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- By Native News Online Staff
WASHINGTON — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other news released from Washington, D.C. that impacts Indian Country recently.
GAO Seeks Tribal Input on Federal Support for Child Abuse Prevention Programs
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is conducting a review of how the federal government supports Tribal services and programs aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect. As part of this effort, GAO is seeking to connect with Tribal social service programs engaged in prevention work to learn more about their programs and the federal resources that support them in their communities.
GAO representatives plan to meet with some Tribes during the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) conference. However, they also want to engage with Tribes who are not attending the event. NICWA has met with the GAO team, recognizes the importance of this review, and understands that Tribal input will be approached with respect and care.
For more information about the review and how your Tribe can share its prevention efforts, please refer to the GAO document here.
Padilla Secures Commitment From Senior Interior Nominee to Protect Chuckwalla National Monument
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) secured a commitment from Stevan Pearce, nominee to serve as Director of the Bureau of Land Management at the Department of the Interior, to protect California’s Chuckwalla National Monument amid the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back protections for America’s public lands. During today’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Padilla raised concerns about Pearce’s past public lands voting record as a former U.S. Representative from New Mexico and urged him to uphold the monument designation for these sacred and ecologically significant lands in eastern Imperial and Riverside counties.
Padilla underscored that the monument enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, the Cahuilla Band of Indians, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) have formed the Chuckwalla National Monument Intertribal Commission to reaffirm their enduring commitment to protecting these sacred lands. Padilla also secured Pearce’s commitment, if confirmed, to meet with the Intertribal Commission to learn more about the monument and to engage in meaningful Tribal consultation.
Strengthening the Integrity of the Lifeline Program
The Federal Communication Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to reform the agency’s federal Lifeline Program. The FCC seeks comment on program reforms to safeguard the Lifeline Program including:
- Proposing that Lifeline Program support is a “federal public benefit” and is therefore available only to U.S. citizens and persons with appropriate qualified status under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
- Ensuring that Lifeline support is used to benefit only legal, living, and eligible Americans consistent with section 254 of the Act, through enhanced requirements that ensure program participants are truly eligible for Lifeline discounts;
- Improving program integrity and efficiency, including reforms applicable to the states that have been permitted to opt out of the program integrity verifications conducted by the Universal Service Administrative Company and instead perform their own verifications;
- Promoting more principled service provider conduct and ensuring that service providers that participate in the Lifeline program comply with all rules; and
- Streamlining Lifeline Program rules and minimizing stakeholder confusion.
- Comments due: 30 days after Federal Register publication; Reply comments due: 60 days after Federal Register publication
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