I have already set up a team internally to start looking at how we might address that.

Thank you Chairman Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, and Members of the subcommittee for your leadership to reduce pollution in rivers, improve clean water access, safeguard public drinking water supplies.

I appreciate that. But our situation here is, at the end of 2022, the unobligated balance for IHS was $6 billion.

I think we have made upholding the Federal Government's trust responsibility a bipartisan priority, and it needs to continue to be so.

I would hope that you would agree that this proposed move is a reorganization that is defined by the Committee's reprogramming guidelines, and so therefore would be subject to Appropriations' Committee approval.

How do you respond, though, to just the reality that that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) creates a rural priority for subsistence based on where one lives.

I am glad you heard it directly. I am glad that you were impacted by it.

It is good to hear the Director speak so highly of the CHAP Program and the benefit that it can provide.

I would like to focus my first round of questions on contract support costs, and the 105[l]s.

It is my hope that we can continue our bipartisan tradition to prioritize the needs of Native communities.

Well, I really appreciate you saying that, because that is what folks are relying on.

I hope we are able to reconcile that. Let us know if we can be helpful.

What I am trying to drill down though, is whether or not there is legally defined reference definitions.

Ensuring adequate funding for PL280 states to address the inequities among Tribal courts remains a top concern of mine.

When I talk to communities in my state, they very much want to take on PFAS, but they are concerned about national regulations, and how they could, potentially, amount to new unfunded mandates.

I am going to continue to be a very zealous advocate for our Alaska Native communities, and in righting this.

I hope that you and your team will be able to explore ways in which CDS projects can be awarded faster.

This is an environmental injustice that we have discussed, it is an environmental injustice caused by the Federal Government.