impacts of tribal government-owned operation closures—which have reduced tribal government incoming revenue to zero for the duration of these closures. The next scheduled in-person meeting for the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee (TTAC) was set for March 31 st . Work is underway to keep the meeting, but move it to a remote format. NIGA will keep you informed as details are confirmed. We want to extend our sincerest gratitude to all of our Member Tribes and Congressional offices for the tireless work to provide critical resources for Indian Country to combat this pandemic. We have provided a draft thank you letter to send to any Congressional office you would like to personally reach out to for their efforts with this bill. If you have any questions regarding this alert please contact Danielle Her Many Horses at dhermanyhorses@indiangaming.org or by phone at (202) 255-6073. ______________________________________________________________________________ March 27, 2020
The Honorable (First name) (Last name) United States Senate/United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Dear (Representative/Senator) (Last name):
On behalf of the [Insert Tribe], we deeply appreciate your tireless efforts to address the COVID- 19 pandemic. We thank you for your leadership in securing much needed funding for Indian country to address our dire needs - especially relating to health care, nutrition, elderly care, housing, community development, social services, infrastructure, employment retention, and economic stabilization - due to this pandemic in the third COVID-19 response bill. We also would like to thank your staff, especially Veronica Watters, for their responsiveness to us during these difficult times. We are relieved and thankful for the inclusion of tribal governments in the newly created Temporary Fiscal Relief Fund at $8 billion and the inclusion of tribal governments and tribal entities in the larger $500 billion Economic Stabilization Fund. We know that you fought hard for these provisions for Indian Country late into the night to help ensure tribal inclusion in the Senate package in a way that reflects the federal government’s treaty and trust obligations to the Tribe. These programs will greatly assist the Tribe and our enterprises as we work to alleviate some of the extreme economic distress that we face due to the closure of our tribal enterprises to protect public health while working to provide essential governmental services. Further, the funding provisions specifically for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service and specifically for tribes at other agencies and programs will be critical to the Tribe’s ability to respond to this crisis.
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