[nativestudies-l] FCNL Native American legislative update, 9/2010
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant
alyssa.mt.pleasant at yale.edu
Thu Sep 2 13:50:54 EDT 2010
Vis the Friends Committee on National Legislation
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Friends Committee on National Legislation
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Friends Committee on National Legislation
A Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest
*Congress’s Final Acts before Recess: New Math and New Energy*
Native American Legislative Update: September 1, 2010
*In this issue: *
• One poverty program pays for another: More Medicaid = less food
assistance <#1>
• Feeding hungry children by cutting food aid for the whole family <#2>
• Indian energy bill: Introduced <#3>
• Cobell settlement: Not settled <#4>
• Health care changes: Underway <#5>
/*One poverty program pays for another: More Medicaid = less food
assistance */
FMAP, which stands for Federal Medicaid Additional Percentage, is an
increase in Medicaid funding that Congress authorized to help states and
tribes as more and more families qualified for and needed medical
assistance and state finances weakened.
Congress passed legislation on August 10 to extend FMAP. The bill also
included additional money for states and for the Bureau of Indian
Education to prevent layoffs of teachers. The whole package cost $26
billion.
To help pay for the package, Congress took $11.9 billion from SNAP – the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That program had received a
boost in the stimulus package as a way to get assistance out to a large
number of people very quickly. The cut would end the boost in 2013.
Congress also took $6.8 million from the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program
account in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
The support for Medicaid is important to American Indians and Alaska
natives, especially to those who have incomes below or near the poverty
line. In this group, 58 percent of those who live in poverty rely on
Medicaid, and another 29 percent of the “near-poor” count on the
program. That same group – poor and near poor – also rely on food
assistance.
So when is help not help? When support for Medicaid = a cut in food
assistance.
/*Feeding hungry children by cutting food aid for the whole family */
The Senate passed its version of the child nutrition reauthorization
bill (S. 3307) on August 5. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act includes
Indian reservations in the section of the bill authorizing new childhood
hunger research and demonstration projects, including research to
determine and report to Congress on how federal nutrition programs can
help to overcome hunger, obesity and type II diabetes on Indian
reservations. Tribal organizations would also be included in new
provisions related to the Farm to School Program.
The bill authorizes an increase of $4.5 billion in child nutrition
funding over the next years. How is the bill paid for? In part by
taking another $2 billion from the SNAP program, as discussed above.
The House as a whole hasn’t taken up the child nutrition bill yet. The
Education and Labor Committee has approved a bill that would add $8
billion over the next ten years, but representatives have not yet agreed
how the bill would be paid for. One hundred and nine representatives
joined a letter to Speaker Pelosi urging her to find a better way to pay
for this bill than to cut into another critical assistance program.
/*Indian energy bill: Introduced */
On August 5, Senators Byron Dorgan (ND), Tim Johnson (SD), John Thune
(SD), John Tester (MT), Tom Udall (NM), and Al Franken (MN) introduced
the Indian Energy Parity Act of 2010 (S. 3752). The bill would
streamline and enhance programs to support Indian energy development and
efficiency. It would
* expedite or revise federal permitting, leasing and appraisal
processes,
* authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish demonstration
projects through which Indian tribes would integrate and
coordinate energy funding from various federal agencies into a
single integrated program,
* improve tribal access to the transmission grid so that tribes
could sell energy that they produce to other locations, (what’s
that?),
* allocate to tribes some of funding that states receive from the
Department of Energy’s (DOE) energy efficiency program,
* authorize direct grants to tribes under DOE’s weatherization
program, and
* authorize the Secretary of Energy to develop a program and provide
loan guarantees to Indian tribes for energy development.
This long-awaited bill will probably be accompanied separate legislation
that would facilitate the financing of energy projects on tribal lands.
/*Cobell settlement: Not settled*/
Although the House of Representatives has twice approved a settlement of
the case brought against the U.S. government by Eloise Cobell, who
alleged federal mismanagement of thousands of American Indian trust
accounts, the Senate still doesn’t agree. Cobell’s lawyers and the
Interior and Justice Departments reached agreement in December 2009,
after 14 years of litigation, to accept $1.4 billion to settle myriad
claims against the government, and $2 billion to consolidate land and
oil rights that had become too hard to trace through generations of heirs.
Senator John Barrasso (WY), ranking minority member of the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, wants to amend the settlement agreement's
side agreement on attorneys' fees, expenses, and costs. U.S. District
Judge Thomas Hogan gave Congress a seventh deadline of October 15 to
settle the case.
/*Health care changes: Underway*/
We celebrated earlier this year when Congress enacted the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act and included with that bill the
permanent authorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
Indian Health Service Director Yvette Roubideaux issued a letter on July
22 to tribal leaders to urge immediate implementation of some provisions
that require no action or minimal action by the Indian Health Service.
Meanwhile, advocates for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians seek
an extension of its funding, which is only authorized through 2011. Mark
Trahant writes for the Kaiser Family Foundation that
"Diabetes is the most expensive disease in America. It’s the fifth
leading cause of death, surpassing AIDS and breast cancer combined.
It represents nearly a quarter of all hospital spending and as much
as one out of five health care dollars are spent on caring for
someone with diabetes.
Unfortunately this epidemic is not news in Indian Country…American
Indian and Alaska Natives are three times more likely to have
diabetes than the white population (and four times more likely to
die as a result)."
According to the National Indian Health Board, the Special Diabetes
Program for Indians is currently a $150 million per year grant program
that provides funding for diabetes treatment and prevention services at
nearly 400 Indian health programs in 35 states. Two bills would
reauthorize the Special Diabetes Programs for an additional five years
at $200 million per year.
* H.R. 3668, introduced by Rep. Dianne DeGette (CO), has the support
of an impressive list of 288 co-sponsors in the House.
* S.3058, introduced by Sen. Dorgan (ND), has 60 cosponsors in the
Senate.
If these two bills do not pass in the remainder of this session, they
will have to be reintroduced in the 112th Congress.
Congress is away till mid September, and then will be in session for
about a month before the next recess, October 11 to November 12. Very
little time – lots to do.
/Learn more about any of the bills mentioned in this or other Native
American Legislative Updates on our //website
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For other bills that FCNL is not tracking you can find information on
/the Library of Congress website
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/Just type in the bill number or name to see the bill's text,
co-sponsors, and schedule for hearings./
Read past Native American Legislative Updates
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