Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to shift gears for just a moment. Colleagues know that I am the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. I have been on this committee since I came to the Senate, and it is a position that I hold very close. I represent a constituency of Alaskan Natives back in my home State. We have over one-half the Tribes in the United States of America, and so my responsibility to them as their Federal representative is one, again, that I take very, very seriously. There has been a fair amount of confusion, I think, uncertainty that has been brought about by many of the Executive orders, some of the Federal actions that we have seen, whether it is funding freezes or programs that are being put on pause. But one area that I want to make very, very clear to colleagues, as I have sought to make clear to those who are part of the incoming administration, that when we are speaking about our Indian Tribes and our Tribal programs, and the Federal funding that they receive, they do not fall into the category, if you will, of diversity, equity, inclusion. And so when the Executive order was announced in the very first week of the Trump administration, there was confusion as to whether or not Indian and Tribal programs were impacted, and in that confusion, I think, a lot of undue stress and anxiety. And so I immediately asked the OMB--I met with Mr.…”