Trahant Reports

There are few jobs as complicated in Washington as running the U.S. Department of Interior. It’s a structured conflict of interest. But Deb Haaland brings something to the post that’s never been seen before, she has experienced the impact of the agency’s policies.

Representation by Native Americans in government falls short. At the Interior Department, the agency responsible for the relationship between the government of the United States and tribal governments, there have been 53 secretaries. And the math here is easy. Zero from 53 is still zero.

Idaho’s sockeye salmon have not returned to Pettit Lake in some thirty years. Now after litigation, mitigation and field preparation the iconic fish showed a promising return.

Congress has a lot on its agenda, including a December 11th deadline to pass a budget. There are loud calls for a new pandemic relief bill, including funds to help distribute vaccines.

There is a lot of speculation about Rep. Deb Haaland being named Secretary of the Interior. She is Laguna Pueblo and she would make history because a Native American has never served in a presidential cabinet. And she clearly has a shot at history. But that’s only one possibility of many appointments that could benefit Indian Country.

A COVID-19 vaccine is on the day and that’s the most hopeful news of the year.

Vaccines are tricky in Indian Country. We know that influenza continues to kill people and that disease can be prevented with a vaccine. Yet year after year only about 30 percent of us bother to get that shot.

Now that the election is over, what’s next? In a word: complexity. Challenging issues ranging from slow transition planning to continued questions about governance especially in a country that remains divided.

Native Americans have unique challenges when it comes to campaign commercials, yet more and more are telling more nuanced stories.

Both campaigns are reaching out to Indian Country in the final days of the 2020 presidential campaign.

The state of Navajo has been an idea that surfaces from time to time. And the idea of an Indigenous state has a rich history in the United States as well as around the world.

Statehood will not fix the problems facing the Navajo Nation but it would do two things: Add representation in Congress and open up funding.