Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I will begin by thanking Ranking Member Cheney and Congresswoman Haaland for their support and for their warm words of support for this measure. They are right. H.R. 895 is about fairness; it is about equity; and it is about improving Tribal school outcomes across this country. Now, I don't know that it matters where you live in this country, and I don't know that it matters where you are in the political spectrum, it seems like one of the things you should be able to recognize is that one of our most difficult and most important challenges in this country is ensuring quality education for our Native students. Unintentionally, a few years ago, Congress complicated those efforts. We passed the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act. As a part of that act, we made it clear that section 638 Tribal schools could access the Federal employee health insurance benefits. But we denied that same treatment--again, unintentionally--for the section 297 schools. In the decade since we have done that, millions of dollars have flown out of the classroom and, instead, toward these health insurance benefits. Our bill, my bill, the Tribal School Federal Insurance Parity Act, fixes that oversight, closes that loophole, and addresses this problem without costing our Federal Government a nickel. I have visited Tribal grant schools, most recently just a few weeks ago. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, Superintendent Whirlwind Horse and her team work hard every single day.…”