has made its implementation in BIA schools in North Dakota
difficult, Also, American Indians' life expectancy is 5.9 years less
than that of the total U.S. populations and suicide is the second-
leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaskan Native youth
aged 15-24.
The Federal Government has an obligation to assist American Indian
tribes with these needs. Crucial programs for American Indians must
receive adequate funding. The President's request would reduce the
overall BIA budget by 1 percent and cuts funding to many important
programs ranging from the Indian Child Welfare Act to funding for
tribal courts. In addition, funding for the construction of education
facilities has been cut by over 60 percent and construction for Indian
Health Services facilities construction has been cut by almost 10
percent. Finally, the United Tribes Technical College received no
funding under the administration's budget proposal.
While North Dakota's tribes are working diligently toward improving
the state of their tribes, the Federal Government has a clear
responsibility to assist tribes in addressing these issues. It is my
hope that, as the budget process progresses, American Indian tribes
will receive the attention and funding they need.
I look forward to reviewing the testimony of the tribal leaders in
attendance today and regret I can not be there to hear your concerns in
person.
______
Prepared Statement of Matt Strongheart-Lopez, Member, Standing Rock
Sioux Tribal Council, on behalf of Ron His Horse Is Thunder, Chairman,
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council
Good morning, Senator Dorgan. I bear greetings from the Dakota and
Lakota people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. My name is Matt
Strongheart-Lopez. I am an At-Large Representative member of the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, and serve as Vice-Chairman of the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council's Health, Education, and Welfare
Committee.
I am honored to deliver testimony to this committee on behalf of
Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder. Chairman His Horse Is Thunder is
unable to be here today due to the passing of one of our colleagues,
James Jamerson, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council Representative from
the Running Antelope District. Mr. Jamerson passed away last week, and
his funeral services are today.
On behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, I wish to thank you for
the opportunity to share with this committee, the distressing concerns
of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe regarding the President's Fiscal Year
2007 Budget Request for Indian Programs.
As is the case with many other American Indian nations, the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is challenged with many formidable
difficulties and obstacles in achieving a sound quality of life for its
9,000 resident members. In addition to the challenges posed by
geographic isolation, the communities and people of the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe, though prideful of our glorious Dakota/Lakota heritage and
historical contributions to American society, remain as some of the
poorest and most overlooked in this country.
Coincidently, most of the challenges we are faced with overcoming
today are issue areas associated with the terms and obligations of the
Federal Government which are outlined in our 1868 treaties with the
United States of America. These treaty issue-challenges include health
care and education disparities, and inadequate housing and
infrastructure.
Just as great leaders from Standing Rock, such as Sitting Bull,
Gall, and Two Bears, envisioned a prosperous Dakota/Lakota Nation 7
generations from their time, we, in this generation, are working toward
a prosperous Standing Rock 7 generations from today. In order to
accomplish our cultural and spiritual obligations to our Dakota and
Lakota descendants, we will continue to rely on the treaty promises
made to our forefathers seven generations ago. Promises made in
exchange for peace, our livelihood, and most of our best lands.
Although we are not surprised by the fact that the needs of Indian
country and Standing Rock are not prioritized in the President's Fiscal
Year 2007 Budget Request, we are, however, very discontented that
funding for critical Federal Indian programs is slated for reduction.
While we appreciate the slight increase proposed for the Indian Health
Services budget, the proposed cuts to other important programs in
Indian country are hugely troublesome, especially since all of our
communities at Standing Rock continue to grow at a very rapid rate.
Current levels of funding for Federal Indian programs at Standing Rock
are woefully inadequate and cover only about 40-percent, at the most,
of our actual needs. In light of forecast population growth at Standing
Rock, future reduced or stagnant funding of critical Indian programs
will translate into dire conditions and additional challenges.
The list of needs and challenges at Standing Rock is long. One very
important item proposed for elimination in the President's 2007 Budget
is the Johnson O'Malley Grant Program. The elimination of this crucial
program will further inhibit the academic successes of over one-half of
all Standing Rock's elementary, middle, and secondary students. Of the
9 school systems on the Standing Rock reservation, 6 are public schools
and 3 are BIA-funded schools. Standing Rock children who attend those
three BIA-funded schools will inevitably absorb the proposed $1.3
million cut to BIA Office of Indian Education Programs funding.
Additionally, the planned realignment of BIA Office of Indian
Education Programs Education Line Officers is quite problematic. The
proposal would split Standing Rock and cause the Bureau school
administrators on the South Dakota portion of Standing Rock to report
to an Education Line Office in Pierre, while administrators on the
North Dakota side would report to an office in Minot, thus removing
essential services and technical assistance from the local agency level
at Fort Yates to distances far removed from Standing Rock.
As well, the proposed $65 million reduction in overall BIA funding
will likely translate into additional strains on BIA Law Enforcement
Services at Standing Rock. As it is, budget constraints allow for only
7 BIA Law Enforcement officers to patrol all 8 districts, 1,300-plus
miles of roads, and nearly 850,000 acres of tribal/trust lands of the
Standing Rock Reservation.
Since 1997, the Dakota and Lakota people of Standing Rock have
endured tragic and painful losses of its young people to suicide.
Sadly, we have the task of interring another young person tomorrow.
Additional funding for suicide prevention, intervention, and post-
intervention care and services will not immediately and completely
abate future tragedies, but it will assist immensely. Certainly,
stagnant funding for I.H.S. Mental Health Services or reductions in
funding for BIA Social Services will not help.
Again, the current list of needs and challenges at Standing Rock is
long. With the anticipated doubling of our population in several years
to come, that list will only become longer if the current rates of
funding for Federal Indian programs is applied to future allocations.
The President and Congress must remember that funding for Indian
programs is not welfare, but payments for large amounts of our
territory.
Finally, on a related note, as pro posed budgets for Federal Indian
programs continues to shrink in light of rising needs and population
growth all across Indian country, now is not the time to propose
restrictions on Indian gaming. Although the benefits and revenues of
Indian gaming enterprises at Standing Rock are meager in comparison to
that of other tribes, such benefits and revenue assist greatly in
supplementing critical family and child programs for the Dakota and
Lakota people of Standing Rock.
In closing, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe trusts that members of
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will continue to educate and
enlighten your Senate colleagues on the importance of adequate funding
for Federal Indian programs. As well, we will continue to hope that the
White House will someday acknowledge and prioritize the needs and
challenges in Indian country.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share a glimpse of the
potential impact of the President's Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request on
the services and programs for the people of the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe.
I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.003
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.004
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.005
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.006
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.007
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.008
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.009
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.010
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.011
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.012
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.013
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.014
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.015
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.016
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.017
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.018
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.019
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.020
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.021
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.022
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.023
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.024
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.025
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.026
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.027
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.028
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.029
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.030
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.031
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.032
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.033
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.034
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.035
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.036
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.037
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.038
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.039
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.040
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.041
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T6593.042