Urban Indian Health Confer Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I thank my fellow Senators for consenting to the unanimous passage of S. 460, the Urban Indian Health Confer Act, which I introduced with Senator Mullin.

S. 460 requires the Department of Health and Human Services--HHS--and its sub-agencies to ``confer'' with Urban Indian Organizations--UIOs-- when Federal decision-making processes impact their delivery of healthcare services. I want to be clear that this bill does not equate formal Tribal consultation with an urban confer policy. Indeed, UIOs are not federally recognized Indian Tribes and do not have a government-to-government relationship with the federal government. But there is a demonstrated need for direct communication channels between Federal health agencies and UIOs. A HHS-wide confer policy for UIOs should reflect the unique needs of urban Native communities, not supplant--or in any way impact--the existing right of Tribal governments to formal consultation with HHS. It is simply good policy to provide the Federal Government with more tools, not less, to engage with and gather information from Native people wherever they live to improve their healthcare outcomes. S. 460 does just that.

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