Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Chairman, in a bipartisan effort with Ann Kirkpatrick, we are offering this amendment. It is an amendment on behalf of Native American schoolchildren dangerously rutted in flood- prone dirt roads that cause Native American kids to miss school, on an average, 10 days a year. I have one of the pictures here of a whole series. You can take the whole seasons here and you can see what these bus routes are like.
When it rains, when it snows--and it does in parts of Utah and Arizona--you look at the Navajo Nation and you are going to find that kids are missing 10 days a year on average because of roads like this.
Now, the funding for the BIA to take care of these roads has not changed since 1988. We are asking for a modest shift of less than $2 million to deal with this situation.
I have a county in my district, a county that is larger than the State of New Jersey, and yet, the population there is less than 15,000 people. That is a tremendous tax burden for them to try to maintain such massive roads. It is hard to imagine sometimes on the East Coast how massive some of these areas are, but they need a little maintenance money for these roads and for these schoolchildren.
So I have joined with Ann Kirkpatrick in offering this amendment. I would encourage Members to vote for it. It is less than $2 million. It will make a huge difference on the Navajo Nation, in particular, where we desperately need to make sure that kids can get to school in a consistent manner. We have dealt with the funding for nearly 30 years at the same level. It is time to make that adjustment. I would encourage Members to vote in favor of this amendment.
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Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), the chairman of the committee.
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Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Chairman, I would simply say that I think you would find the mutual bipartisan approach to achieve the goal. I don't think anybody is in opposition to this.
The reality is, in nearly 30 years, the funding level hasn't changed. It is very modest. It is less than $2 million.
I hope people find it in their heart to let this pass. It makes a world of difference to people. We can debate about where to pull those funds. I have offered this amendment in a bipartisan way from this fund. It is the way it is structured, and I do hope it passes.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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