Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 1688, the Native American Child Protection Act. I first want to thank my friend and the dean of the House, Congressman Don Young, for working with me on this bill to ensure Native American and Alaska Native Tribes have the resources they need to keep Native children safe from abuse and neglect. Last week, I joined my colleagues in recognizing the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. When I was chairman of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States last Congress, I held the first-ever House committee hearing on MMIW, which paved the way for critical bills like the Not Invisible Act and Savanna's Act. At that hearing, we learned that, in addition to experiencing incredibly high murder rates, one in three Native women experience domestic violence in their lives. That statistic is even more horrifying when we recognize that, in 49 to 70 percent of cases, men who abuse their partners also abuse their children. Despite this fact, Tribes have never received the resources they need to address child abuse and neglect in their communities. My bill changes that. My bill will improve the prevention, treatment, investigation, and prosecution of child abuse and neglect in Indian Country by ensuring Tribes have the resources they need to take care of Native children in culturally competent ways.…”