Native Voice One

Native American Radio Network

Trahant Reports – Native Legislatures

By

State legislatures are convening around the country this month and Native Americans are in key leadership positions in at least seven states. That’s impressive — and critical right now because of the types of conversations that will be going back and forth between Washington, D.C., and state capitals about Medicaid, health care and energy policy.

Trahant Reports – Four challenges for the new administration

By

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What should Indian Country be watching for in a Donald Trump administration? Let’s explore four policy challenges. This is Trahant Reports.

Four Native Policy Challenges


Trump supporters see the president-elect as a new champion of tribal sovereignty, especially when the focus is on energy development. The problem with this is that folks who think fossil fuels are our future are on the wrong side of history. In order to buy the logic of more oil, gas, and coal, you have to pretend that climate change is neither real nor human caused. The trade off requires believing that profits and perhaps a few jobs are better measures than science. And, to do this at a time when the rest of the planet is moving on. Linking Indian Country’s future to fossil fuels locks us into declining technology and shrinking markets.
One area where a Trump administration could really help Indian Country is infrastructure. The president-elect has called building roads, water systems, electricity grids, and telecommunications “a golden opportunity for accelerated economic growth.” But the plan has two serious obstacles for tribal nations. Trump promises to use private partnerships to pay for these projects. And, he wants the initiative to give “maximum flexibility to the states.”
That brings me to the two greatest challenges ahead in a Trump administration, repeal of the Affordable Care Act and severe budgets.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, will likely be the first vote in Congress. Repeal is the easy part. “Then what?” It is a much more difficult question.
The Indian Health Service has been historically underfunded. But the Affordable Care Act has added money, especially through Medicaid expansion. And it’s important to remember that the Affordable Care Act has substantially reduced the number of uninsured Americans, including American Indians and Alaska Natives. Here is one number to think about: More than half (51 percent) of Native children are insured via Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. This is important because those who have insurance are more likely to get a broader range of health care services than those who only rely on IHS for care.
So depending on how the repeal and replace legislation unfolds between 11 million and 60 million people could lose health insurance coverage. And the Indian Health system could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding streams.
Then the issue of money for American Indian and Alaska Native programs might be the toughest one of all. President-elect Trump’s choice for the Office of Management and Budget is Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-South Carolina. He’s one of the most strident voices in Congress against federal spending (even voting against his own party when budgets were not harsh enough).
Mulvaney defended the 2013 sequester — a disaster in Indian Country — as something that “bodes well for the future.”
“We are, all of us … having a national dialogue about what is really important for our government, and what our government could do without,” Mulvaney wrote. “And it has been much too long since we have done that.”

That conversation will define 2017. I am Mark Trahant.

Trahant Reports – A million lines of code.

By

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

No child grows up hearing — or asking — for numbers. Instead the four words, “tell me a story,” are the ones deeply embedded into our human software. And that will never change. But the power of numbers, the importance of data, is growing exponentially and becoming essential to how we understand larger narratives.
This is Trahant Reports.

Then the use of data is not new. Statistics, counts, numbers, all have always been a part of how we tell stories. Buffalo hide paintings are great examples from another century. Pictographs recorded people, buffalo, soldiers, villages, and meteor storms. The data was recorded. Then we did the same things with ledgers, books, computer tapes, and a couple of decades ago floppy discs, CDs, and thumb drives. Today we carry more data capacity in our phone than we ever had in our offices and homes. And what’s on that recording? IBM once estimated that the content of all of human history totaled some 5 exabytes (or five billion gigabytes of information). Now we produce that many videos, pictures, and words every couple of days.
We need more useful numbers — and this is one of Indian country’s great challenges in an era of both austerity and transparency. In 1900 the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget was $8.2 million. It took nearly 80 years before that funding level topped a billion dollars. Then the first $2 billion was in 2001. Last year $ 2.6 billion. And the Obama administration’s current request is for $2.924 billion.

But we are story people. We don’t do data. Yet our world, the world of Native youth, is defined by data. That’s where we gather: On Facebook, Google or Twitter. Even on remote reservations or in Alaska villages this is the digital Native generation. They have grown up collecting more data on their phones — music, Facebook posts, video and photographs — than any other generation in history. They grow up connected to other Native youth across the country making deep digital friendships with dozens, even hundreds of other Native American youth. That’s new. It’s exponential.

I also think about the digital opportunity ahead for young people who live in a remote community. You can live anywhere in the world and produce videos for YouTube. Or write computer code. In 1971 a Unix computer had a couple hundred thousand lines of code. Today the software for a modern car has more than 90 million lines of code. That’s a lot of jobs for young people who have the right skills. And why not Generation Indigenous?
What’s missing is a commitment by leaders — Congress, tribal governments, foundations — to make sure all the tools are there for Native youth to actually create using this new world. A million lines of code? No problem. It’s just another story we need to tell. I am Mark Trahant reporting.

Trahant Reports – Tom Cole

By

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Early on I decided to focus my Native Vote project on American Indians and Alaska Natives running for office. Instead of a broader look at the election and its impact on Indian Country. That’s made it easier for me to ignore so much of the nonsense that’s surfaced in this presidential election. This is Trahant Reports.

Oklahoma’s Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw Tribe, is one such voice. It’s not that I, or even we, always agree with him. I sure don’t. I see the world from a different perspective. He is a conservative Republican and represents his constituents’ view of the world.

However when the issues involve tribes, and especially, tribal sovereignty, Cole has been one of the most important members in the history of Congress.

What makes Cole so important? He can argue the case within the Republican caucus, and, even better, with the House Republican leadership. He is a measured, reasoned voice, not just for Indian Country, but for his idea of what a conservative party should be. And that means being inclusive.

Cole has history of being the consistent inside-the-party voice calling for more money for the Indian Health system. “We have a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who recognize the Indian country has been historically underfunded,” he told Indian Country Today Media Network in 2012.

And, most important, he was the architect of building a coalition in the House of Representatives to enact the Violence Against Women Act. He told WNYC radio that bill was “a very, very difficult issue because there were divisions within his own conference that prevented (then Speaker John Boehner) from getting to 218.” Cole found enough Republicans and Democrats to pass the measure into law.

Cole once again makes the case for tribal governments in the Winter edition of Oklahoma Humanities.

“A tribe is a living, breathing entity that exists organically. Its purpose is to improve the lives and preserve the identities of its members. If a tribe fails at this, it eventually ceases to exist. Tribes are recognized as sovereign entities in the U.S. Constitution. That means that membership in a tribe gives one a political identity as well as a cultural heritage,” he writes. “It is an extraordinary time in which we live— for Indian Country and the broader culture of our nation—a time of tribal renaissance and self-determination. In Oklahoma, tribal governments are helping drive the economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs, and generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the state government. There is amazing vitality in Native American culture and a great deal of interest and respect for Native Americans that is uncharacteristic of our history. Without question, I believe tribal sovereignty must be defended; but more than that, it often needs to be explained. As I remind my fellow lawmakers in Congress, the same oath we take to uphold the Constitution is an oath to defend tribal sovereignty.”

Powerful words.

I am Mark Trahant.

Trump’s Interior pick favors dams over salmon

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to head the Department of the Interior. If confirmed by the Senate, she would managed federal lands, including those that produce energy, as well as national parks. She would oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This is Trahant Reports.

McMorris Rodgers has all the necessary qualifications: Pro oil and gas development? Check. Skeptical about federal land ownership in the West? Check. And, if you need one more check mark, there is this, her record in the House does not reflect her being a particularly close ally of tribes.

The Violence Against Women Act is one example. In 2013, McMorris Rogers met with Deborah Parker, then vice chairman of the Tulalip Tribes, where they explored language that would get Republican support and open tribal jurisdiction on domestic violence. But when Rep. Tom Cole’s alternative bill surfaced that did just that, McMorris Rodgers voted no. Slate magazine said he dismissed tribal concerns as “a side issue” and voted the party line against the Violence Against Women Act.

The most problematic issue for Northwest tribes might be salmon.

She describes herself as “a champion of our dams and the power they produce.” She recently told Washington Ag Network: “There are some who believe the Snake River dams are not allowing for adequate salmon recovery. However, thanks to collaboration between states, tribes, federal agencies, and private property owners, our salmon are returning at record levels.

But will salmon recovery continue without removing dams on the Snake River? A federal judge in May rejected the government’s recovery plan and set the government had to calculate at least the potential of removing dams.

An irrigation group responded by calling for the government to give up on salmon and declare the species extinct (using an odd provision in the Endangered Species Act that assembles a committee, “the God squad,” to make a determination that nothing more can be done to save salmon). Darryll Olsen, representing The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association, said in the Tri-City Herald, that “the association is hoping for a fair and equitable ruling that would end a cycle of repeated litigation, and escalating and more expensive plans for what is already the most extensive fish protection and enhancement program in the world.” The debate pits salmon recovery against the four Snake River dams that make it possible to barge agricultural products from Lewiston, Idaho, to Oregon ports.

As a Tri-City Herald headline put it: “People passionate about saving Snake River dams.” But then the newspaper didn’t talk to tribes who are just as passionate about saving salmon.

And, even if the Snake River salmon are declared extinct, there will be more litigation ahead, including the assertion of tribal treaty rights.

But the Snake River dams will have the best advocate, the Secretary of Interior.

I am Mark Trahant

Trahant Reports – Standing Rock Win

By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has defied history. This is Trahant Reports.

Nearly two years ago the Dakota Access Pipeline and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the tribe about an inevitable pipeline that would cross near their reservation and within treaty lands. The tribe objected. But it was inevitable. A done deal.

But the tribe, and its allies, had a different idea. There was a lot of prayer — as well as direct action by Water Protectors putting the company and the state of North Dakota on notice.

But the Dakota Access Pipeline’s owners and the state has ignored tribal concerns. Why should the project stop? It was inevitable. A done deal.

One example of that thinking was an extraordinary exchange before the U.S. Court of Appeals, where the company admitted that the process was incomplete. Judge Thomas B. Griffith asked: “Why not wait until you see whether you’re going to get the easement?” asked Judge Thomas B. Griffith. “To a neutral outside observer, it looks like you’re forcing their hand … So it’s a gamble. You’re gambling you’re going to win.”

That gamble blew up Sunday night. On the same weekend when thousands of veterans showed up to support Standing Rock, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it will not grant an easement under the Missouri River. And the corps will now require an Environmental Impact Statement for at least part of the project.

So what now? Energy Transfer Partners said Sunday night: “Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.”

So here we go again. Inevitable. A done deal. If only the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Tribe, hundreds of other tribes, and people from across the planet would not have got in the way.

But no energy company can roll over a community that’s united.

Second, President-elect Donald J. Trump can revisit this issue. He probably will. But it will not be easily undone. I have been writing for months that President Obama would likely take this action but it had to be done in concert with the federal agencies involved. A president’s power is not absolute.

Third, and most important, this is a moment when North Dakota can tell the world what it really wants to be. The timing is ideal for a new beginning, a spirit of reconciliation. The state should get serious about an environmental impact statement, a smarter route, work with the tribes, end prosecutions, and pardon those who are in the criminal justice system. Even better: Take one more step and build bridges by investing in the Standing Rock neighborhood.

This whole pipeline encounter was a better story for the 19th century and not the 21st. It represented the total breakdown in communications between the tribes and the State of North Dakota. There’s now a path toward the healing that needs to occur. And that is what should be inevitable. A done deal.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

 

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use our site, we will assume you have given your consent. Click here to opt-out.