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Posted by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer on Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer: COVID-19 Town Hall - June 9, 2020

Congress returns to Indian Country's agenda in age of COVID-19

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

By Acee Agoyo

Congress is slowly but surely getting back to work after COVID-19 derailed Indian Country's legislative agenda ahead of one of the most critical elections in America's history.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a legislative package with a provisions addressing water, education and veterans in tribal communities. It marked the first time in three months that lawmakers in the chamber took action on a substantive Indian Country bill.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been a disheartening reminder that basic needs remain unmet for far too many in Indian Country,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “These bills will provide Native communities with more tools, including improved health care access and safe, reliable sanitation infrastructure, to address this unprecedented public health crisis.”

Senate Passes Legislative Package with Four Indian Bills.

For Chairman Hoeven's statement, click here: https://t.co/HgRWCYRpZl
— Senate Indian Affairs Committee (@IndianCommittee) June 4, 2020

The ball keeps rolling this week as the House Committee on Appropriations meets for the first time in person to consider Indian Country's needs. A subcommitee hearing on Thursday represents the inaugural Capitol Hill appearance of Michael D. Weahkee since his confirmation as director of the Indian Health Service.

But Weahkee and the leaders of two Indian health organizations will be presenting their testimony in a new era. With the coronavirus still a risk to the public, masks are highly recommended for anyone visiting the U.S. Capitol complex, and everyone is being advised to maintain a distance of at least six feet inside the buildings where tribal advocates go to advance the needs of their people.

“In the middle of pandemic that is ravaging Native communities, urban Indian veterans are being left behind by the United States government," Francys Crevier, executive director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health, who will be testifying on Thursday, said of the bill that passed last week. "Now more than ever, Native veterans need access to life-saving health care."

"Now more than ever, Native veterans need access to life-saving health care": The National Council of Urban Indian Health hails passage of legislation to help #NativeVeterans get the services they need amid #COVID19. @NCUIH_Official #UrbanIndians https://t.co/t4Eqaa1UQ9
— indianz.com (@indianz) June 10, 2020

Later this month, Udall's committee reopens for the first time to the public as well. A whopping seven bills are on the agenda for the hearing on June 24, and staff are still working out the details in order to keep tribal leaders and other witnesses safe while they advance their needs in the age of COVID-19.

"We are following Senate Sergeant at Arms guidance," a spokesperson for Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), the chairman of the panel, told Indianz.Com on Monday. "The committee room that will be used for the legislative hearing is outfitted for proper distancing between members, staff and others present in the room."

The committee, which usually acts in a bipartisan fashion, is one of the busiest on Capitol Hill, meeting almost every week and churning out bill and reports on a regular basis. But that's during normal times.

All of that activity came to a halt a little over three months ago, after the pandemic was declared a national emergency and as cases began to show up in Indian Country. The panel's last public session took place on March 4.

Over on the other side of Capitol Hill, the House Committee on Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over most tribal legislation. has not yet met in person in the COVID-19 era. Democratic members, including Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico), who is one of the first two Native women in Congress, have hosted a number of virtual forums on Indian issues only to see Republicans boycott them.

"The state of New Mexico published statistics showing that 58 percent of statewide coronavirus cases are Native Americans even though the state population of Native Americans is 11 percent," Haaland said at a Democratic event on May 15. "That's over half of the state's cases, which is obviously disproportionately impacting tribal communities more dramatically than other groups of people."

Republicans also revolted when Democrats modified the rules in the U.S. House of Representatives to allow remote hearings and voting via proxy. Leading the charge against the changes was Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.

"If these Americans can take on the risk and serve selflessly throughout this crisis and if the White House can continue to go to work every day, so too should Congress," Cole wrote in an opinion published on Indianz.Com. Like almost all of his Republican colleagues, he did not wear a mask during floor debate on the changes, which ultimately passed thanks to a Democratic majority in the chamber.

National Congress of American Indians: Native Vote Taking Action in 2020 Rally

The partisan disagreements put Indian Country's legislative priorities at risk in a year that will soon be consumed by the presidential election. Democratic achievements in the House, including a new package that provides tribal governments with another $20 billion to address COVID-19, never get taken up in the Senate, which is in Republican hands.

Even before the pandemic, pro-Indian bills, including one to recognize tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians who engage in trafficking, sexual assaults and other serious crimes, were dealt the same fate. Other legislative priorities, such as a measure to protect the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe from having its reservation taken out of trust by the Trump administration remain tied up in gridlock.

"Each election cycle we hear: 'This is the most important election of our time,'' Minnesota Lt. Gov Peggy Flaganan (D), a citizen of the White Earth Nation, said in a video message that was played during a Native vote rally hosted by the National Congress of American Indians on May 28.

"And frankly, in 2020, that's true," said Flaganan, who lost her older brother to the coronavirus in March. "We have seen the COVID-10 pandemic lay bare the inequities that we experience across Indian Country. Our people deserve to be seen and heard and valued and counted at the ballot box."

The Senate approved our bill recognizing the Navajo Nation’s water rights. https://t.co/mzcYcEptwC
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) June 5, 2020

The Senate's passage of S.886 last week provides some hope as the clock winds down on the 116th Congress. Though the bill is titled the Indian Water Rights Settlement Extension Act, it was amended to include the language of four additional measures benefiting tribes and their communities.

“This package of four bills includes important priorities for Indian tribes, including provisions to improve access to health care for tribal school employees and Native veterans," Sen. Hoeven said in a news release.. "The package includes legislation providing parity for all tribal school employees to access health benefits provided to federal employees. The second bill enables Native veterans living in urban areas to access medical care through Indian Health Service-funded urban Indian organizations."

"The other pieces of legislation authorizes funding for water development projects important to tribes, including extending the Aamodt water settlement to 2028," Hoeven added in reference to a settlement benefiting Pueblo tribes in northern New Mexico "I hope the House considers this bill in an expeditious manner.”

Specifically, S.886 includes:

S.2365, the Health Care Access for Urban Native Veterans Act of 2019, allows the Indian Health Service the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to enter into agreements for the sharing of medical facilities and services with urban Indian organizations.
S.279, the Tribal School Federal Insurance Parity Act, allows tribal grant schools to participate in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program.
S.1875, the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Completion Act of 2019, amends the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act to provide an additional $137 million in authorization to complete construction of authorized water projects in northern New Mexico.
S.1207, the Navajo-Utah Water Rights Settlement Act, authorizes $198.3 million for a water development fund for the Navajo-Utah Water Rights Settlement Act, of which $11 million is to be used for operations, maintenance, and repair of approved water development projects for the Navajo Nation. An allocation of 81,500 acre-feet per year of water from the San Juan River in Utah is also provided.
Language that requires the Department of Agriculture to study the plan developed by the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas to resolve the water rights claim and to recommend changes within the plan.

I'm thrilled the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act passed the U.S. Senate and look forward to House consideration. It creates clean drinking water projects for our Navajo friends and certainty for Utah's future water needs. My sincere thanks to @SenatorRomney and @NNPrezNez https://t.co/qZ4yvOWxlh
— Gov. Gary Herbert (@GovHerbert) June 4, 2020

“Providing clean water for the Navajo people is a challenging task and we have worked with our friends in Congress and across the country to move this important measure forward," President Jonathan Nez said in a June 4 release "As the Navajo Nation continues to struggle to address COVID-19, we welcome the passage by the United States Senate of the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act, which would provide desperately needed funding for clean drinking water to our members."

More than 40 percent of households on the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation lack running water or adequate sanitation in their homes, according to the tribe. The pandemic, in which Americans have been reminded at every turn to wash their hands, has exposed stark inequities on the largest reservation in the United States.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the Navajo Nation in our state, and the shortage of running water in nearly half of homes is contributing to the spread," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said of the bill he introduced. "With this legislation, we will be able to provide access to water and wastewater facilities for the Navajo Nation and also provide the long-needed water infrastructure for its citizens. I urge my House colleagues to pass this without delay so we can keep the longstanding promise by the federal government to the Navajo Nation in Utah.”

Navajo Nation commends the U.S. Senate’s approval of the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act —Thank you to: @MittRomney @SenMcSallyAZ @SenatorTomUdall @SenatorSinema @RepRobBishop and many others for supporting water rights for the Navajo people! pic.twitter.com/rStRZK1QfH
— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) June 4, 2020

According to Sen. Hoeven, the Senate has passed 22 Indian bills since the start of the 116th Congress in January 2019. Of those, 16 await further action in the House, he said.

The 116th Congress will conclude sometime in December.