Davids Secures IHS Advanced Appropriations, Other Critical Funding Priorities for Indian Country

Today, Representative Sharice Davids successfully passed critical funding measures and budget increases benefitting tribal communities and Indian Country as a whole, including the longtime priority of securing advanced appropriations for the Indian Health Service (IHS). Davids voted to pass this and other priorities through the overall government funding bill, avoiding a harmful shutdown and sending them to the President's desk to be signed into law.

"I've long joined Native health advocates and Tribal leaders to call for increased stability in IHS programs, and today we achieved that. This will ensure that patients are not subject to the uncertainty of the government funding process, saving lives and creating stronger, healthier communities," said Davids. "Along with increased funding for education, housing, and economic development, this bill brings us closer to upholding our federal trust and treaty obligations to American Indian and Alaska Native communities."

Davids led her bipartisan Congressional Native American Caucus colleagues to urge House leadership to include advanced appropriations for IHS earlier this year, a change that will create long-needed stability for Tribal health programs and guarantee 2.6 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives access to necessary care. This also finally places IHS among the other federal health care programs that receive advanced appropriations, including Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, TRICARE, and Veterans Health Administration.

In addition, Davids voted to pass several other notable priorities for Native American communities, including:

• Increasing funding by 9% to the Bureau of Indian Education.
• Expanding the Tribal Housing Relending Demonstration program in USDA Rural Development.
• Increasing funding to $75 million for the Indian Energy Policy and Programs and updating the Tribal Loan Guarantee Program to help Tribal Nations deploy clean energy.
• Providing new funds to start electrifying the 30,000 tribal homes that do not have access to power.
• Increasing funding by $2 million for the Tribal Colleges and Universities Head Start Partnership Program, totaling $8 million.
• Creating a new, five-year Native VetSuccess at Tribal Colleges and Universities Pilot to provide on-campus benefits assistance and counseling to veterans and their family members enrolled at tribal colleges and universities.