{"id":5883,"date":"2020-05-29T09:54:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T13:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/covid19\/?p=5883"},"modified":"2020-05-29T10:14:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T14:14:05","slug":"rep-ben-ray-lujan-d-new-mexico-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/2020\/05\/29\/rep-ben-ray-lujan-d-new-mexico-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-New Mexico)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive  embed-responsive-16by9\"><div class=\"iframe-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\"   title=\"&#039;This lack of leadership endangers lives&#039;: Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico) #COVID19\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ploFefuOu4M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>For Immediate Release<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>May 28, 2020<\/p>\n<p><b>Luj\u00e1n Calls Out Dangerous Trump Administration Contract That Defrauded Navajo Nation<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Washington, D.C.<\/strong> \u2013 U.S. House Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.) spoke on the House floor condemning the $3 million contract that the Trump administration awarded to a former Trump White House staffer who delivered substandard personal protective equipment to Indian Health Service hospitals serving the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n<p>Luj\u00e1n and the New Mexico delegation <a href=\"https:\/\/lujan.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/nm-az-lawmakers-demand-answers-to-reports-that-former-trump-white-house-official-supplied-indian-health-service-with-potentially-substandard-personal-protective-equipment\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/lujan.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/nm-az-lawmakers-demand-answers-to-reports-that-former-trump-white-house-official-supplied-indian-health-service-with-potentially-substandard-personal-protective-equipment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1590794054830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFl01fzkb5i4uS_nXACoM6mUDLCog\">wrote<\/a> to the Trump administration this week demanding answers on why this contract was awarded to a former Trump White House staffer who lacked federal contracting and health care experience. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Video of Luj\u00e1n\u2019s full speech is available&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ploFefuOu4M\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1aFDAOVhtUhxRT-CiDyq66aEYzDzSMAIg?usp%3Dsharing&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1590794054830000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGMuMZ66TBLGX5UM32t-FaE0Z35Vw\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Luj\u00e1n\u2019s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are included below:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Speaker,<\/p>\n<p>Since the beginning of this crisis, I\u2019ve&nbsp;heard from Tribal leaders about the human tragedy of COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation: whole families ravaged by the disease, doctors overwhelmed by the surge in cases, and insufficient federal help.<\/p>\n<p>These leaders are sounding the alarm for a community in crisis.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been working to ensure that the medical professionals who serve the Navajo Nation have every tool at their disposal to treat patients and protect themselves.<\/p>\n<p>But instead of doing right by Navajo Nation, this administration, ProPublica found, awarded a $3 million-dollar contract for personal protective equipment to an 11-day-old company headed by a former Trump White House staffer.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the IHS received hundreds of thousands of masks that may be unsuitable for medical use.<\/p>\n<p>This lack of leadership endangers lives.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019m working with the New Mexico delegation and our colleagues from Arizona to hold the Trump administration accountable.<\/p>\n<p>The Navajo Nation deserves the full support of the federal government during this crisis and not to have this administration turn a blind eye while the Nation loses one more parent, grandparent, son, or daughter.<\/p>\n<p>This administration must act as an honest partner to the Navajo people. And I\u2019ll fight to ensure that happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-New Mexico) spoke on the House floor condemning the $3 million contract that the Trump administration awarded to a former White House staffer who delivered substandard personal protective equipment to Indian Health Service hospitals serving the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[18,211,119,37,77,14,8],"class_list":["post-5883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-institutions","tag-116th","tag-ben-ray-lujan","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-house","tag-ihs","tag-navajo"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5883"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5887,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5883\/revisions\/5887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}