Dusty Johnson: “the amendment that is being offered is with the cooperation of Chairman Domenici. It is cosponsored by Senators Daschle…”

“the amendment that is being offered is with the cooperation of Chairman Domenici. It is cosponsored by Senators Daschle, Dorgan, Bingaman, Wellstone, McCain, Kohl, Conrad and Murray, and it is a sense-of-the-Senate resolution, which is designed to reflect on the crisis that we have with Indian school funding in the United States today. This is an issue that Chairman Domenici has shared with me as a matter of great concern on the Senate Budget Committee. We recognize the budget resolution assumes $166 million will be allocated for Indian school repair work and replacement work. However, we recognize this is part of the budget resolution and is not binding on the Appropriations Committee. There is a need to raise the visibility of the very real crisis that exists in terms of BIA school funding and replacement needs. That is the purpose of this sense of the Senate. The BIA manages some 143 schools within the United States. It is a Federal responsibility. This is not a question of whether the Federal Government ought to be involved in these schools or not. In this instance, these schools are Federal property and it is a Federal responsibility. We have a repair and replacement backlog now of about $754 million. The rate at which we have been replacing some 60 schools that currently are in need of replacement has been at about one per year. So obviously the backlog is getting larger and larger as we go about this kind of underfunded replacement and renovation.”