Many of the new appointees will have some (or major) responsibilities that will affect Indian Country. We’re keeping an eye on nominations.
The new administration is engaged in identifying leadership for federal agencies, and the Senate will need to approve most of these nominations. Several of the offices being considered will have a lot of impact in Indian Country – notably the Secretary of the Interior, the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Indian Education, the Director of the Indian Health Service and several others. Here are some updates on these posts:
Department of the Interior: Ryan Zinke has been nominated to be Secretary of the Department of the Interior. His confirmation seems likely, although the vote has been delayed until after the Presidents’ Day recess.
In 2014, Ryan Zinke was elected as Montana’s one representative in the House, so it has been possible to observe some of his priorities as they affect Indian country. According to the National Indian Health Board, Zinke supports the development of coal and natural gas resources, a position generally favored by tribes that hold such resources. In the past, he has opposed sales of public lands or transferring them to states, but early this year he voted to make such transfers cost free and therefore “budget-neutral,” easing transfers for resource development projects. In a Senate confirmation hearing, he urged that infrastructure repairs in national parks be given priority, to address a \$12.5 billion backlog of unsafe roads, bridges and other structures.
During the 114th Congress, Zinke was fairly involved with Montana tribes, working for approval of a water compact benefitting the Blackfeet tribe, and recognition of the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians, and supporting the Crow Nation’s plans for increased coal mining. He also supported bills to correct some oversights in the Affordable Care Act (applying the employer mandate to tribes, even though the tribes’ employees are covered by the Indian Health Service), and in the tax status of student loan repayments made by health professionals in the Indian Health Service.
As Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Zinke (or another nominee) will stand at the decision point between federal policies and Indian lands. Will the Department of the Interior respect tribal management of lands and resources over broader federal plans for infrastructure and resource development? Will the Department broker jurisdictional conflicts between states and tribes, to protect tribal sovereignty and indigenous hunting, fishing and gathering rights? Will the Department consult meaningfully with tribes when federally sanctioned projects impact or potentially threaten the safety of land and waterways, or the wildlife that these resources support?
Bureau of Indian Education. Just before the elections, then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell appointed Tony Dearman, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as director of the Bureau of Indian Education. The Director of BIE oversees 183 BIE schools, serving 42,000 Indian children. Dearman has come up through the ranks in the Bureau of Indian Education, and served most recently as the Associate Deputy Director for bureau-operated schools.
While a new Secretary of the Interior may decide make a different appointment, for now, Dearman steps into a challenging role. In addition to ongoing bureaucratic problems and persistently unacceptable conditions in Indian schools, the BIE is now being sued by a group of Havasupai students and their families who have grown tired of the poor quality of the education they receive through the BIE.
Indian Health Service. Chris Buchanan is now Acting Director of the Indian Health Service. He is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Known within the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps as Rear Admiral Buchanan, he has served for more than two decades as an environmental officer in Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Oklahoma City, and more recently as the Administrative Officer of Clinical Services for the Chickasaw Nation’s Division of Health in Ada, Oklahoma.
