Thursday, December 19, 2024

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Photo: U.S. Rep Ruben Gallego introduced H.R. 663, which passed the U.S. Senate last week. (Gage Skidmore / Flickr) 

An Indian Affairs bill to prevent child abuse appears set to become law, after the U.S. Senate passed it earlier this week.

HR 663 was introduced in January 2023 by U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and has moved through the 118th Congress with bipartisan support.

The bill provides funding support for Native American tribes in treating and preventing child abuse.

It would reauthorize three programs at Indian Health Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, created by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in the 1990s.

At a September hearing, Rep. Gallego spoke to the need for the bill’s passage.

“We’ll create a national Indian child resource and family services center to help tribes and urban Indian organizations with training and program development. We will develop new intergovernmental agreements between tribes and states to prevent, investigate, treat, and prosecute family violence. And we will encourage culturally-appropriate treatments and services, for children that have been impacted.”

In a press release, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who’s vice chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, said she applauds the Senate for passing the bill.

She said it is further progress towards ensuring safety for Native American children.

Two other bills that address missing and murdered Indigenous people, and healthcare disparities in Native communities, were also advanced for further consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wednesday, we highlighted the challenge of living without electricity.

Today, you’ll hear from Navajo families who are getting power for the first time. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more on a life-changing program.

It’s the late morning and already nearing 90 degrees in the Navajo Nation … where many homes still don’t have electricity. And that makes life hard.

“We make a lot of grocery trips every day for, like, meat, frozen meat. And it’s really expensive like that.”

That’s Persephonie Blackwater.

She lives in this windswept desert about 20 miles outside of the small town of Kayenta.

A place where towering red mesas outnumber homes.

Like many here on the reservation, Blackwater relies on a generator, but she won’t have to buy another one this year.

That’s because a few hundred yards away, workers are using a crane-like truck with an attachment called an auger.

It looks like a giant corkscrew drilling into the earth.

A tall wooden power pole will be planted here to connect Blackwater to the grid.

Blackwater is getting electricity thanks to “Light Up Navajo”, a program started five years ago, but progress has been slow.

Development on remote desert land is expensive – and difficult – work.

Over the last five years, the program has powered nearly 850 households. And there’s still more than 13,000 that need power.

Just down the road on the outskirts of Kayenta, Ryan Begay is starting to feel the benefits of having electricity, especially for his seven kids.

“They were excited even for like having popsicles in a freezer.”

Helen Nelson is an elder who lived most of her life without electricity.

But this summer, Nelson got power. She shares her story in the Navajo language.

Nelson says her life is a lot different now. Her son bought her a refrigerator. And at night, she can turn on a light if she has to use the bathroom.

Nelson says she was also excited to watch TV in her home for the first time. She stayed up past midnight – laughing and feeling happy.

 

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