Byron Dorgan: “BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota”

Tribes ceded close to 200 million acres of land during the treaty-making and removal periods prior to 1881.

I spent much of my time as Chairman of this committee focused on increasing funding for the IHS and trying to force some systemic changes in the bureaucracy that plagues that agency.

Senator Dorgan once said it takes four agencies and 49 steps. I think with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, we say it is seven agencies and 100 steps.

Obviously the future is education. We have a 50 percent high school dropout rate among Native American youth.