Finally: The Indian Health Care Improvement Act Passes! Native American Legislative Update: March 26, 2010
In this issue:
Indian Health Care Improvement Act is Permanently Reauthorized Funding for Indian Country: Is It Enough? Four Quaker Groups Take Action to Support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Indian Health Care Improvement Act is Permanently Reauthorized On Tuesday, the president signed the House's health insurance reform bill into law. This marked a historic moment for health care, but especially for Indian health care. After over a decade of struggle, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act has finally been permanently reauthorized. This is huge news for Indian Country, for FCNL, and for everyone who worked so hard to get this legislation reauthorized!
The passage of this critical legislation marks a renewed commitment to improving the state of Indian health and Indian health care from Congress and the administration. Finally, there is permanent legislation holding the federal government to its treaty obligation to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. President Obama applauded this monumental step in a statement released on the day of the signing:
President Obama signs health care reform into law PHOTO: Speaker Pelosi on Flickr "As a Senator, I co-sponsored this Act back in 2007 because I believe it is unacceptable that Native American communities still face gaping health care disparities. Our responsibility to provide health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives derives from the nation-to-nation relationship between the federal and tribal governments. And today, with this bill, we have taken a critical step in fulfilling that responsibility by modernizing the Indian health care system and improving access to health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives."
We applaud this move on the part of Congress, and we thank the president for his continued commitment to Indian Country.
Funding for Indian Country: Is It Enough? FCNL highlighted three major funding needs in a memo delivered this week to key appropriators in the House and Senate. The three concerns were school construction and maintenance, health care, and the Indian Child Welfare Act. In these three areas the needs of Indian Country have been historically underfunded. The president proposed increased funding for Indian health care, but given the need, even that proposal seems too small. We urged the appropriators to support funding at least at the president's proposed levels, and strongly encouraged them to find additional funding to meet the critical levels of need.
Of the three areas, the need for additional funds for school construction and maintenance is the most pressing. In 2007 the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Interior, reported that failure to improve conditions in schools in Indian Country "will likely cause injury or death to children and school employees" (NIEA Testimony, Feb 2010). Despite this, funding has steadily decreased in this area.
In order to make our voice heard, FCNL wrote a letter to members of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies in both houses, and attached our budget summary.
Want to make your voice heard? 1. Find out if your Congress members are on the Senate or House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. You can do this on our website: Go to "Contact Congress" on the left hand side of our homepage (www.fcnl.org) Enter your zip code. Click on your representative and senators, and look at their committees. Does Appropriations show up? If so, click on "Subcommittees" and then "Interior, Environment and Related."
2. Especially if your representative or senators are on the Interior Subcommittee, please contact your members of Congress! The Interior Subcommittee handles funding for a wide range of programs that are important to Indian Country. Let your representative and senators know that you would like to see increased funding for Indian Country in the areas of school construction and maintenance, health care, and the Indian Child Welfare Act. Please see our sample letter to Congress for ideas.
Four Quaker Groups Take Action to Support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Four Quaker committees co-sponsored a table on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the recent Annual Meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Section of the Americas in Reisterstown, MD. FWCC seeks to bring Friends from different places and traditions together in worship and witness. The four committees (Canadian Friends Service Committee's Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Indian Committee, Baltimore Yearly Meeting's Indian Affairs Committee, and New York Yearly Meeting's Indian Affairs Committee) have embraced as a spiritual witness the cause of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 and it establishes a framework of minimum standards for the survival, health, safety, dignity, and basic rights of the indigenous peoples of the world.
At the time of signing only four countries voted against this declaration, of which three still have not reversed their position: New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Incidentally, these are three countries with large indigenous populations. The four committees are seeking to raise awareness about the declaration and ultimately to move their countries to sign on. Elizabeth Koopman of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting noted that though the witness was very well received, she was surprised by how many Friends had not heard of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Want to learn more about the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Visit the Canadian Friends Service Committee's Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee website.
Learn more about any of the bills mentioned in this or other Native American Legislative Updates on our website. For other bills that FCNL is not tracking you can find information on the Library of Congress web site. Just type in the bill number or name to see the bill's text, co-sponsors, and schedule for hearings.
