Lated Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2006
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RE- LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES [CLERK’S NOTE.—The subcommittee was unable to hold hearings on nondepartmental witnesses, the statements and letters of those submitting written testimony are as follows:] DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LETTER FROM THE STATE OF NEVADA STATE OF NEVADA, COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION OF NEVADA, April 26, 2005. Hon. CONRAD BURNS, Chairman, Subcommittee on Interior, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC. DEAR CHAIRMAN BURNS: The Colorado River Commission of Nevada, the state agency charged with protecting Nevada’s interests and rights in the water, power and land resources of the Colorado River System, supports the appropriation of $5,200,000 of Bureau of Land Management funds for assistance in salinity control activities in the Colorado River Basin as recommended by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum for fiscal year 2006. Specifically, the Colorado River Com- mission supports the President’s request for the Soil, Water and Air management for a designation that $800,000 be used to further advance Colorado River salinity control efforts. Salinity remains one of the major problems in the Colorado River. Congress has recognized the need to confront this problem with its passage of Public Law 93–320 and Public Law 98–569. Your support of the current funding recommendations for the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program is essential to move the program forward so that the congressionally directed salinity objectives are achieved. Sincerely, GEORGE M. CAAN, Executive Director. (1) 2 LETTER FROM THE PENOBSCOT INDIAN NATION OFFICE OF THE CHIEF AND COUNCIL, PENOBSCOT NATION, COMMUNITY BUILDING, Indian Island, Maine, April 19, 2005. Hon. THAD COCHRAN, Chairman, Hon. ROBERT BYRD, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Appropriations Hon. CONRAD BURNS, Chairman, Hon. BYRON DORGAN, Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Dear SENATORS: Thank you very much for all the work you and the Committee members have accomplished over the years on behalf of Tribal governments and our citizens. Indian Country certainly has shown some improvement as a result of your efforts and the Committee is held in high esteem by all Tribes. We are most grateful for all that you have done and continue to do. On April 14 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environ- ment and Related Agencies held public hearings and on behalf of the Penobscot Na- tion, I testified and submitted a written statement. I am attaching a copy of our testimony and ask that you consider it during your deliberations this year and make it a part of any hearing record. I am also attaching a letter I recently sent to Claude Allen, President Bush’s Domestic Policy Advisor and Director of the Domestic Policy Council. A number of tribal leaders have had two meetings in recent months with Mr. Allen at which numerous topics were discussed and a comprehensive list of issues affecting Federal agencies were developed. In follow up to these sessions, I sent the attached letter to Mr. Allen in which I commented on areas of concerns affecting various Federal agencies. Copies have also been sent to the respective Cabinet Level Secretaries overseeing those agencies and departments. At these meetings and in follow-up correspondence, it is clear that a fundamental area of concern is the inadequacy of funding for programs affecting Indian tribes. I am sure you hear this from various groups but I believe the situation in Indian County is particularly grave and is in fact inequitable when compared to other groups. I would like to draw your attention to a report entitled, A Quiet Crisis: Fed- eral Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country. This was published by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 2003 after a detailed examination of Indian pro- grams. Its findings were not a surprise to those of who live on Indian reservations but should be shocking to the rest of the country and to policy makers and appropri- ators such as yourselves. If you have not read the report, I would urge that you to get a copy and review it in detail. I also want to point your attention to a subse- quent report by the Commission entitled, Broken Promises: Evaluating the Native American Health Care System (Sept. 2004). These reports indicate that the level of Federal funding made available to Indian people, when compared to other groups for whom the Federal government has a responsibility, is so much less as to con- stitute a violation of the civil rights of American Indian people. To cite but one ex- ample, the per capita health care expenditures for Medicare recipients is $5,915; for Veterans getting health care from the VA, we spend an average of $5,214; for in- mates in federal prisons, the Congress appropriates $3,803, and for Indian people the figure is $1,914. Gentlemen, if we know that it costs over $5,000 to provide health care to a Veteran and if we know that it costs almost $4,000 to serve the medical needs of prisoner, how can we spend less than $2,000 per Indian? What message is this sending to the Indian people as to their relative value in this coun- try. Two statements from the 2004 report bear repeating: ‘‘It has long been recognized in Native American and medical communities that Native Americans are dying of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, uninten- tional injuries, and other health conditions at shocking rates. Beyond these mor- tality rates, Native Americans also suffer significantly lower health status and dis- proportionate rates of disease compared with all other Americans. These realities should come as no surprise to those with a basic knowledge of our nation’s history and those charged with making policies that influence the future of the Native American population.’’ That report also pointed to the ‘‘failure of Congress to provide the resources nec- essary to create and maintain an effective health care system for Native Ameri- cans.’’ 3 The time has come to address this disparity and while I understand there are budget constraints I also know that when this country confronts a crisis, like we have in Iraq where we will soon have spent $300 billion, we can find the money necessary. Gentlemen, we have such a crisis here at home and ironically it is with the only people inside this country that the United States signed treaties with that included language committing the United States to the provision of health care. Would you consider committing to the simple proposition of allowing Indian health care expenditures to achieve parity with other groups? That would lead to a dou- bling of the budget of the Indian Health Service were we to achieve parity with pris- oners or a two and a half fold increase in the IHS budget to achieve parity with Veterans. If you commit to achieving such parity I know it can’t be done in one year but it could be accomplished in a phased fashion over three to five years. Finally, and more locally, I direct your attention to the fact that the proposed budget eliminates the BIA’s Community Fire Protection. The proposed elimination of this program directly contradicts the Department of Interior’s Strategic Plan (2003–2005) which identifies the ‘‘Protection of Lives, Resources, & Property’’ as a core mission. The Penobscot Reservation is an island in the middle of the Penobscot River, with one bridge providing the only entrance and exit. We have approximately 300 single-family homes which house approximately 545 persons, 16 elderly apart- ments, a school with 100∂ students in attendance and six tribal buildings housing approximately 125 employees. Additionally, we are currently constructing an elderly assisted living complex, and are in the planning stages of building 15 new single family homes. We recently met with our neighboring town’s (Old Town, Maine), Fire Department officials to discuss the possibility of contracting with them for our fire protection needs. Unfortunately, the town reported to us that they could not enter into a contractual agreement. As indicated in the attached, it is a priority of the Penobscot people that the Committee restore funding for the Community Fire Pro- tection and we ask that when you do you direct the BIA include an additional $150,000 to our TPA base for the Penobscot Nation’s community fire program. Overall our request was for an additional TPA of $655,500 for Fire, Police, Eco- nomic & Community Development and Veterans Services Coordination for Indian Veterans of Maine, and, access to Title IV–E of Foster Care. Again, Thank you very much, we sincerely do appreciate all you are doing for In- dian People. May GheChe’ Nawais be with you, with all of our families and ‘‘All Our Rela- tions.’’ JAMES SAPPIER, Chief, Penobscot Nation. Attachments. PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAMES SAPPIER, TRIBAL CHIEF, PENOBSCOT NATION Chairman Taylor, Ranking Member Dicks and Members; Thank you for this op- portunity to testify. —My name is James Sappier, Chief of the Penobscot Nation in Maine. —We live on Indian Island, one of over two hundred islands in the Penobscot River that make up our reservation lands in central Maine. —Our written testimony has been given to the Clerk, as well as a copy of our let- ter to the President’s Domestic Policy Council. —I will give a brief summary. —We strongly oppose the Administration’s proposed fiscal year 2006 Bureau of In- dian Affairs Budget which proposes a decrease to the Tribal Priority Allocations (TPA) resulting in reduction and/or elimination of programs vital to the Penob- scot Nation’s safety and well-being.