Department of Interior Rerport on Tribal Jails Now Public
Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Senator Byron Dorgan today made available a draft study on the status of Indian country jails, titled “Master Plan for Justice Services in Indian Country.”
In February of 2006, the Department of the Interior hired a contractor to conduct a comprehensive s...
Mr. President, I am here today to talk about the reauthorization of the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978, which is included in H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Reauthorization and College Opportunity Act of 2008.
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I worked closely with the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensi...
Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced bipartisan legislation, called the Tribal Law and Order Act, to fight staggering crime levels in Indian Country. Twelve of his colleagues have joined as co-sponsors of the Bill. The legislation is designed to boost law enforcement efforts by providing tools to tribal justice officials to fight crime in their own communities...
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved a measure offered by Senator Byron Dorgan that would give a $250 million boost to healthcare in Indian Country. Dorgan’s provision was part of larger effort that resulted in an additional $1.75 billion for infrastructure and public safety programs.
“There is a bona fide crisis in Indian healthcare,” said Senator Dorgan, Chairman o...
Following a meeting with the Interior Secretary and a request to jump-start energy development on the Fort Berthold Reservation, the Department of Interior has agreed to Chairman Byron Dorgan’s request to add nine new employees t...
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said he will meet a deadline set by Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to provide an action plan on improving energy development on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The deadline for the action plan is July 7, 2008.
In a meeting in Dorgan’s office today with Marcus Wells, Chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, Secretary Kempthorne and other triba...
During the 110th Congress, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has held four hearings and convened a number of listening sessions and meetings to discuss the growing concern of violent crime on Indian reservations. These hearings and meetings c...
The President of the Citizen Community Credit Union in Devils Lake testified Thursday at an official Capitol Hill hearing of U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan’s Indian Affairs Committee. Darwin Brokke told committee members about two programs he started at his credit union to offset the effects of predatory lending practices in tribal communities.
U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, today issued a report critical of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) detailing obstacles to energy development on the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota. He has also requested an urgent meeting with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to fix the problem.
There is oil production to the north, west, and sou...
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) by unanimous consent. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) issued the following statement about NAHASDA, S. 2062.
Senator Reid said, “Yesterday, the U.S. Senate took another major step toward improving the lives of thousands ...
The U.S. Senate passed the Farm Bill Thursday, including a number of provisions advanced by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, designed to benefit Indian Country.
“The Farm Bill addresses a number of concerns vital to continued progress in Indian Country,” said Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan. “The provisions advanced by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will ...
Chairman Dorgan has been particularly concerned about the unmet funding need in the Contract Health Services program. This program allows for medical care and urgent health care services to be purchased from public and private non-Indian Health Service providers when the Indian Health Service or tribal health facilities are not able to provide it. By June, and often earlier in the f...
Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) will conduct a Senate Indian Affairs field hearing in Arizona on law and order in Indian Country at 11:30 am on Monday, March 17, 2008.
Details of the hearing follow:
Panel 1
Diane Enos - President, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
Joe Shirley Jr. - President, the Navajo Nation
Daniel Eddy - Chairman, Colorado River Indian...
The United States Senate Thursday overwhelmingly passed an amendment authored by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to increase funding for Indian Health Care by $1 billion. The final vote was 69 to 30.
This increase is another step forward for Indian health care in recent weeks but still leaves a long way to go.
“The Senate today recognized the need to fund Indian health care a...
At a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the schools, health clinics and jails on Indian reservations are in desperate need of repair or replacement.
Native American communities are continually faced with crumbling educational, health and law enforcement facilities. There is a nearly $3 billion backlo...
