Calling for a marshall plan for tribal nations

WHEREAS the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), established in 1972, serves all Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health care delivery to American Indians and Alaska Natives, as well as upholding the federal government’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, Tribal Nations are inherently sovereign political entities, as recognized by the United States from its earliest interactions with Tribal Nations. However, over time, the United States has impeded our exercise of sovereignty and taken our land and resources to generate its own land base, wealth, and strength; and

WHEREAS, through these takings, the United States has assumed unique trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations and Native people. However, it has consistently failed to live up to these obligations—both by failing to deliver on the funding it owes to Tribal Nations in exchange for its resource takings, and by restricting Tribal Nations’ full exercise of our inherent sovereign governmental authorities; and

WHEREAS, these failures on the part of the United States have caused tremendous harm to Tribal Nations that remains evident today in all indicators of social, economic, and public well-being; and

WHEREAS, in December 2018, the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) issued a report entitled, “Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans,”; and

WHEREAS, the “Broken Promises” report came after years of advocacy from Tribal Nations and organizations seeking an update to the 2003 “Quiet Crisis” report, which found deep failures in the delivery of federal fiduciary trust and treaty obligations; and

WHEREAS, the “Broken Promises” report found that the funding of the federal trust responsibility and obligations remains “grossly inadequate” and a “barely perceptible and decreasing percentage of agency budgets,”; and