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As the new chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was one of the featured speakers at the National Congress of American Indians winter summit in Washington, D.C. this week.
As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA tells us, she encouraged tribes to stand up for their rights.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she’s worried about President Trump’s executive orders to shut down programs that promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
She says the administration must not be allowed to apply these initiatives to tribes.
“This is a different category altogether, folks.”
Murkowski says this needs to be made clear to the new administration.
“The federal government is charged with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust toward Native Indian tribes, and it’s that trust responsibility that we’re talking about here.”
Murkowski told the group she was encouraged by a directive from the Interior Department that says the president’s DEI initiatives do not override the Department’s pre-existing legal obligations to tribes.
But the senator says she does appreciate the administration’s desire to make government more efficient.
“But how we achieve it, matters. It matters.”
Murkowski says, above all, the administration needs to follow the law.
The senator drew the most reaction from the crowd, when she compared the current political climate to boating in the rough seas of Southeast Alaska, when it’s not easy to find safe harbor.
“I think we got people vomiting off both sides of the boat. It’s kind of tumultuous right now (laughter).”
Murkowski says she’s heard that some tribes have had trouble accessing their federal money.
She encouraged them contact her Indian affairs committee, so it can keep track.
The Senator also noted that the president’s Department of Government Efficiency should look to tribes and their success in using tribal compacts, a self-governance mechanism that has saved the federal government the millions of dollars.
U.S. Reps. Sharice Davids (D-KS), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) sent a letter this week to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum raising concerns about Indian education.
In the letter, they outline their opposition of the president’s order “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families.”
They’re concerned it would dismantle the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
The U.S. lawmakers wrote, “the U.S. government has both trust and treaty responsibilities to provide Tribal education services, led by the BIE under the Department of the Interior.”
The lawmakers say the BIE administers funds for hundreds of schools and programs, and for Native communities there are few to no other options.
They also emphasize the schools provide culturally informed educational opportunities and language programs.
The lawmakers are urging Burgum to engage in formal tribal consultations and ensure that BIE programs are fully funded.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been sworn in as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the Indian Health Service (IHS).
Sec. Kennedy has promised to elevate Indian health in HHS.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Kennedy committed to addressing Indian health care.
“I’m going to bring in a Native at the assistant secretary level. I’d like to get him actually designated as an assistant secretary for the first time in American history, to make sure all of the decisions that we make in our agency are conscious of the impacts on the First Nations.”
In a social media post, the Indian Health Service said, as the 18th largest public health care system in the United States, it looks forward to working with Kennedy with its efforts to strengthen health care services, expand access, and improve health outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
The IHS provides health services to more than two million American Indians and Alaska Natives in 37 states.
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