Trump administration continues to back Indian Health Service pick

Thursday, February 15, 2018  

The nomination of Robert Weaver, a citizen of the Quapaw Tribe, to lead the Indian Health Service remains in limbo amid questions about his qualifications and his past.

Weaver left a former employer in financial trouble, The Wall Street Journal reported. He fell behind on billing insurance companies and collecting payments for Herndon Snider & Associates, the paper said.

“It was a major problem,” Dr. Herndon Snider, the founder of the mental health service provider, told the paper.

But anyone looking to connect Weaver to Snider's firm might have had trouble doing so. That's because he left his work there from 2004 through 2008 off his publicly-available resume despite including other employers around the same time frame.

The omissions don't end there. According to Roll Call, Weaver failed to disclose all of his campaign contributions to the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, which was established to re-elect President Donald Trump.

Weaver donated a total of $3,500 to the committee in seven separate transactions between March 2017 and September 2017, according to Federal Election Commission records. But he only disclosed one of those contributions, and when asked about the discrepancy, he claimed someone else might have made the donations in his name, Roll Call reported.

“It is our understanding that this was an administrative error and Mr. Weaver is in the process of submitting an addendum to his questionnaire,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is handling media inquires about the nomination, told Roll Call.

According to FEC records, Weaver made two additional contributions, totaling $500, to the committee in October and November 2017 -- after President Trump announced his nomination to lead the IHS. He also donated $375 to Donald J. Trump For President, Inc., and another $1,000, in eight separate transactions, to the Republican National Committee, the documents show.

In total, Weaver donated $5,875 to the three committees throughout 2017, according to the FEC. The employer listed on the associated records is "RWI Benefits LLC," which is a company he founded to help tribes with insurance plans for their employees.

Robert Weaver Campaign Contributions

Committee Name	Contribution Date	Amount
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	March 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	April 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	May 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	June 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	July 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	August 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	September 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	October 19, 2017	$500
TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE	November 19, 2017	$500
	Source: Federal Election Commission

Weaver has yet to secure a confirmation hearing in the Senate. The Trump administration continues to support his nomination, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The IHS has been in the hands of an "acting" director for more than three years now. The lack of leadership has tribal leaders worried about a health care system that affects more than 2.2 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

"We keep hearing positive signs on one hand and negative on the other," President Jefferson Keel of the National Congress of American Indians said of the stalled nomination at the IHS.

"We just don't know," Keel said at NCAI's winter session in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "That is inexcusable."

More Robert Weaver Campaign Contributions

Committee Name	Contribution Date	Amount
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	March 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	April 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	May 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	June 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	July 19, 2017	$125
DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.	July 19, 2017	$375
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	August 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	September 19, 2017	$125
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE	October 19, 2017	$125
	Source: Federal Election Commission

Read More on the Story:
Trump’s Pick to Run Indian Health Service, Cited for Business Savvy, Had Financial Struggles (The Wall Street Journal February 13, 2018)
Trump pick for Indian Health Service faces new questions about finances, tax liens, bankruptcy (CNBC February 13, 2018)
The Role Of Indian Health Services (Wisconsin Public Radio January 29, 2018)
Questions Could Derail Confirmation of Trump’s Indian Health Nominee (Roll Call January 12, 2018)

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Another Indian Health Service hospital placed in 'immediate jeopardy' status (November 6, 2017)
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