Issue Position: Tribes

Issue Position

Senator Murray is proud to be a voice in the United States Senate for Washington's tribal governments and tribal people. She believes we have a responsibility to live up to the promises the U.S. government made and that means working to meet our tribes' health care, education, natural resources, and other treaty-protected rights.

Senator Murray has been working to support Washington's tribes by:

*Securing inclusions in the Violence Against Women Act to finally protect native women against perpetrators of domestic violence occurring on reservations, regardless of the status of the perpetrator.
*Cosponsoring and helping pass into law legislation to ensure the Internal Revenue Service treats tribal government payments to members equitably.
*Cosponsoring and helping pass the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
*Protecting federal investments in habitat restoration, endangered species recovery, and clean water to relieve pressure on traditional food sources.
*Helping draft and pass into law improvements to the tribal components of the Head Start reauthorization.
*Working to pass into law the Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act to allow the Hoh Tribe to move out of a tsunami zone and flood plain, and similar legislation to ensure the Quileute Tribe can move out of a tsunami zone.

Senator Murray continues to fight for tribal communities by:

*Safeguarding the sovereignty of tribal governments and the government-to-government relationship with the United States.
*Upholding the federal government's trust responsibility and treaty obligations.
*Ensuring the Federal Government does its part to restore healthy salmon populations, which are critical to many Northwest tribes' culture, diet, and identity.
*Ensuring tribes have equal access to federal grant programs and other services.
*Introducing the Bring the Ancient One Home Act, to return the remains of the Kennewick man to his ancestors, the Columbian basin tribes.

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