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Senate Indian Affairs Committee to hold business meeting

Monday, July 20, 2015

Members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee listen to testimony about violent crime and victimization in Indian Country at a hearing on June 10, 2015. Photo by Andrew Bahl for Indianz.Com

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has scheduled a business meeting on Wednesday.

Two bills are on the agenda. Neither received a hearing in the 114th Congress, nor during the prior session.

But both represent priorities for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the chairman of the committee. They also address some pressing issues in Indian Country, including one that was discussed during an emotional hearing last month.

The first bill is S.1704, the Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment Act. The measure requires the Interior Department to set up a grant program for victim services in Indian Country. The money will come from the established Crime Victims Fund.

“Indian communities face some of the highest crime rates in the country, but sadly do not have fair access to the Crime Victims Fund. The SURVIVE Act will make it easier for Indian victims of crime to get access to the help they need,” Barrasso, who introduced the bill on July 7, said in a press release. “This legislation would ensure that tribes have the flexibility to develop programs that meet the needs of their communities."

The bill has bipartisan support. Four of the nine co-sponsors are Democrats.

“It is critical that folks in Indian Country have the tools they need to keep their communities and families safe,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), the vice chairman of the committee. “The SURVIVE Act will improve public safety in Native American communities by increasing resources for local law enforcement and expanding services for crime victims."

The lack of victim services in Indian Country was considered at an oversight hearing on June 10. The committee heard harrowing testimony from federal and tribal officials about the high rates of crime, violence and victimization facing Native women and youth.

"Somewhere along the line, Native American children are getting left behind," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) said at the hearing. "They're getting left behind because they're in a jurisdictional juggernaut, many times, or they're in remote locations where it's very difficult to provide services and where we don't fund what we need to fund to break the cycle of violence and abuse."

A section of U.S. 89 on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation collapsed in February 2013. The state Department of Transportation has since repaired the highway. Photo from Facebook

The second item on the agenda is S.1776, the Tribal Infrastructure and Roads Enhancement and Safety Act. The bill, which Barrasso introduced last Wednesday, speeds up the federal approval process for transportation projects in Indian Country.

“The number of lives lost on roads across Indian Country is staggering,” Barrasso said in a press release. “We must pursue policies that guarantee a majority of highway and road safety funds are actually spent on safety, not on bureaucracy. This bill will do just that by cutting through Washington red tape and empowering tribes to improve roads in their communities.”

According to the Indian Reservation Roads program at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, only 17 percent of roads in Indian Country are in acceptable condition. Some 70 percent of tribal roads remain unpaved and 14 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

The two federal agencies typically receive funds to fix roads and bridges through the national highway bill. Lawmakers, however, have been unable to agree on a reauthorization of the program so they have been passing short-term extensions instead. The latest expires on July 31.

Barrasso's bill, known as the TIRES Act, would help Indian Country avoid the logjam by setting funding levels for infrastructure projects from now until fiscal year 2021. It also reinstates funding for bridges from now until 2021.

"There are many roads and bridges on Indian reservations in desperate need of improvement," Barrasso said at an oversight hearing on road safety on April 22.

The House passed H.R.3038, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, by a 312 to 119 vote last Wednesday. The bill extends the national highway program through December.

The Senate is due to consider its own version of the reauthorization starting tomorrow, according to the Democratic calendar.

The SURVIVE Act and the TIRES Act will be considered at 2:15pm on Wednesday. The business meeting will not be webcast but an audio-only feed will be available at Capitol Hearings.

The meeting will immediately be followed by an oversight hearing on Indian gaming. The hearing will be webcast.

Committee Notices:
Business Meeting to consider S. 1704 and S. 1776 (July 22, 2015)
Oversight Hearing on "Safeguarding the Integrity of Indian Gaming" (July 22, 2015)