Listening Lounge: Senate hearing on DOI backlogs
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on backlogs at the Interior Department on Thursday.

The hearing lasted about 90 minutes .Audio clips can be downloaded below:
Opening Statements

Panel 1 - Testimony | Q&A
THE HONORABLE CARL J. ARTMAN
Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior

THE HONORABLE ROBERT CHICKS
Mid-West Area Vice President, National Congress of American Indians; President, Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians

THE HONORABLE GARY SVANDA
Council Member, City of Madera

MR. DOUG NASH
Director, of Indian Estate Planning and Probating, Institute of Indian Estate Planning and Probate

Assistant secretary Carl Artman, whose last day in office is today, testified that improvements have been made in reducting probate, land-into-trust and other backlogs. Robert Chicks of NCAI and Doug Nash questioned the data Artman was using to make his case.

Get the Story:
Hearing depicts BIA as awash in chaos (The Billings Gazette 5/23)

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