Native American Legislative Update

We’ve just been through the opening year for the new administration and the 115th Congress. It was a year that was all about budgets and spending and taxes and health care. You probably noticed.

Since returning from its August recess, Congress has given most of its public attention to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, providing tax breaks for some of the more fortunate among us, and trying to agree on funding for the government, before it has to shut down.

The House is likely to pass its 8-bill appropriations package in early September, but the Senate might not finish all of its bills by the end of the month. So Congress will have to agree on at least a temporary spending measure, as the funds allocated in the FY2017 appropriations package will end on September 29.

The President proposes, but Congress disposes, one leading appropriator quipped when the President submitted a budget with deep cuts affecting Indian Country. With Congress on recess until September, there’s a moment to check in on how the committees have been responding to the President’s proposals. So far, funding looks better than might have been expected…

During the month of June, we posted several timely articles about the President’s proposed budget, action on appropriations bills, developments on the Bears Ears national monument, and the travels of the health care repeal/reform legislation through Congress. This Legislative Update gathers up those articles and offers a few additional updates.

The 115th Congress seemed a bit unsteady as it began the year with a new Administration in place at the other end of the National Mall. Even so, the congressional committees that deal with Native American Affairs have moved ahead, focusing on defining priorities – the President’s, the tribes’ and their own.

One month in, and Congress is diving into some complexities. Health care is not that easy to fix, it turns out. And budgets don’t balance when you throw in big spending with tax cuts. It’s all part of the reality check that visits each new Congress as it gets rolling.

A new era is definitely underway in Washington. There’s more bluster from the White House and some hurried activity in Congress (but that part is not new.) One dawning realization is that things really can’t change overnight – not for the better, and not for the worse.

Washington is waking up to the new year, taking the moment between the old and the new to assess and prepare. In this Update, we’ll look at what the 114th Congress finished, and what’s left undone.

Congress has reconvened after the elections. In the few remaining days of the “lame duck” session, several important issues are brewing for Native Americans.