NAIHC Update Jan 2015 - Southern Plains Indian Housing Authority

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N A I H C
National American Indian Housing Council Quarterly Update for Southern Plains Indian Housing Association Jan. 2015 OFFICE OF GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS The 114th Congress was sworn in Tuesday, January 6th . The next several weeks, Congress will be focused on formalizing Committee appointments and staffing changes. Congress typically spends the month of January organizing. Legislation will also be introduced at a rapid pace for the next several weeks. A lot of Congressional focus on energy issues such as Keystone pipeline and health care reform, among others. Senate Leadership Posts Majority Leader - Mitch McConnell (KY) Minority Leader - Harry Reid (NV) Senate Committee on Indian Affairs John Barrasso (WY) will become Chairman Jon Tester (MT) should become Vice-Chair • Mike Andrews previously with HUD/ONAP has taken over as Majority Staff Director for the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Jan. 6, 2015.
Senate Banking Committee (shares Indian housing jurisdiction with SCIA)
Mike Crapo (ID) will become Chairman of the Committee
Sherrod Brown (OH) will become Vic-Chair
Senate Appropriations Committee
Thad Cochran (MS) will become Chairman of the Committee
NAIHC Update/SPIHA
I January 2015
Barbara Mikulski (MD) will become Vice-Chair
House of Representatives Leadership Posts
Speaker of the House - John Boehner (OH)
House Majority Leader - Kevin McCarthy (CA)
House Minority Leader - Nancy Pelosi (CA)
House Financial Services Committee
Representative Jeb Hensarling (TX) will remain Chairman of the Committee
Representative Maxine Watters (CA) will remain Ranking Member of the Committee
House Committee on Appropriations
Representative Harold Rogers (KY) will remain Chairman of the Committee
Representative Nita Hayworth (NY) will remain Ranking Member ofthe Committee
NAHASDA
After two years of hard work on Capitol Hill, NAHASDA reauthorization legislation did not pass during the 113 th Congress. As a matter of fact, only 200 some bills out of the several thousand introduced were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama - this was a record low number of bills enacted. We built significant momentum during the final months of 2014. NAIHC continues to confirm commitments from Members of Congress on both sides of the Capitol and in both Republican and Democratic offices in support of a quick reauthorization of NAHASDA. Last Congress we had 3-bills introduced to reauthorize NAHASDA -- beginning in July of 2013 with then Chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, Senator Maria Cantwell (WA) introducing S. 1352, a bill to reauthorize NAHASDA and provide minimal reforms. The Cantwell bill was a good start, but did not include many of the provisions put forth by NAIHC and Indian housing advocates. We had two House bills introduced in March of last year. HR 4277, a Representative Don Young (AK) bill was a bill that included many of the provisions put forth in NAIHC's discussion draft, a bill that we all supported but the bill did not move in the Financial Services Committee. We also had HR 4329, a Steve Pearce (NM) bill that was similar to the Young bill, but did not include the native Hawaiian provision . Mr. Pearce sits on the House Financial Services Committee, where the bills were referred and the Pearce bill gained steam with the Committee Markup in Late July, then passage in the House of Representatives by voice vote, December 2nd and included the native Hawaiian provision. The House bill was referred to the Senate with no further action. Where are we now? As I said earlier, we plan to continue the momentum early this year. We are hopeful that a bill will be introduced in the House over the next several weeks. That bill will likely look very similar to the bill that was passed in the House last month. NAIHC Update/SPIHA
I January 2015
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This week, NAIHC leadership will travel to DC to meet with House, Senate offices urging swift re­
introduction of House
• Meetings are being scheduled with Representatives Pearce, Cole, Waters, Young, Moore and
Senators Barrasso, Tester, Shelby, Tester, Brown and Lee among others. These are the initial
offices we need to meet with in order to re-establish NAHASDA reauthorization as a top
priority.
Also in the works
Follow-up articles, op-eds etc from NAIHC Chairwoman Sami Jo Difuntorum in Indian Country Today.
We also plan to approach other general media outlets like Wall Street Journat Washington Post, etc.
To discuss the importance of NAHASDA, resulting more public awareness. These articles and op-eds
will be distributed to NAIHC members along with encouragement to send letters/emails to
Congressional delegations. Similar to the numerous action alerts we distributed last year.
CONFERENCES
Legislative Conference
The 2014 Legislative Conference has been scheduled for the week of February 3-5, 2015, at the
Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. This annual event focuses on meeting with Congressional leaders
and agency officials to both let them know about the state of housing in Indian Country, and to hear
from them about their support and new initiatives. We are working with the host hotet and will keep
membership informed of any changes.
Annual Convention
NAIHC's 2015 Annual Convention will be held in conjunction with AMERIND Risk on May 12-14 in
Scottsdale, AZ at the Talking Stick Resort. Follow the NAIHC website or our Facebook page to receive
updates about the convention. A registration link will be available soon.
CONTACT INFO:
I certainly apologize for not being able to attend the Winter Quarterly Meeting and provide an update
in person. Should you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to seeing you at the
NAIHC Legislative Conference next month. You can always reach me via email at
[email protected] or on my cell 918.453.7258.
NAIHC Update/SPIHA
I January 2015