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The Food Bill

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Every five years or so Congress enacts a “farm bill.” Those two words are misleading. It’s really a food bill. A  trade bill. A jobs bill. An energy bill. An education and research bill. A forest bill. And, a this-is-the-kind-of-legislation-that-shows-why-you-should-elect-me, bill.

This is Trahant Reorts

Regaining our Future a new report by the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative says Native people are this continent’s first agricultural people, deeply involved in complex systems, and domesticating crops that are still eaten today.

Of course Congress won’t be spending much time on that point. But the farm bill will shape how indigenous people are fed.

The most important section of the bill for Indian Country deals with nutrition programs, representing 80 percent of the bill’s costs. JanieHipp, speaking at the Native American Journalists Association earlier this month, said many tribes depend such programs to feed people, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That was the original Food Stamps program, created in the 1960s as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on hunger. Regaining our Future said nearly 25 percent, and in many communities more than 50 percent, of tribal citizens directly access or rely on federal feeding programs.

There are two versions of the Farm Bill, one in the House, and another in the Senate. The two houses will soon negotiate final language through a conference committee and then that compromise must be enacted again by each body.

The Senate has a bipartisan approach, especially in provisions that deal with Indian Country. While the House version of the Farm bill only has support from Republicans.

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The Senate version also includes several tribal priorities, according to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. This includes:

— A tribal self-determination project let tribes create their own food distribution programs, serving about 90,000 Native Americans.

— Set up a tribal advisory committee on agriculture and ranching.

— Allow more grants to tribal colleges and universities for food-related research.

— Promote international trade for tribal producers.

— And  a study of the impact of foods fraudulently marketed as Native American produced goods.

***

The House bill would cut nutrition funding from SNAP — and some 1.2 million adults would lose benefits because of the proposed stricter work requirements, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The work rules means states and tribes will have to set up an administrative structure to make this happen. And in some tribal communities that will also mean that jobs will have to be created because they do not now exist.

The politics of this massive farm bill remain an open question. Last May members of the House Freedom Caucus tanked their own party’s measure in order to take a stand on immigration. And some of those House members are not keen on any nutrition programs.

There is also a chance that Congress could pass a short-term extension of the farm bill. But that would move the contested issues — especially the fight over food stamps — squarely past the election and the prospect of a Democratic Party controlling the House.

 

I am Mark Trahant.

Trade Wars: Who are the Casualties? REPEAT

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The growing trade war with China is politics all mixed up. It’s an issue that divides many Republicans from President Donald J. Trump. And some of the president’s most strident supporters from coal companies to farmers are not happy with his policy.

This is Trahant Reports.

But make no mistake: The outcome (when it finally occurs) is a dollar-and-cents issue that will impact the daily lives of Native people, tribal governments, and businesses. Why? A tariff is a tax.

It’s a tax bill that’s paid every time someone buys a product that’s on a country’s tariff list. And so now many agriculture products, such as soybeans, will be taxed by China.

According to the National Congress of American Indians: “Agriculture is increasingly important to Native economies, representing the economic backbone of more than 200 tribal communities and witnessing an 88 percent increase in the number of American Indian farmers between 2002 and 2007. According to the Census of Agriculture, in 2007 annual Indian agriculture production exceeded $1.4 billion in raw agriculture products.”

Agriculture represents one risk in a trade war.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, wrote last month, “In general, free trade contributes to our national prosperity as well. However, having open markets is not an invitation for others to take advantage of us.” Cole, who is Chickasaw, called tariffs bad news for his state.

Cole told CNBC Friday that “outside of agricultural areas” the trade issue is a net plus because “somebody is finally doing something about China, which has simply ripped us off since we let them in” the World Trade Organization.

A potential trade war also has huge implications for global warming. The Trump administration, of course, has attacked virtually every climate policy from the past administration. And, the first action in this trade dispute involved solar panels. Now the trade war could upend extractive industries, especially coal.

China has not yet levied a tariff on coal, but it’s widely expected because of the industry’s ties to President Trump. China is the world’s largest importer of coal.

Tribes that mine coal, such as the Crow Nation in Montana, have looked toward China and Asian markets as a way to make coal great again. But other tribes along the shipping route, such as the Lummi Nation in Washington, see dirty coal trains bound for Asia as a threat to salmon and their treaty rights.

There is a connection between global trade and global warming. A report by United Nations says this issue presents an “important policy conundrum: behind every trade transaction there is a production process and, in turn, associated greenhouse gas emissions. Policies that modify trade (trade policies) can influence emissions, while policies for reducing emissions (climate change policies) can also influence trade.”

So a trade war could slow commerce — and the emissions that cause global warming. I am Mark Trahant.

Trump administration proposes massive government reorganization

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President Donald J. Trump’s cabinet met at the White House last week to learn about a government-wide reorganization.

This is Trahant Reports.

The administration plan is “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century.” It says today’s executive branch is still aligned to “the stove-piped organizational constructs of the 20th Century.”

The Interior Department’s realignment is included in the plan. A letter went to tribes in May outlining a consultation schedule. However at the recent National Congress of American Indians Mid Year meeting, a resolution was enacted that expressed concern about the time frame.

Another program that would impact American Indians and Alaska Natives is to move food assistance out of the Department of Agriculture and into the Department of Health and Human Services (which would also be renamed, the Department of Health and Public Welfare.) There would also be a new Council on Public Assistance with statutory authority to set cross-program policies, including requiring work.

Another program shift, if enacted, that would have a direct bearing on Indian Country is a proposal to sharply reduce the Commissioned Officers Corps of the Public Health Service. The corps plays a critical role in the staffing of doctors, nurses, dieticians, and dentists, in Indian Health Service facilities. This proposal, HHS would reduce the size of the corps to 4,000 officers from 6,500 at current levels. It would create a reserve force that would “deploy in times of national need.”

In addition to reducing the size of the corps, the proposed reorganization would charge more for agencies where the officers are placed “to ensure each agency pays its fair share.” This would increase the cost for medical professionals at the Indian Health Service, and tribal, and nonprofit health facilities.

There are dozens of other reorganization proposals, ranging from moving salmon recovery programs to managing real estate.

As the report points out, other reform proposals have not been approved by Congress. In 1971 President Richard Nixon sought to create four super cabinet agencies. He suggested four “goal-oriented departments concerned with our communities, our earth, our economy, and our potential as individuals.

The problem for Nixon was that a streamlined federal government also meant fewer committee chairs in Congress and a loss of power for members in the House and Senate.

And Congress did not like that idea. Not at all.

I am Mark Trahant.

A Race of Medicaid Policy

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New Medicaid rules by the Trump administration undermine the treaty right to health care.

The Trump administration is supporting a major policy shift on Indian health programs which could result in a loss of millions of dollars and sabotage treaty rights.

This is Trahant Reports.

A story in Politico Sunday raised the issue, saying the Trump administration contends the tribes are a race rather than separate governments, and exempting them from Medicaid work rules would be illegal preferential treatment.

The new policy on Medicaid work requirements “does not honor the duty of the federal government to uphold the government-to-government relationship and recognize the political status enshrined in the Constitution, treaties, federal statutes, and other federal laws, said Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

Medicaid has become a key funding stream for the Indian health system — especially in programs managed by tribes and non-profits. Medicaid is a state-federal partnership and public insurance. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility, but the Supreme Court ruled that each state could decide whether or not to expand. Since the expansion of Medicaid some 237,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives in 19 states have become insured.

Officially Medicaid represents 13 percent of the Indian Health Service’s $6.1 billion budget (just under $800 million).

But even that number is misleading because it does not include money collected from third-party billing from tribal and non-profit organizations. In Alaska, for example, the entire Alaska Native health system is operated by tribes or tribal organizations and the state says 40 percent of its $1.8 billion Medicaid budget is spent on Alaska Native patients. That one state approaches the entire “budgeted” amount for Medicaid.

Those Medicaid (and all insurance) dollars are even more significant because by law they remain with local service units where the patient is treated (and the insurance is billed). And, unlike IHS funds, Medicaid is an entitlement. So if a person is eligible, the money follows.

Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in America, insuring one in five adults, and many with complex and long-term chronic care needs. The Trump administration and many state legislatures controlled by Republicans see Medicaid as a welfare program. While most Democrats view it simply as a public health insurance program.

Work rules are particularly challenging for Indian Country. Unlike other Medicaid programs, patients in the Indian health system will still be eligible to receive basic care. So stricter rules will mean fewer people will sign up for Medicaid and the Indian Health Service — already significantly underfunded — will have to pick up the extra costs from existing appropriations. That will result in less money, and fewer healthcare services, across the board.

I am Mark Trahant.

Ryan’s Big Idea – Closing out the Term

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Speaker Paul Ryan greeting President Donald J. Trump at the State of the Union.  (Photo via Speaker.gov)

Paul Ryan came to Washington to blow up Washington. He was first elected to represent his Wisconsin district at 28 years old. He campaigned over his career for a federal government that should shrink dramatically, spend far less, that taxes should be low, and that the Republicans should be the party of big ideas.

This is Trahant Reports.

Ryan announced last week that he will not run for re-election. He says he will complete his term as Speaker, but even that’s not certain. He faces pressure to step down early, so another Republican can lead the party’s team into the November election.

Speaker Ryan leaves behind a legacy. He did get his tax cuts and substantial changes in the regulatory framework. But he also delivered more federal spending than ever. The deficit will hit $804 billion this year (a jump of 21 percent in a single year) and exceed $1 trillion by 2020. A new report by the Congressional Budget Office, says that a decade from now the total debt will be larger than the entire economy.

The problem for Ryan, like Speaker John Boehner before him, is that the Republican majority is nearly impossible to govern. The only way for Congress to function, to actually pass a budget, is to build a coalition that includes most Republicans, some Democrats, and work with a similar coalition in the Senate. That often means spending more money. That’s not the Congress — and the party of big ideas — that Ryan had once imagined.

President Donald J. Trump has made that process worse. He caters to the bloc in Congress that cares little about actually governing. Chaos is fine. Big ideas, not so much.

Ryan wanted to reform government. A couple of years ago he proposed a reform of the Indian Health Service by “giving choices to American Indians.” His idea was to have the government issue vouchers for Indian health, outside the system. “Not only will this give American Indians more choice in where they receive care,” the Ryan plan promised. “It will challenge Indian health facilities to provide the best care possible to American Indians.”

Of course that voucher system would have cost less. The Ryan plan also included a provision for a Native American Health Savings Account so individual tribal members could buy their own healthcare services (Never mind that healthcare is a treaty right).
Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma and a Chickasaw Nation citizen, said Ryan will be missed in Congress. “He is not only the best Speaker I’ve had the opportunity to serve with, he’s also the finest person. Even Paul’s political opponents readily concede that he’s a person of absolute integrity, deep sincerity and of profound decency.”

I am Mark Trahant.

Trade Wars: Who are the Casualties?

By

The growing trade war with China is politics all mixed up. It’s an issue that divides many Republicans from President Donald J. Trump. And some of the president’s most strident supporters from coal companies to farmers are not happy with his policy.

This is Trahant Reports.

But make no mistake: The outcome (when it finally occurs) is a dollar-and-cents issue that will impact the daily lives of Native people, tribal governments, and businesses. Why? A tariff is a tax.

It’s a tax bill that’s paid every time someone buys a product that’s on a country’s tariff list. And so now many agriculture products, such as soybeans, will be taxed by China.

According to the National Congress of American Indians: “Agriculture is increasingly important to Native economies, representing the economic backbone of more than 200 tribal communities and witnessing an 88 percent increase in the number of American Indian farmers between 2002 and 2007. According to the Census of Agriculture, in 2007 annual Indian agriculture production exceeded $1.4 billion in raw agriculture products.”

Agriculture represents one risk in a trade war.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, wrote last month, “In general, free trade contributes to our national prosperity as well. However, having open markets is not an invitation for others to take advantage of us.” Cole, who is Chickasaw, called tariffs bad news for his state.

Cole told CNBC Friday that “outside of agricultural areas” the trade issue is a net plus because “somebody is finally doing something about China, which has simply ripped us off since we let them in” the World Trade Organization.

A potential trade war also has huge implications for global warming. The Trump administration, of course, has attacked virtually every climate policy from the past administration. And, the first action in this trade dispute involved solar panels. Now the trade war could upend extractive industries, especially coal.

China has not yet levied a tariff on coal, but it’s widely expected because of the industry’s ties to President Trump. China is the world’s largest importer of coal.

Tribes that mine coal, such as the Crow Nation in Montana, have looked toward China and Asian markets as a way to make coal great again. But other tribes along the shipping route, such as the Lummi Nation in Washington, see dirty coal trains bound for Asia as a threat to salmon and their treaty rights.

There is a connection between global trade and global warming. A report by United Nations says this issue presents an “important policy conundrum: behind every trade transaction there is a production process and, in turn, associated greenhouse gas emissions. Policies that modify trade (trade policies) can influence emissions, while policies for reducing emissions (climate change policies) can also influence trade.”

So a trade war could slow commerce — and the emissions that cause global warming. I am Mark Trahant.

Trump’s New Budget

By

National Economic Council discusses White House infrastructure plan. (White House photo)

Budgets are statements: This is what “we” care about.  It’s money that reveals priorities. The “we” could be, and ought to be, the country. Or the “we” could be a presidential administration that’s really not equipped to govern.

This is Trahant Reports.

President Donald J. Trump’s budget this year, like last year, expresses the administration’s desire to cut federal Indian programs, wipe out public broadcasting, end student loan forgiveness, starve Medicaid and Medicare, food stamps, housing programs, and generally, limit just about every federal program that serves poor people.

As Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters: “This is a messaging document.”

And what a message. Rich people face tough times so they deserve a huge tax cut. Poor people are poor because of their own failures. And more money is needed for a wall that’s not needed, for the largest military in the world, and the Republicans no longer believe that deficits matter.

Mulvaney has a different version. Here is what he says are the messages.

“Number one, you don’t have to spend all of this money, Congress.  But if you do, here is how we would prefer to see you spend it,” he said.

Now the action is in Congress. But even Republicans on Capitol Hill know that this budget cannot be. It’s chaos as numbers. Because for this proposal would become law only if you overwrite the current spending bill. Then, the House and Senate would have to agree on a budget. And that’s unlikely. As I have said before there are lots of votes against any budget but not enough votes to pass any budget.

The most popular part of the president’s budget is infrastructure spending. But most of his plan would be funding from state, local, and tribal governments. That’s a problem. Congress will not be easy to follow this approach, especially in an election year. Members of Congress love announcing new roads and other projects. It means jobs back home.

In theory infrastructure spending should be easy. This is an area where Republicans and Democrats agree (actually anyone who looks at the crumbling state of infrastructure can figure this one out). But in Congress? We shall see.

At the State of the Indian Nations Monday, National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel said: “Tribal infrastructure is American infrastructure. In 2018, NO infrastructure bill should pass, UNLESS it includes Indian Country’s priorities.”

This 2019 presidential budget will accomplish one thing: It will serve as a mile post for the fall election. And the messages are clear for both Republicans and Democrats.

I am Mark Trahant.

State of Indian Nations

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What are the state of 573 tribal nations? Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, gives his answer at the Newseum in Washington, DC.

This is Trahant Reports.

The State of the Union is a tradition in Washington. Its roots are in the Constitution as a presidential report to Congress. Members of Congress, the executive branch, and the Supreme Court listen to the words of every president since FDR in an annual report. (Before that there was a presidential message to Congress but some presidents sent it in writing while others went to the Congress.)

These days Indian Country is rarely mentioned in a formal State of the Union. But in July 1970  President Richard Nixon’s sent a special message to Congress on Indian affairs, announcing his policy on self-determination without termination.

But that was rare exception. And not the official State of the Union. So 15 years ago the National Congress of American Indians decided to deliver an annual message about tribal priorities for the Congress and the administration.

On Feb. 12, President Keel called this “an important moment. Our governments and our communities stand on high alert.” He said the echoes of America’s colonial past have continued to reverberate with disparaging rhetoric, failed policies, and, a disregard for the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations.

The recent tax legislation, for example, did not include Indian Country. Keel said tribal leaders met with members of Congress often. He said tribes offered thoughtful, pragmatic, deficit-neutral policy proposals. “But the bill came together in a flurry. And when the dust settled, Indian Country’s top priorities were absent from the version the President signed in December,” Keel said. “That is completely unacceptable.”

There are two pending pieces of legislation that still wait for a tribal voice — the most recent farm bill and a plan for national infrastructure spending. Keel said: “From wild rice and bison to salmon and blueberries, traditional Native foods are not only our way of life but are an economic driver too. Indian agriculture is a 3.2 billion-dollar industry, supporting nearly 72,000 jobs in Indian Country.” So, he added, no farm bill should pass  unless it also listens to and strengthen Indian Country’s agricultural potential.

Keel had a similar message on infrastructure, saying tribal infrastructure is American infrastructure.

The country, and Indian country, are better off when there is a recognition of the historic tribal-federal relationship, and when there is a true partnership of consultation between tribes and the federal government.

The State of Indian Nations is more than a tribal wish list. It’s an opportunity for a discourse about where Indian Country stands in the American government. And what the prospects are for improvement. The annual event draws members of Congress, the administration, and the public through a live broadcast. It’s become an important voice reminding the country what could be.

President Keel’s conclusion: “As it has been for thousands of years, the state of Indian nations is strong…. and everlasting.”

I am Mark Trahant.

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