| PRESS
RELEASE:
D. Alice LaClaire
April 19, 2004
Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: 605-964-4155
Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribal Delegates travel to Washington,
DC to address the drastic budget cuts to the Bureau
of Indian Affairs as well as to discuss local issues
with the new hospital and JTAC funds with Governmental
Officials.
Harold
Frazier, Chairman for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe;
(CRST) Benita Clark, Tribal Treasurer; Zach Ducheneaux,
Tribal Council Representative; Amber Traversie,
Public Relations Assistant; and Jayme Longbrake,
Tribal Health Director, traveled to Washington,
DC on April 12, 2004. The multi-purpose trip was
to meet with Government Officials to address the
growing concerns of Tribal health care, construction
of the new hospital, JTAC funding, to present the
Great Plains Trust Reform Proposal and to oppose
the 5% across the board decrease to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs budget.
The week began with the delegates attending the
National Budget Committee meeting to oppose the
budget cuts and to advocate for the CRSTs’
priorities. Nationally, all the Tribes were in agreement
that they could not operate on this year’s
budget and with the proposed 5% decrease the Tribes
will have to cease some services to Tribal Members.
“Our Tribe and other Tribes through out the
nation have been adjusting to budget cuts in the
last several years, but its time the Treaty Tribe’s
take a strong stand to oppose the budget cuts. The
Federal Government has a Trust Responsibility to
provide the Treaty Tribes with education, health,
and welfare,” said Harold Frazier, Chairman
for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The Tribes passed
a strong Resolution to go directly to Office of
Management & Budget (OMB) for consultation on
the Interior Budget. OMB oversees all Budgets for
the U.S. Government.
While
in Washington, the delegates also met with Congressional
Members to seek their support in introducing the
proposed Great Plains Trust Reform Plan/Legislation
which better meets the needs of the Great Plains
Tribes. The Plan was adopted by the Great Plains
Tribal Chairman’s Association on March 18,
2004. The proposed Plan will bring back services
to local agencies using the funding that was supposed
be used by Office of Special Trustee (OST) to place
Trust Officers on the Indian Reservations. “The
Tribes are not asking for new money but to reprogram
the money that was budgeted to OST to implement
their Plan” said Chairman Harold Frazier.
“We need services here at the local level
rather than a Trust Officer who will be duplicating
the duties of the Superintendent. The Great Plains
Tribes took this action because the OST Plan removes
Trust services and is directly leading towards termination
of Trust Responsibility. The National Congress of
American Indians, the Great Plains Tribes and the
Rocky Mountain Tribes have called for a halt to
the reorganization, now,” said Chairman Harold
Frazier.
The
Tribal Delegates also met with officials from the
Department of Treasury to discuss the Cheyenne River
Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Act better known
as Joint Tribal Advisory Committee (JTAC) Law. The
JTAC Law provides the Tribe with a Trust Fund that
will be available eleven years from the date of
enactment which will be in the year 2011. The meeting
focused on the Tribe’s ability to pledge proceeds
from the Fund as collateral for loans, consultation
on the Tribe’s plan for spending the Fund
proceeds, and the types of securities in which the
Fund may be invested before the Fund proceeds become
available in 2011. In addition to this meeting,
discussions were held with Senator Daschle and Senator
Johnson in proposing an amendment to the Tribal
Parity Act (S.1530) to include the Cheyenne River
Sioux Tribe so that the Tribe will be compensated
at a level comparable with the Lower Brule and Crow
Creek Sioux Tribes. Also, in the amendment would
be to include the Landowners who have suffered a
great loss as did the Tribe and also to include
the Tribe in all other future amendments.
On
their last day in Washington, DC the delegates met
with Dr. Grim, Director Indian Health Services (I.H.S.)
and other I.H.S. staff to discuss the new hospital
at CRST. “The Tribe is very concerned about
the Project Justification Document (PJD) that was
done by I.H.S. The I.H.S. Document provides for
only a six-bed facility and the CRST requires at
least a 22-bed facility to adequately serve our
people on the Cheyenne River Reservation,”
said Chairman Harold Frazier. The Tribe presented
a thorough and accurate, statistical analysis of
inpatient and ER services to Dr. Grim to support
the additional inpatient beds needed in the new
hospital. The analysis was provided by Mercer, a
consultant firm contracted by the Tribe and documented
the need for a 22-bed hospital. Dr. Grim and the
Tribe will have additional meetings until this issue
is resolved.
Chairman
Harold Frazier and other delegates have made several
trips to Washington, DC in the past few months to
address these concerns as well as to advocate for
more funding for Tribal Priorities. “These
trips take us away from our families and the people,
but with all the cut-backs to our core programs
(Tribal Priorities) and removal of services, I want
to be able to assure our Tribal Members that the
Tribe is doing all we can to prevent cuts in already
limited services. Just as all our Tribal Leaders
in the past fought for adherence to our Tribal Rights,
the CRST has to make sure all of our Tribal Members
will receive better health care services and programs
will not be cut. This is our Right as identified
by the Treaties.” said Chairman Harold Frazier.
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