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White House conference goes arwry

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What’s the right way for the White House to consult with tribal governments?

This is Trahant Reports.

Last week my colleague at Indian Country Today, Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, reported on what was called “a horrible meeting,” a listening session between the White House and tribal leaders.

The meeting started off as an open dialogue, a back and forth conversation with White House staff, the Department of the Interior, and tribal leaders. But the White House officials said there was not enough time — and they would only listen to issues without a response.

A few tribal leaders did not like that – and left the room.

Bennett-Begaye reported that one of those who left the room was Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner. His team asked a powerful question: How do you have a real consultation with a tribal nation, when the president is engaged with derogatory tweets and name-calling? This president, Bear Runner said,  “has no education on what he’s talking about” with his tweets about the Battle of Little Bighorn or Pocahontas.

The Obama administration had raised tribal consultation to a new level. In addition to the formal process that was set out by the Office of Management and Budget, there was also an annual White House conference where tribes and the administration could exchange ideas about improving the delivery of service to Native people. Was that consultation perfect? Of course not. But the Trump administration essentially rejected any mechanism that began during the Obama era.

One idea that’s being debated now – especially by tribal leaders – is a formal, White House Council on Native Nations, similar in structure to the Council on Economics or National Security. The idea is for tribes to engage directly with cabinet members.

Jefferson Keel, the president of the National Congress of the American Indians, apologized for one heated exchange during the listening session. Some tribal leaders blamed NCAI for the process itself. On Friday Keel said that NCAI “provided a room for White House staff to hold their listening session with tribal leaders after the NCAI Executive Council Winter Session because we believed it would be a first step in educating the White House about the federal-tribal relations.”

In other words, the process was a White House thing. About that bigger question: How do tribes engage this White House in meaningful discussions about tribal priorities? We are seeing a number of tests on that ranging from the potential construction of border walls on tribal lands to the continued development of energy or new pipelines in tribal communities or treaty lands.

And in such cases, so far, tribal opposition has mostly been ignored. That does not sound like consultation.

I am Mark Trahant.

New Green Deal

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey unveil the ‘Green New Deal’ with goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo: Sen. Ed Markey’s office via YouTube.)

A story from the Quinault Nation is chilling. “Have we eaten our last blueback? Let’s hope not. This salmon season is closed …and“we are now the first generation to begin to feel the effects of a changing climate.”
This is Trahant Reports.

Last week at a Capitol Hill news conference Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, unveiled “the Green New Deal.” It’s comprehensive legislation that would set the goal of “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” in a decade.

On Saturday President Donald J. Trump tweeted that Democrats should press forward. “It would be great for the so-called “Carbon Footprint” to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!”

The Green New Deal raises three big issues: Is the United States finally ready to address climate change? And if so, how? And what would be the impacts on Indian Country?
At some point, sooner rather than later, there is really only one question to address. How much does the country (and the planet) spend on mitigation versus adaptation? Mitigation means trying to slow the impact of humans on the climate by reducing the heat-trapping gases (or removing them). Adaptation means everything else, from relocating people, including cities, to managing climate emergencies, ranging from hurricanes and fires to diseases.

Just this week the Quinault Nation had to close its commercial blueback, or sockeye, salmon fishing for the season.

A tribal news release said that warmer ocean temperatures driven by fossil fuels “are creating lean times for salmon.” “It’s time to hold oil companies accountable for their past record of denying climate change and their current obstruction of policies to reduce climate pollution,” said President Fawn Sharp. “The devastation of our iconic blueback salmon has struck at the core of what it means to be Quinault.”

The politics are complicated. There are essentially three camps in Washington. The first wants action, the position that’s found in the Green New Deal. Another group says climate change is important, but preventing a major disruption in the economy is a priority. Go slow. And, a third group, led by the White House, dismisses the science and any policy that would slow the rush for American “energy dominance.”

The Green New Deal will not be the final word. Even if the legislation makes its way through the House of Representatives (and many Democrats are skeptical) the legislation then must then get through a much more centrist Senate.

Then even the sponsors get that the specifics of the Green New Deal are not as important as movement.
I am Mark Trahant.

The Great Dying

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Documenting colonialism: Millions killed, a changed climate & Europe gets rich

A  new study documents the global cost of colonialism.

This is Trahant Reports.

Why does it matter? Because the invasion of the Americas changed everything on the planet. There was a death rate of more than 90 percent of the people, now labeled “depopulation” in a scientific report. At that time, the Indigenous population of the Americas was 10 percent of the world’s population and home to the largest and most complex cities.

The study also raises new questions, the impact of humans on nature? And what that might mean for climate change policy in the decades ahead?

The paper: “Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492,” was written by four geographers from University College London.

The globe went through climate change — a tiny shift in temperatures of 15/100th of a degree — but that was enough to lead to colder temperatures worldwide that resulted in crop failures and colder summers.

The paper explores a big question: Did the invasion and depopulation of the Americas in the 16th and 17th century result in those decline in temperatures, the Little Ice Age? And was that a result of “natural forces” or because the “large-scale depopulation of the Americas after European arrival, subsequent land use change and secondary succession?”

The evidence is complicated. The Indigenous Americas went through a rapid and dramatic shift; a before contact and after contact story. Looking at all of the evidence available today, the University College London team came to the conclusion that the Indigenous population had reached more than 60 million people before contact. That would have been about 10 percent of the world’s population, and the cities in the Americas would have been among the most populous on the planet. In less than a hundred years that Indigenous America population was reduced to 5 or 6 million people; a population decline that exceeded 90 percent, the Great Dying.

The scientists calculated how such a rapid population decline changed agriculture (think of what it took to feed 60 million people) and then what would happen when that farmland became forest and jungle. The scale of “regrowth” was huge, roughly a land mass twice the size of Colorado.

And the scale is significant because Indigenous land use was so widespread before European arrival, particularly in Mexico, Central America, Bolivia and the Andes where terraced fields and irrigated agriculture” were common. “

Indeed it’s the scale of this report, of this history, is daunting. But like any important study, this one by University College London opens up more questions than answers.

I am Mark Trahant.

Shutdown is Over

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President Trump in the Rose Garden announcing the shutdown. (WhiteHouse.gov)

President Donald J. Trump signed into law late Friday a three-week spending bill to fund about a quarter of government operations. That ended the longest government shutdown in history. But the White House is already talking about another shutdown — unless Democrats on Capitol Hill agree to a $5.7 billion wall.

So now what?

This is Trahant Reports.

The practical takes over this week. Government agencies have a lot to catch up on.  Work piling up. Contracts. Phone messages. Decisions. Even collecting garbage. Basically the works. This will take time.

There will be a lot of demand, for example, from tribes and non-profit organizations to get cash flow restarted to pay for self-governance and other contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.

As for employees, the White House acting chief of staff, said the government will move quickly to get paychecks out this week.

But what happens next depends on the president. Any deal that results from Congress will likely be the product of a give and take between the Senate and the House. It will not be the president’s demand for a wall or else. So will he shut the government again?

The White House is already saying yes. That started Friday when the president made the announcement about the government reopening. “So let me be very clear,” he said. “We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier. If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15th, again, or I will use powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States … “

That leaves the White House with the option of trying to build a wall using emergency powers instead of an appropriation from Congress.

That could unite Republicans who think the declaration of an emergency is a poor way to govern. And they are not much happier with another shutdown.

Congress has the power of the purse. It can override the president on spending or legislation. That could happen quickly if there is another shutdown fight.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for example, apologized to federal workers and said she is supporting measures to make certain that it does not happen again. She said: “If there was every any silver lining to this, it was to understand that there was no good reason for a shutdown ever.”

This could also spur legislation, introduced by Sen. Tom Udall, of New Mexico, a Democrat, to protect the revenue to tribes through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service. Essentially taking them out of any shutdown plans.

There could be a wave of support from both Republicans and Democrats looking for a new way to budget, one that excludes the possibility of a shutdown.

I am Mark Trahant

Frozen Washington

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Photo. Waiting for a thaw in Washington. (Mark Trahant photo)

 

When will the longest government shutdown in history end?

This is Trahant Reports.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, who’s a close ally of President Donald J. Trump, told Fox News over the weekend that the president should open the government for “a short period of time, like three weeks” and then negotiate again with Congress. If we can’t at the end of three weeks, well, all bets are off, then he said the president could do it himself through emergency powers.

Washington is frozen because the president, the Republicans in the House and the Senate, and the House Democrats do not have enough power to say “yes.” Only no, not that. So the White House insists on a border wall and the Democrats say fund government and then let’s talk about the wall. That’s followed by a dismissal of a coast-to-coast border wall that would cost far more than the $5 billion-plus requested by the president.

A couple of polls published over the weekend show that most Americans are blaming President Trump and Republicans for the government shutdown. CNN reports that it found that more than half of all those surveyed — 55 percent — blame the president. The poll found 32 percent blamed Democrats and 9 percent said both were responsible. The Washington Post and ABC News said polls showed 53 percent blamed the president and 29 percent Democrats. The polls also found that most Americans discounted a “crisis” at the border and called it a problem.

The Senate could end the shutdown by taking up several funding bills already passed by the House of Representatives. Those bills would likely be vetoed by the president, but Congress could vote to override the veto with a two-thirds majority.

Across the country tribes, federal employees, contractors, and nonprofits are reporting about the significant hardships. On the Blackfeet Nation there was food distribution for employees who are not being paid. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe said the situation could grow far worse if there is not a resolution soon.

In Albuquerque, an federal employee told Indian Country Today “nearly everyone is furloughed at BIA’s ABQ office” including Human Resources, Environmental Safety, Facilities, Construction, Land titles and Records, and Accounting. “One thing people who are furloughed are doing is applying for unemployment and / or local credit unions are giving 90 days of 0 percent interest loans, if this isn’t resolved,” the worker reported. “Next week I’ll be going to my credit union to take a loan to cover my bills (student loans, mortgage, groceries, car payment, insurance, gas, etc.). Once I get my paycheck, I’ll pay my credit union back.”

As a famous tweeter might put it: Sad. There’s nothing like a personal loan to the United States of America.

I am Mark Trahant.

Native Women Proud Day

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It was a proud day on Capitol Hill last week. Native Americans have new voices …

This is Trahant Reports.

Two Native American women, Sharice Davids, Ho Chunk, and Debra Haaland, Laguna
Pueblo, were sworn into the new Congress. They will join current
Representatives Mark Wayne Mullin, Cherokee, and Tom Cole, Chickasaw, in that
office. There are now four members from tribal nations in the Congress.

And this week Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Nation, takes office as Lt. Governor of
Minnesota. This is the highest ranking Native woman.

Another tribal citizen, Kevin Sttit, Cherokee Nation, will serve as governor of
Oklahoma.

And that’s just the offices we think of for headlines. There was more than a
hundred candidates in the general election for state legislatures — and 60 of
those were elected to office. In Arizona, for example, the state Senate went
from one member to three. All women, by the way.

Some of these legislative elections were from districts that represent tribal
communities, such as Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai who is Navajo. But others won in
broader or even urban districts such as: Rep. Jade Bahr, Northern Cheyenne, in
Billings, Montana, Rep. Ruth Buffalo, Mandan Hidatsa Arikara, in Fargo, North
Dakota, and, Debra Lekanoff, Tlingit in Washington state.

In San Juan County, Utah, after much voting rights litigation, a majority Navajo
county commission takes office. That means for the first time tribal citizens
will get a fair shake when it comes to state and local resources, such as
maintaining country roads.

What should we watch for as these elected officials take office? Here’s one: Listen
for Native voices. Will there be more of a say on issues that don’t even
directly involve Indian Country? Such as art councils, weights and measures
boards, all of the machinery that makes up government. This is important
because it includes us. It makes our voices valuable.

Back to Congress. Last week there were incredible celebrations. Rep. Haaland had an
open house in her congressional office building and lines of people showed up
to show their support and pass along their good wishes.

 

My favorite image, one that I saw often on the many campaign trails over the
years, is when young girls get their picture taken with the Congresswoman. They
now know they can grow up and follow this path to Congress, a governor’s
mansion, or even the White House. This is the very definition of an
aspirational moment.

As Deb Haaland told her supporters: “It’s a great day to be Indigenous!”

Yes, a great day. But it’s only one step and there is still a long way to go toward
representation in democracy.

I am Mark Trahant.

Year end issues in Indian Country

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The year we just passed, 2018, was full of interesting issues in Indian Country.
This is Trahant Reports.

The year ended with a government shutdown. The president and the Congress are divided about how much money to spend on a wall, or border security, and how to talk to each other as partners.
The road ahead makes this situation even more complex because for two years President Donald J. Trump has headed a one-party government. That’s done. Now, as we begin this year, Democrats will control the House of Representatives and exert a lot more influence about how policy is shaped.
Twenty-eighteen was a historic year in so many ways. People in New Mexico and Kansas elected the first two Native American women to Congress. And that means there are now four tribal citizens in the Congress, two Democrats and two Republicans.
This year was often called the year of the woman — or even the year of the Native American. Indeed, a lot of progress was made in terms of election.
But there are other ways to look at that landscape.
It was the first time that two Native American women were on the same ballot representing different parties. In Minnesota Lt. Gov.-elect Peggy Flanagan will now be the highest ranking political leader in any state. She is a member of the White Earth Nation.
It’s also the first time a Native millennial — Sharice Davids, who is Ho Chunk — has been elected to Congress. She will make the conversation in Washington richer just because of her view of the world, one that is different from the generations that have served before.
And women are still not equal when it comes to running the political machinery. The Senate has 23 women out of a hundred — 23 percent — and 87 women serve in the House or 20 percent. A long way to go when you consider that females are more than half of our population.
But at least in Congress, unlike the country itself, women are paid the same salary for their work as legislators.
This year had other setbacks. A federal judge struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act as unconstitutional. The law was designed to stop the separation of American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families and tribes. A district court ruling does not change the law, but it sets the issue on a path that will eventually lead to the Supreme Court.
So what’s ahead? The key thing here is to see if the Democrats and the president find a way to govern, to work together. That’s happened before. When Bill Clinton was president he worked with a Republican House to pay down debt and that remains the only time in recent history when the federal budget was balanced.
So cooperation is possible. We shall see if that happens in 2019. Happy New Year. I am Mark Trahant.

Impacts of federal government shutdown

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A few days ago it sure looked like Congress would keep the government operating after the Senate passed another short-term spending bill unanimously. Then President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter, saying that Congress must spend billions on a border wall or else. That has led to a Christmas holiday shutdown.

This is Trahant Reports.
This is a “limited” shutdown, involving only about a quarter of all federal agencies. Yet some 380,000 employees, many who work at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will be furloughed. And tribes and other contractors that work with the federal government will not get paid until later.
All told another 420,000 federal workers will be required to report to their jobs.
The Interior Department reports 2,455 BIA employees will be furloughed. The remaining 4,057 working for the BIA will be considered “excepted.” And all but 40 of the Bureau of Indian Education staff will continue working, 3,344 employees. But employees, furloughed or not, will not receive a paycheck until a new spending bill is signed into law.
The Indian Health Service reports it will “continue to provide direct clinical health care services as well as referrals for contracted services that cannot be provided through IHS clinics.” However, IHS will be unable to provide the majority of funds to rribes an durban Indian Health programs.
But the largest share of the Indian Health Service budget, 54 percent, is money that is transferred to tribes, urban programs, and nonprofits for clinics, hospitals and medical services. That funding stream will come to a halt unless the shutdown is resolved.
The Interior Department’s plan “assumes a shutdown of no more than approximately 30 calendar days or 22 work days.”
But even that is uncertain. The debate is likely to begin with the new Congress that takes office on January 3. That Congress is unlikely to give the president a better deal then the one he had.
The uncertainty in federal spending complicates tribal government operations. A study by the General Accountability Office in 2018 found that budget uncertainty is expensive. “Existing challenges related to the recruitment and retention of health care providers—such as difficulty recruiting providers in rural locations—are exacerbated by funding uncertainty … for instance, one tribe incurred higher interest on loans when the uncertainty of the availability of federal funds led to a downgraded credit rating.” And this as was financing construction of a healthcare facility.
The Senate is tentatively scheduled to meet again on Thursday … but only if there is a deal between the White House and Senate Democrats. And right now, there is a big gap between the two positions.
I am Mark Trahant.

Zinke resigns as Interior Secretary

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President Trump tweeted Saturday. “Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years. Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation.”

This is Trahant Reports.

Two years ago Ryan Zinke was riding high.

He was moving from representing Montana in the Congress to running the Department of Interior. In the West it’s the gig to get. The secretary controls more public lands than many state governors. The secretary has a huge say in oil and gas leasing. And the secretary is the key government official responsible for carrying out the treaty and trust obligation to tribes.

Ryan Zinke wasted no time in mixing it up with all three interests. At the request of President Donald J. Trump, Zinke reviewed 27 national monuments, opening their status for energy development, and stripping tribal governments of a say in how those lands would be managed.

A three-fer.

Except almost immediately a coalition of tribes and environmental groups moved the fight into the federal judiciary. A number of lawsuits will determine if Zinke even had the legal authority to reduce the size of the monuments. As the tribal arguments in the legal proceedings stated: “It was the largest rollback, whether by a president or Congress, of federally protected lands in United States history.”

That legal case will continue. Probably for years. And, in the meantime, the next secretary will have to notify the court before there is actual drilling.

Earlier this month, a blog post for Scientific American called Zinke’s policies a “monumental disaster.”  Joel Clement wrote that he was one of the senior executives and scientists who were sidelined. “At the Department of the Interior, with its mission to conserve and manage America’s natural and cultural resources, the Trump administration’s political appointees are stumbling over one another to earn accolades for disabling agency operations,” he wrote.

Indeed, one of Zinke’s last acts was to release the required Fourth National Climate Assessment on the day after Thanksgiving. That report described a bleak future for the United States if climate change is not addressed and it points out that federal lands produce nearly a quarter of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington calls Zinke “one of the most ethically dubious members of president’s cabinet.” It cites 17 investigations, and says he has been only cleared of wrongdoing in three cases.

A new secretary could be appointed as soon as this week. But don’t expect many policy changes at Interior. Energy dominance is a theme that comes from the White House.

 

I am Mark Trahant.

End of the year

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President Trump at the Army Navy football game (Photo via YouTube)

The end of the year is going to be interesting. The federal budget is still not set. A new Congress is ready to take office … but the old one still has the powers. And there are new legal, criminal questions about the President of the United States.

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