COVID-19 in Indian Country
“As vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I’m compelled to speak out to urge immediate, bipartisan action to provide more targeted relief for Native communities,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico).

Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) took part in a panel at the National Tribal Health Conference with tribal leaders and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York).

“Tribal Nations prepaid for our healthcare," Walker River Paiute Tribe Chairwoman Amber Torres said. "Our Treaties require the federal government to fund our people’s care for the next seven generations and beyond."

'Tribes and Tribally-owned businesses from across Indian Country have been severely impacted by the economic strains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,' a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators told the Trump administration.

'It is unacceptable that the coronavirus relief package put forward by Senate Republicans sidelines the needs of Tribal governments and Native communities,' two leading Democrats said.

Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), Vice Chairman, introduced S.4090, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA).

According to the CDC, American Indians and Alaska Natives are at a disproportionate risk for complications from COVID-19 which are exacerbated by the lack of resources available for Tribal emergency preparedness programs.

Over two months after Congress passed the CARES Act, the Trump administration continues to withhold Indian Education COVID-19 funding to Tribal schools, leaving students without resources for distance learning.

Key lawmakers are calling for transparency from the Trump administration after tribes raised significant concerns about their shares of the $8 billion coronavirus relief fund.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, less than half of households on Tribal lands have access to fixed broadband service.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau approved $954,990 to the Navajo Nation Department of Health for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program

The Trump administration's botched handling of the $8 billion coronavirus relief fund is under investigation by internal watchdogs at both the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury.

The Tribal COVID-19 Disaster Assistance Cost Share Relief Act would waive the cost-sharing requirement and grant 100 percent funding for all Indian Tribal governments.

Nearly six weeks after the CARES Act was signed into law the Department of Treasury s beginning to distribute $4.8 billion of the $8 billion Congress allocated for Tribal Governments for a Coronavirus Relief Fund.

Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, requested official reviews into the Trump administration’s handling of COVID-19 relief funding for Tribes.

Many Tribes depend on the businesses they own and operate to fund essential services in Indian Country because Tribal governments, unlike state and local governments, do not have a traditional tax base.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) announced the Tribal COVID-19 Disaster Assistance Cost Share Relief Act.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) is telling the Trump administration that non-governmental entities should not receive a share of an $8 billion coronavirus relief fund intended for tribal nations.

It's been a week since the Trump administration began offering $349 billion in coronavirus relief funds and certain tribal gaming entities remain locked out of critical loans.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) issued the following statement after Senate Republicans rejected Senate Democrats’ attempt to pass emergency funding to bolster the CARES Act for small businesses, health care providers, state, local, and Tribal governments.