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Key committee in House invites tribes to discuss funding priorities

Monday, March 26, 2018

With the #Omnibus finally on the books, Indian Country still has a lot of work to do when it comes to ensuring the federal government lives up to its treaty and trust responsibilities.

The $1.3 trillion spending bill that was begrudgingly signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday includes increases for a wide variety of Indian programs. But it only covers fiscal year 2018, meaning tribes must shift focus to fiscal year 2019, which starts on October 1.

"We call on Congress to uphold the federal government’s trust responsibility to tribal nations," National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel said last month, as the largest inter-tribal organization in the United States condemned Trump's 2019 request.

To that end, tribes have cultivated bipartisan allies on Capitol Hill. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House committee in charge of the appropriations bill that funds most Indian programs, are already preparing for the next battle.

According to McCollum, who also serves as co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, Trump's proposed cuts "would undo much of the progress we have made. In the months ahead, I will continue to work with my colleagues to once against reject the president’s backwards budget priorities and instead make smart investments in America’s future.”

The Red Lake Nation is among the tribes that has benefited from the Tiwahe Initiative, a Bureau of Indian Affairs program that address issues like juvenile recidivism, child welfare and family stability. TOP: Abinoojiiyag Noojimoo Wigamig, the Children’s Healing Center on the reservation in Minnesota. LEFT: Children's Healing Center staff Muriel Dudley and Alyss Seki serve as youth intervention specialists. RIGHT: Inside the Abinoojiiyag Noojimoo Wigamig. All photos courtesy Michael Meuers / Red Lake Government & Public Relations

To assist in building the case, Calvert and McCollum are inviting tribes and Indian organizations to Capitol Hill to share their funding priorities. Testimony is scheduled take place May 9 and May 10 before the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.

During similar proceedings last year, the two leaders heard from dozens of witnesses, all of whom sought additional money in health, education, natural resource and other areas. The testimony paid off, with a report accompanying H.R.1625, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, containing pointed explanations about the need to fund programs like the Tiwahe Initiative, whose name comes from the Lakota word for family.

In the last full year of the Obama administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had said it was going to "expand" the program in order to address child welfare, family stability, juvenile recidivism and related issues in tribal communities.

A year later, the BIA was changing its tune under President Trump. His very first budget sought to eliminate funds for social services, welfare assistance, the Indian Child Welfare Act and tribal courts, all of which were singled out due to links to the Obama-era initiative.

But after leaders like Chairman Darrell Seki of the Red Lake Nation testified about the importance of Tiwahe, the lawmakers took notice. Instead of cutting funds, the accompanying report>#Omnibus report directs the BIA to "continue the Tiwahe initiative at the fiscal year 2017 enacted level."

"The committees are aware of the pressing needs women and children face in domestic violence situations," it continues, calling on the BIA to spend "at least $200,000 from human services activities be used to support women and children's shelters that are serving the needs of multiple tribes or Alaska Native villages in the areas served by the Tiwahe pilot sites."

The pattern of saving Indian programs from cuts looks to repeat itself with the 2019 budget. Lawmakers from both parties have already said they won't accept drastic cuts at the BIA, the Indian Health Service or other agencies that serve the first Americans.

"He’s my president but it's not my budget,” Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) told tribal leaders at NCAI's winter session in Washington, D.C. last month.

The deadline to submit requests to testify during the American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing is April 6. The deadline to submit written testimony is May 18.