Hearing on Las Vegas Paiute Trust, Rural Vet Services, Tribal Regulatory Reform

good afternoon the subcommittee on indian and insular affairs will come to order without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess at the subcommittee at any time the subcommittee today is meeting to hear testimony on three bills that are before us under committee rule four f any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the chairman and 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. Ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Alaska, Mister Begich, the gentleman from Nevada, Miss Titus, be allowed to sit and participate in today's hearing. Without objection, so ordered. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good afternoon and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today as we consider three important bills affecting Indian country. the bills before us address different issues but they share a common goal supporting tribal self-determination improving quality of life in tribal communities and ensuring that federal policy supports rather than hinders those efforts first on the docket is hr sixty nine seventeen introduced by representative titus of nevada which seeks to transfer three thousand one hundred and fifty-six acres of bureau of land management land into trust for the las vegas tribe of piute indians The Las Vegas tribe of Paiute Indians originally resided in parts of the Colorado River region, in southeastern Nevada, and parts of both southern California and Utah. Today, their reservation is located in Las Vegas on approximately three thousand eight hundred and fifty acres. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year twenty fifteen included a provision that opened up thousands of acres of land adjacent to the tribe's reservation for development. In an effort to mitigate the impacts of this, the tribe worked with the city, and the nevada congressional delegation to craft an intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and the city hr sixty nine seventeen codifies the portion of that agreement relating to the reservation's expansion i would note that as drafted there is an error in this legislation that will need to be addressed before it can move uh beyond today's hearing our second bill is hr eighty four seventy three introduced by representative bagich of alaska which would authorize hhs to utilize funds for public health veterinary services through direct service care or under indian self-determination and education assistance act contracts and compacts there's a correlation between unreliable veterinary services and high rates of rabies and zoonotic diseases in a five year span between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty four twenty four thousand patients received ambulatory care from dog bites throughout ihs service areas The lack of veterinary services in rural communities has disproportionately impacted tribal communities, particularly children. In some areas of the United States, communities experience three hundred and sixty-five dog bites a year, or essentially one dog bite every day. That alarming number is an unacceptable standard that communities have faced for far too long. Currently, IHS does not have the authority to provide care or funding related to zoonotic disease prevention or veterinary care. despite this care being important to reducing the public's risk of disease, transmission or injury. H R eighty four seventy three authorizes HHS to use funds for public health veterinary services to address zoonotic diseases. Additionally, IHS would coordinate with the United States Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the US Department of Agriculture to provide public health veterinary services. Finally, we will consider H R eighty nine fifty four, the Tribal Regulatory Reform Implementation of twenty twenty six which i am proud to sponsor this legislation amends the indian tribal regulatory reform and business development act of two thousand to transfer administrative responsibility for the act's regulatory reform authority from the department of commerce to the department of the interior as the subcommittee has seen economic development opportunities are crucial for continued growth throughout indian country limited opportunities systemic barriers and inadequate infrastructure all contribute to high rates of poverty on many reservations. The Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act of two thousand was enacted to help identify and remove federal barriers to investment, barriers to business development, as well as barriers to wealth creation in Indian country. Under current law, the Secretary of Commerce was directed to create a twenty-one member authority to carry out that work with Interior serving as a supporting role. Today, proponents of this legislation assert that Interior is better suited and commerce to lead an authority dedicated to tribal economic development. Those proponents include me. If our goal is tribal economic development, responsibility should rest with the department that works with tribal governments every single day. The Department of the Interior is the central federal agency for government-to-government relations with the tribes, promoting tribal economic development, and administering federal programs throughout Indian country. Transferring this program to DOI simply makes sense. Each of these bills reflects the continued effort of Congress to reduce unnecessary red tape, promote tribal sovereignty, and strengthen tribal communities. I want to thank each of our witnesses for being with us here today to provide your expertise, time, and leadership for the legislation that is under consideration. I look forward to a bipartisan and productive hearing. With that, I will yield the remainder of my time back, and I will now recognize the ranking minority member for any statement.

Good afternoon. Uh, and thank you all for traveling to DC to speak to each of these important bills. Uh, your testimony is critical. Uh, it helps illustrate how each of these unique pieces of legislation can strengthen tribal sovereignty and improve the lives of the tribal members and the surrounding community, and I look forward to hearing it. What we also need though is testimony from the administration. This congress, the administration has sent witnesses to only five of our tribal hearings. I am disappointed that this is the third hearing in a row that the administration has failed to attend. The administration should be here today So they can provide their analysis, they can provide their support or any ideas that we might have, can they carry out this legislation. It is both a matter of respect to the tribal legislation that is before us, and it is a matter of transparency so that the public knows where they stand on this legislation, which I hope would be supportive. Let's take representative Begich's Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act. I agree with Representative Begich. We absolutely need to reduce the number of stray dogs on tribal lands. My congressional district is home to the Navajo Nation, where there are approximately two hundred and fifty thousand stray dogs. Too many are not vaccinated against rabies. This doesn't it this doesn't just allow the disease to spread, but stray dogs have also killed several individuals of the Navajo Nation, including a three year old boy and a thirteen year old girl in recent years. That's why I secured a million dollars to construct a new animal shelter in Crown Point to spay and neuter, microchip, and importantly, vaccinate those dogs. We should build on this work. In written testimony, IHS described its work to deal with the zoonotic diseases. This committee should give members the opportunity to ask IHS questions about the current barriers to eliminating rabies. We should get to ask what would be needed to successfully implement the new authority in H R eighty-four seventy-three. Written testimony from the administration is not a substitute for showing up in person. Once again, respect and consultation. Chairman Herd's H R eighty-nine fifty four, the Tribal Regulatory Reform Reform Act takes an important step to boost economic opportunities in Indian country. It transfers all administrative responsibilities in jurisdiction of the Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act from the Department of Commerce to the Interior. And I look forward to hearing the testimony that will support why that is important to have this act at a place where they understand a bit more. We'd like it for the Commerce Department to understand more, but an agency that understands cuz it's part of their job. What does it mean to have economic development? Cuz when the Department of Commerce originally testified on this bill in yes it was nineteen ninety nine, the official stated, " since the cost of the authority could be significant, I believe it is important to emphasize that the department cannot currently perform the work required. Um, and at a time when this administration has decimated staff against uh, across the federal agencies, I wanna make sure that the interior officials are ready to actually do this work. What do they need from us? What can we do to make sure that this transfer is successful? And finally, representative Titus's bill, HR sixty nine seventeen, would put three thousand one hundred and fifty-six acres of land into trust for the benefit of the Las Vegas tribe of Paiute Indians. This legislation is not just important to create economic opportunities for the community, it also protects the tribe's ancestral and sacred lands. Thank you so much for bringing this bill. I really love it when we're able to, in this committee, help to move land into trust. Uh, I do look forward to the sponsors' technical corrections to the bill, to make sure that repeals only the essential uh sections of the two thousand fifteen NDAIA. I hope we do not lose sight of the need to buy buy funding for resources and staff so that administration can carry out the goals of each of these bills and I look forward to your testimony in our questions today. And with that, I yield back.

Gentleman yields back. At this time, the chair recognized the gentleman from Alaska, Mister Begich. for five minutes to speak on his legislation. Mister Begich.

Thank you, Mister Chair. Chairman Hurd, Ranking Member Ledger Fernandez, thank you for holding this hearing and for including HR eighty-four seventy-three, the Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act on today's agenda. This bill is about a problem hiding in plain sight in rural America, and especially in rural Alaska. In the villages I represent, a child bitten by a dog can be hours from medical care by air. Rabies is not a historical threat in northern and western Alaska. It's enzymatic, meaning it is consistently present in the wildlife and our communities live with the risk of an exposure event every single year. The numbers tell the story. Alaska Native children are hospitalized for dog bites at roughly twice the rate of children nationally. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, that rate climbs to seven to nine times the national per capita average. Across the Indian Health Service, Alaska has some of the highest dog bite related hospitalization numbers in the country. The underlying cause is straightforward, IHS does not have explicit statutory authority to provide or fund the basic veterinary services rabies vaccination spay and neuter parasite and disease prevention that stop zoonotic disease before it reaches a person and prevent the bite that puts a child in an emergency room. H R f eighty-four seventy-three fixes gap, it authorizes HHS through IHS to fund public health veterinary services directly or through Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistant Act contracts and compacts so that tribes and tribal health organizations can deliver them on their own terms, plugs IHS into the federal one health framework alongside CDC and USDA, and it directs animal and plant health inspection service wildlife services to study oral rabies vaccine delivery to Arctic wildlife. tackling the upstream source of the problem at its source. This is a prevention bill. It protects children, reduces downstream costs to the federal health system, and it honors tribal self-determination. I'm grateful to the chairman for taking it up, and I urge the subcommittee to advance it. Look forward to the testimony of our witnesses. Thank you very much, and I yield back.

The gentleman from Alaska Yields, uh the chair will now recognize alright the chair will not recognize anyone new uh at the moment yet uh that person will hopefully be here before long uh i would like to now introduce our witnesses uh the first is the honorable rodney butler president of the board of directors of the native american finance officers association here in washington d. c. great to see you uh mr. chairman uh the next witness we have this morning is Uh, the Honorable uh Benny Soe, Chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe in Las Vegas, uh, Nevada. Welcome, Mister Chairman, to you. The Chair would now like to recognize Mister Begich for thirty seconds to introduce the witness from his district. Mister Begich.

Thank you, Mister Chair. Before Mister Berube delivers his testimony, I wanna take a moment to welcome him to Washington and thank him for making the trip from Anchorage. Uh, Brian is the Senior Program Manager. for veterinary services at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. ANTHC is the statewide tribal health organization serving all two hundred and twenty-nine federally recognized tribes in Alaska and every Alaska Native and American Indian person in our state providing public health, community health, environmental health, and a wide range of other services across one of the largest and most logistically challenging service areas in the country. There's no organization in Alaska with deeper field experience on rural public health and there is no one in a better position. tell this subcommittee what an ordinary year looks like in a Yukon, Kuskokwim Delta village when a rabies exposure event happens, or when a child is bitten by a dog at the edge of the village with no veterinarian within hundreds of miles. Brian, welcome. We're glad to have you here today and we look forward to your testimony.

Thank you, Mister Begich. Uh, let me remind our witnesses that under committee rules, they you must please limit your statements to five minutes, but your entire written statement will appear in the hearing record. Uh, to begin your testimony, for those of you that haven't done this before, there is a little button in front of you, the talk button. Hit that button. We do use timing lights. Green means go. Yellow means you have one minute left, and when the light turns red, I'd ask that you please wrap up uh your statement, or if you're responding to a question, please r- r- wrap up your response as quickly as you can. Um, I will also allow all witnesses on the panel to testify before member questioning begins. And if you all are ready, uh, the chair will now recognize Chairman Butler. For five minutes, Chairman Butler.

Weekie. So good day. Good day, friends. Uh, Chairman Herd, Ranking Member Elijah Fernandez, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify again today in front of this great subcommittee. My name is Rodney Butler, and I am the Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and President of the NIFAWA Board of Directors. NIFAWA, founded as the Native American Financial Officers Association, has served Indian country for over forty years, are more than a hundred and ninety member tribes, represents full diversity of tribal economies, from gaming and energy to agriculture, federal contracting and much beyond. We appear today in strong support of HRA eight nine five four, the tribal regulatory reform implementation act of twenty twenty six. On its surface, HRA eighty nine fifty four is a targeted administrative correction, um, but its significance runs much deeper. This bill is about keeping a promise made to Indian country over twenty five years ago, In two thousand, in the year two thousand, Congress passed the Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act, with a clear mandate to comprehensively review federal regulations that impede investment and business development on Indian lands and recommend their removal. The legislation established a twenty-one member authority, with twelve seats reserved for tribal representatives, and it directed it to report to Congress within one year. That authority was never convened. Twenty five years later, the mandate remains unfilled. This legislation originated by the great Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, a Northern Cheyenne citizen, a former Olympian, and one of the most consequential champions for Indian country to ever serve in Congress. Senator Nighthorse Campbell understood that economic sovereignty and political sovereignty are inseparable. And he was clear about what stood in the way. And in his own words, stated, "Laws, regulations and policies have built up, often with good intentions, but have outlived their usefulness, and have been repeatedly identified as a barrier to Indian entrepreneurship and business development. Unfortunately, Senator Nighthorse Campbell's words rang just as true today as they did in nineteen ninety nine. H R eight nine fifty four gives the Congress the opportunity to finally honor his vision. NFOA supports locating this authority within the Department of Interior. The the the Interior Department houses the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the office of indian energy and economic development and the full suite of federal trust responsibilities to tribal nations it has the institutional knowledge in the relationship to make this work consolidating the function at interior will reduce inter-agency fragmentation and give the authority the best possible footing to do its job we do urge the committee to ensure that the transfer does not sideline commerce treasury or other economic agencies from the review process the regulatory barriers facing indian countries the entire federal government. And the authority's effectiveness depends on robust inter-agency engagement. NFOA is proud to serve as a technical advisor to the tribal, to the treasury tribal advisory committee at the United States Department of Treasury. The success of the T-TAC as a model of robust federal tribal consultation should be highlighted as an example of how matters important to Indian country can be advanced through intentional tribal consultation, and collaboration, centered on the voices of tribal leaders. Federal agencies across the government must build comparable structures, because the regulatory barriers facing tribal economies do not stop at any single agency's door. Despite the delay in convening this authority, NFAWA, our member tribes, the partner tribal organizations that have spent years identifying exactly the kind of barriers the Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act was designed to surface and proposing concrete solutions. As an example, the Tribal Tax and Investment Reform Act of twenty twenty six contains approximately a dozen provisions each identified as a barrier to building robust tribal economies it advances parity in tax treatment for tribal enterprises and removes structural inequities that no sovereign should be forced to navigate tribal nations are already actively identifying barriers to their economic sovereignty that congress has the tools to address. We see the Tribal Regulatory Reform Implementation Act of twenty twenty six, and the Tribal Tax and Investment Reform Act of twenty twenty six, as complementary pillars of the same long overdue commitment to building stronger tribal economies. Chairman Herd, the history of federal Indian policy uh is too often a history of promises made and promises broken. The Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform in Business Development Act was a good law when it was enacted. H R eighty nine fifty four does not ask Congress to make a new promise. It asked Congress to keep an old one. The tribal representatives who sit on this authority have waited a quarter century for the seat at the table to guarantee them uh guaranteed to them by the statute. It's time to give them their time. NFOA urges the subcommittee to advance H R eighty nine fifty four without delay, and we stand ready to assist in any way possible. Thank you.

Thank you very much, uh Chairman Butler. The chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from uh Nevada, Miss Titus, for five minutes to speak on her legislation. Miss Titus.

Well, thank you very much for holding this hearing and uh ranking member. Uh, it's very important. I'm so glad to see my friend here, Chairman Benny So from the Las Vegas Paiute tribe, and uh to speak to this. He's been working on this for for such a long time. We've worked on it together and uh the gentleman before him said much more eloquently than I uh why this is important and I appreciate that. Um the heart of the legislation is fairness and following through on our commitments to tribal communities. You know, as we'll hear from Chairman So later on, it's the culmination of over a decade of work by the Las Vegas Paiute tribe. Uh in order to understand the full historical context of the legislation, though, you don't just go back a couple of decades, you have to go back se well centuries. Long before the settlers moved to the Las Vegas Valley in the early eighteen hundreds, the tribes ancestors known as the Tutimu uh or desert people traversed this land. Unfortunately, when the United States took control of the region in eighteen forty eight, the Las Vegas Paiutes were pushed out. of most of their traditional homelands. Congress created the Snow Mountain Reservation in nineteen eighty-three, and I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to anyone that it was um only a fraction of the lands that the tribe had once called home. H R sixty nine seventeen will expand the Snow Mountain Reservation, reinstating thirty one hundred and fifty acres of Bureau of Land Management land, back to the Las Vegas Paiute tribe. That land is of great historical and spiritual importance to the tribe, as their ancestors traveled across it back and forth into the valley each year, to escape the oppressive desert winter and later heat. You can also see the sheep mountains from the land, a mountain range that is deeply sacred to the tribe. In addition to being spiritually significant, the bill also support the tribe's efforts to be self-sufficient, cuz it will create considerable economic opportunity. While we can never fully make up for the injustices that have been done to Native people, this legislation will help to do that by returning sacred land that the Las Vegas Paiute tribe has long called home and really has a kind of a sacred claim to. So I'm very proud to have worked with them over the last decade to now sponsor H R sixty-nine seventeen to be uh leading this effort in congressman is meaningful to me personally, and I know to the chairman and to his tribe as well, and he will speak to that. Thank you for your consideration. I yield back.

The gentleman yields. At this time, the chair recognizes Chairman So for five minutes. Chairman So.

Good afternoon, Chairman, Ranking Member, members of the subcommittee. Again, my name is Benny So, I'm the Chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute tribe. We're located in Las Vegas Valley of Southern Nevada. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to present testimony on behalf of our tribe. I'm here to support HR six nine one seven, a bill that would transfer and place into trust lands currently under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and adjacent to our Snow Mountain reservation. I'd also like to thank Congressman Dena Titus for introducing this legislation. She's been a longtime friend and a supporter of the tribe, and we appreciate her hard work on our behalf for over many years, that we've been friends and that we've communicated with. The same with her colleague, Congressman Mark Emede, a cosponsor of this legislation and a member of the Natural Resources Committee. Finally, I extend our appreciation to our Nevada representatives, Congressman Susie Lee, uh, also a member of the full committee, uh, Congressman Stephen Horsford, both support us in this effort. This legislation represents more than a decade of work by the tribe to have these approximately thirty-two hundred acres of our ancestral lands added back to our Snow Mountain Reservation. As Congressman Titus stated before me, the Snow Mountain Reservation was created by an act of Congress in nineteen eighty-three to provide for greater economic growth for our tribe. Beyond the thirteen acres downtown of Vegas originally ceded to us in nineteen ten by the land owner, Helen J. Stewart, to be, quoting here, a colony for the remnants of our people. Our ancestors were the Tidun Tidunu, or desert people. Our traditional homelands covered our southern eastern Nevada, southern California, and Utah. Our ancestors relied on spring, springs, mountains, and seasonal camps to support a way of life adapted to the desert heat. Sadly, the arrival of newcomers to the Las Vegas Valley led to our decline. By the early eighteen hundreds, trappers, traders, and then permanent settlers began moving into the valley, disrupting our Paiute movement across to water rich lands and so forth. After the United States took control of the region in eighteen forty eight, and settlement expanded, The Las Vegas Paiutes were pushed off most of their traditional homelands. The lands we're seeking now represent a minor portion of once was once was. Still, our tribe has endured and created self-sufficiency with our economic development efforts. Out at Snow Mountain, the tribe has built three world-class golf courses, which are enjoyed by the residents of Las Vegas, as well as numerous visitors to our city. It also employs numerous non-tribal members to the community. approximately three hundred and twenty people that were the tribe employees out there. The lands we're seeking add to seeking to add are directly adjacent to our Snow Mountain reservation, and although they will they will clearly help our tribe grow, these lands are much more than that. The lands outlined in this legislation were part of our lands traversed by our ancestors from Mount Charleston, where they spent the hot summers, down to the valley floor during the winter times. The route extended to the sheep mountains, which are visible from our snow mountain reservation and are sacred to the culture of the Las Vegas Paiute tribe. Our people lived, died, held ceremonies, and worshiped on these lands. We currently maintain cooperative management agreements with the BLM for the lands contained in this legislation, to protect them from future generations for our tribe. Taking them into trust in the tribe's behalf is a culmination of the efforts to preserve them. It is important to point out that the transfer of these lands will benefit the entire region. Throughout the decade during which we have sought for this transfer, the tribe has worked with other major stakeholders in southern Nevada. For example, the lands to be taken in the trust contain an energy transmission corridor that will provide needed electricity to our state. The tribe has entered into agreements with the energy provider to ensure that the project will immediately be granted a full right of way consistent to the line currently in place at Snow Mountain Reservation. This agreement is refer referenced in our legislation. We're also working with the United States Air Force Base to develop support industries on our reservation to serve the logistical needs of the Creech Air Force Base, to the north of us. The tribe has gladly supported the Air Force in Nevada, including working together on military land usage near our reservation, protecting cultural assets and land within the Air Force jurisdiction. As the Las Vegas Valley continues to grow and as new homes fill the valley, the Snow Mountain Reservation represents a living reflection of history, how things once were, how the valley once looked, and how we want to live there. I respectfully urge the committee to support HR six one six nine one seven, not only for the Las Vegas Paiute people, but the future generation of all Southern Nevadas. And again, thank you for the opportunity to speak for you today.

Thank you, Chairman. So, the chair now recognizes Mister Berbe for

Thank you for this invitation to testify on uh HR eighty four seventy three, the Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act. And a special thanks to our Congressman Nick Begich for bringing forth this important legislation. Uh, on behalf of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony and ANTHC is in full support of this legislation. Uh, as Representative Begich mentioned, ANTHG is a tribal health organization that provides public health, health care, sanitation, uh, programming and services to all two hundred and twenty-nine tribes in Alaska and all Alaska Native and American Indian people that, uh, reside in our state. My name's Brian Berube and I've had the good fortune of, um, working for almost twenty years now in tribal environmental public health programs, supported by the Indian Health Service. Sufficient access to veterinary care is a critical component of public health. The veterinary services, especially those addressing zoonotic disease prevention and animal population control have a direct effect on human health in the communities that we serve. The challenges addressed by this legislation are particularly acute in Alaska, where geographic isolation and limited infrastructure contribute to pretty dramatic health disparities. Besides sporadic services from non-profit veterinarians, there has never been access to veterinary care in the rural parts of our state. As such, Alaska Native communities and people experience elevated rates of animal related injury. Alaska Native children are hospitalized for dog bites at approximately twice the rate of the general US population and have the highest rate of dog bite hospitalization in the Indian health service system. The rate of dog bites amongst Alaska Alaska Native people is three times the rate of non-native Alaskans. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the reported dog bite rates among children are seven to nine times the per capita average. The rate of fatal dog maulings in Alaska has been found to be almost sixteen times the national average. These disparities reflect systemic gaps and access to preventative services. Furthermore, in Alaska, rabies remains an ongoing and ever-present public health issue. Rabies is enz enzunotic, excuse me, uh in our fox populations in northern and western Alaska, meaning it is always present, and it poses a persistent and continual risk of transmission from wildlife to domestic animals and to people. And communities still face acute exposure events. Uh, as we sit here today, forty of the roughly four hundred and fifty residents of Marshall, Alaska are actually undergoing post-exposure treatment after being exposed by a dog who had come in contact with a rabid fox. And this is not a once-off, this is a fairly common occurrence in our state. Such events require a rapid and costly medical response, and illustrate a lack of the upstream prevention capacity that we all know is so critical to public health. In ANTHC's view, these challenges are driven by limited access to basic veterinary care, including routine rabies vaccination, spay and neuter services, parasite and pathogenic disease surveillance uh and prevention. Without these services, our communities face large populations of free-roaming animals, increased risk of injury and disease transmission, and recurring public health emergencies. Though these public health challenges are well known, current laws limit the ability of IHS and tribal health organizations to address them. Because IHS lacks explicit authority to provide or fund veterinary public health services, existing tribal's rabies prevention programs are limited in scope and efficacy. Communities continue to rely on intermittent and external support. and the root causes of animal overpopulation and disease transmission remain unaddressed. In Alaska, the direct connection between animals and human health is not theoretical. In this case, it is visible in the elevated rate of dog bite injuries, repeated rabia exposure events, and an ongoing strain on rural health systems. These outcomes are not inevitable. They are the result of a limited access to basic veterinary services, and a lack of federal authority to deliver them. This legislation can close these gaps. It authorizes IHS and tribal health organizations to address the root causes, rather than continuing to respond after these events occur. It aligns with tribal self-determination by allowing tribes and tribal organizations to design and implement solutions that reflect local conditions and needs particularly in remote and high-risk regions like Western and Northern Alaska. Ultimately, this bill is about prevention, safety, and It is about ensuring that rural tribal communities have the tools needed to protect both human and animal health in a coordinated and sustainable way. In closing, HR eighty-four seventy-three provides a practical and necessary solution to a well-documented public health gap. ANTHC respectfully urges the subcommittee to advance this legislation. Guayana, thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Baervay. The chair will now recognize members for five minutes for questions. And I will begin by recognizing the gentleman from the state of Alaska, Mister Begich, for five minutes. Mister Begich.

Thank you, Mister Chair. Uh, Mister Barabe, as you well know, our district covers six hundred and sixty-three thousand square miles of some of the most remote terrain in the United States, much of it accessible only by plane or boat in many villages that have never had a veterinarian visit, let alone a veterinarian reside there. Status quo is reactive. A child gets bitten or a rabies exposure event happens and the health system scrambles to respond after the fact. Could you walk the subcommittee through what a typical year looks like for a Yukon, Kuskokwim, Delta, or Norse North Slope village dealing with rabies exposure, dog bites, or animal overpopulation under the current system and how the authorities provided in HR eighty-four seventy-three would change that picture on the ground?

Sure, thank you. Um, so, in our tribal health system in Alaska we have seven large regional tribal health organizations um and then you know our direct health care in our remote villages is done by health aides so typically if a child or any person but most of the time it's a child gets seen at a health clinic with a dog bite they're gonna call the regional environmental health office and that's a IHS supported environmental health office. Um, and what that office does is it tries to get ahold of the dog owner, because of this risk of rabies transmission, right? Because if a person gets rabies, and s- becomes symptomatic, they're dead. There's no treatment for it. Um, so I remember when I first moved to Bethel, um, doing this as part of the job, and this was a really significant part of our job, is trying to contact dog owners. First we're checking to see if the dog has rabies vaccinations, cuz we travel as much as we can to provide rabies vaccinations. And then the goal is to try to get the homeowner to quarantine the dog for ten days, so they could be observed for the signs and symptoms of rabies. And I remember even in my first week on the job thinking, this is really problematic. We don't have quarantine facilities. The signs and symptoms of rabies are all over the place. Um, oftentimes we think of the furious, but there's also, you know, when they just get really lethargic. Um, so, both for our health aides and then our environmental health offices, these dog bites are a really consistent recurring incidence. And then typically um, our rabies outbreaks tend to occur in the later parts of winter. Um, you know, it's always in the fox population and a lot of time what happens is as winter progresses, fox will move close to villages and start denning up and and things like that, landfills and places like that. Um, and then most dogs in rural Alaska live outdoors. So the um, the closeness of the fox population and and the domestic animal populations are right next door to each other. Um, so, when a, you know, best case scenario, we know the animal is vaccinated, we can quarantine it, but that is rarely, rarely the case. Uh, so most of the time we work with our state virology people and we'd arrange for people to get post-exposure treatment. And when that's one person, um two people, a family, you know that's not that large of a task. But when we think about this incident in Marshall, um that I referenced in this, it was a dog that had puppies, uh it was attacked by a fox, the dog killed the fox, the puppies were sent to people all over the community. Um and then the tribal health organization found out about it later. So it was weeks of contact tracing. Um, you know, and and par one of those parties is a dog, so they're not able to speak. Um, so there's just a lot of gray area and a and a lot of room for errors to occur. Um.

So, thank you, so suffice to say, uh, it it it seems as though these authorities that are provided would would go, uh, quite a ways to protecting public health in these rural communities.

Yes. Um, our tribal health organizations, um in Western and Northern Alaska we provide rabies shots, but with no access to especially spay and neuter services, there's no way you can keep up. You know, a dog gets a rabies shot in the first year of its life, it needs one the following year, it needs one every three years after that. Um, so there's no way for us to keep up with the risk from vaccinating the dog. So in public health, right? We're always looking to the upstream, uh, drivers of our health issues. So for us, that is access to veterinary care. It's it's paying inter-services.

Thank you, and I and I appreciate you making the long trip on short notice to come down uh to our nation's capital to provide this uh insightful commentary and testimony. Um, we appreciate your commitment to rural Alaska that you've made as a part of of your career. And uh, we certainly wanna want to advance legislation that's gonna make people healthier in Alaska, particularly those who don't have access to the kind of care that we have in Anchorage and other parts. population centers in our state. And uh with that, I yield back.

The gentleman from Alaska yields. At this time, the chair recognizes the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentlewoman from the state of New Mexico, Miss Ledra Fernandez, for five minutes. Miss Ledra Fernandez.

Thank you, uh, Chair, and uh, uh, President and Chairman Butler, uh, I think I thought your testimony was very powerful, especially as you pointed out that the Commerce Department has had way too long to keep the promises that we made in nineteen ninety nine. Uh, can you explain why you think the Commerce Department may have utterly failed in its obligations?

Well, you you said that, not me, Congressman, but but um I well,

That's my job.

uh, clearly one of the key components is is funding uh and resources. And my understanding is not until recently was there funding that was provided for one of the key provisions of that authority in the economic development office uh uh or or if i'm paraphrasing what the actual office is is is titled but that was key and and you know twenty six years ago i was graduating college so i have no idea it like at that moment in time i think commerce it wasn't a natural fit i think that's why we're the the proposal is way it is shifting over to interior i think in the in the world of of commerce there's a lot going on um and so for them to prioritize uh tribal uh tribal nations and our economic priorities uh just i i would imagine fell off the radar and just wasn't important to them quite frankly and so and

yeah

how it then carried on for twenty five twenty six years until this moment uh i i really would say that in line with you know what we're hearing from this administration and looking at regulations and and and and breaking down barriers to economic advancement i think that's where this now rises back up to the top And migrating that over to Interior, where Interior has been very supportive of tribes and understands the the nuances uh of of our nations and manages most of our programs seems like a natural transition to, to move over there.

Uh, well, thank you very much, and I I'm glad that you pointed out the importance of funding and resources and staffing, um, because it needs to be available, it should have been available in Department of Commerce. Uh, and it's our job actually in Congress to make sure that we get that to you but i'm also concerned about and you pointed out in your testimony uh that you really need uh to have us consider that the bill should insure that the authority has adequate resources including funding and staffing and i don't know if you wanna elaborate on that cause i am concerned when we don't adequately maintain staff even after congress authorizes the funding

yeah

Do you have any concerns regarding that?

Well, no, absolutely. I mean, it it just going back to your first question, that's why we're here, right? There wasn't the resources, there wasn't the funding, and in twenty-five years absolutely nothing happened. Um, doesn't mean that's not important, um, it's clearly it shows the level of importance to commerce and to various administrations. Um, but but that was the main hurdle for it not moving forward. And so without resources, I mean, it's just an empty promise.

Right, and I think that that will be a very important do is to make sure that we include the authorization for the resources and then in the appropriation but I think also in the authorization we need to say you're authorized so that we can actually then appropriate the money. Uh, Mister Barry-Bay, your uh description of the difficulties in Alaska with regards to veterinary care and the importance of going upstream I think is really important. Um, and you know we actually had a fox bite of a member here in uh on the capital uh several years ago and it was really painful for the person

hmm

who had to go through the treatment uh i i was wondering it's have there been any actual transmissions so that you have a positive have there been any individuals who actually contracted rabies

uh no

thank heaven

and it's incredible that there hasn't been

yeah

uh i think we we provide the post exposure treatment Uh, if there's any question, we provide it.

Well, thank you very much, Thank you for having me. and I'm I'm glad to hear that, and and chairman, so your description of how um the uh what you're what you're doing is not just beneficial and important for your own history and connection that you've had since. I I started seeing the mountains that you were as you were describing the migration, but it's also important for your surrounding communities. Can you elaborate on on why that is? Uh, and i know i've kind of went at a time but uh the the importance is to the surrounding communities of the transfer of of land into trust

sure i think uh you know being being there in the las vegas valley i think again we have a lot more to uh offer to our neighbors you know to the to the south of us you know and and our surrounding communities so for one you know being able to provide you know some employment opportunities for nonnatives

mmm

um what our economic development you know what what that looks like you know providing uh, more jobs, more, more family wage, uh, family wages for, for those communities and also to help out. You know, the, the local utilities there, that they have there, you know, continuing with the partnerships that we've built, uh, and created with, uh, you know, the, uh, Nevada Department of Energy. Um, also Creech Air Force Base. You know, we've held some meetings with Creech. You know, I've talked to their commanders, you know, and, uh, talked to, uh, the generals down at, uh, Nellis Air Force Base. you know, understanding the need for housing for them, you know, Mm-hmm. understanding the need for, uh, amenities, you know, so being able to provide, uh, a certain carve-out of land for them to utilize that for, for their specific need rather than having them run twenty, thirty minutes back in the town, you know, we're fifteen, twenty minutes, we're fifteen minutes away. You know, so having that be, uh, having those amenities for them and also, you know, uh, again, the, the true government to government relationship that we, we can build with those, entities you know i i think that's the the the benefit and also like you mentioned before you know preserving our traditional homelands preserving our culture uh the sacredness of that land you know that's our creation story and that's our trail so so there's there's all kinds of benefits i think uh not only for the tribe but the surrounding communities

thank you and with that i yield back mr. chair

the gentleman's time has expired this time the chair recognizes himself for five minutes uh chairman butler thanks for being here this morning or this afternoon i should say it's great to see you again i wanna reiterate what the ranking member said about your testimony on this legislation i thought it was very well done very well crafted i also appreciate the uh technical considerations that that you you proposed as well um i am a little bit biased in terms of the substance in that um senator uh ben nighthorse campbell before being senator campbell was congressman campbell from colorado's third district so he was one of my predecessors uh a a very good man and a just a giant

great

uh in western and southern colorado and also in indian country as well uh one of the pieces of your testimony you quote is from senator campbell where he talked about the multilayered multilayered bureaucracies federal as well as tribal have been repeatedly identified as a barrier to indian entrepreneurship and business development in and around indian lands uh chairman butler can you speak to the importance of having tribal voices at the table when removing federal barriers to tribal economic development

Yeah, I mean, I I'm living example of that. So one of the many hats that I wear is also a member of the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee. And, you know, there's seven uh seven members of that committee that represent tribal voices from all over the country, different regions. Um, and having first-hand knowledge of what we're going through and the challenges that we face as tribal uh government and tribal leaders has been incredibly beneficial for Treasury to reshape the regulations that we've now put in place. i mean regulations that had been thirty years in the making in some cases whether it was tribal entity trivially chartered entities or general welfare exclusion regulations and that was because of the benefit of having us all there in speaking uh to those directly and our lived experiences

can you give a couple of examples just concrete examples of instances where current regulations or proposed regulations would place unnecessary burdens on economic development in indian country

well i think i mean an easy one is sitting next to to Chairman Tso and and what they're fighting for for their land back in in Northern uh Northern Las Vegas. I mean I I challenge any of you to go up to Northern Las Vegas. It's not a in in fairness, most of the places, the territories where we've been sent to, aren't places where many people want to go, right? And the economy in Northern Las Vegas does not exist if it weren't for uh the success of the Las Vegas Paiute and what they've been able to do with their lands, and return their lands back to them. And so the notion that they've been waiting twelve, fifteen plus years, to get this land back, which for one, for cultural reasons and ancestral reasons is theirs, but also it has the economic benefit, um shows that the the the broader challenge of all the the regulatory hurdles that we have to go through in order to not only advance our economies but advance the regional economies and so I think that's a great example that we're hearing live in the room of why um eighty nine fifty four is so important.

Great, and can you talk for a moment about I understand the the funding issue with respect to the Department of Commerce and in terms of dollars being allocated in in the priority being in in that department or not being in that department uh can you talk a little bit about um why just from a governmental standpoint from a tribal standpoint it might be better to locate uh this office within the department of the interior just given the the portfolio of other things that that interior has

i think it's a natural partner for us i mean that's who we're working with the most for programs uh to date um but i would say it's it's it's certainly not to relieve the other departments of their obligations to any country. So, to make that very, very clear.

Right.

And so we work with Commerce hand-in-hand. They're a great partner, uh, in various areas, but consolidating, uh, the focus under the Department of Interior allows us to look, you know, cross-proc cross- cross-program and, uh, and and work within the the the structure of the existing. I mean, you have the stack structure within Interior that's similar to the T-TAC. Um, and so the examples are there and it's working working well. And so this just would be an extension of that model that's working.

Thank you, uh, Mister Chairman, appreciate NFO's, uh, engagement, uh, on this issue and and so many others. Um, great to have you as a, uh, as a resource when it comes to these issues in Indian country. Mister Berbe, quick question for you, can you talk about how this bill fulfills the US's commitment to to Indian tribes and Alaska Natives?

Sure. Um, I'll be handed the microphone.

Oh, microphone.

Oh.

Usually I'm pretty loud, I don't need a microphone. Um, under the trust responsibility between the federal government and tribes, um, you know, starting with the Snyder Act, um, to the Indian, uh, Healthcare Improvement Act. It's specifically said, um, that their role is to identify and reduce health disparities between Native and non-Native people. So I think the case that we have, uh, concerning veterinary care and the problems that we have without it are glaringly obvious. Um, and I think in the IHS system and our tribal health system we've come up with really inventive and creative ways to approach these problems in the past um and i think this would be a continuing continuance of that tradition

great thank you very much mr. and i see uh my time has now expired at this time the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the state of arizona miss for five minutes miss

thank you chairman heard thank you all for being here um the federal government's trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations and the need to make meaningful investments in Native communities have too often been overlooked. Whether we are discussing land stewardship, public health, infrastructure, economic development, or regulatory reform, these issues all point to the same reality. Tribal nations need resources, authority, and partnership necessary to build strong and resilient communities. At a time when tribal communities need greater federal partnership, many tribes in my district are facing the prospect of losing critical, federal federal presence through proposed Indian health service consolidations and potential closure of Tucson area IHS office and the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that tribal communities have access to quality health care the answer to long-standing inequities is not less investment or less local capacity it is stronger commitment to meeting our trust responsibilities that is why the legislation before us today matters as tribal communities confront the possibility of reduced federal resources and support, Congress should be advancing policies that strengthen tribal self-determination, expand access to services, protect tribal lands, and create new economic opportunities. The bills before us today recognize that tribal self-determination depends on more than words, it requires action in order to make upward progress. So I have a few series of questions since we're covering three different bills, so I'll start with them, Chairman. So, um, How would taking this land into trust help mitigate development pressures near the reservation and support long-term long-term management goals of the tribe?

Thank you. Uh, yes, uh, uh, I believe that, you know, taking this land into trust, how how would help and benefit would, again, you know, take into the to to the surrounding area, you know, our our creation story that we have. You know, we talked about the the sheep mountain range. You know, that's just the closest part of our stuff. We're surrounded in the Las Vegas Valley by our our our sacred mountains sheep mountain sunrise mountain. slone canyon and where our creation story begins, you know, mount charles what we call. That's where our people come from. And then, uh, having that area, uh, uh, uh, adjacent to us, you know, and providing that land and the trust, I think, helps our our our culture and it helps our our identity to to withstand the test of time, you know. And then we had also had, uh, we had the opportunity to, uh, we had the opportunity to, you know, uh uh change our enrollment criteria, so now we allowed we're going from uh a small forty eight uh tribal member to to eighty f eighty nine tribal members now, so we changed our enrollment criteria, so that would provide, you know, some benefits for uh our future citizens. We we we don't consider ourselves uh members no more, because the Las Vegas Paiute tribe, we're not a club. You know, you know, we we consider ourselves citizens of the Las piu tribe, the piu nation, so we're we're citizens now.

Thank you.

And so I think that will help greatly benefit, you know, the land, that that taking in the trust would greatly benefit, you know, you know, prolong our existence, you know, for our future generations, our grandkids, great grandkids. And then as far as going for,

Right.

uh, uh, you know, helping out the the surrounding areas, again, like I mentioned before, you know, there's opportunities for business development, there's opportunities for energy corridors, there's opportunities for the department of defense to take you know uh to help us out to help do things that you know that we need you know and and i think that's a great partnership you know uh outside the the the tribal barrier so to speak you know that's just how we gotta progress you know although we live in our traditional ways we gotta figure out ways that we can co-mingle twenty twenty six in our traditional ways so

thank thank you chairman um chairman butler your testimony emphasizes the importance of collaboration across federal agencies Can you expand on why coordination is so important, and how it helps the authority identify and address the real regulatory challenges that tribal communities face on the ground?

Well, I mean, simply put in in in a traditional way, it's it's it's being in the canoe, right? And if you're in the canoe and everyone's rowing in different directions, you're just gonna circle, and that's what we've been doing, uh, from a government to government perspective, working with the US government for centuries. And so having all of those, uh, regulatory bodies speaking the same language, in the canoe rowing in the same direction, that's how we're gonna make progress.

Thank you. Uh, Mister Barabee, you mentioned that many tribal and rural communities face significant systemic gaps in access to veterinary services. Can you help us understand why veterinary care is also a public health issue, and why the Indian Health Service is well positioned to help address these challenges?

Uh, sure. Um, in the bill they bring up the term " one health" which is kind of a really popular paradigm in public health right now that just acknowledges The relationship between animals, people and their environment.

Mm-hmm.

And while like in Western society this sounds like a new idea, I mean this is how indigenous people have always understood um their world to work, right? So I mean from a public health perspective we we talked about the rabies, we talked about the dog bites, um but you know sixty percent of diseases people get have origins in animals.

Mm-hmm.

Dogs themselves are known to transmit over seventy dis- different illnesses between animals and people. Um, so I think there's this, obviously the physical health component of it, um, but I think when you talk about Alaska Native people in particular, um, dogs are very, very important members of their family, parts of society, part of their culture and everything. Um, so I think, you know, this issue really spans community health. It goes from diseases, dog bites, sanitation, feeling safe to walk from one house to the other. So it's a really it's a community health issue and I encourage anybody that has any question about this, I mean if you get off a plane in a rural Alaskan community, and I'm assuming there's communities like this all over the country, you can't miss that this is a a major public health issue.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Um, I also hope that there's funding that goes along with this, because as I mentioned before, the cuts to Indian Health Services are pretty significant, and when we're adding more services, um, we need more resources. So thank you. I yield back.

Thank you. The gentlewoman's time has expired. This time the chair recognizes the gentleman from the state of Montana, Mister Downing, for five minutes. Mister Downing.

Thank you, Mister Chair, and and thank you to the witnesses for being here. I'm gonna start with uh Chairman Butler. Uh, in your testimony, you highlighted how, like all businesses, tribal firms benefit from government structures that are easy to navigate. So what role do you believe the authority established by the Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act of two thousand can play in streamlining the federal government for tribal businesses.

Well, I think uh, uh, thank you uh, Congressman, I think just simply identifying those in in in one location, right. So right now, um, there are there are challenges that are identified but it's fragmented across various departments. And there's no consolidation of. So we talked earlier about the uh, the Tribal Tax Investment Reform Act. That's a very narrow fix on key financial instrument issues that that that that have been a regulatory burden for years. But I mean, there's times ten of that. And so, Uh, having one uh, one department gather all that information in one, a sort of essentially a resource uh, for for all for all agencies and all tribes to point to and say, these are the regulatory hurdles and now we can now let we know what they are, and we're all again in the canoe, paddling in the same direction. We can now address these issues collectively.

And why do you believe the authority has uh, sat dormant within the Department of Commerce?

Uh, just again, lack of resources, lack of commitment, that's what we talked about earlier. I mean, there's, there's been an unfunded mandate uh for twenty-five years or twenty-four years, I think they're recently were partially funded uh to do their job, but essentially there's been no support.

Good. In my home district of central and eastern Montana, tribal enterprises are critical to the ec- economic success of our reservations and our rural counties. Notably though, tribal business owners in our state and across the country report significantly higher rates capital access challenges than average. So, what are other areas where federal bureaucracy can be streamlined to support tribal small businesses?

Well, and again, your your team up here for the tribal uh tax investment reform act that I've testified in front of this committee uh previously on. I mean, that is that focuses on those specific financial hurdles that tribes are facing. I mean, one of them being taxes and bonding, that's limited based on the central government function test. That's a regulatory threshold that most other uh government municipalities don't deal with, but it's a burden placed on tribes in particular that would be resolved through that legislation and would be identified in this legislation.

Right, well I appreciate that. I I have identified many times access to capital being a limiting factor, especially in entrepreneurship, and uh I'd love to see that solved uh better in Indian country. Um, why is entrepreneurship in Indian country, or why do you believe it is critical to supporting the continued sovereignty of our tribes?

Well, I think entrepreneurship is lifeblood to most economies, right? I mean, that's where that's where innovation comes from, where jobs are created. And so when you have small communities, um, that have limited economic opportunity, having entrepreneurship and and and and family members and citizens, uh, as as chairman points out, bringing those jobs back to our reservations, bring them back to our territories, and create an economic base, that then provides for additional economic opportunities, I mean, it it's a critical component to to economies, uh, globally.

Right, I appreciate your answers there, uh, and thank you all again for being here. And on that, uh, Mr. Chair, I yield the remainder of my time.

The gentleman from Montana yields. I want to thank the witnesses at this time for their valuable testimony and my colleagues from here on the the dais for their valuable questions. Members of the committee may have some additional questions for each of you witnesses, and we would ask that you respond to those in writing. Under committee rule three, members of the committee must submit any questions to the committee clerk five p m on friday june twelfth, twenty twenty six the hearing record will be held open for ten business days for these responses there is no further business without objection this subcommittee stands adjourned very cool yeah i bet it's like a like a barbecue i think we're gonna have to ask them the questions yes