Indian Affairs Issue

Senator Domenici is honored and privileged to represent the many Tribes and Pueblos within New Mexico. As a member of the Indian Affairs Committee, he participates in the study of any and all matters pertaining to problems and opportunities of Indians, including but not limited to, Indian land management and trust responsibilities, Indian education, health, special services, loan programs, and Indian claims against the United States.

Over the years Senator Domenici has sought to work with the tribes to restore tribal lands, improve infrastructure, water systems, schools, housing, and perhaps most importantly, health care. The relationship between the federal government and the tribes is unique and affords many opportunities to work together to those ends.

Education

Every child should receive a decent education in a safe, modern facility. Many of New Mexico's Indian youth do not have adequate school facilities. For this reason, Senator Domenici has done his best to secure funding for school construction and rehabilitation throughout New Mexico. Work is finishing up at Wingate's new High School, and New Mexico has five schools on the Bureau of Indian Affair's replacement list for 2004.

Senator Domenici continues to work to secure and increase funding for these and other institutions such as Dinè College, the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute, and the Crownpoint Institute of Technology to ensure that Native American children have access to the education they deserve.

Health

The single most serious problem facing Indian health is diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, Native Americans are afflicted with diabetes at more than twice the rate as the general population.

In an effort to help stem this scourge, in 2000, Senator Domenici worked to add $70 million to the base program of $30 million, for a total of $100 million annually to be distributed by the Indian Health Services (IHS) to tribal diabetes prevention and control programs. Then again, in 2002, he helped to push through an increase of $50 million to the base program for an annual total of $150 million.

Since 1998, he has labored to get the Centers for Disease Control and IHS to work with New Mexico tribes, the University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center, Zuni-Ramah Public Health Center, and the Gallup Indian Medical Center to plan and establish a national diabetes prevention and treatment center in Gallup. The result is the Southwest Diabetes Prevention Center. While the center focuses on the disease among American Indians, the advances will be applied to other minorities and social groups prone to high incidences of diabetes.

Water Systems

Hand-in-hand with health services is the quality of water delivery and wastewater removal in Indian Country. Throughout the years, Senator Domenici has worked through the appropriations process to secure direct funding and grant money to modernize and expand water and wastewater systems for New Mexico's tribes. This is an ongoing process and he will continue to push for further advances in these important projects.

Housing

Unfortunately, just as many Indian children attend school in substandard facilities, many Native American families lack access to affordable, adequate housing. Last Congress, Senator Domenici co-sponsored legislation that reauthorizes a federal housing program specifically tailored to meet the housing needs of American Indian tribes. The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 2001 (NAHASDA) (S.1210, 107th Congress) was signed into law in November of 2002. The new law reauthorizes a 1996 federal American Indian housing program through 2006. Senator Domenici is very pleased that this law has been renewed and fully expects New Mexico tribes to take advantage of it. NAHASDA has been a powerful tool in the long fight to improve housing on Indian reservations. With this law, HUD will seek to provide culturally-appropriate housing for the Indian people.

Senator Domenici is in the process of examining whether current funding for NAHASDA is adequate for the present and future housing needs. He believes it is time we take a look at whether funding for the program, which is high, is keeping up with inflation or demand.

Indian Reservation Roads

When members of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council Committee approached Senator Domenici about participating directly in the national Highway Trust Fund program in 1982, they found a willing and able ally. Working with tribal leaders and his colleagues in the United States Senate, he convinced Congress and President Reagan to create the Indian Reservation Roads program. With each subsequent reauthorization of the nation's transportation program, Senator Domenici has worked to improve and enhance these programs. This will be the case again as Congress reauthorizes the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century this session of Congress.

Tribal Lands

Senator Domenici has done his best over the last thirty years to work with tribes and local governments and groups to resolve land disputes and tribal land transfers. Two recent examples are his work with the Sandia Pueblo on resolving a decades old land dispute concerning portions of the Sandia Mountain range and with San Ildefonso and Santa Clara on placing ancient tribal lands from Bureau of Land Management disposal lands into trust for the Pueblos to maintain.

For updates and news on the Indian Affairs Committee, please visit:
http://indian.senate.gov/

For more information on Indian Health Services, please visit:
http://www.ihs.gov/

For more information on The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 2001, please visit:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/ih/regs/index.cfm

For more information on Senator Domenici's views and activities on Indian affairs, visit our online News Center.

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