I urge my colleagues to support this call for a formal apology and thank these young leaders for their advocacy.

We need to ensure that we are protecting the rights of Native children and families.

As a commissioner in Maine, Chief Francis was right, everything led back to boarding school, everything, because that is where the first disruption took place of our families.

We often hear in our communities, people will say, we lost our language. I say, no, we did not lose it; it was taken.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, Vice Chair Murkowski, thank you both for holding this important hearing today to examine the legacy of Federal Indian boarding school policies and to support legislation that moves us in the right…

The United States poured enormous resources into Federal Indian boarding schools. By comparison, the Federal Government has invested less than $400 million in recouping the very Native American languages they tried so hard to eradicate…

It does remind us that there is something that happens when the truth is spoken. It changes minds and changes hearts.

While I very much respect that people keep telling me 99.8 percent of control burns are always under control, I am more interested in the 0.2 percent that destroyed our state.

Dr. Walensky, will you commit to reconsidering CDC guidelines for the fourth COVID-19 shot to account for the risks of people fleeing from natural disasters who are forced into compact living conditions?

I appreciate that, Dr. Walensky. Madam Chair, as my time expires, I have a couple of questions also made into the record.

I remind them that this fire was started by the U.S. Government. It was a controlled burn started by Federal employees, by the U.S. Forest Service.

When the supply chain fails and essentials are not available, it is not merely an inconvenience, but a crisis for those living in rural and underserved communities.