Alex Padilla: “thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important bipartisan amendment. I want to thank Senators Lankford, Moran…”

“thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important bipartisan amendment. I want to thank Senators Lankford, Moran, Rounds, Schatz, Feinstein, and Smith for joining me in this effort. Tribal communities face grave and unjust disparities in access to all kinds of infrastructure, but the disparities and access to healthcare and health infrastructure are increasingly stark. This amendment is very simple. It is common sense, in my opinion. It is a technical fix that would allow urban Indian organizations to use the Indian Health Service funds that they already receive for infrastructure and facilities improvements. So I want to be clear. This amendment would not give urban Indian organizations more funding or take away funding from anybody else. It would simply give them additional flexibility to use the funding they already receive for necessary infrastructure improvements. Urban Indian organizations provide culturally competent care for over 70 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives who live in urban centers. Many of those served live in low-income, medically underserved areas. According to recent congressional testimony from the Indian Health Service, ``expanding the current authority to be consistent with the authority for other government contractors. . . .…”