National | Politics

Vice President Joe Biden to address Tribal Nations Conference

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Vice President Joe Biden speaks on the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, at the National Archives, in Washington, D.C. September 9, 2014. Official White House Photo by David Lienemann

Vice President Joe Biden is joining the White House Tribal Nations Conference for the first time this year.

Biden will deliver remarks at the conference on Wednesday. He plans to focus on landmark provisions in the Violence Against Women Act that recognize tribal authority over non-Indian offenders.

When he served in the Senate, Biden was one of the original co-sponsors of the first version of VAWA in 1994. He spoke at the signing of S.47, the bill that reauthorized the law, in March 2013.

Biden will deliver his remarks during the morning session of the conference. President Barack Obama is expected to join tribal leaders in the afternoon.

The event will be streamed live at www.doi.gov/live. The tentative schedule follows:

8:30am to 10:30am- Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet
11:00am to 1:00pm- Breakout sessions with Cabinet members and federal officials. Note: These sessions are closed to the media and will not be webcast.
2:00pm to 4:00 pm - Closing Session with President Obama, the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, OPM Director Katherine Archuleta, White House Director of the Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz, White House Council on Environmental Quality Acting Director Michael Boots

Obama has been holding the conference since 2009. He promised to meet regularly with tribal leaders during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Each federally recognized tribe is invited to send a representative to the conference.