***********DRAFT LETTER TO CONGRESS******** The Honorable Brian Fitzpatrick
The Honorable Josh Gottheimer
Co-Chairman
Co-Chairman
The Honorable Dusty Johnson
The Honorable Ed Case
Co-Vice Chair
Co-Vice Chair
Dear Members of Congress, I write on behalf of the _(your Tribe)_to respectfully urge you to work with Leadership to pass FY’2024 funding bills to avoid a government shutdown. The last disastrous government shutdown cost American taxpayers more than $11 billion. The damage and lasting impacts on local economies throughout Indian Country was many times worse. Tribal Governments ceded hundreds of millions of acres of our homelands to help build this Nation. In return, the federal government signed Treaties that promised to provide for the health, education, public safety, and general care of Reservation residents—while also protecting and preserving tribal sovereignty on our remaining Indian lands. Annual funding for programs and services administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and other federal agencies represent the Government’s most basic attempt to meet these solemn obligations. The American people elected a divided government in the November 2022 midterms. As a result, no one will get everything they want. Compromise is the only path forward. During the last government shutdown in December 2018, thousands of federal employees, many of whom are tribal citizens, were furloughed or working without pay for weeks. The results crippled the finances of families throughout Indian Country. Despite exemptions for “essential government workers”, Indian Country still felt the effects of furloughed BIA police, Park service employees that help keep reservation roads clear, and other key federal employees that work closely with Tribal Governments. Tribal citizens are the first to feel the economic pain of a shutdown when these key federal employees are furloughed or don’t have the resources to meet their obligations to Indian Country. The uncertainty of a shutdown also compounds the challenges Tribes face recruiting and retaining professionals to work on Indian lands. No one is willing to consider moving to or investing on Indian lands knowing that their very source of employment could be placed in jeopardy each looming fiscal year. The ____(your Tribe)_____ respectfully requests that you vote in accordance with the funding levels already agreed to in the Debt Ceiling agreement with the President and Senate Majority Leader. Indian Country applauds the work of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee for protecting Tribal Government programs and services in its version of the FY’24 bill that sets
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