Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

FEMA REAUTHORIZATION ACT ALLOWS TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS TO DIRECTLY APPLY FOR FEDERAL DISASTER AID

WASHINGTON - September 19, 2012 – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate issued the following statement regarding passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of the 2012 FEMA Reauthorization Act, including Section 210, which would amend the Stafford Act to allow federally recognized Tribal governments to seek a federal emergency or disaster declaration directly from the President of the United States. In June, Administrator Fugate sent a letter to Congress asking for the passage of this provision:

“Today, the House of Representatives passed legislation to allow federally recognized Tribal governments to seek a federal emergency or disaster declaration directly from the President of the United States. Such an amendment to the Stafford Act affirms the sovereignty of tribal governments. FEMA has strong, long-standing relationships with tribal governments, and they are essential members of the emergency management team. The U.S. Government has a unique government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribal governments, and amending the Stafford Act to recognize this sovereign relationship will only strengthen the way that FEMA supports tribal communities before, after and during disasters. The House’s action today is an important step forward for this legislation which would strengthen our nation’s emergency management team.”

PETITION DRIVE URGES IMMEDIATE ACTION TO PROTECT NATIVE WOMEN

(Helena, Mont.) -- The Indian Law Resource Center launched a petition drive this week urging lawmakers to reauthorize a stronger version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to protect Native women from violence.  The goal is to obtain 100,000 signatures by October 1, 2012.

The online petition calls upon lawmakers to take immediate action to stop the violence because “Native women are raped, battered, and stalked at epidemic levels that are disproportionately higher than any other group of women in the United States.”

In April, the Senate passed S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act with provisions that would help tribes address domestic violence and dating violence in Indian country; however, the House passed a version stripping out these provisions.  Since then, procedural logjams and politics have kept Congress from taking action.

 We encourage people to share the petition on their social media channels and repost or tweet the link,” said Jana Walker senior attorney and director of the Indian Law Resource Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project. For more information and resources visit http://www.indianlaw.org.

NATIVE VOTE ACTION WEEK KICKED OFF SEPTEMBER 24TH

Washington, D.C. – Native Americans are turning out in force to join together in one of the largest weeks of voter engagement, education, and non-partisan actions since securing their rightful place at the ballot box in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  

 Native Vote Action Week organized by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and grassroots organizers around the country, will bring together Indian Country in an effort to raise awareness about the importance of civic engagement and increase Native voter participation. With over 130 registration drives, rallies, and events hosted by tribal communities, Native Vote organizers, and organizations serving Indian Country and Native youth will be reaching more than 35,000 people in American Indian and Alaska Native communities during the week.

 In June, NCAI, the nation’s largest American Indian and Alaska Native advocacy organization, characterized voter engagement in Indian Country as a “civic emergency” - two out of every five eligible American Indian and Alaska Native voters are not registered to vote, and in 2008 over 1 million eligible Native voters were unregistered.

SENATE CONFIRMATION - KEVIN WASHBURN IS INTERIOR’S ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Kevin K. Washburn, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, is to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The Senate confirmed Washburn’s nomination, which President Obama announced in early August, by unanimous consent last night.

Washburn is Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, a position he has held since June 2009. Prior to that, he served as the Rosenstiel Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law from 2008 to 2009 and as an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2002 to 2008. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Washburn was the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. Previously, he served as General Counsel for the National Indian Gaming Commission from 2000 to 2002, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Washburn was a trial attorney in the Indian Resources Section of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Washburn is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He earned a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and a J.D. from Yale Law School.