Johnson Fights to Add $1 Billion to the 2007 Budget to Fund Indian Priorities
Johnson Fights to Add $1 Billion to the 2007 Budget to Fund Indian Priorities
Defeated by Senate Republicans on a Party Line Vote
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) today cosponsored and urged the passage of an amendment to the 2007 budget resolution that would have provided a total of $1 billion more than President George W. Bush's budget request to benefit Native Americans.
The $1 billion budget amendment sought to provide much needed funding to the most impoverished populations in the country. This amendment would have been fully offset by closing corporate tax loopholes which provide billions of dollars in tax breaks to the richest Americans. Unfortunately, the amendment failed by a vote of 42 to 56.
In addition to the moral obligation of fighting poverty and third world living conditions on reservation communities across this country, there are greater treaty and trust responsibilities the United States government owes to American Indians.
"Fulfilling the trust responsibility of the United States government should never be a partisan issue. We have an obligation that must be met," said Johnson. "The unified opposition to this amendment by Senate Republicans demonstrates vastly different priorities on the treatment of Native Americans in this country."
The $1 billion increase would have been divided up to provide for the already chronically underfunded programs serving Native Americans including: Indian Health Service (IHS), IHS Hospital Construction, Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act block grant funding, Department of Justice Indian Country Law Enforcement, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Education Construction, tribal community water and waste disposal systems, and education programs serving Native Americans and Alaska Native students.
Additionally, the $1 billion budget amendment would have restored two programs that were completely eliminated in the President's 2007 Budget, the Johnson O'Malley program to support native students in public schools and Urban Indian Health Care which serves tribal members living off the reservation.
http://johnson.senate.gov/~johnson/releases/200603/2006322656.html