The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota hopes to break ground next year on a long-awaited hospital.

The tribe lost the hospital to the creation of the Garrison Dam in the 1950s. The federal government never replaced the facility, leading the tribe to lobby Congress to fulfill the promise.

President Bush signed the Three Affiliated Tribes Health Facility Compensation Act into law in December 2004 to authorize the $20 million facility. So far, $3 million has been appropriated to plan and design the hospital.

The remaining $17 million is in a pending appropriations bill. If everything works out, the tribe plans to break ground next spring or summer and complete the hospital in 2010.

Get the Story:
Groundbreaking health care (The Minot Daily News 11/11)

Health Bill:
Three Affiliated Tribes Health Facility Compensation Act (S.1146)

Relevant Documents:
Written Senate Testimony (June 11, 2003)

Related Stories:
Bush signs Osage Nation and IHS facility bills into law (12/6)
Bill for North Dakota tribe's clinic sent to Bush (11/19)
N.D. tribe asks Congress to fulfill 50-year-old promise (11/13)
N.D. tribes still feel effects of dam project (6/10)