Pete Domenici: “for a period of about 4 years, I was joined with bipartisan letters that we sent to the President of the United States…”

“for a period of about 4 years, I was joined with bipartisan letters that we sent to the President of the United States and to the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs saying: Will you please put in your budget a 5- or 6-year proposal to pay for the great backlog we have in Indian school construction which, I repeat, only we can make. It is not a question of somebody being generous or kind in building an Indian school. These are Indian schools we own, we operate, and we pay the teachers--we being the United States of America. The President, after a visit--not the last visit he made to Indian country which was to New Mexico, but one just before that, which was his first visit to Indian country as a President--came back and talked about doing something to enhance economic development--that is, jobs-- for Indian people. I was very privileged to be at the White House and discuss the issue with him personally, after which time we joined with a bipartisan group of Senators and put together a package that strengthened our construction and maintenance of schools, that did somewhat more for Indian health and a few other things. The aftermath of that was the introduction of a bill, and the aftermath of that is the bill on the floor which increases funding in these very important areas.”