WASHINGTON—In conjunction with a visit by President Obama to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, N.D., Friday, June 13, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued an order to restructure the Bureau of Indian Education.

The administration’s plan would redesign the BIE from being a direct provider of education services, toward an entity dedicated to building tribal capacity to run schools and enabling tribal sovereignty in education.

The redesign is the result of a report and recommendations from the American Indian Education Study Group that held extensive listening sessions with tribal leaders, educators and community members.

The redesign aligns the BIE more closely with the administration’s policy of self-determination for tribes. In other areas where tribes have assumed control of government services, the study group said, “delivery of those services often improves because tribes themselves know best the needs of their communities and are more likely to be held accountable.” Under the redesign, tribes that choose to run BIE-funded schools could be empowered to act more like local education agencies.

The study group was appointed by the secretaries of the Interior and Education and tasked with diagnosing, “the causes of too common academic failure in BIE-funded schools, which are some of the lowest performing schools in the country,” as well as “developing and implementing recommendations.”

The study group found that Native students face unique educational challenges including extreme poverty and geographic isolation. Native students who attend BIE schools consistently perform below students nationally, and behind their peers at public schools.

The redesign, which would be implemented in two phases, focuses on five areas of reform: Highly Effective Teachers and Principals; Agile Organizational Environment; Promote Educational Self-Determination for Tribal Nations; Comprehensive Supports Through Partnerships; and a Budget that Supports Capacity-Building Mission.

The BIE and the Department of Education have worked closely with the Navajo Nation on a number of initiatives in recent years aimed at improving education on the Navajo Nation and empowering more tribal sovereignty in education. These have included action on and support for the Navajo Nation’s alternative accountability workbook, and approval of a data-sharing agreement.

For more information contact Navajo Nation Washington Office government and legislative affairs associate Brian Quint at bquint@nnwo.org

WASHINGTON—On June 11, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., introduced HR 4841, a bill to improve the access of veterans to medical services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The bill would expand veterans’ access to care, hold VA officials accountable, and increase medical personnel and facilities.

HR 4841 also provides for improvement of collaboration between the VA and the Indian Health Service by directing the secretary of Veteran Affairs to raise awareness with the Indian Health Service that their facilities operating under contract or compact with IHS can enter into agreements with the VA for reimbursement of costs for health care provided to veterans.

HR 4841 has been referred to the House Budget, House Oversight and Government Reform, and House Veterans’ Affairs committees for consideration.

The bill mirrors S 2450 introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., which was introduced in response to issues surrounding the VA.

For more information contact Perry Riggs, government and legislative affairs associate at priggs@nnwo.org.

WASHINGTON—On June 9, President Obama signed an Executive Memorandum expanding eligibility for the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) federal student loan repayment program.

Total student loan debt owed by Americans is now $1.2 trillion. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 71 percent of students earning a bachelor’s degree graduate with student loan debt averaging $29,400.

The Memorandum signed by the president directs the secretary of Education to propose regulations within one year that “will allow additional students who borrowed Federal Direct Loans to cap their Federal student loan payments at 10 percent of their income.” It is estimated that up to $5 million more people who took out loans before October 2007 will be able to take advantage of the repayment program.

The PAYE limits monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of annual discretionary income, with any remaining debt forgiven after 20 years. To be eligible for the PAYE you must have a partial financial hardship determined by whether the amount you would owe under a standard 10 year repayment plan is greater than the amount you would pay under the PAYE.

Newly eligible borrowers will be able to take advantage of the new program by Dec. 31, 2015.

More information on the PAYE Program and other repayment programs may be found at https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans

WASHINGTON— Navajo Nation Vice President Rex Lee Jim was encouraged by the Navajo Nation Medicaid Feasibility Report published yesterday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which found that the Navajo Nation could operate its own Medicaid program to meet the needs of the Navajo Nation. 

“On behalf of the Navajo Nation, I am pleased to hear that the feasibility study report has finally cleared the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and was released to Congress. I am especially grateful to hear that a Navajo Nation Medicaid agency could be feasible,” said the vice president.

“There are about 85,000 Navajo Medicaid beneficiaries in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Currently, beneficiaries must apply through the state and sometimes travel outside the Navajo Nation to obtain services. By consolidating into one agency, this would eliminate confusion and create one source for the Navajo people,” added Vice President Jim.

For about fifteen years, many Navajo leaders and officials have consistently advocated for inclusion of a Navajo Nation Medicaid Agency provision in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act reauthorization, the landmark legislation that authorizes funding for American Indians and Alaska Natives health care. In March 2010, the Indian Health Care Improvement Reauthorization and Extension Act was made permanent. It included a congressionally mandated study to determine the feasibility of the Navajo Nation administer a Medicaid program for its own residents.

“This study will allow the Navajo Nation to further exercise, promote and advance tribal sovereignty. It will allow us to hire and train health administrators knowledgeable of the unique circumstances of the Nation and develop the capacity to help the Navajo people become a healthier Nation. We thank Congress expediting this study. We urge lawmakers to appropriate funds for the Navajo Nation to plan, design and implement this program,” stated Vice President Jim.

WASHINGTON—Navajo Nation Vice President Rex Lee Jim released the following statement about today’s Senate confirmation of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services secretary:

“We thank the Senate for their quick, bipartisan confirmation of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to this important post at the HHS. Myself and the other members of the HHS Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee look forward to working with Ms. Burwell and continuing the government-to-government relationship and implementation of meaningful tribal consultation policies established by outgoing Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Ms. Burwell has large shoes to fill following the great strides made by Secretary Sebelius. However, I have it on good authority that Ms. Burwell has some familiarity with the Navajo Nation. It is my intent to build upon that and, hopefully, introduce Ms. Burwell to the Navajo Nation and our citizens too.”

On June 4, Vice President Rex Lee Jim was elected chair of the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), which includes one primary representative from each of the 12 areas of the Indian Health Service. The STAC convened this week at the HHS headquarters in Washington.

STAC concluded following a final meeting with outgoing Sec. Sebelius shortly following the Senate confirmation, where she thanked tribal leaders for providing input on the programs and organizations within the HHS umbrella. She indicated that such input assisted her and her leadership to become acquainted with the unique and dire issues faced by Native peoples and how to better meet their needs.

Sebelius said she will meet with her successor, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, confirmed June 5, to discuss the importance of the HHS STAC effort.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—For the first time, a Native American has been selected as ambassador to the United Nations.

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly praised the U.S. Senate confirmation of Keith Harper. Harper is a tribal member of the Cherokee Nation.

“Keith’s confirmation is of great accomplishment for all of Indian Country,” President Shelly said. “He will be the first citizen of a federally recognized tribe to serve as a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council. 

“We congratulate Keith and his family on his confirmation and thank the Senate for taking action on this important role,” he added.

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 President Obama’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 Lawrence W. Pierce on the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

He began his career as a litigation associate with Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York. Harper received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

WASHINGTON—Perry Riggs joins the Navajo Nation Washington Office as a government and legislative affairs associate. Riggs is Navajo originally from Leupp, Ariz. His clan is Kinyaa’aanii (Towering House Clan) and born for Naakai Dine’e (Mexican Clan) and his maternal grandfathers are Tl’aashchi’i (Red Bottom People) and his paternal grandfathers are Tl’izilani (Many Goats).

“We are excited to have Perry join our team. Perry has been a practicing attorney for about 14 years and he comes to work with us from the Gila River Indian Community,” said NNWO executive director Clara Pratt.

Perry has also worked as majority counsel with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, deputy general counsel with the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and he has worked in private practice on the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Ariz.

Perry has a juris doctorate, a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering all from Arizona State University. Perry is licensed to practice law in the Navajo Nation and Arizona.

WASHINGTON—Pavel Mraz joins the NNWO as summer intern through a combined internship and summer school program organized by George Mason University and The Fund for American Studies.

Mraz is a first-year Ph.D. student of International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. His research endeavors focus on exploring the ways in which protection of socio-cultural diversity could be reconciled with the need for economic development. 

Over the course of his college studies, Pavel became a firm supporter of human rights, and the right of diverse peoples to independently determine the form of their political, as well as economic and social systems.

"We are delighted to have Pavel at the NNWO for seven weeks this summer. He brings excellent research skills that will benefit the Navajo Nation. We also thank the The Fund for American Studies for this opportunity," said NNWO executive director Clara Pratte.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Pavel obtained a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts and Humanities at Charles University in Prague. Over the course of his undergraduate studies, he also completed a minor in Globalization and Diversity at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Pavel gained his M.A. degree in International Relations from Charles University and also spent one semester as a visiting research fellow at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

On top of his studies, Pavel worked as a freelance interpreter, volunteered as a Head of Fundraising for the Bringing Europeans Together Association, and interned at the Human Rights Department of the Czech Ministry of Justice.

"I am excited to take on a position to conduct research at the Navajo Nation Washington Office," added Mraz.