NCUIH to Testify before House Interior Appropriations

Washington, DC (February 10, 2020) – On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, National Council of Urban Indian Health President Maureen Rosette (Chippewa Cree Nation) will testify before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee as part of American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Days (February 11 and 12, 2020). The hearing will begin at 9:00 AM at 2008 Rayburn House Office Building and will be livestreamed. Ms. Rosette is expected to testify at 10:10 AM during the Health Care Panel.

In the testimony, NCUIH will advocate for an increase in funding to a minimum of $81 to $106 million for the Indian Health Services (IHS) urban Indian healthcare line item, constituting 2% of the total IHS budget. The higher end of this range, $106 million, is what the IHS Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup requested minimum is for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The House included $81 million in FY 2020 for urban Indian health and the final bill included $57 million, a $6 million increase.

NCUIH is grateful to be included in the Public Witness Days. NCUIH has been encouraged by the strong leadership of Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Joyce for urban Indian health in FY 2020 and looks forward to continuing these efforts for FY 2021.

The deadline to submit written testimony is Friday, March 6th.

• Testimony
• Livestream