{"id":6852,"date":"2020-07-02T08:56:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T12:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/covid19\/?p=6852"},"modified":"2020-07-02T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T13:00:00","slug":"sen-martha-mcsally-r-arizona-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/2020\/07\/02\/sen-martha-mcsally-r-arizona-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Martha McSally (R-Arizona)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive  embed-responsive-16by9\"><div class=\"iframe-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\"   title=\"McSally Pushes FEMA to Reduce COVID-19 Cost-Sharing Burden on Tribes\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uB0OmIkWud8?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 class=\"m_3707650197847563339MsoNoSpacing\"><span lang=\"EN\">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3707650197847563339MsoNoSpacing\"><span lang=\"EN\">July 1, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3707650197847563339wordsection1\" align=\"center\"><b><span lang=\"EN\"><span class=\"il\">McSally<\/span> Pushes FEMA to Reduce COVID-19 Cost-Sharing Burden on Tribes<\/span><\/b><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3707650197847563339wordsection1\"><span lang=\"EN\">U.S. SENATE \u2013 <\/span>U.S. Senator Martha <span class=\"il\">McSally<\/span> (R-AZ) today advocated for a reduced cost-sharing burden for Arizona\u2019s tribes hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_3707650197847563339wordsection1\">During a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing, <span class=\"il\">McSally<\/span> asked Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s (FEMA) Region 9 Administrator why Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez had not received a response to his letter requesting a waiver of the 25 percent cost-share burden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis pandemic has devastated Native American communities and economies,\u201d <strong>McSally said. <\/strong>\u201cWhile FEMA aid has been flowing to the Navajo Nation since the early days of the pandemic, the 25 percent cost-share requirement has proven to be burdensome and seems to unwisely divert funds away from where they are needed most locally. On April 2, the Navajo Nation formally requested a waiver for the 25 percent tribal cost-share requirement. FEMA acknowledged receipt of the letter and reported that the request was under review at FEMA Region 9 Headquarters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Fenton, since nearly three months have passed since the Nation submitted their request, when can President Nez expect a response?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mr. Robert J. Fenton, Jr., FEMA\u2019s Region 9 Administrator said: <\/strong>\u201cSo there\u2019s a couple different ways the cost-share can be changed \u2026 In the interim, the Administration has made CARES Act funding available to be used as a cost-share match so that could be used that 25 percent along with our 75 percent to cover the whole 100 percent \u2026 So no state, tribal nation, or territory has received a cost-share change primarily because of all the funding that\u2019s out there now and trying to leverage that together to provide the need. I talked to President Nez yesterday and he understands that there hasn\u2019t been a response yet, that doesn\u2019t mean that there won\u2019t be one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senator McSally pressed Mr. Fenton further to secure a commitment that FEMA will provide a formal response to the Navajo Nation\u2019s request promptly.<\/p>\n<p>McSally also asked Administrator Fenton to focus on improving FEMA\u2019s working relationship with tribes in a way that respects tribal sovereignty and also improves efficiency, and asked the Indian Health Services director to increase mobile COVID-19 testing for rural tribes such as the White Mountain Apache Tribe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m concerned the White Mountain Apache Tribe now has the highest infection rate per capita in Arizona and are in need of mobile testing sites,\u201d <strong>McSally told Rear Admiral Michael Weahkee, the director of Indian Health Services.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-secures-inclusion-of-tribal-gaming-enterprises-in-small-business-relief-program\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-secures-inclusion-of-tribal-gaming-enterprises-in-small-business-relief-program&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEjzfiYjbv3lf-yvpGHvIZXm17pFA\">April 24<\/a>, Sen. McSally secured inclusion of tribal gaming facilities in the Paycheck Protection Program.<\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1252295809972011009\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1252295809972011009&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHDqlx_aVy8TqW_IDaRmzq7pXUb3g\">April 20<\/a>, Sen. McSally spoke over-the-phone with SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza advocating for the inclusion of small tribal gaming enterprises in PPP.<\/li>\n<li>On April 18, Sen. McSally spoke over-the-phone with Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich advocating for the inclusion of small tribal gaming enterprises in PPP.<\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1251932549103919117\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1251932549103919117&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG29dU3oIwttZFqn7owJXol83CueQ\">April 18<\/a>, Sen. McSally participated in the Navajo Nation\u2019s virtual town hall to discuss coronavirus relief for tribes.<\/li>\n<li>On April 14, Sen. McSally met with Region 9 Administrator Fenton in Phoenix to discuss FEMA\u2019s COVID-19 modeling in Arizona, assistance for native communities, and testing efforts across the state.<\/li>\n<li>On\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-leads-letter-urging-sba-include-small-tribal-gaming-enterprises-payment-protection-program\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-leads-letter-urging-sba-include-small-tribal-gaming-enterprises-payment-protection-program&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGIQqL1jbqUvKve8rhF-lTRYhFiJQ\">April 7<\/a>, Sen. McSally sent a letter to the SBA and the Treasury urging them to issue updated guidance that would allow small tribal gaming enterprises under 500 employees to apply for assistance through the PPP.<\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.daines.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/2020-04-01%20(FINAL%20FINAL)%20LETTER%20POTUS%20C3%20CARES%20Act%20Tribal%20Implementation1.pdf\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.daines.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/2020-04-01%2520(FINAL%2520FINAL)%2520LETTER%2520POTUS%2520C3%2520CARES%2520Act%2520Tribal%2520Implementation1.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGSerHNOF0fifwTOZMjAVJuyLTnsA\">April 1<\/a>, Sen. McSally sent a letter urging the Administration to expedite federal resources for tribal communities.<\/li>\n<li>On\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-secures-billions-financial-relief-tribes-amid-coronavirus-pandemic\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/mcsally-secures-billions-financial-relief-tribes-amid-coronavirus-pandemic&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGOSjm1DrZNoofOy4GBIsW5cCkG9A\">March 26<\/a>, Sen. McSally secured billions in financial relief for tribes amid the coronavirus pandemic.<\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/McSally.Daines_Coronavirus%20Phase%20III%20to%20McConnell.pdf\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.mcsally.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/McSally.Daines_Coronavirus%2520Phase%2520III%2520to%2520McConnell.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHRLa3b06A-_KHu_E6IbkPkjrtccg\">March 20<\/a>, McSally was the first Senator to call for a tribal government stabilization fund and sent a letter with Sen. Daines\u00a0to Senate leadership\u00a0insisting that tribal-specific relief provisions be\u00a0included in\u00a0COVID-19 legislation.<\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1240729578320076801\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMcSallyAZ\/status\/1240729578320076801&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1593733334474000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFtS-Iq2NfvuP0Dl3YvoqP6mh4Q_Q\">March 19<\/a>, Sen. McSally held a conference call with Arizona tribal leaders to hear directly from them what their most critical needs were.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-Arizona) advocated for a reduced cost-sharing burden for Arizona\u2019s tribes hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/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":[18,12,200,14,130,218,8,637,35,17,638],"class_list":["post-6852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-institutions","tag-116th","tag-arizona","tag-fema","tag-ihs","tag-martha-mcsally","tag-michael-weahkee","tag-navajo","tag-robert-fenton","tag-scia","tag-senate","tag-white-mountain-apache"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6852","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=6852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6853,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6852\/revisions\/6853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}