[Tribal Government Letterhead]
[Date] , 2021
The Honorable Joe Biden President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20500 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker U.S. House of Representatives H-232 Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Charles Schumer Majority Leader U.S. Senate S-221 U.S. Capitol Building Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives H-204 Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Minority Leader U.S. Senate S-230 U.S. Capitol Building Washington, DC 20510
Re: Retain Equity for Indian Country in the Build Back Better Act Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader Schumer, and Minority Leader McConnell: The Build Back Better plan has the potential to transform our nation’s social and environmental landscape. The plan makes crucial advances and federal investments to improve child care development, elder care, housing, healthcare, and initiatives to address the climate crisis. Indian Country has lagged far behind the rest of the nation in each of these critical issue areas. For decades, the United States has failed to uphold its treaty and trust obligations to Native Nations. Indian health care, education, housing and other fundamental programs have faced significant shortfalls for decades. The staggering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tribal communities laid bare these failures. Underfunded Indian health care systems were the primary reason that Native Americans suffered the highest rates of infection and death from the virus. The lack of housing exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 throughout our communities. As our Native children grow to the toddler stage, Native Nations desperately need our early childhood programs and funding. We need head start, pre-school education and enrichment, so our children can start on an equal footing in American society.
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