Steve Watkins: “I seldom, rise on the floor. It bothers me tonight that I see on both sides that we are questioning the motive of our…”

“I seldom, rise on the floor. It bothers me tonight that I see on both sides that we are questioning the motive of our members and hear words that are being used about our Native Americans. Yes, I am from Oklahoma, basically meaning the home of the red man; Oklahoma, the State that has 22 percent of all Native Americans in this country. I grew up with the Choctaw Indians in dirt-poor poverty. I was the only non-Indian on the baseball team. I was the minority but did not know it. All the rest of them were Native Americans. I gave eulogies at several of my Native American classmates' funerals, so please do not question the motive of people. I have witnessed alcoholism among my Native Americans and their families. I was raised with them. Do not judge the motives of people. Yes, this budget is probably short in total dollars. There could be a lot more done. But right now as we stand before you we must make a decision on this amendment. I was not in appropriations. The amendment before us basically is whether we use $22 million for Indian health service.”