{"id":32297,"date":"2023-09-26T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T18:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=32297"},"modified":"2023-09-26T14:08:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T18:08:30","slug":"your-debt-is-due-tribes-on-alert-as-u-s-government-looms-toward-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2023\/09\/26\/your-debt-is-due-tribes-on-alert-as-u-s-government-looms-toward-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Your debt is due’: Tribes on alert as U.S. government looms toward shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Fawn<\/a>
National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp is seen outside of the White House during a rally in support of imprisoned activist Leonard Peltier on September 12, 2023. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a> <\/figcaption>\r\n
‘Your debt is due’<\/div>\r\n
Tribes on alert as U.S. government looms toward shutdown<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, September 26, 2023<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. — \r\nIndian Country is on high alert as the U.S. government prepares for a possible shutdown, the first of its kind in more than three years<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nUnless the U.S. Congress takes action by October 1, most federal agencies will not be able to operate due to a lack of new funding. Tribes and their advocates view such a scenario as a violation of the government’s trust and treaty responsibilities<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cTribal Nations paid, in full, for the duties owed and enforced by the United States,” President Fawn Sharp<\/a> of the National Congress of American Indians<\/a> said on Friday in a statement supported by nearly every inter-tribal organization.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“We paid with our lives, with our lands, with our resources, and with our ways of life,” Sharp continued<\/a>. “We paid long before political factions sought to divide this nation, and your debt is due.”\r\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"National\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tNational Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) on X\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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National Native Organizations Oppose Federal Shutdown – read the full joint statement. \ud83d\udd17https:\/\/t.co\/BPu1rwKV1L @NDNrights @WereNIEA @NCUIH_Official @TribalGovWorks @NIHB1 @naihc_national American Indian Higher Education Consortium https:\/\/t.co\/DmeUT5ihem<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"X\t\tX (formerly Twitter)\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBut with the deadline fast approaching, Congress appears no closer to a solution. The breakdown has been traced to the U.S. House of Representatives<\/a>, where the Republican majority has failed to advance any of the appropriations bills<\/a> that keep federal agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a> and the Indian Health Service<\/a> up and running.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nA small group of Republicans, in fact, has even prevented the chamber from passing a bill to fund the U.S. military, which is otherwise considered “must-pass” legislation on Capitol Hill regardless of who is in charge. Last week, Rep. Kevin McCarthy<\/a> (R-California), who serves as Speaker of the House, was forced to abandon the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2024 after members of his own party revolted<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“I think we made tremendous progress as an entire conference,” McCarthy said after a private meeting<\/a> with his Republican colleagues on September 20.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“We had a great discussion,” added McCarthy, who only a day later lost the vote<\/a> on H.R.4365<\/a>, the defense appropriations bill.\r\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Cole:\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tCole: “Funding the government is core to our duties”\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, delivers remarks during the committee’s consideration of the Continuing Appropriations and Bord…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"YouTube\"\t\tYouTube\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) “Funding the government is core to our duties”<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBut you won’t find much discussion of appropriations on speaker.gov<\/a>, McCarthy’s official website. Instead he posted about an official portrait<\/a>, a different defense bill<\/a> and about the Republican party’s efforts to impeach<\/a> President Joe Biden, a Democrat who has been in office since January 2021.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe internal drama has people like Rep. Tom Cole<\/a> (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation<\/a>, working overtime to try to get bills across the finish line before the shutdown deadline. The lawmaker, who is serving his 10th term in Congress, is chair of the House Committee on Rules<\/a>, where he is once again trying to advance the Department of Defense Appropriations Act<\/a>, as well as a slate of other funding measures.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“Funding the government is is core of our duties in Congress,” Cole said at a meeting<\/a> of his committee on September 18. “The process is never\r\neasy and — in divided government — notably more difficult.”\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAccording to Cole, the holdup lies with the U.S. Senate<\/a>, which is under Democratic control. During a committee meeting at the end of the week, one which stretched over two days due to the workload, he blamed the other chamber for not getting the work done.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“With all due respect, we’re trying to get our friends in the Senate to act,” Cole said<\/a> at the rare Saturday meeting on September 23, barely a week before the shutdown deadline. “They haven’t passed a single appropriations bill — not one.”\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“We have passed one,” said Cole, referring to H.R.4366<\/a>, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which cleared the House in late July.\r\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRep. Sharice Davids (@RepDavids) on X\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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A government shutdown would have drastic consequences for hardworking Kansans. It\u2019s not an option. I joined my @NewDemCoalition colleagues to urge the Speaker to abide by his promise to pass bipartisan legislation that protects Kansans\u2019 jobs, health, and financial security. https:\/\/t.co\/ugnEtNvKcl<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"X\t\tX (formerly Twitter)\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe impasse has a number of Democrats advocating for a compromise. Rep. Sharice Davids<\/a> (D-Kansas), a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation<\/a>, is part of a group of lawmakers that’s been trying to work with McCarthy and the GOP leadership in their chamber to avert a shutdown.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThere are only nine days until a government shutdown, but Congress has adjourned for the week without reaching a bipartisan deal to keep our federal government open or reauthorize important programs,” Davids said on Friday<\/a>, highlighting the number of days before funding runs out.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor Indian Country, a shutdown would represent a repeat of a disastrous funding impasse<\/a> that lasted 35 days<\/a>, the longest in U.S. history<\/a>. Tribal leaders complained of a lack of communication from the then-Donald Trump administration that hindered a wide range of services<\/a>, from health care to food distribution, in their communities.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe 2019-2020 shutdown helped make the case for a significant policy achievement, one that had been on the agenda for years. At the end of 2022, tribes and their advocates celebrated when Congress — for the first time — passed an omnibus bill that provided advance appropriations<\/a> for the IHS. The historic provision protects health care programs for more than two million American Indians and Alaska Natives during a government shutdown.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIncluding advance appropriations for Indian health in the omnibus is a historic moment for Indian Country over a decade in the making,” observed William Smith, an Alaska Native leader who serves as chairperson of the National Indian Health Board<\/a>, one of the inter-tribal organizations that signed onto last week’s shutdown statement<\/a>.\r\n

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