FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 29, 2004

CONTACT: Brendan Daly/ Jennifer Crider 202-226-7616

'Restoring Our Trust': House Democrats Announce Agenda on Native American Issues

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi; Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), Ranking Member on the House Resources Committee; and Congressman Dale Kildee (D-MI), the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, today announced House Democrats’ comprehensive agenda for Native Americans, called "Restoring Our Trust." This agenda re-affirms Democrats’ commitment to a strong government-to-government relationship with tribes and to our nation’s trust responsibility toward Native Americans, while detailing concrete legislative actions that will improve the lives of our nation's first citizens.

"With the opening of the magnificent Museum of the American Indian last week, we celebrated the survival and rebirth of Native American communities and culture," Pelosi said. "Yet many Native Americans are enduring living conditions far inferior to those enjoyed by their fellow Americans. With this agenda, Democrats pledge to work together with Native Americans to improve education, create jobs, and provide good health care for our nation’s first citizens."

The proposals in this agenda -- which also include trust reform, housing, cultural awareness and preservation, veterans, homeland security, and crime prevention -- were developed through years of dialogue and discussion with Native Americans.

"Only by working in partnership with Native Americans can we ensure that our actions in Congress benefit Indian Country," said Pelosi. "’Restoring Our Trust’ is House Democrats’ pledge to support and strengthen tribal sovereignty and carry out our country’s trust responsibilities."

Rahall said: "Sadly, the Native American community is another example of a constituency left behind by this Administration. House Democrats have a clear and concise agenda with real legislative solutions to improve the lives of our first citizens. While this agenda has been thwarted by the Republican leadership at every turn, we will continue to press for progress while honoring our trust relationship with Native Americans."

Kildee said: "Once again the House Democrats stand united to strengthen our trust responsibility to Indian tribes. While our legislative agenda provides increases in funding for important programs and services that will help tribes to better serve their citizens, it also provides several real reforms to address the urgent needs of Native Americans."

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Fact Sheet: Restoring Our Trust,

The Democratic Native American Initiative

Democrats are committed to the twin pillars of our nation’s relationship with Native American tribes: sovereignty and trust. We will uphold and preserve tribal sovereignty and make sure that every congressional action is respectful and based on a strong government-to-government relationship. At the same time, we must honor our nation’s trust responsibility toward America’s first citizens. In a landmark study, A Quiet Crisis, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights documented our nation’s failure to address the basic, urgent needs of Native Americans. The Democratic plan focuses on improving education, creating jobs, and providing good health care for our nation’s four million Native Americans. The ideas in this plan were developed through years of dialogue with Native Americans.

Open the door to opportunity through education. Education is the cornerstone to building a better future in Indian Country. Democrats are championing full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act, which is essential to improving education for the 90 percent of Indian students who attend public schools. We have fought against Republican plans to weaken Head Start and support increasing the set-aside for Indian Head Start by one-third, meaning that nearly 10,000 new Indian children would get Head Start services.

Native American communities are strengthened by educational programs that promote tribal culture and identity. We support education programs that respect Indian sovereignty and promote learning and achievement for Indian students, both in tribal and public schools. These include proposals to establish Tribal Education Departments, which would work with both tribal and public schools to improve the education of Indian children, and the Johnson-O’Malley program, which provides federal funds to assist in educating Indian students who attend public schools. We also support legislation to help tribes renovate old schools and build new ones (HR 410).

Only fourteen percent of Native Americans have earned a bachelor’s degree, and yet the Bush Administration proposes to cut tribal colleges by about 12 percent. The 35 tribal colleges provide access to college to 30,000 Indian students. We have fought these cuts to tribal colleges and support HR 365, to encourage educators to teach at tribal colleges and universities by forgiving their federal student loans, and HR 3180, to increase funding for tribally-controlled colleges and universities. President Bush has repeatedly tried to zero out funding for two tribal colleges.

Create good jobs and promote economic development. Nearly one-quarter of Native Americans live in poverty, and the unemployment rate for Native Americans is more than twice the national average, with jobless rates exceeding 40 percent on reservations. We are committed to economic development in Indian Country and support tribes’ activities to improve the economic well being of their members.

Democrats’ "American Jobs Plan" would create good-paying jobs for all Americans, including Native Americans, by investing in technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Our plan would give companies incentives to invest in American jobs, rather than sending jobs abroad, and would extend unemployment insurance to help families through hard times. Democrats support incentives to invest in economic development on Indian reservations (HR 409) as well as the tax provisions in the Senate FSC/ETI bill relating to Indian Country that foster economic development by improving the ability of tribes to obtain financing, for example. We will seek additional changes in the tax code to ensure that tribal governments are provided the same opportunities as state governments. We also support programs to assist small businesses, nearly 200,000 of which are owned by American Indians.

Lack of transportation – or even of passable roads – in Indian Country is a major obstacle to economic development, education, and health care. Seventy-two percent of all roads are in poor condition, 25 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, and transit programs are few. Democrats support provisions to improve bridges, roads, and transit programs in Indian Country along the lines of H.R. 2331 and proposals by Rep. Rahall. We will continue to push for significant investments for Indian roads and transit in the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.

Provide high quality health care. The federal government is required to give basic health care for Indians through the Indian Health Service, but the IHS is chronically under-funded, and the health services it provides are extremely inadequate. The federal government spends twice as much per person on health care for federal prisoners as it does for Native Americans. Yet in its 2005 budget, the Bush Administration proposes a paltry increase for the IHS and a 56 percent cut for construction of new clinics and hospitals. Democrats support the work of the National Steering Committee of Tribal Leaders on the Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to increase funding for health care and improve health delivery services. We are also committed to expanding the urban Indian programs of the Indian Health Service, since two-thirds of Native Americans live in urban areas. We support elevating the director of the Indian Health Service to Assistant Secretary for Indian Health.

Strengthen sovereignty through trust reform. Democrats recognize that the only way the issue of trust reform can be successfully resolved is with the full participation of Native Americans. To resolve past disputes and put management of trust lands on a sound footing, tribes must be given a seat at the table, with their views respected.

Facilitate the financing and construction of affordable housing. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights calculates that there are 90,000 Native American families in America who are homeless or under-housed, while over 38,000 families would immediately qualify for a home mortgage but have not been able to access financing. Housing in most tribal communities is inadequate and in many cases the housing conditions are worse than third-world living conditions, especially on reservations where many people live without electricity, water, and sewer services. We support significant investments in Indian housing, and we strongly opposed the Administration’s rescission of $54 million in loan guarantees for private lenders that make mortgage loans secured by housing in Indian Country. We support HR 4471, which restores the loan guarantee rate to 95 percent for the loan guarantee program that allows tribes to determine how best to use the funds. We also encourage financial institutions, particularly Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, to work with tribal communities to develop flexible financing opportunities for homeownership and economic development on reservations. We support reform of the Bureau of Indian Affair’s handling of titles to Indian trust land, and call on the White House to appoint members of the congressionally-mandated commission to review the BIA problems.

Promote cultural awareness and preservation. Preservation of Native American culture is essential to building healthy communities in Indian Country. The history and culture of Native Americans is a treasured part of our nation’s story, highlighted in the magnificent new Museum of the American Indian. We are promoting educational programs that keep Indian culture alive and pushing for legislation to protect sacred sites from destruction, including HR 2419 and HR 4527. Many sacred sites are part of the natural environment, and Democrats are fighting the Bush Administration’s relentless assault on the environment.

Honor our debt to veterans. There are 383,000 Native American veterans and Native Americans have the highest record of military service per capita. And yet, the President’s budget raises health care costs for over 1 million veterans, imposing new co-payments and enrollment fees that will cost veterans over $2 billion over five years. Democrats have introduced the comprehensive "Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces Act" to improve services for our men and women in uniform today and provide long overdue benefits for the veterans and military retirees, including Native American veterans. We support legislation giving Native American veterans the opportunity to recover state taxes that were wrongly deducted from their paychecks during their military service.

Protect homeland security and prevent crime. Tribes should be treated as full partners by local, state and federal agencies involved in homeland security and should receive funding to ensure that they can participate effectively, as tribal jurisdictions include critical infrastructure and extensive border areas. Democrats support legislation to ensure funding for and coordination with tribes, including HR 2242 and HR 4526. American Indians are twice as likely to be victims of violent crime, yet the Bush Administration is undermining law enforcement on Indian reservations by cutting funding for the Tribal COPS program, tribal courts, and tribal prison construction. We support strengthening tribal court systems, restoring funding for the COPS program, and fully funding the Violence Against Women Act.

Office of the House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, September 22, 2004

www.HouseDemocrats.gov/ www.DemocraticLeader.house.gov/

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“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi