It is important for me to make sure that people know we care about this issue.

We are incredibly grateful for the $7 million in the 2022 funding.

Tribes have been on this continent for millennia, for tens of thousands of years, and they know how to take care of our land.

the funding for tribal courts is so extremely important when you are dealing with, you know, holistic, wraparound approaches

In this time of climate change bearing down on us, indigenous knowledge about our natural world will be extremely valuable and important to all of us.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and offer this testimony, and I look forward to our continued partnership, and I look forward to the conversation that we are going to have today.

We are talking about literally relocating entire communities.

So I would like you to talk a little more about how living up to our trust and treaty responsibilities by treating these as mandatory will not only help right wrongs in Indian Country but will also help engage all the important work that you do side by side with this committee for all the other spending we need to do.

If you recall when I first came into Congress, shortly before I was sworn in, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights came out with the Broken Promises report and pretty much laid that out over decades and decades that tribes have been underfunded in so many ways.

Generally, if tribes don't have to worry about certain parts of their budgets, then they are free to work on things that they know will help their communities.

I understand the issue. I understand what tribes are saying, and I respect tribal laws.