Termination legislation a threat

By Principal Chief Chad Smith

I request your support in opposing H.R. 2824, a harmful piece of legislation introduced by California Congresswoman Diane Watson on June 21, 2007, which proposes to terminate the United States’ government relations with the Cherokee Nation. I want everyone to understand the impact this bill will have, if passed.

This bill would cut $270 million of federal funding that provides vital services to more than 170,000 people in Oklahoma. It would also result in the direct loss of 6,500 jobs.

In addition to this termination bill, there are amendments being attached to other bills leaving the House of Representatives that could harm the Cherokee Nation by cutting funding to programs to the young, old and infirm. It is a “scorched earth” attack. It violates every treaty the United States has entered with the Cherokee Nation.

Why is Congresswoman Watson doing this? In March of 2007, Cherokee Nation citizens considered what it meant to be an Indian and a Cherokee citizen. Our people voted the Cherokee Nation should be an Indian tribe comprised of Indians, just like the other tribes in the U.S. Our people passed a simple constitutional amendment to reverse a one-year-old tribal court ruling that allowed non-Indians to be granted citizenship. This is the third time in the past 30 years that the Cherokee people have voted to amend our constitution to reflect this fundamental principle.

The amendment prompted Watson (D-Calif.) to introduce legislation to terminate the Nation as a federally recognized tribe and to cut all our federal funding, including health benefits, housing, human services and child care benefits for thousands of needy Cherokee citizens. Funding would even be cut for the 2,867 non-Indian descendents of Freedmen who were affected by the amendment, but who remain citizens of the Cherokee Nation pending an appeal in tribal court.

Just a few of the expected outcomes of H.R. 2824:

The Nation would lose more than $108 million in federal funding for health care for its 2008 budget. The Nation currently provides health care to 126,000 patients, including 241 Freedmen descendants. It is the only source of health care for more than 44,000 American Indians from dozens of tribes. Without federal funding the Cherokee Nation clinics would be forced to close.

Nearly $26 million in federal education and child care funding estimated for the 2008 budget would be cut. More than 842 children in Head Start and Early Head Start would lose that educational opportunity and those programs would be shut down. The Johnson-O’Malley Program, which helps pay for school supplies and tutoring services for 20,000 Indian students, would be over.

More than $29 million would disappear from our human services, including funds that feed the elderly, the handicapped and low-income Indians from dozens of tribes. The Cherokee Nation feeds more than 35,000 households (or 90,000 individuals) every year through our federally funded food distribution program, and delivers more than 40,000 meals a year to elderly citizens. These families would now be forced to do without.

More than $30 million would be lost from federal housing and community assistance for the 2008 budget. This means 7,398 Cherokee families would lose their housing assistance, including elderly citizens in apartment complexes, thousands who receive rental assistance, and over a thousand people in low-income apartments. In rural areas, where there are few housing options for low-income Indians, the loss of this funding would force thousands into substandard housing or even make them homeless.

Three courts, Cherokee Nation court, Federal District court, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, are currently considering Freedmen claims. H.R. 2824 ignores that our tribal court has temporarily restored citizenship to the 2,800 non-Indian Freedmen descendents during on-going court proceedings. So why should Congress get in the middle of a lawsuit? Why can’t Congress wait for the decision of the courts?

I ask for your support in fighting this termination bill and the series of aggressive Congressional amendments that now jeopardize the health, nutrition and safety of tens of thousands of Cherokees. We must tell Congress, before it’s too late, that political intimidation through legislative and financial penalties is wrong and punitive.

Join me in taking a stand to protect our citizens, the citizens of other tribes and the citizens of Oklahoma who will all be adversely affected by this bill. Let us demonstrate to the federal government that Cherokees will band together because we care about our nation. A sample letter is available at www.Cherokeevoice.org. From there, you can easily look up and Elected leaders really do listen to well-reasoned, calm and considerate letters from their constituents.