Hearing on BADGES, Buffalo Management, Barona Land Transfer, IHS Claims Parity

good afternoon everyone the subcommittee on indian and insular affairs will come to order without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess of the subcommittee at any time subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on four bills that are before us under committee rule four f any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the chairman and to the ranking minority member I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' opening statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with committee rule three O. Without objection, so ordered. I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from California, Mister Issa, be allowed to sit and participate in today's hearing. Without objection, so ordered. And I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good morning everyone and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today, as we consider four important bills affecting Indian country. Taking together these bills reflects several of the core responsibilities of the subcommittee, supporting tribal self-determination, improving public safety and healthcare access, preserving culturally significant lands and wildlife, and ensuring federal policies work in a practical way for tribal communities. First on the docket is the HR ten ten, introduced by ranking member Ledger Fernandez of New Mexico, which seeks to improve public safety in Indian country. The bill directs the attorney general to appoint tribal facilitators, to the national missing and unidentified persons system, strengthens coordination and information sharing among tribal, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and creates additional tools to support missing and murdered indigenous peoples' investigations in tribal law enforcement capacity. Public safety in Indian country remains a top priority and is one of the most serious issues that this committee confronts. And I'm grateful for the ranking members' continued leadership on this issue. I do note for the record that the Senate companion to this legislation received a congressional budget office score that raises budgetary and procedural concerns that we will need to work through and I look forward to continuing to work with the ranking member on those issues. Next we will consider HR seventy nine fifty four, the Don Young, Douglum Alpha, Indian Buffalo Management Act, uh which I am proud to sponsor. This legislation directs the Department of Interior to work collaboratively with tribes and tribal organizations to support the restoration and management of buffalo on tribal lands. The buffalo holds deep cultural, spiritual, and historical significance for many tribal nations, and its recovery is one of the great conservation success stories in this country. This bill was previously introduced as the Indian Buffalo Management Act, but it has been renamed to honor Congressman Don Young and Congressman Douglas Malfa, two strong advocates for Indian country and longtime of this effort. Both worked tirelessly to advance this legislation, and it's an honor to continue their work here today. Our third bill is H R eighty-four eighty-three, introduced by Representative Issa of California, which would place approximately eight hundred and thirty-six acres of BLM and forest service land into trust for the Barona group of Capitan Grand Grande Band of Mission Indians. This land carries significant cultural and historical importance for the Barona Band, and would reconnect their present reservation with historic lands. Finally, we will consider HR eighty-six fifty-eight, introduced by Representative Kennedy of Utah, which addresses a practical challenge facing tribal patients who receive care outside of Indian health service facilities through the purchased and referred care program. Under current policy, patients generally only have seventy-two hours, three days to notify IHS after receiving emergency care. In many rural and remote communities, That timeline is simply unrealistic. This bill extends the notification period and helps ensure tribal patients are not unfairly left with significant medical bills because of logistical barriers that are outside of their control. Each of these bills addresses different issues, but all are rooted in the same broader principle. Federal policy should support tribal communities in a way that is practical, respectful, and responsive to real-world conditions on the ground. I wanna thank each of our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to a productive discussion. At this point, the chair now recognizes the ranking minority member for any statement, uh, Miss Ledger Fernandez from the state of New Mexico. Miss Ledger Fernandez.

Thank you very much, uh, uh, my chair, uh, and or the committee's chair, but we have a you so you can tell we have a very good working relationship. And I wanna thank everybody who is here testifying, who has come to listen, and who might be tuning in. for joining us today. Time and again tribes tell us that a lack of federal funding and resources limits their ability to serve their communities, and sometimes that can be deadly. Nowhere is that more important than the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. So I want to thank both Chairman Westerman and Herd for including my bill, uh, the Badges for Native Communities Act, at today's hearing. Right now, indigenous women are murdered at ten times. Ten times the national average. Eighty four percent of American Indian Alaska Native women have experienced a form of violence in their lifetime. Eighty four percent. That means that when you look around in a Native community, there is one woman who has not out of ten. that should break our hearts and force us to take policy action. And so many women and their families don't even report cases to the federal government because of a lack of trust and responsiveness. The need to coordinate across tribal, federal, state and local law enforcement leaves too many chances for missing people to fall through the cracks. And ultimately, too many predators see Native women as prey cuz they believe there will be no consequences. And there are major jurisdictional issues that we still need to address and solve. But today we are taking an important step, I believe, in trying to find some of the cracks that we can fill. And so many times when I'm out in Indian country, you know, our tribal leaders will tell me that they need more officers to respond to emergencies. They need more officers in patrol cars. It takes people to create an area of safety in our reservations. And that's why the bipartisan Badges Act helps to fix these problems. First, the bill appoints tribal facilitators to improve data collection coordination across jurisdictions. These facilitators would work with tribes and nontribal law enforcement to report information about missing persons and human remains to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System. Next, the Badgers Act works to hire BIA BIA law enforcement officers more quickly, creates a five year demonstration program to allow BIA to conduct its own background checks and still maintain high standards. Right now, DOD completes the background checks and it takes anywhere from a hundred and twenty days to nine months. So people who wanna work in law enforcement, they simply can't wait around for nine months to get their clearance. And we know it's possible to do it quicker, because those tribes with six thirty-eight contracts do it quicker. So the last thing the Badges Act does is provide grants to states, tribes and tribal organizations to help document and develop resources to better investigate Missing Persons Act. That would include efforts to establish a regional or statewide center to improve coordination. The Senate passed a bill unanimously in December, and I hope the House will move quickly to pass it. And now to the other bills on this agenda. I am so proud to cosponsor Chairman Hurd's Don Young, Doug Malmalfa, Indian Buffalo Management Act. I was here uh sitting in that chair when Don Young was sitting in this chair, and we presented I managed the bill on the house floor and you were there, right? It was a wonderful moment and I am so glad that you have chosen to honor both uh Don and Doug, by naming this bill in their honor. Cuz you know, just the other day, one of our Pueblo leaders in New Mexico pointed out to me that his long-standing buffalo herd was suffering because of the drought and they were gonna have to take some management steps that were gonna be difficult including maybe reducing the herd this kind of bill can help address that and finally the Bawone Indian tribe I love it the fact that we are gonna bring the lands back together, we're gonna make the connections you do and the work that you do with regards to uh national uh the indian health and this is one piece of making sure that native americans don't face debt that they should not have just because that time line is too quick it's just too quick and so i'm so glad that we're also able to include that bill in today's hearing and with that i yield back

perfect timing ranking member yields uh at this time it's my pleasure to introduce our witnesses the first is the honorable raymond welch chairman of the barona group of capitan grande band of mission indians from lakeside california uh welcome mr. chairman it's good to see you next is mr. ervin carlson president of the intertribal in rapid city south dakota uh mr. carlson it's nice to see you as well uh the third witness that we have this afternoon is miss mary catherine nagle legal counsel for the national indigenous women's resource center in lamere montana uh miss nagle it's nice to see you and our last witness is miss maika carlos a board member of the national indian health board here in washington d. c. it's great to have you as well let me remind each of my witnesses uh each of our witnesses that under committee rules they must limit their oral statements to five minutes but their entire your entire statements will appear in the hearing record to begin your testimony there should be a little button in front of you that you press press that talk button on the microphone we do use timing lights here when you start the light will turn green yellow means you have a minute and at the end of your time the light will turn red And at that point I would ask you to please wrap up your opening statement or your response to any questions as quickly as possible, uh when that light turns red. I will also allow all witnesses on the panel to testify before member questioning begins. And with that, the chair now recognizes uh Chairman Welch for five minutes. Mister Chairman.

Good afternoon, Chairman, ranking members and members of the subcommittee. I am Raymond Welch, Chairman of the Bronevanna Mission Indians. formerly known as the Brona Group of Capitan Grande Ban Emission Indians. Thank you for the opportunity to appear appear before you today and present testimony on behalf of my people. I am here in support of H R eighty four eighty three, a bill that would transfer in place into trust certain federal lands for the benefit of the Brona Band emission Indians. I would first like to thank Congressman Darryl Issa for his strong support of the Brona Band emission Indians and for introducing this legislation. H R eighty four eighty three would transfer seven hundred and fourteen acres of land that is currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service to the Barona Band and Trust. This land is located adjacent to the existing Barona Reservation near Ramona, California in San Diego County, and has deep cultural and historical significance to our tribe. The Barona Band and Mission area resides on the seven thousand five hundred acre Barona Indian Reservation located in San Diego County, about thirty miles northeast of San City of San Diego. We are six hundred forty, six hundred forty eight members strong and growing. However, Brone is not our first reservation. Our ancestors purchased Brona property in nineteen thirty-two after a forced removal from our original reservation, Capitan Grande. The Capitan Grande reservation, which Brone still has rights to, was established by federal government in eighteen seventy five for the native people that were living in the area at that time, my ancestors. Capitan Grande had a free-flowing river running through it. And when the city of San Diego needed a place wa- places to store water, they negotiated a deal with the federal government to allow them to buy a portion of the Capitan Grande reservation to build a reservoir. That portion of land was where our families lived, where they tended their gardens, and where we buried our ancestors. The dispossession of the land split our community and families, and forced our people to move from their land and relocate the bodies of the of our ancestors. As the crow flies, Capitan Grande is about two miles north of Verona. A portion of land in between the two reservation is what this legislation seeks to transfer. Despite being a very rough terrain that includes steep hillsides, rock rough and rocky surfaces, this land has cultural and spiritual value much greater than its actual value. This land will represent a bridge that will connect our two reservations. For the Brony people, this is not a issue of merely administrative or procedural. It is deeply personal and tied to our identity as sovereign tribal nation. The lands at issue are not new to us. They are part of our ancestral homeland. Lands our people have occupied, stewarded, and dependent upon since time immemorial. Long before the United States existed, our ancestors lived and cared for these lands. Our ancestors hunted, gathered, conducted ceremonies, and built enduring cultural tradition that remain vital to our community today. These land hold sacred sites, traditional use areas, and cultural resources that continue to find who we are as a people. However, like many tribes across this country, my people were disposs dispossessed to significant portions of our ancestral lands, through federal policies that fragmented tribal land bases and undermined tribal sovereignty. The result is that today, much of what was once our homeland is under federal management, rather than tribal stewardship. In an effort to reclaim stewardship of these ancestral territories, we have been collaborating with both the federal Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to uh clar- to carefully consider the lands that were included in H R eighty four E three. We have spent sev- several months working to exclude from the final boundaries rights of way, public trails, and encumbrance that would potentially present management challenges. Trust acquisition is one of the primary mechanisms by which the federal government fulfills its long-standing trust responsibility to tribal nations. H R eighty four eighty three would transfer into trust seven hundred and fourteen acres of land as adjacent to the Brunner reservation as shown in the map attached to our testimony. Taking these federal lands into trust represents an opportunity to correct, in part, the historical injustice and will allow us to once again serve as primary steward of lands we know intimately lands we have cared for across generations. Essentially, at the at its core, this request is about restoring a connection that was never truly broken, only interrupted. It's about reaffirming the federal government's commitment to tribal sovereignty and self-determination. As well, re recognizing the Brony people remain, as we have always been, the rightful stewards of our ancestral lands. Thank you again for your time and consideration, and we respectfully urge the seven committee to support passage of HR eighty four eighty three. Yay, ahun.

Thank you, Chairman Welch, for your testimony. The chair now recognizes Mister Carlson for five minutes. Mister Carlson.

Good afternoon, Chairman Hurd, Ranking Member, Leger Fernandez, and honorable members. of the committee. My name is Irvin Carlson, and I'm a member of the Blackfeet Nation, and I'm President of the Intertribal Buffalo Council. I have submitted a detailed statement that I will now summarize. No words will ever sufficiently explain the degree to which so many Indian tribes have depended on the plains buffalo for their survival. They provided food, shelter, clothing, and essential tools to name but a few ways they provided for us. They became one of the most central figures to our culture. and to many of our religious uh practices. And to this day you will hear Indian people referring to the buffalo as " my relative", to signify how closely connected we are, and they are very sacred to us. Historians tell us that there were once between thirty and sixty million buffalo living on what is now North America. But due to the wanton and unbridled over-hunting by non-Indian buffalo hunters, millions and millions of our buffalo were slaughtered. The destruction was so complete that by the early nineteen hundreds, only a few hundred buffalo remained. Indeed, the population of the Indian people, once numbering in the millions, was estimated to have dropped to two hundred and fifty thousand by the early nineteen hundreds. There were only a few hundred buffalo remained. Indeed, the population of the Indian people, like I said, was estimated to drop by twenty four, two hundred and fifty thousand by the nineteen hundreds. On o- on my reservation we talk about the starvation winter of eighteen eighty-three, when one quarter of the tribal population died. And this was not unique just to the Blackfeet. Many other tribes suffered similar tragedies. Without the Buffalo, Indians were forced to live on reservations, and lost much of their historical lifestyle and independence. Sadly, historical records show that the US military was complicit in this near extinction of the buffalo as it provided a way to deal with their indian problem the quote attributed to lieutenant colonel dodge to kill every buffalo you can every buffalo dead is an indian gone and that's one that remains in my mind so much thanks to the far-sighted efforts of a few tribes working together with efforts of early conservationists including Tezi Roosevelt, the buffalo were brought back from the brink of near extinction. For the Indian people, the restoration of buffalo herds on our lands began in earnest in nineteen ninety one, when a handful of Indian tribes organized the Intertribal Bison Cooperative, now known as the Intertribal Buffalo Council. We were granted a federal charter in two thousand nine, pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act. Our organization has grown significantly. And today I'm proud to tell you that we have ninety tribes in twenty three states, all dedicated to restoring herds to our lands. The Indian population of our member tribes exceeds one million people. We greatly appreciate that you, Chairman Herd, together with representatives, Ledger Fernandez, Fredor Chatt, Newhouse, Fleischmann, Cole, Bejik, Davids and Weiss have introduced HR seven nine five, not five four the don young lemalfe doug lemalfe indian buffalo management this is a successor to the legislation initially introduced by the late don young of alaska and how much he got through the house in the hundred and seventeenth congress and before he left this earth senators martin heinrich and mark wayne mullen got it through the senate in the hundred and eighteenth and reintroduced it there in the hundred and nineteenth comparable legislation was also introduced in the hundred and eight eighteenth Congress by Congressman LaMalfa, Congressman Peltolla and others where it was unanimously reported out of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Before it could advance further changes needed to be made to the bill to ensure its consistency with new house protocols as a result language in the bill authorizing a new fourteen million dollar authorization was deleted as was language creating a new program in the interior. The bill now simply directs the secretary to work with tribes towards its implementation. The senate bill also deleted those two provisions to be consistent with house protocols. It is pretty basic legislation to assist tribes and organizations like ours in restoring buffalo herds to our tribal lands. It requires strict compliance of state and federal laws governing the translocation of buffalo, and we had extensive discussions With the cattle industry and agreed to a series of changes, they requested to ensure meat safety and to limit buffalo restoration to tribal lands. By enacting this legislation, Congress will be making a statement that assisting tribes in the restoration of their buffalo herds is a priority. Tribes need buffalo, fencing, watering systems, genetic diversity in their herds, supplemental feed, and testing to mention just a few items needed for a successful herd. Some tribes tell us they wish to restore the herds for cultural purposes, and that a small herd would be sufficient as a means of teaching their children to the history of our people, and this great animal, and having the meat for special ceremonies. Others wish to create jobs, use the meat in the school lunch program, and for community events. And still others hope to grow their herds large enough to get into small scale commercial production. Our members in Alaska have referenced the need for protein and food security, especially when successful subsistence hunts cannot be insured. Whatever reason, this legislation is very important to the many Indian people, and we hope it will help see it enacted into law this year. And with that, I sincerely thank you for hearing me today uh on this very important important issue um here, just as all of these uh issues here from the tribes are very important.

Thank you so much,

Thank you.

Mister Carlson, really appreciate that. Uh, Miss Nagle, you're recognized for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairman Hurd and Ranking Member Ledger Fernandez, for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Mary Catherine Nagle. I'm a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and I serve as General Counsel for the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. The NIWRC is a Native-led non-profit organization uh working to provide national leadership to promote safety for Native women and communities by supporting culturally grounded grassroots advocacy and strengthening tribal sovereignty. Our primary focus is ending the high rates of violence against our Native women in our communities and the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives. NIWC submits this testimony in strong support of HR ten ten, the bridging agency data gaps and ensuring safety for Native communities act. Every day, We work alongside survivors, families, and advocates of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking victims from across Indian country. They face the devastating consequences of chronically underfunded services and programs. Insufficient resources, inadequate data collection, jurisdictional gaps, and fragmented federal coordination. This legislation is long overdue and Native people are paying the price for the delay. According to the National Institute of Justice, more than four in five Americans American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than half have experienced sexual violence and intimate partner violence. The Centers for Disease Control identified homicide as a leading cause of death for American Indian Ala- Indians and Alaska Natives, with forty-five percent of homicides of female victims precipitated by intimate partner violence. Many of these cases are never entered into federal databases and never investigated with the urgency they deserve, leaving families searching for their loved ones on their own. The Badges for Native Communities Act addresses long-standing systemic failures that leave Native communities and families without adequate support. Title one of the act expands tribal access to the national missing and unidentified persons, NAMIS, by requiring federally employed tribal facilitators to conduct ongoing tribal outreach serve as a point of contact for tribes and law enforcement agencies, and provide training to improve the resolution of missing persons' cases. Enabling tribal law enforcement to access, upload, and utilize the data in NAMIS will save lives. Far too many MMIWR families routinely wait months only to learn that the state, county, or federal law enforcement agency they contacted never entered their loved one's name into the database, a failure that is both unacceptable and preventable. Title one also requires the creation of a report documenting tribal law enforcement needs. Because the federal government has consistently failed to meet its trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations in terms of federal spending, and because the right of tribal governments to collect taxes on their own lands has been significantly truncated by federal law, public safety in Indian country remains dangerously under-resourced. This report will help policymakers to understand the scope of the funding crisis. Title two grants the Bureau of Indian Affairs authority to conduct its own background checks, enabling the BIA to hire more officers more efficiently. This provision is critical. Currently, the Office of Justice Services, OJS, is so severely understaffed that native families have waiting for more than eight months just to receive a return phone call or email concerning the status of their loved one's case. This is the case with Kusera Hstop's Pretty Places, a young Crow and Cheyenne teenager who was murdered in Montana in twenty nineteen. For nine months now, her family has been told that no one at the MMU or OJS has time to speak with them. And they are still waiting to hear about the DNA results performed on the clothing when she was wearing when she was killed. The reason they have been given? Every MMU agent in Montana is covering field shifts due to under-staffing at BIA. This is not only a resource issue, it is a failure of institutional priority. Title two also establishes a grant program funding states, tribes, and tribal organizations to coordinate efforts to search for missing persons. This funding is essential for tribes precisely because federal law enforcement has consistently refused to make such searches a priority. The case of Ella May Begay illustrates why this matters. LMA went missing on the Navajo reservation five years ago. Just two weeks ago, her family sat in a federal court and listened to the assistant United States attorney argue that the government should release the defendant with just time served. The reason the family was given was because the FBI had never been able to recover LMA's body and they felt the evidence in the case was too weak to win the case at trial despite the defendant's confession to having kidnapped LMA from her home, knocking her unconscious and disposing of her body by the side of the road on the reservation. When LMA's family asked whether the FBI had used a drone to search for her body on the reservation, a vast land base with challenging terrain, the response was no, because the FBI cannot afford one. If the FBI can afford a six-figure reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, it can dedicate one drone to the search for LMA and bring her family closure and justice. The absence of a single drone in LMA's case is a choice and a deprioritization of our missing relatives and the safety for our communities. The Badges Act redirects resources to those who will actually search

Thank you, Miss Nagle, for that testimony. Uh, Uh, the chair now recognizes Miss Carlos for five minutes. the chair now recognizes Miss Carlos for five minutes, Miss Carlos. Miss Carlos.

Skook dash. My name is Mike I Carlos Junakima Amjan Good day everybody. My name is Mike I Carlos. I come from the Salt River Pimericup Indian community where I also serve as a council member. I'm also honored to serve as a board member for the National Indian Health Board representing the Phoenix area. On behalf of the National Indian Health Board and the five hundred seventy five federally recognized tribal nations we serve we thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of HR eight six five eight the IHS emergency claims parity act and thank you Congressman Kennedy for introducing this bill. The NIHB strongly supports this legislation because it provides a straightforward and common sense fix that will help ensure tribal patients can access emergency medical care without being burdened by unrealistic and administrative requirements during moments of crisis. We appreciate the subcommittee's leadership on this issue, and urge swift advancement of this legislation. The federal government maintains a unique legal obligation to provide health care for all American Indian and Alaskan natives, grounded in treaties, statues, U U S Supreme Court decisions, and the federal trust responsibility. The Indian Health Service funded hospitals and health clinics serve approximately three point two million people, many in rural and remote areas. However, there are limitations to what the Indian Health Service system is able to provide. The Purchase Referred Care program allows IHS to purchase health services from non-IHS providers when care is not reasonably accessible or available within IHS or tribal health systems. For many tribal communities, especially in emergency situations, this program is essential to receiving lifesaving care. In Arizona, specifically even the Phoenix area sometimes, the nearest IHS emergency care center is upwards to one to two hours away, with the nearest non-IHS facility being a ten minute drive. When you're in an emergency, you're not thinking about which medical facility will be easier to deal with billing, but more focused on immediate care. Currently the most most IHS beneficiaries must notify the PRC program within seventy-two hours of receiving emergency care at a non-IHS facility in order for that care to be covered by IHS. That seventy two hour clock begins the moment care is first received. In practice, this means that even an unconscious patient may lose coverage if notification is not made in time. A few weeks after I turned eighteen, I fainted on the side of the road waiting for the bus to school. Thankfully, bystanders stopped and called nine one one, but due to the nature of the emergency I was having, um, their concern was getting me to the nearest facil- hospital, which happened to be a non-IHS facility. During that emergency, I had, I never had to navigate the administrative side of the medical system. i was focused on figuring out what had happened and if i was going to school the next day they were not thinking i was not thinking about the paperwork i did not know that there was a ticking time line for me to notify ihs that i had been seen so when i submitted my claims weeks later they were denied in fact i was told they would not even be considered because they were outside the seventy two hour window that is how at the age of eighteen before i had even graduated high school i was thousands of dollars in medical debt it is unconscionable to think that we would saddle our youth, our adults, anyone in our communities with a financial burden on top of their health emergency. Which is why extending the notification window from seventy-two hours to fifteen days is so important and long overdue. Emergency medical events are often chaotic, traumatic, and overwhelming. Patients may be hospitalized for days or weeks, transferred between facilities, or recovering from surgery, sedation, or intensive treatment. Families should be focused on recovery of their loved ones, not on paperwork or filing an emergency claim. The expectation that patients or their families should have to simultaneously focus on care and the PRC requirements, or face massive medical debt, is massively overburdensome and unrealistic. Yet under the current system, if the seventy-two hour requirement is not met, claims may be denied, even when the care is medically necessary or lifesaving. Tribal patients can then receive bills from hospitals, providers, and debt collectors for services they believe will be covered. Families can face damage credit, financial hardship, and lasting stress from medical emergencies that were entirely outside of their control.

Right.

These denials often occur not because patients acted irresponsibly, but because the system itself is difficult to navigate. Many patients are unaware of the seventy-two hour rule. Hospitals and outside providers may not understand PRC requirements, and communication delays between providers and IHS can make the timeline nearly impossible to meet. HR eight six five eight would correct that imbalance. Extending the notification window fifteen to fifteen days would reduce unnecessary claim denials and improve communication between providers and IHS and give patients

thank you miss carlos for that testimony uh now i would like to recognize the gentleman from utah mr. thank you miss carlos for that testimony uh now i would like To recognize the gentleman from utah mr.

Thank you, Chairman Hurd, and I recommender, Ledger Fernandez, for holding this hearing today. United States government should not be in the business of punishing those in need of emergency care. All of us are likely to face a medical emergency, and if not us, then certainly someone in our life that we care about. These emergencies are not respecting of time. They are major disruptions in the lives of patients and caretakers and will often demand the fullness of our attention. In those moments, families are focused on survival, recovery, and protection. not navigating federal notification requirements or tracking arbitrary deadlines. That's why we have a time frame for patients and loved ones to notify the bureaucracy. However, the current seventy-two hour requirement is simply too short. When a patient is rushed into emergency care, especially in rural or remote communities, served by the Indian Health Service, the first several days are chaotic, as Councilmember Carlos just talked about. Families are working on coordinating travel, speaking with doctors, arranging child care, and making life-altering decisions under enormous pressure. They should not lose coverage because they failed to clear a bureaucratic timeline during a crisis. As a physician, I've seen firsthand how confusing and traumatic those first hours or days can be after a medical emergency. The Indian Health Service Emergency Claims Parity Act brings common sense back into this system. It gives American Indian and Alaskan Native patients the same reasonable protections that others already receive. And to make sure patients are not unfairly saddled with medical bills they should never have received in the first place. Moving from the seventy-two hour notification window to a fifteen day window is a straightforward fix. It ensures patients and their loved ones can focus first and foremost on health, recovery, and caring for one another instead of racing to satisfy a bureaucratic hurdle. This legislation is about fairness, it's about compassion, it's about recognizing the realities a family's faced during these medical emergencies. I appreciate the work being done on this issue with H R eighty six fifty eight, and I look forward to advancing this important bill. Thank you, Mister Chair. With that, I yield back.

The gentleman yields back. Now I would like to recognize the gentleman from the State of California, Mister Issa, for five minutes to speak on his legislation. Mister Issa.

Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. Uh, it is a pleasure to be here with uh, Chairman Welch. The uh, Barona tribe has in fact been one of the success stories in California. not because they had a casino, not because they have tens of thousands of members, but because they put back together that which was taken away from them. They've built a an a tribal government system that works well, and they've been great stewards both of the land and great neighbors, uh within uh the lakeside area of California. The legislation today before you, eighty-four, eighty-three, is a continuation of what we have been doing in Southern California for some time, which is recognizing not only are the tribes, when able to afford to do so, which Barona now is, not only are they better stewards of the land, but every piece of land transferred from BLM or other federal sources in fact saves the federal government money. Barona will maintain this land as the tribal land and ancestral land, and in fact be good stewards of it for among other things, fire prevention. This is not the case in Southern California. Many Americans regularly ask us as Californians, why is it you have so many fires? Why is it it seems like it's all about putting them out rather than preventing them? Part of that is the failure to maintain the land. Additionally, BLM uh finds itself regularly with land that is not productive, costs them money, and in fact is often ignored and in many cases misappropriated. That doesn't happen when it's transferred to tribal holding. So, this legislation has been carefully gone through to make sure that all parties are in support of it, that it has community support, but most importantly, that in fact it's the kind of a win-win that this committee has a mandate to do. By transferring this federal land, you will save money, you will save money on the maintenance, but most importantly, in fire prevention, in anti-drug activity, and a host of other areas, the tribe has shown that they are good stewards of the land, and will in fact improve it for its neighbors and uh for its own uh members in a way that is consistent with their tribal heritage. And with that, I wanna thank the chairman for being here today, And I wanna thank our chairman, ranking member, uh, for bringing this bill up and I yield back.

The gentleman yields. At this time, the chair will recognize members for five minutes of questions. I'm gonna begin by recognizing myself for five minutes. First, uh, Chairman Welch, to most people, the jagged and steep terrain of the lands that we're talking about placing into trust would seem of little value. Can you explain to, uh, the members of Congress that are here in this room this morning, why? rather why these specific lands are so important to the Verona Band.

When uh Capitan Grande was established in eighteen seventy five, it was our home. So when we were forced to relocate, we relocated to Verona. It holds ancestral value to us, it's spiritual, it's it's jagged land, it connects us to our home. Every day you can go down to Capitan Grande, and you'll see our members down there. They're either fishing or hunting, they're just They'll spend Easter down there with their families throughout the year. It's a connection to home for us. Um, I can go down there and I know where my paternal grandparents' homestead was. I know where my paternal grandmother lived, grew up. So it it's it just the values to us as it's home is sacred. And that's why we take into consideration, looking at and looking at this and land management like, you know, Congressman Issa said, uh, it's not a matter if we're gonna have a wildfire. It's fine. I mean, have you seen the news today, there's a fire that's burning in California right now, in the middle middle of the state. So we will we will manage that land. In fact, in the map if you look at it, there's a fire break in there that was put in by our fire department,

Mm-hmm.

working with the US Forest Service.

Can you talk a little bit, uh, Chairman Is or um, Congressman Issa mentioned the savings that would in order the federal government um, in terms of if if this land is transferred into trust. Can you talk just a a quick minute about how would how would that savings um take place and and what would it mean in terms of spending federal federal spending with respect to this land once it's placed into trust?

We would would maintain it. Also you're looking at wildfire. I mean, you you can prepare prepare for wildfire and stop its progress. When the winds start blowing in October and November, you know, we had a cedar fire in two thousand three where ninety percent of the Moroni reservation burned. And we lost nine uh thirty nine homes.

Mm-hmm.

So we'll build fire breaks and it'll save the federal government money from having to

Great.

do that themselves.

Thank you uh very much um, Mister Chairman, I appreciate that. Uh, Mister Carlson, thank you so much for your leadership on this uh terrific bill, uh, H. R. seventy nine fifty four, which I'm proud to to sponsor uh along with my uh colleague, Representative Leger Fernandez and and so many others uh in this congress. Can you talk a little bit about the impact that on your tribe and across Indian country, uh when the buffalo was nearing extinction

yeah um so um the long-term impacts you know that would have um you know the us plays a large role in helping um the the fishing tribe you know restore buffalo and i mean salmon to their lands um and this bill here would you know say that creating protecting and you know enhancing our buffalo it's for our for any country and you know it it it plays a big role in in supporting uh you know uh um what what it also does with the fishing tribes uh with helping us to bring back buffalo there's a lot of uh a lot of the funding that is needed for our our buffalo programs you know like i talked earlier about uh the fencing and all of the infrastructure uh those tribes need those you know to help uh to bring back you know their significant animal to our lands uh not only healthy to us for healing but healing our our lands um uh that they're on and and also the years that have gone by i think of all of the trauma that has gone on with chives uh over these issues that we have like you hear about today um there's a healing that even other people of the buffalo are bringing to realize that there's a healing that needs to happen amongst all of us So that's what's very important about, you know, uh this for the tribes.

Thanks, Mister Carlson, and could you talk a little bit about what the immediate positive impacts would be if HR seventy nine fifty four is made law?

OK. Um, I had this. Uh, well, the long-term impacts, you know, if this is, like I said, is the big thing is that, is the funding, you know, the and that's, I guess that's what makes the world around, especially, I guess, with tribes. Um, so the long-term impact would just help, just as I mentioned before of of helping them chives, you know, who are real um, especially in our in our southwest area we talked about uh, this morning that um, the land base to them is, some of them is small. So we would help them with um, we're always looking for a larger land base for them, whether it be leasing or purchasing some other lands. Uh, and helping with that funding and helping with that infrastructure there. Drought is a big thing now in in all over the the country and uh so those those there would would help you know um a long term to help those tribes to with their infrastructure and returning those animals back.

Great. Well thank you again, Mister Carlson, for your leadership and your uh endurance and your persistence on this issue. It it means a lot uh across Indian country and I'm personally grateful uh to you for that for those efforts. Uh, my time has expired, and so at this time I would like to recognize uh the ranking member, uh the representative from the State of New Mexico, Miss Ledger Fernandez for five minutes. Miss Ledger Fernandez.

Thank you very much, uh, Chairman. Miss Nagle, you noted that many cases of women who experience violence never reach federal databases. And that's a huge problem because if we don't report the cases, how can we ever solve them? Uh, can you describe a little bit in more detail how tribal facilitators are painted in the badges act would help make sure we have accurate data about victims and what it means to a family to be able to have somewhere to go to talk about their missing loved one.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for this question. The badges act includes provisions that would require the attorney general to nominate tribal facilitators. These would be um, you know, people who would be working with tribes and native communities, and federal law enforcement agencies to make sure that when a native person is missing, that case gets entered into the database. It sounds really easy, entering into a database, but it often doesn't happen. There are a lot of barriers to um tribal law enforcement. Many tribes don't have access to the database, and gaining access requires significant funding. Um, DOJ does have the TAP program, but it's not even enough funding for all the tribes in this country to access it. And so what this tribal facilitator will be able to do is to bridge that gap, and to make sure that those cases do get entered into the the national database.

Mm-hmm.

That database is critical because that's how other law enforcement agencies in other states and other jurisdictions find out that someone's missing. A lot of our relatives get trafficked and kidnapped across state lines. So that national and federal coordination, and even with other state partners, is is very important.

And I think what you pointed out is really important, that some of the women or persons who go missing, they might still be alive and we need to be able to find them, right?

Yes.

And uh thank you for sharing both that and uh the tragic stories of both Miss, uh Stops, Pretty Places and Miss Begay of that there was nobody staffing

Yes.

uh the Office of Justice Service and there were no resources at the FBI. Could you uh exp uh address a little bit this issue about staffing shortages and why we need to address that.

Yeah, the understaffing at VIA is a crisis right now, I will just say that. Um, especially in Montana, where I represent several families of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. And right now, I'm being told that the missing and murdered unit just doesn't have anyone who can talk to the families I represent, because they have to go out and do the field work because there aren't enough agents to just answer calls for help. And so there's no, there's no time to deal with missing and murdered cases. Um, in LMA's case, you know, I think that there has was a s- complete lack of federal coordination, and the FBI simply did not dedicate sufficient resources, time, or energy to searching for her. And I think it shows how the lives of our Native relatives are simply not prioritized when it comes to expenditure of resources at the FBI.

Well, the Badgers app hopes to address that and say that all, you know, Native women, Native, uh, people need to be given the same dignity as every other person. President Carlson, uh, you mentioned the Pueblo Buffalo dances, both in your written testimony and as you were talking. And one Pueblo member recently told me, and I'll quote, "The Pueblo Buffalo dances are deeply spiritual ceremonies that remind us of home. The thunder of the buffalo, a drumbeat, the heart, the spirit of the animals, teach us that we are one and that we are powerful." When we look to where we are from, we know where we are going, uh, close quote. And I think that that speaks to, so powerfully to your testimony about how there is an economic, a financial, a spiritual, a cultural, a conservationist aspect to buffalo uh uh management. Can you talk about why this is actually part of tribal self-determination and food sovereignty?

You know, buffalo are Excuse me. Um, again, you know, buffalo are a big part of our our our lives, I guess our economy, I guess in our beginning. And um, in the way I see it now, uh, they and they're they're very spiritual, that's the way you're talking about. I've seen tribes when we brought back buffalo to their lands that were very emotional, uh, for the first time bringing them back. And so that first and foremost, that's kind of a real big issue with us. is returning a big part of our culture that was taken away. But also there's some tribes, there's a small tribe there that just want them for that. There's other tribes that are bigger and have a lot of more population and land to take care of, that they would like to get into some economy to help them, you know, even not only to sustain the animals there, but to help the tribe out economically. So, in a lot of those ways, um, we're all different in those ways, but there's a significance of the importance to every tribe And we're all and we're all um different in our own way, our own um so that each tribe has its own um need of what for bringing this animal back to them.

Thank you, and I've run out of time, but uh Chairman Walsh, I wanted to thank you for your uh uh written testimony and testimony that talked about your content connection to the land being interrupted but not broken. And I also wanna thank uh Um, Miss Car- uh, Carlos, uh, your sharing of your personal story highlights why this legislation is important, and thank you for sharing that with us. And with that, I yield back.

The chair will now recognize members for five minutes of questions. I will now recognize myself. These questions are for the entire panel. Could any of you speak to the challenges faced by tribal members in rural and remote areas when it comes to filing for PRC after an emergency. And in your experience, is the IHS well equipped to process PRC claims in a timely manner? Are you aware of any scenarios that frequently lead to delays and if significant delays exist, can this lead to a situation where tribal members are required to pay for care that would otherwise be covered by PRC.

Thank you. Um, so yes, you know, once that seventy-two hour delay, if that happens, when, especially when our members are coming from rural or remote areas, the coordination of even getting them home sometimes is delayed by figuring out the PRC deadlines. So if they are seen in an emergency um facility in ER or hospital, and they have to transfer back home or to a specialty care, coordinating that can be delayed by figuring out is the PRC even going to cover this, is this something that they have to pay for out of pocket, and if that's the case, um, trying to coordinate that can be very burdensome for families and extend their stay in hospitals until they've set up those aftercare services. So sometimes they can be held in the hospital just because they simply do not have the aftercare services provided already and that leads to a further delay of the services and amounting uh, increased hospital bill. Additionally, if the, you asked is there, is the IHS ready to address these in a timely manner and that's no, We are currently seeing across the nation that PRC uh is delayed in being paid out to to the the billers and what that means is sometimes that those those bills go to creditors. And so the individual members are then now have creditors who are after them for these bills. And so what that can do is that can delay their their it can increase their delay their credit score, but also increase the amount of money they have to pay out of pocket for other services. Um, so the NIHB is supporting the HR one four one eight, which would have, if an individual pays that money out of their pocket, they would be able to be reimbursed for that versus just the providers alone. And so, that again, we're trying to expand getting services to our members, making sure that they are reimbursed in a timely manner, and making sure that these medical events don't really derail the rest of their lives in other aspects. Um, we know that when community members are receiving emergency care if they don't have that PRC notified within a timely manner um they're left with that bill and that can be detrimental to them and to their families and so really it's a coordinated effort when we have a family member that has an emergency the first question we ask is are they ok the second question is have you notified PRC what shouldn't be our first you know our first or second order of business um so the this is something that is greatly needed thank you

Would anybody else on the panel care to give their perspective? We will now take a brief recess, subject to the call of the chair.

Dang it. Mm.

We'd like to recognize the chair recognizes Mister Downey. for five minutes for questions.

Madam Chair, thank you, um, for allowing me to testify here and thank you, the witnesses, for being here. Um, I really appreciate it. I'm just gonna jump right into it. Uh, I'm gonna start with uh, Mister Carlson. Um, in my home district of central and eastern Montana, all five of our tribal reservations are members of the Intertribal um, Buffalo Council, or ITBC. as you mentioned in your testimony the itbc has been growing by five tribes per year since its inception in nineteen ninety two and now has over ninety member tribes so mister carlson you know what factors have contributed to the continued growth of the itbc

uh thank you for the question um you know i guess the factors of uh the tribal nations, I guess, um, see ITBC as a workable option to reconnect, you know, Buffalo, uh, through restoration of the herds to their lands, and then also to access financial support and technical services that ITBC provides for all of the tribes that do, are a part of the ITBC, infrastructure and all of those, um, which tribes are, you know, always underfunded. So we try to work to get those funds out to those tribes. So that's the real part of um of you know the continued growth of and the biggest i guess thing of the growth of them is just bringing those back to their lands to help with as i mentioned earlier

right

for the health of not only the people but of their lands also

well thank you you you mentioned in your testimony the economic opportunities that the tribal bison industry brings can you elaborate on these benefits for the tribes

so some of the tribes you know as you mentioned earlier also that you know, they want them just for the purely for the cultural, you know, aspect of them and and returning that are very spiritual to us. But there's there's tribes that are that have a larger land base and a larger population that they're able to um to to a a certain extent um to sell the animals or to put them out on the market and help with not only sustaining the Buffalo program, but also contributing to the tribal coffers to help with the rest of the population.

Alright, thank you. For tribes that are part of the ITBC, what are the most significant challenges they face when looking to start or to expand tribal herds?

Well, the biggest challenge that they do face of course again is funding, you know, and and a land base, um, infrastructure. Um, so those are the biggest challenges that ITBC is able to help. you know, within those areas. Um, we certainly back here, uh, for years we've, um, out here and, and we have herd development grants that we have funding for and for the past years it's been at one point four million, and for ninety tribes that's very little, little dollar amount for them. But, just as Buffalo are, the tribes are very resilient, but, um, those challenges are always there for them. And w- of course we do have challenges every day that we'd, we'll have the biggest part is the funding and getting out there and helping them with their infrastructure,

Right.

and keeping them going.

Thank you. So how would the passage of my colleague, representative Herd's uh Don Young, Douglam Alpha, Indian Buffalo Management Act, expand the scope of the work the ITVC is able to accomplish?

Um. You know, to put this here for the government to work uh on a government government basis, with uh the united tribal buffalo council and all of the tribes that are part of that um and to get this year as law into into the interior or wherever that comes um and just being in there and being there right now our funding is just you know wherever it might be and not um solidify it or law in there this would create that where we would be there and solidify that and then we could work on the funding uh to that in later years.

Thank you. Uh, I'm gonna move on here in my last few seconds. Um, I'm gonna move on to Ms. Carlos to discuss the current state of the Indian health system. Can you elaborate on why you believe the current seventy-two hour required notification deadline for IHS for emergency medical treatment is unrealistic for many tribal patients?

Yes, thank you. Um, as we've seen, when the medical emergency is happening, our priority course is making sure our relatives are ok and often times that means coordinating care after the fact and so we should be focused on making sure that the person is uh situated that their aftercare is situated if there's um if they need to go to a rehabilitation center anything like that making sure that those plans are in place versus trying to coordinate to with PRC and saying hey by the way our our relative was seen in a non-IHS facility what paperwork do we need to start doing um versus if somebody uses private insurance they don't have to say you know they don't have to worry about billing until the billing comes to them that's not the case for our ihs people who utilize ihs facilities or non-ihs facilities or prc and so if that's in in that case the seventy-two hour window is way is way too small

right

we see that you know if it's a medical emergency we're trying to make sure that person is ok if this is a fifteen day window it allows us to get them situated get them stabilized coordinate family resources and then worry about the administrative burden after the fact

Alright, thank you very much for your answer, and thank you all for being here. Unfortunately, I've run out of time, so on that, Madam Chair, I yield.

The chair now recognizes Mr. Rahalva for five minutes for questioning.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, the legislation before us today reflects the federal government's trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations and the urgency um the urgent need to address long-standing inequities facing Native communities. I especially wanna recognize Representative Ledra Fernandez for her leadership on this legislation confronting the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, and strengthening public safety and accountability for tribal communities. Just last year in southern Arizona, Emily Pike, a fourteen year old member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, whose remains were found near Globe, Arizona. Um that's after she went missing from a Mesa group home This forced Arizona and the nation to confront the systemic failures that continue to leave Native women and girls vulnerable. Emily's case exposed consequences of delayed responses, jurisdictional jurisdictional gaps, and chronic underinvestment in tribal public safety systems, and galvanized the movement behind Emily's law and Arizona's turquoise alert. Uh, those systems ensure missing Indigenous people receive immediate public attention and coordinated action. In Arizona's seventh congressional district, these issues are deeply personal and immediate. Our district is home to the Tonaltum Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Gokopa, and Ketchon. These communities that continue to confront the devastating realities of missing and murdered Indigenous Peoples jurisdictional gaps and under-resourced public safety systems and and generations of federal um neglect. The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives continues to devastate the tribal communities in southern Arizona. Families are too often face delayed investigations, poor coordination between agencies, and under-resourced public safety systems. Challenges that even more severe in border communities like Donalton Nation. That's why this legislation matters today. Strengthening tribal law enforcement, improving data sharing, supporting cultural preservation, and addressing health care barriers are critical steps towards justice and accountability for Native families. At a time when this administration and congressional leadership continue to weaken the investments and undermine tribal consultation, Congress must instead commit to partnership and respect for tribal sovereignty and long-overdue investments. So, some of the questions I have, um, and this one we are dealing with the Indian Buffalo Management Act. Is that correct? Yeah. Um, Mister Carlson, I am interested in hearing more about how the Indian Buffalo Management Act would support youth education, Could you elaborate on your earlier point?

Um, sorry ma'am, could you repeat that?

Yeah, of course. I'm interested in hearing more on how Indian Buffalo Management Act would support youth education. And could you elaborate on that?

Revegetation?

Education.

Oh, education.

Youth education.

Oh.

Yeah, sorry.

The hearing's kind of bad. Um, so the education to, I guess, some kind of um confused as as to the question um could you kinda elaborate a little bit what what

do how would how would the indian buffalo management act support youth education

youth education oh ok here we go yes thank you

yes young people uh-huh

um you know one of the things that there's a big part of our uh our history that has uh never been told and even myself you know i've never um had any buffalo stories, my grandparents who I was raised by, um have never, you know, had those stories. One of the things that's very important to us is that, and to me dearly, is that our history has been erased. And that history if we can bring back to teach our our um our young and our youth. Right now at home we have, and I'm missing it, I'm supposed to be there, but at the hearing is very important. We have what we call E and E days, and E and E is buffalo for blackfeet. And and that is there to teach all of the that the few days that we're doing it is to teach our youth the importance and the and the of the buffalo to them and uh bringing them forward. One of the big things that I also that teaches our youth, which is really needed in any country and all over is respect uh that a part of the things that we've lost in with our youth and teaching them that.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Miss Nagle, thank you for being here today. Your testimony was powerful and I wanna work with you in improving public safety and bringing closure to families. Would you speak further on the importance of the grant program under badges, and how it will provide critical resources to those committed to searching for individuals?

Thank you. The grant program is critical. As you pointed out in the case of Emily Pike, so often families are actually the ones who go out and look for their missing loved ones in Indian country, but they don't have resources. I can't tell you how many families I have personally represented as their family attorney, And they say, " Mary Catherine, where can we get money? Can we, should we start a GoFundMe?" They wanna hire a private investigator. Yeah. They wanna take a drone out and search for their loved one on the tribal lands where she went missing. And so if we can get funds to tribes themselves, for tribal law enforcement to perform these searches, or to the tribal organizations identified in the Badges Act, so maybe a non-profit can distribute funding to families. Mm-hmm. They also struggle just to have gas money to go and test, when I remember when families were trying to testify before the Not Invisible Act commission, some of them couldn't afford the gas money to go testify. Yeah.

Right.

So our families, our victims' families, don't have the support right now they need to fight for their loved ones. And this Badges Act could provide that.

Great. Thank you so much. I yield back.

I want to thank the uh witnesses for their valuable testimony, and the members for their questions. The members of the committee may have some additional questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to these in writing. Under committee rule three, members of the committee must submit questions to the committee clerk by five p m on wednesday may twenty seventh twenty twenty six the hearing record will be held open for ten business days for these responses if there is no further business without objection this committee stands adjourned

uh-huh