
- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
PHOENIX — Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, said he will increase funding for the Indian Health Service if elected.
He made his pledge in a written statement shared with The Arizona Republic.
In the statement, he criticized “President Donald Trump and his administration for delaying the first installment of coronavirus financial aid to Native Americans, who sued the administration to block it from giving some of the money to for-profit corporations operated by Native Americans,” the newspaper reported.
"The Navajo Nation has the highest rate of coronavirus infections in the United States,” Biden said. “Donald Trump has failed to live up to our trust and treaty obligations to Native Americans. He took more than a month to allocate Congress’ emergency funding to tribes — and only did so after tribes sued. He has failed to provide tribes with adequate protective personal equipment and medical supplies. It’s unacceptable.
"As President, I’ll make meaningful investments in Indian Country — including dramatically increasing funding for Indian Health Services and making it mandatory.”
Biden also stated his commitment to tribal sovereignty.
Click to read the entire article.
More Stories Like This
Native News Weekly (March 26, 2023): D.C. BriefsState-Funded Charter School Says Native 1st-Grader's Traditional Hair Violates Dress Code
Rep. Peltola, Sen. Mullin Introduce Legislation to Protect 2nd Amendment Rights of Native Americans
Navajo Nation Mourns Loss of Former President Ben Shelly
Native American Church Chapter Sues Bank for Racial and Religious Discrimination
12 years of Native News
This month, we celebrate our 12th year of delivering Native News to readers throughout Indian Country and beyond. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation this month to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and to tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.