More Photos from United Tribes Technical College

Leaders of four North Dakota tribes criticized President Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget request at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing on Thursday.

Tribal leaders said the cuts will hurt health care, education, law enforcement and other programs that already suffer from chronic underfunding. "There is a joke on the reservations that if a person wants to get a surgery, they got to do a crime," Tex Hall, the chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, said, according to the Associated Press.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the vice chairman of the committee, said he would work to restore the budget cuts. At a hearing last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the chairman, also criticized the cuts.

The hearing took place at the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck. The college would not receive any federal funds if Bush's budget is passed as written.

Get the Story:
Tribal leaders discuss impact of budget cuts (AP 2/23)

FY2007 BIA Budget Request:
Bureau of Indian Affairs Budget | Departmental Offices [includes Office of Special Trustee]

FY2007 DOI Budget Documents:
Fulfilling Trust Responsibilities | Serving Tribal Communities | Protecting Lives, Resources, and Property [includes Safety in Indian Country] | Budget in Brief | Interior Department [from the White House]

FY2007 IHS Budget in Brief:
HTML | PDF

White House OMB Report:
Major Savings and Reforms in the President's 2007 Budget (February 2006)

Relevant Links:
White House Office of Management and Budget- http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb

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