The Esther Martinez Initiative supports the revitalization of Native American languages to ensure the survival and continuing vitality of these languages and the culture of native peoples for future generations. The Immersion program provides funding for projects to support Native Language Nests and Survival Schools providing education and instruction using native languages. To be considered for funding under this priority area, applicants must meet the statutory requirements for a Native Language Nest or a Native Language Survival School in accordance with P.L. 109-394. Full info at: http://tinyurl.com/yjglv2h
To all Staff, Indian Community Leaders, Tribal Organizations and Affiliates:
Thank you to all who have worked so hard on helping to make this happen. In particular, James Crouch, Director of the California Indian Health Board, and Reno Franklin, the Chairman of the National Indian Health Board, for their untiring efforts. Many of us have worked on this for virtually our entire careers in Indian Health had begun to wonder if we would actually see it happen in our lifetime. But the real winners are the Indian Community throughout the United States. Hopefully at the end of the day it will also be a victory for everyone in the United States who may soon be able to obtain affordable health insurance.
It has been a long road but the IHCIA has now passed both Houses of Congress and will be sent to the President for signature. The Health Reform reconciliation bill will be moving over to the Senate where it will need only 51 votes for its final passage. Thanks to each of you who wrote letters made calls walked the halls or just kept this work on the front burner for over a decade.
Press Release
March 21, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC – The United States’ 564 federally-recognized tribes claim victory with today’s historic passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The House passed the Senate’s health care reform bill by a vote of 219 to 212 which includes the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), placing in effect health care legislation that American Indians and Alaska Natives have been requesting from Congress for the past ten years.
The IHCIA was originally enacted in 1976 by Congress to address the deplorable health conditions occurring in Indian Country. The law provides the key legal authority for the provision of health care to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. Over the past decade, tribes have worked endlessly to reauthorize the IHCIA in order to expand, improve, and modernize the health delivery and services in tribal communities. In recent months, the House and the Senate pledged to support the IHCIA by including its provisions within the overall health care reform legislation.
“No one can deny the intense political climate that has been present in the debates regarding health care reform. However, there is one issue that has remained consistently agreed upon: Indian Country is in dire need of health care reform,” said Reno Keoni Franklin, Chairman of the National Indian Health Board. “Today, we thank the diligence and persistence that President Obama and Congress demonstrated to Indian Country in making sure that the Indian Health Care Improvement Act was included in the overall health care reform bill,” said Franklin.
“This inclusion of the IHCIA reaffirms the government’s trust responsibility to provide health care to our people,” said Rachel Joseph, a member of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of California and Co-Chair of the National Steering Committee (NSC) on the Reauthorization of the IHCIA. Joseph has worked on the IHCIA for more than a decade. “Today they have honored our ancestors, and have acknowledged that through the cessation of over 400 million acres of land, tribes have secured a de facto contract that entitles us to health care. American Indian and Alaska Native people will view this legislation not only as it pertains to health care, but will also celebrate it as an important policy statement that has been enacted into law by the United States,” said Joseph.
No other segment of the American population experiences greater health disparities than the AI/AN population. In 2003, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported that American Indian youth are twice as likely to commit suicide; AI/ANs are 630 percent more likely to die from alcoholism, 650 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, 328 percent more likely to die from diabetes, and 204 percent more likely to suffer accidental death when compared with other groups. The disparities have largely been attributed to a serious lack of funding sufficient to advance the health care infrastructure, and the level and quality of health services for AI/AN.
“It is important to note the provisions which have been included will greatly improve Indian Country’s health care system. For instance, this landmark legislation brings the establishment of a comprehensive behavioral health system for Indian Country. Tribes will finally have a way to address a myriad of behavioral health problems such as substance abuse, suicide (especially among the youth), and domestic violence,” said Buford Rolin, Vice Chairman of the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) and Co-Chairman of the National Steering Committee for the Reauthorization of the IHCIA.
The new legislation brings substantial developments for Indian Country’s health care through the following ways: improving workforce development and recruitment of health professionals in Indian Country; providing funds for facilities construction as well as maintenance and improvement funds to address priority facility needs; creating opportunities for access to and financing of necessary health care services for AI/AN; and assisting with the modernization in the delivery of health services provided by the Indian Health Service.
“We thank all the American Indian and Alaska Native tribes; the Honorable President Obama and his administration; the membership of the House and the Senate; the National Congress of American Indians; the National Council of Urban Indian Health; the National Indian Gaming Association; the National American Indian Housing Council; and the National Indian Education Association. And, we give thanks to the countless friends and advocates of Indian Health who have helped to ensure health care for all Americans. I especially want to thank the members of the National Steering Committee and the staff members of the National Indian Health Board,” said Reno Franklin, “While we celebrate this historic event in bringing hope to our communities, we look forward in working together to start a new legacy for the Indian health care system.”
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The National Indian Health Board advocates on behalf of all Tribal Governments and American Indians/Alaska Natives in their efforts to provide quality health care. Visit www.nihb.orgfor more information.
Lynette Willie, Communications Director
National Indian Health Board
926 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 420-8579
msnbc.com staff and news service reportsupdated 37 minutes agoWASHINGTON - Summoned to success by President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved historic legislation Sunday night extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracking down on insurance company abuses, a climactic chapter in the century-long quest for near universal coverage.
Widely viewed as dead two months ago, the Senate-passed bill cleared the House on a 219-212 vote. Republicans were unanimous in opposition, joined by 34 dissident Democrats.
In remarks after the completion of the House's votes, Obama praised fellow Democrats for passing the legislation after well over a year of negotiations and setbacks.
"We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things," the president said in televised remarks. "We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people."
Obama watched the vote in the White House's Roosevelt Room with Vice President Joe Biden and about 40 staff aides. When the long sought 216th vote came in — the magic number needed for passage — the room burst into applause and hugs. An exultant president exchanged a high-five with his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
A second, smaller measure — making changes in the first — also passed later in the evening. It will go to the Senate, where Democratic leaders said they had the votes to pass it.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation awaiting the president's approval would extend coverage to 32 million Americans who lack it, ban insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and cut deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade. If realized, the expansion of coverage would include 95 percent of all eligible individuals under age 65.
For the first time, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused. Much of the money in the bill would be devoted to subsidies to help families at incomes of up to $88,000 a year pay their premiums.
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Far beyond the political ramifications — a concern the president repeatedly insisted he paid no mind — were the sweeping changes the bill held in store for millions of individuals, the insurance companies that would come under tougher control and the health care providers, many of whom would face higher taxes.
Crowds of protesters outside the Capitol shouted "just vote no" in a futile attempt to stop the inevitable taking place inside a House packed with lawmakers and ringed with spectators in the galleries above.
Across hours of debate, House Democrats predicted the larger of the two bills, costing $940 billion over a decade, would rank with other great social legislation of recent decades.
"We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, partner to Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the grueling campaign to pass the legislation.
"This is the civil rights act of the 21st century," added Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the top-ranking black member of the House.
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Republicans readily agreed the bill would affect everyone in America, but warned repeatedly of the burden imposed by more than $900 billion in tax increases and Medicare cuts combined.
"We have failed to listen to America," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, leader of a party that has vowed to carry the fight into the fall's midterm elections for control of Congress.
March 21: Republican David Dreier and Democrat Louise Slaughter pointed exchange doing a discussion on health care.msnbc tv
Abortion deal cleared way for passage
The final obstacle to the bill's passage was cleared at mid-afternoon when Obama and Democratic leaders reached a compromise with anti-abortion lawmakers whose rebellion had left the outcome in doubt. The White House announced he would issue an executive order pledging that no federal funds would be used for elective abortion, satisfying Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and a handful of like-minded lawmakers.A spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed skepticism that the presidential order would satisfy the church's objections.
Republican abortion foes also said Obama's proposed order was insufficient, and when Stupak sought to counter them, a shout of "baby killer" could be heard coming from the Republican side of the chamber.
The measure would also usher in a significant expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor. Coverage would be required for incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four. Childless adults would be covered for the first time, starting in 2014.
The insurance industry, which spent millions on advertising trying to block the bill, would come under new federal regulation. They would be forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions and from canceling policies when a policyholder becomes ill.
via msnbc.msn.com
PLUMMER, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene Tribe was awarded $12.3 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to construct a broadband network that will provide high-speed Internet access for the rural communities and surrounding areas on the reservation.
The fiber-to-the-home project calls for miles of fiber optic lines to be installed in Plummer, Worley, Tensed and DeSmet. “This is awesome news for everyone living on the reservation,” said Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairman Chief James Allan. “The broadband project will have a profound impact on all residents of the Coeur d’Alene reservation.” The project will provide services to anchor institutions and critical community facilities and roughly 3,800 un-served and underserved households on the reservation – both tribal and non-tribal member alike, said Valerie Fast Horse, the tribe’s information and technology director. “We have a rare opportunity to build one of the first fiber-to-the-home networks of this scale in the region. True economic development must involve revitalizing the human spirit of our communities. It is our hope that by lighting up the reservation with a fiber optic network we will spark our most creative minds and encourage the knowledge-based economy we’ve been striving to develop.” The tribe expects to start work on installing fiber optic lines in the coming months. The telecommunication funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The tribe will receive half of the money through a grant and the other half will be loaned to the tribe. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced the selection of 22 broadband infrastructure projects to give rural residents in 18 states or territories. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s selection is one of the first Native American tribes to receive broadband funding and was the only application in Idaho to be funded. “These broadband projects will provide rural America access to the tools it needs to attract new businesses, educational opportunities and jobs,” Vilsack said. “The Obama administration understands that bringing broadband to rural America is an economic gateway for people, business owners and key institutions – such as libraries, hospitals, public safety buildings and community centers. Broadband is important for rural communities to remain strong in the 21st century.” The tribe received congressional and state support for the project, including support from U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Gov. Butch Otter. “We truly appreciate them for seeing the need in our rural community,” Allan said. In all, the federal government will invest more than $254.6 million on 22 projects. An additional $13.1 million in private investment will be provided in matching funds. Congress provided USDA $2.5 billion in Recovery Act funding to assist applicants to bring broadband services to those without service and underserved communities. To date, $895.6 million has been provided to support 55 broadband projects in 29 states or territories. The tribe currently offers wireless broadband services to more than 600 customers through Red Spectrum. The service is available to all residents living in the service area.
Native Remains Will Be Repatriated
WASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of the Interior will release human remains from museums and natural history collections to Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations that had a historic or prehistoric presence on the land from which the remains originally were taken. This will be true even when the remains cannot be definitively traced to the tribe or organization, according to new department rules, effective May 14.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, culturally unidentifiable Native American remains have been repatriated for burial or other disposition only after consultation with a Review Committee that advises the Secretary of the Interior on disposition approval. The new regulation will eliminate the review process, and the remains would be turned over to the requesting tribe or native organization after the request was announced in the Federal Register.
The act, which was passed in 1990, requires all museums and federal agencies to identify Native American cultural items in their collections, such as human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects, to lineal descendents and culturally affiliated Indian tribes. As of Sept. 2009, museums and federal agencies have listed the remains of nearly 40,000 individuals and almost one million funerary objects on their inventories.
The most famous case of unaffiliated remains was the discovery in 1996 of the skeleton of a prehistoric man on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick Washington on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Five Indian tribes claimed ownership of the remains, which became known as Kennewick Man, and sought to dispose of the remains according to traditional burial practices without subjecting them to scientific examination.
In 2004 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the claims of the tribes because they could not establish cultural affiliation or kinship to the remains. Later testing revealed that Kennewick Man was approximately 9,000 years old and that his DNA could not be definitively tied to any modern Native American tribes.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, culturally unidentifiable Native American remains have been repatriated for burial or other disposition only after consultation with a Review Committee that advises the Secretary of the Interior on disposition approval. The new regulation will eliminate the review process, and the remains would be turned over to the requesting tribe or native organization after the request was announced in the Federal Register.
The act, which was passed in 1990, requires all museums and federal agencies to identify Native American cultural items in their collections, such as human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects, to lineal descendents and culturally affiliated Indian tribes. As of Sept. 2009, museums and federal agencies have listed the remains of nearly 40,000 individuals and almost one million funerary objects on their inventories.
The most famous case of unaffiliated remains was the discovery in 1996 of the skeleton of a prehistoric man on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick Washington on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Five Indian tribes claimed ownership of the remains, which became known as Kennewick Man, and sought to dispose of the remains according to traditional burial practices without subjecting them to scientific examination.
In 2004 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the claims of the tribes because they could not establish cultural affiliation or kinship to the remains. Later testing revealed that Kennewick Man was approximately 9,000 years old and that his DNA could not be definitively tied to any modern Native American tribes.
Chasco Fiesta Executive Director Wendy Brenner recently made news when she denied the float application for the Republican Party. The reason she gave was that floats aren't permitted in the Chasco street parade if they reflect certain subject matter, such as a political campaign, social issues, or special interest groups. The Krewe of Chasco, however, which stereotypes Native Americans and mocks Native American spirituality, meets the parade criteria. Full at: http://tinyurl.com/yfcb57
oin the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) in honoring National Native (American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian) HIV/AIDS Awareness Day this year. Held annually on March 20th, the day is organized by representatives from the Colorado State University's Commitment to Action for 7th-Generation Awareness & Education: HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona and the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center to encourage Native peoples and communities to "work together, in harmony, to create a greater awareness of the risk of HIV/AIDS to our Native communities, to call for resources for testing and early detection and for increased treatment options, and to eventually decrease the occurrence of HIV/AIDS among Native people." Full@: http://tinyurl.com/ycln7ay