Ben Ray Luján

Will you work with me to address USDA's past discriminatory practices and history of ineffective outreach to historically underserved populations?

The importance of having the full slate of leadership positions confirmed at USDA is essential to addressing the pressing issues facing the diverse populations that rely on USDA service.

Thank you, Chair Schatz, and Vice Chair Murkowski, for holding this hearing on the Response of Native Health Systems to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I applaud and appreciate the work you are doing to ensure that there is more acceptance and support on college campuses as well.

Your testimony highlights the importance of budget certainty and advance appropriations for IHS to advance health outcomes for Native communities.

We are going to be reintroducing that bill soon. It did not pass last year.

This is another area I hope we can have some success to identify the challenges that IHS faces to provide more granular vaccine data to States.

I think those are some great suggestions that I hope we can all think about as we look at how to make sure that we have enough flexibility.

I would like, Mr. Chair, for us to work together to find out why, and what is needed to do that.

Native Americans have faced significant challenges during this pandemic.

I am glad to report that now IAIA is among those tribal colleges and universities that have been able to vaccinate on campus.

I am grateful for the chance to work with Senator Murkowski and many others on this Committee to introduce the Tribal Health Data Improvement Act.

I was glad to see President Biden's Fiscal Year 2022 budget include an advance appropriation for IHS in 2023.

I am proud to note that the Navajo Area and Albuquerque Area IHS regions have distributed over 315,000 vaccines as of last week.

I believe the Congress can strengthen child nutrition programs to address this challenge in New Mexico and across the country.

It is a tax system that is not progressive. It is mildly progressive up to the very, very rich, and then becomes deeply regressive at the very top end.

Senator Tina Smith carried legislation in the Senate, I carried it in the House to address this issue.

I am on the side that does not consider pizza sauce a vegetable.

The American Rescue Plan that I voted for puts Americans on the right path to recovery.

But when the richest amongst us in America pay the lowest rates, the richest amongst us have over $50,000 more every year from the 2017 tax bill, the Republicans' tax plan cost Americans $1.8 trillion and largely benefited the largest…

This is a one-time payment in helping New Mexico families who struggle to get a car, to safely look for work, to pay for rent, or even to get food on the table for their children.

We are seeing an effort right now that I'm actively a part of with the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

Data is a double-edged sword. When used correctly it can be an invaluable tool in focusing resources.

So every year someone making $1 million gets about $51,000 from that tax cut in 2017.

The current data infrastructure is not allowing for race and ethnicity to be collected.