WASHINGTON— The Senate passed a farm bill Monday by a vote of 66-27. The measure, S 954, would authorize agriculture and nutrition programs through fiscal 2018 and overhaul payments to farmers, saving $18 billion compared to current law.

The Senate and House will likely clash over funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest food aid program. The Senate measure would reduce SNAP by $4 billion.

The House measure, HR 1947, would cut SNAP by $20.5 billion by limiting the types of low-income benefits that would automatically qualify recipients for the program.

The Navajo Nation receives funding for nutritional assitance for low-income individuals and familes. 

The House is expected to take up their version of the bill as early as June 17. The current farm policy law, PL 112-24, expires Sept. 30.

The underlying legislation would expand the crop insurance program by $5 billion. Unlike the House measure, it would require participants to meet soil and water conservation requirements. As amended, it would reduce support for farmers earning more than $750,000 annually, following a study on the effects of implementation.

WASHINGTON—Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly praised President Obama's appointment of Keith Harper to be the next United States Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, with rank of ambassador at the U.S. Department of State. 

“His work on key cases such as the Cobell litigation and settlement underscores his committment toward ensuring that the human rights of all are promoted and protected," President Shelly said.

Harper is a partner at the law firm of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, where he is chair of the Native American Practice Group. He currently serves as a Member on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

Prior to his current role, Harper was senior staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund from 1995 to 2006. From 2007 to 2008, he served as a Supreme Court Justice on the Supreme Court of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and from 2001 to 2007, he served as an Appellate Justice on the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. From 1998 to 2001, he was an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, and from 1999 to 2001, he was a Professorial Lecturer at the American University Washington College of Law. Harper was a Law Clerk to the Honorable Lawrence W. Pierce on the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. He began his career as a Litigation Associate with Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York.

A member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Harper received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

WASHINGTON—Navajo Housing Authority officials addressed continued appropriations for fiscal 2014 and Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act Reauthorization  at congressional meetings in Washington D.C., June 3 and 4. 

Funding for fiscal 2014 is under discussion in the House and Senate. NAHASDA is set to expire Sept. 30, 2013.

NAHASDA is the main legal authority for the United States to fulfill its trust obligations to low-income American Indians and Alaska Natives to provide safe, decent and sanitary housing.

NHA met with the congressional appropriations staff, Navajo Nation’s Congressional Delegation and federal agencies.  NHA advocated for continued NHA funding through NAHASDA for fiscal 2014 and beyond.

The recently completed Navajo Nation Housing Needs Survey illustrates that the Navajo Nation has an $8.9 billion housing need.

Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chairwoman, SCIA and Senator Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, have both expressed strong support for NAHASDA reauthorization during this session of Congress.

WASHINGTON—During the week of June 3, 2013 several Navajo Nation health care representatives advocated before the Navajo Congressional Delegation, House and Senate Appropriation Committee members, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Indian Health Service in an effort to increase health care facilities construction funding for the Navajo Nation.

Currently, the House budget committee has set the 2014 budget at $967 billion, while the Senate has proposed $1.058 trillion. Some believe this difference in spending goals sets the stage for another continuing resolution for the 2014 federal budget.

With this budget backdrop the Navajo Nation Health Steering Committee members advocated for increased funding for the entire Health Care Facility Construction Priority list, which includes Kayenta, Winslow-Dilkon, Bodaway Gap, Pueblo Pintado and the Gallup Indian Medical Center. 

WASHINGTON— The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) May 6 by a vote of 69-27. The Senate MFA, S 743, would let states compel out-of-state retailers with annual remote sales that exceed $1 million to collect sales taxes on items delivered to the state.

The Senate MFA was amended prior to its passage to include tribal nations in the definition of the term 'state'; thereby permitting tribes to require e-commerce retailers to collect sales taxes on items delivered within the tribal nation.

The House MFA, HR 684, is a mirror of the Senate MFA pre-amendment; tribes are not included in the current House measure. The MFA’s future rests with the House Judiciary Committee, where there is much less support for the bill.

The MFA would reportedly help state governments collect $11 billion in lost tax revenue. The MFA is seen as an attempt to level the field between brick and motor stores and online retailers. Despite this, Amazon and Wal-Mart are spending major money to support MFA while eBay, which advocates for thousands of small merchants using its services for online selling, opposes the law and says, if passed, the MFA will be a regulatory nightmare.

Oil and Gas; Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands

On May 11, 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian land. Due to the complexity of the rule and the issues surrounding it, the BLM extended the comment period for 60 days beyond the end of the initial comment period. On May 24, 2013, the BLM published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment. Key issues in the revised proposed rule include: the use of an expanded set of cement evaluation tools to help ensure that usable water zones have been isolated and protected from contamination and more detailed guidance on how trade secrets claims will be handled. The revised proposed rule would also provide opportunities for the BLM to coordinate standards and processes with individual States and tribes to reduce administrative costs and improve efficiency. This notice extends the public comment period on the revised proposed rule for 60 days beyond the initial comment period.
This article has a comment period that ends in 74 days (08/23/2013)

Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program-Fiscal 2013 Inflation Factors for Public Housing Agency (PHA) Renewal Funding

The fiscal 2013 HUD Appropriations Act requires that HUD apply “an inflation factor as established by the Secretary, by notice published in the Federal Register” to adjust fiscal 2013 renewal funding for the Tenant-based Rental Assistance Program or Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program of each PHA. For fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2010, renewal funding was based on annual adjustment factors (AAFs), and HUD published separate Renewal Funding AAFs for this purpose. These Renewal Funding AAFs, based only on Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for rents and utilities, were replaced for fiscal 2012 by inflation factors that incorporate additional economic indices to measure the expected change in the per unit cost (PUC) for the HCV program. The methodology for fiscal 2013 remains unchanged from that used in fiscal 2012.

Internal Revenue Service

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13(44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning Indian Tribal Governments Treated as States for Certain Purposes.
This article has a comment period that ends in 62 days (07/01/2013)

WASHINGTON—Catherine Linden is the NNWO’s newest intern. Linden will be spending eight weeks in the nation’s capital interning and studying through The Fund for American Studies’ program the Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems.

“We are extremely happy to welcome Cate to the Navajo Nation Washington Office and extend our gratitude to the Fund for American Studies for placing Cate in our office for the summer,” NNWO executive director Clara Pratte said.

This is the second year the NNWO has worked with the Fund for American Studies. The Fund for American Studies Program partnership with local universities places outstanding college students who demonstrate superior academic and leadership excellence at top internship locations in Washington, DC.

Linden was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along with her sister and two brothers. Linden attended Oakland Catholic High School; an all girls private school that she believes greatly facilitated her independence and leadership. Upon graduation, Linden was accepted to Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and decided to enroll in the fall 2010 in the School of Arts and Sciences. This coming fall, Linden will be finishing up a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with minors in Environmental Business and Economics and Public Policy. Linden plans to graduate in the spring of 2014 with honors.

Linden’s interest in environmental awareness and accountability is reflected in her participation in the outdoors club and community cleanup projects on campus and around the city of New Brunswick. In addition, Linden is secretary of the Kappa Zeta Psi sorority. Her sisterhood works alongside the American Cancer Society and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund regularly. Linden has also engaged herself in politics throughout her time at Rutgers. She was an intern last spring and summer for former Rep. and Navy three-star Admiral Joe Sestak, D-Pa.

Linden is currently working on her senior thesis, which will examine the role of religion in politics. Following graduation, she plans to further her career in the political sphere either by attending law school or graduate school for planning and public policy.

WASHINGTON—Students from the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque, N.M. took time out of their schedule to visit the Navajo Nation Washington Office on Wednesday, June 5.

NNWO staff provided an overview of the function of the NNWO and its relationship to Congress, federal agencies, the administration and the Navajo Nation governnment.

Each year a group of new students from NACA visits the nation's capital each year.

This year the students met with New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich to learn about legislative issues affecting Indian Country and New Mexico.