What is the rationale between--with just enacted levels when it comes to MMIW across the country?

As you well know we have a public safety issue in the State of Alaska, some have described it as a crisis.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

I have expressed some concern, again, about the pace of processing the individual permits.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Assistant Secretary, we have had a conversation in other committees as well, about the budget proposal to shift the Office of Subsistence Management, OSM, from Fish and Wildlife to BIA.

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