Not Invisible Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from North Dakota (Mr. Armstrong) for yielding to me on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support a bipartisan piece of legislation that will finally foster progress toward addressing the crisis that we know is plaguing our Native communities across the country.

Despite unparalleled rates of violence, there is still no reliable way of knowing how many indigenous women go missing each year nor whose fate hangs in the balance of an unsolved murder case.

My congressional district in central Washington has been particularly affected by this crisis. Since the year 2013, there have been 13 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women on or around the Yakama Reservation alone.

This number accounts only for the land surrounding one of the 29 federally recognized Tribes in Washington State, let alone the hundreds of others across the country. This information is available only due to the efforts and activism of local communities.

Tribal and community leaders have held multiple marches, vigils, and community forums to raise awareness and demand action.

The diligent reporting of the Yakima Herald-Republic, our local newspaper, has highlighted the response and activism on the ground by creating an online hub to list open cases involving missing and murdered women and providing resources for the community to report such disappearances.

Recently passed State laws in Olympia have enhanced data collection and improved communication between Tribal leaders, law enforcement, and various State agencies.

These local leaders have given a voice to the crisis, and I am heartened to see that the Federal Government is finally taking action. For too long, indigenous women and Native communities have faced this crisis all alone and suffered in silence.

The Trump administration has worked to bring this crisis to light, creating an interagency task force between the Departments of Justice and the Interior called Operation Lady Justice.

I was proud to welcome Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney to central Washington last December, where she highlighted the administration's effort to deliver justice to Native American communities. But Secretary Sweeney echoed the concerns of local leaders and myself by pointing out the need for congressional action.

By sending this bill to President Trump's desk, we are signaling that we have heard them and that they are no longer invisible.

As Congress takes long-overdue action to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Not Invisible Act.

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