Pete Domenici: “I note that over the past 10 or 12 days there has been a very concerted effort on the part of the White House to contact…”

“I note that over the past 10 or 12 days there has been a very concerted effort on the part of the White House to contact the Indian people of this country through their leaders. They had a summit at the White House. They had a listening session for the Indian leaders of the country in the State of New Mexico in the city of Albuquerque, and the various Cabinet people attended. I would like to make a point that in this President's budget, if we do not change it in the appropriations process, one of the most important functions of government in behalf of the Indian, Indian health, was rather dramatically cut--as a matter of fact, about $244 billion less than is required just to maintain the current efforts and put personnel in the new facilities like the one at Ship Rock, NM. In this budget resolution, while we cannot guarantee that moneys will be added to that category of expenditures by allocating less money to some of the President's $8.6 billion in new programs or add-on programs, we have expressed a sense of the Senate, which is now a sense of the Congress, that the Indian health programs should not be cut and should be retained at the level of last year, plus added personnel to maintain the facilities. I just want to make that point because it has a lot to do with some of the problems in Indian country regarding children and families.”