But as the seven members coordinate among their respective agencies in the coming months, they won't be getting new resources to carry out their mandate. Sullivan would not offer a dollar amount for the budget when asked on the conference call. "There hasn't been any special resources for this task force," Sullivan confirmed. "We're using existing resources for the work of this task force." According to the executive order signed by President Donald Trump last November, the Department of Justice "shall provide funding and administrative support" for the task force. The resources are to be used to help the officials carry out their work over the next two years, during which time two reports are to be delivered to the White House. “President Trump is committed to addressing systemic challenges in Indian Country, and this task force will develop and implement an aggressive, government-wide strategy to combat the crisis of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives,” said Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt of what has been dubbed Operation Lady Justice. “By working together and listening to impacted citizens and tribal communities, we intend to tackle these complex issues.” “The disappearance and death of American Indian and Alaska Native people, particularly women and girls, is an especially tragic chapter in a long story of marginalization and trauma suffered by Native people,” added Attorney General William Barr, who recently traveled to Montana and Alaska as part of his focus on public safety in Indian Country. “We are committed to addressing this challenge, to reducing the violence and protecting the vulnerable from exploitation and abuse. The task force is eager to get to work to address the issues that underlie this terrible problem, and work with our tribal partners to find solutions, raise awareness, and bring answers and justice to the grieving.” Native women have been pushing for action on missing and murdered loved ones at the tribal, local, state and federal level for years. A lack of data -- up until recently, the number of reported cases of missing Native women wasn't even widely known -- and limited commitments from government agencies have contributed to what advocates have said is a lack of visibility for the crisis. The picture has started to turn around with the addition of a growing number of Native women and supporters in state legislatures. Since the start of 2019, several states, including Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington, have enacted laws to start to account for the missing and murdered in Native communities and in urban settings. The rise of the first two Native women to the U.S. Congress also has helped draw attention to the crisis. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), along with Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) and Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), made history with the Not Invisible Act of 2019 (H.R.2438), which was the first bill to be introduced to be introduced by all four tribal citizens who serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. But national level legislation has stalled due to party-line disagreements in Washington. Native women welcomed the passage of a bill to renew the Violence Against Women Act in the Democratic-controlled House last year, only for Republicans in the U.S. Senate to unveil a rival version that they say sets back their work by decades.Today @ASIndianAffairs joined @Interior, @DOJPH & @HHSGov to launch the Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians & Alaska Natives - #OperationLadyJustice https://t.co/jFjuChUOeY pic.twitter.com/z7w2ZZuWUl
— Indian Affairs (@USIndianAffairs) January 30, 2020
![](https://www.indianz.com/News/2019/11/21/nativewomenleadersncai.jpg)
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