It is an honor and privilege for me to be here with you today.

Congress expanded the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address some of the unique barriers to broadband buildout on Tribal lands by providing an additional $2 billion to the program.

Okay. Let me shift gears to over the course of the last year, the Albuquerque area IHS System closed two hospital intensive care units.

I hope this committee will look closely at this because you know, we are spreading the same resources over more and more tribal THPO offices.

I believe these closures would have a dire impact on veterans in some of the areas that I'm most familiar with.

How can we get the Tribal Historic Preservation Offices the resources that they need to fully protect their communities' sacred spaces?

I agree that providing care for veterans should not come at the expense of other critical domestic programs.

As you know, Congress included a total of $3.5 billion for the IHS Sanitation and Facilities Account to be spent over the next 5 years in the infrastructure law.

I think it is going to break new ground, and we are going to be able to do some really good projects that should have been addressed decades ago.

What I don't want to see that Pueblos and tribes do not get any money in New Mexico or qualify for any grants because they didn't have that support or that technical expertise.

I just think it is a horrible misappropriation of focus at a time when we have such pressing needs.

So you're planning to largely just split it up equally over the 5 years?

The work we do would not be possible without your leadership and support.

I think it is important for the Committee to know what the staffing need would be in order to complete these.

Climate change is already here, it's already on the ground, it's already impacting our communities.

In New Mexico we have a saying that 'agua es vida,' water is life because it is the vital resource in the arid Southwest upon which everything else depends.

Climate action cannot wait, and we must take decisive action now to address both the causes of climate change and its impacts.

That's why I introduced the Colorectal Cancer Detection Act, which would increase access to blood-based screening tests.