Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008
Floor Speech
TOM LANTOS AND HENRY J. HYDE UNITED STATES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS, AND MALARIA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - July 16, 2008)
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AMENDMENT NO. 5076
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 5076, and I ask unanimous consent that Senators Clinton, Dorgan, and Murkowski be added as cosponsors of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The pending amendment is set aside. The clerk will report the amendment.
The bill clerk read as follows:
The Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Thune], for himself Mr. Kyl, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Tester, Mr. Domenici, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Dorgan, and Ms. Murkowski, proposes an amendment numbered 5076.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To provide for an emergency plan for Indian safety and health)
In section 401(a), strike ``$50,000,000,000'' and insert ``$48,000,000,000''.
At the end, add the following:
TITLE VI--EMERGENCY PLAN FOR INDIAN SAFETY AND HEALTH
SEC. 601. EMERGENCY PLAN FOR INDIAN SAFETY AND HEALTH.
(a) Establishment of Fund.--There is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund, to be known as the ``Emergency Fund for Indian Safety and Health'' (referred to in this section as the ``Fund''), consisting of such amounts as are appropriated to the Fund under subsection (b).
(b) Transfers to Fund.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund, out of funds of the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $2,000,000,000 for the 5-year period beginning on October 1, 2008.
(2) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.--Amounts deposited in the Fund under this section shall--
(A) be made available without further appropriation;
(B) be in addition to amounts made available under any other provision of law; and
(C) remain available until expended.
(c) Expenditures From Fund.--On request by the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the Fund to the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as appropriate, such amounts as the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines to be necessary to carry out the emergency plan under subsection (f).
(d) Transfers of Amounts.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--The amounts required to be transferred to the Fund under this section shall be transferred at least monthly from the general fund of the Treasury to the Fund on the basis of estimates made by the Secretary of the Treasury.
(2) ADJUSTMENTS.--Proper adjustment shall be made in amounts subsequently transferred to the extent prior estimates were in excess of or less than the amounts required to be transferred.
(e) Remaining Amounts.--Any amounts remaining in the Fund on September 30 of an applicable fiscal year may be used by the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out the emergency plan under subsection (f) for any subsequent fiscal year.
(f) Emergency Plan.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with Indian tribes (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)), shall jointly establish an emergency plan that addresses law enforcement and water needs of Indian tribes under which, for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2019, of amounts in the Fund--
(1) the Attorney General shall use--
(A) 25 percent for the construction, rehabilitation, and replacement of Federal Indian detention facilities;
(B) 2.5 percent to investigate and prosecute crimes in Indian country (as defined in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code);
(C) 1.5 percent for use by the Office of Justice Programs for Indian and Alaska Native programs; and
(D) 1 percent to provide assistance to--
(i) parties to cross-deputization or other cooperative agreements between State or local governments and Indian tribes (as defined in section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a)) carrying out law enforcement activities in Indian country; and
(ii) the State of Alaska (including political subdivisions of that State) for carrying out the Village Public Safety Officer Program and law enforcement activities on Alaska Native land (as defined in section 3 of Public Law 103-399 (25 U.S.C. 3902));
(2) the Secretary of the Interior shall--
(A) deposit 20 percent in the public safety and justice account of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for use by the Office of Justice Services of the Bureau in providing law enforcement or detention services, directly or through contracts or compacts with Indian tribes under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.); and
(B) use 45 percent to implement requirements of Indian water settlement agreements that are approved by Congress (or the legislation to implement such an agreement) under which the United States shall plan, design, rehabilitate, or construct, or provide financial assistance for the planning, design, rehabilitation, or construction of, water supply or delivery infrastructure that will serve an Indian tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)); and
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Indian Health Service, shall use 5 percent to provide domestic and community sanitation facilities serving members of Indian tribes (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)) pursuant to section 7 of the Act of August 5, 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2004a), directly or through contracts or compacts with Indian tribes under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.).
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the amendment I called up and made pending, 5076, is an amendment we have been working on for some time. The Senator from North Dakota, Senator Dorgan, is going to offer a second-degree amendment to this, but what I wish to simply say, by way of speaking to the amendment, is this is an important piece of legislation. No one can deny that since its enactment in 2003, PEPFAR has helped provide basic medical care and other services to those in need throughout Africa and around the world. There is clearly still a need for many of these services worldwide, and I applaud the United States for the leadership it has taken in combating HIV/AIDS overseas. Unfortunately, there are also many individuals in America who are struggling to meet many of the basic standards of living, including many Native Americans, with whom the United States has a trust responsibility.
My bipartisan amendment, which has six cosponsors, seeks to ensure we do not turn our backs on these critical domestic needs by redirecting $2 billion in authorization, or 4 percent of the overall cost of the bill, over the next 5 years to tribal public safety, health, and water projects. This modest redirection will still allow for PEPFAR authorization levels over three times their current amount, or $18 billion over the President's request, while at the same time starting to address some very critical needs here at home. Unfortunately, many of these needs are great. Nationwide, 1 percent of the U.S. population does not have safe and adequate water for drinking and sanitation. On our Nation's Indian reservations this number climbs to an average of 11 percent, and in the worst part of Indian country that number is 35 percent. This lack of reliable, safe water leads to high incidence of disease and infection. The Indian Health Service has estimated that for each $1 it spends on safe drinking water and sewage systems, it gets a twentyfold return in health benefits. The IHS estimates that in order to provide all Native Americans with safe drinking water and sewage systems in their home, they would need over $2.3 billion. What this amendment does is it starts to address that need by authorizing $1 billion for that important critical infrastructure need.
When it comes to the issue of health care--and that is where the second-degree amendment of the Senator from North Dakota will add to what my amendment does--we have Native Americans who are three times as likely to die from diabetes as compared to the rest of the population. In fact, an individual who is served by the IHS is 6 1/2 times more likely to suffer an alcohol-related death than the general population. An individual served by IHS is 50 percent more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
In terms of my State of South Dakota, on the Oglala Sioux Reservation, the average life expectancy for males is 56 years. In Iraq it is 58, in Haiti it is 59, and in Ghana it is 60--all higher than right here in America on our Indian reservations.
In South Dakota, between 2000 and 2005, Native American infants were more than twice as likely to die as non-Native infants. In South Dakota, a recent survey found that 13 percent of Native Americans suffered from diabetes. That is twice the rate of the general population, where only 6 percent suffer from that disease.
With respect to public safety, which is essential, because without safety children cannot learn and economic development cannot occur, one out of every three Native American women, according to the national statistics, will be raped in their lifetime.
According to a recent Department of Interior report, tribal jails are so grossly insufficient when it comes to jail space that only half of the offenders who should be incarcerated are being put in jail. That same report found that constructing and rehabilitating only those detention centers that are most in need will cost $8.4 billion.
Again, when you drill down to my State of South Dakota, the South Dakota Attorney General just released a new study on tribal criminal justice statistics this week, and according to that study homicide rates on South Dakota reservations are almost 10 times higher than those found in the rest of South Dakota. Forcible rapes on South Dakota reservations are seven times higher than those found in the rest of South Dakota.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has a crime rate six times higher than the rest of the country. This crime rate places them in the top 15 for reservations nationwide, which is a drop from last year's rating, which had them in the top 10. Unfortunately, this drop has nothing to do with improving public safety on Standing Rock but instead is because of worsening crime rates and conditions on other reservations.
By way of example, some of these critical unmet needs have actual consequences in the day-to-day operations of tribal courts and law enforcement, and I want to point out one example from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which borders South Dakota and North Dakota.
Earlier this year, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation had six police officers to patrol a reservation the size of Connecticut. Now that means that during any given shift, there was only one officer on duty. One day in particular, the only dispatcher on the reservation was out. That left one police officer to act both as a first responder and also as the dispatcher. Not only did this directly impact the officer's ability to patrol and respond to emergencies, it also prevented him from appearing in tribal court to testify at a criminal trial.
In the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court there was another example of a tribal prosecutor who was scheduled to attend court proceedings that day but who didn't appear in court that morning. Being somewhat alarmed by this, the tribal judge sent a court employee to the police department to ensure that the prosecutor was not hurt or in an accident. Once it was clear that the prosecutor had not been injured, but instead just did not make it to court that day, all cases scheduled had to be dismissed because no replacement prosecutor was available. Cases that were dismissed included sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and DUIs.
Again, what this amendment does, very simply, is it redirects $2 billion of the $50 billion that would be authorized under this bill for PEPFAR--$1 billion to an emergency plan for Indian public safety, and $1 billion to clean water programs--and then, as I said earlier, by way of a second-degree amendment that will be offered by the Senator from North Dakota, $250 million to health care.
Within 1 year, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Interior, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish an emergency plan to address law enforcement and drinking water needs of Indian tribes.
Specifically, the amendment requires the authorization to be spread equally between public safety and water projects as follows: $750 million for public safety, of which $370 million would be used for detention facility construction, rehabilitation, and replacement. That is through the Department of Justice; $310 million for the BIA's Public Safety and Justice Account, which funds tribal police and courts; $30 million for investigations and prosecutions of crimes in Indian Country, which includes the U.S. attorneys and FBI; and $30 million would be used by the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs for Indian and Alaska Native programs. Finally, $10 million for cross-deputization or other cooperative agreements between State or local governments and Indian tribes and $250 million for health care, which will be split, as the Director of Indian Health Services determines, between contract health services, construction and rehabilitation of Indian health facilities and domestic and community sanitation facilities serving Indian tribes, and, as I said, $1 billion for water projects which will be used to implement Indian water supply projects approved by the Congress.
We have been working now the last several days on this amendment. I thank my colleagues who have been involved with that. Senator Kyl is a cosponsor of this amendment. Last week he and I worked to put this amendment together, to file it. Subsequent to that, I began to work with Senator Dorgan, who chairs the Indian Affairs Committee in the Senate, trying to get sort of a bipartisan agreement we could proceed on that included not only water development and law enforcement but also Indian health services.
I also thank Senator Biden and Senator Lugar, the managers of the bill, for their cooperation on this, in making it possible for us to proceed to a vote and actually to do something meaningful to address the very desperate and acute needs that exist across this country on America's Indian reservations.
Some of the statistics I have quoted show the needs are very real. In the area of law enforcement and public safety, we have a crisis across this country when it comes to making sure we meet the needs of Native Americans living on our reservations--that they can live with basic public safety and security, that they have access to basic infrastructure such as water and health care.
Those are all things this amendment is designed to address, and it does it in a way that is consistent, I believe, with the purpose and intention of the underlying bill, which is to provide many of these same services to those in Africa. As I said earlier, I believe it is critically important that in the context of addressing those needs, we address the very important needs at home, in our own backyard. In South Dakota, we have nine tribes. In many of our reservations, the poverty rates and the degree of hopelessness and despair that exists on the reservations comes back to these very issues. It comes back to a lack of infrastructure, it comes back to the need for basic public safety and security, and it comes back to the need for critical health care services that are often unmet on America's Indian reservations.
I thank my colleagues for working with me. I thank those who have cosponsored the amendment and the managers of the bill for working with us to put it in a form that could be accepted. I hope as it proceeds to the House--as indicated in conversations and discussions with the chairman of the committee last night--that we will be able to retain the amendment when it gets to that point in the process.
Again, I offered the amendment, got it pending, and I know the Senator from North Dakota, my colleague, has some remarks he wants to make with regard to his amendment and his second degree. At this point, I yield the floor to allow him to make those observations.
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Mr. THUNE. Before we leave the discussion, I want to thank the chairman of the committee, the Senator from Delaware, for his willingness to work with us. And we did have some discussions last night privately about what happens as this proceeds to the House.
I appreciate his comments for the Record today and his commitment to work with us to see that it is retained when the bill moves forward to the House.
I want to thank the Senator from Indiana as well, Mr. Lugar, for his willingness to work with us to accept this amendment. I do not disagree for a minute about the importance of the underlying bill. I do believe, as I stated earlier, however, that there are some incredibly critical needs in this country. And, of course, the amendment addresses law enforcement, infrastructure needs with respect to water development, and also health care.
But the law enforcement component is something on which I have been very active for some time. As I mentioned, we have some tremendous needs. If you go back to 1870, there are photos of that time, there is a photo at the tribal headquarters at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in the 1870s, a vintage photo of a number of cops on the reservation. There were 28 of them. We are down now to eight or nine cops, and we have a responsibility, I believe, for public safety and security when it comes to our reservations and our tribal leaders who work with us. They have advocated coming and requesting additional assistance in funding to address law enforcement needs on the reservations.
The Senator from Delaware had indicated last night, as well, a willingness to work with us not only on this piece of legislation but additional efforts to solidify and reinforce the commitment that we made to the people who live on reservations that we are indeed serious about law enforcement, about providing basic levels of public safety and security.
So I thank him for his commitments and look forward to working with him and with the Senator from Indiana as this process moves forward.
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