Government Shutdown Is a Life or Death Issue for Native Americans: Tribe Chairman
*By Carlo Versano*
For many Americans, the partial shutdown of the federal government is only felt in minor ways, if it all: [overflowing trash cans](https://wtop.com/dc/2019/01/national-park-service-gets-help-with-garbage-cleanup-during-government-shutdown/slide/1/) on the National Mall, or [free entry](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/us-government-shutdown-travel/index.html) to national parks. For Native Americans, a prolonged shutdown could mean life or death.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the Dept of the Interior, is one federal office considered non-essential as President Trump and Congress fail to reach a deal over a funding impasse. For tribes like the Sault Ste. Marie of Michigan, which are heavily reliant on federal funding thanks to long-ago deals made with the government for services in exchange for land, the results of the shutdown as already devastating.
Aaron Payment, Sault Ste. Marie's chairman, told Cheddar that he's focused on one date: Jan. 15. That's when the tribe's next drawdown of federal funds is scheduled. If that transaction doesn't happen, critical services will become unavailable, he said.
"In the long term, it's going to have a drastic impact," he said, noting that the shutdown, already in day 14, is costing the tribe about $100,000 a day. Eventually, "we won't have access to healthcare," he said. "Our members need prescriptions and medicines that help keep them alive."
For Payment and members of his tribe and others, the situation in Washington is familiar. A 2013 shutdown under President Obama cost Sault Ste. Marie $1 million, he said, and had lasting impacts still felt today. Tribe members were laid off, furloughed, and lost healthcare providers, who pulled out due to the uncertainty of the shutdown. Recruiting health services is one of the most difficult challenges for Indian Country, which has the added disadvantage of being in rural areas without many providers.
Payment stressed that Native Americans were not asking for handouts, or reparations. As far back as the 1800s, tribes sold hundreds of millions of acres of land to the government "for the promise of health, education and social welfare in perpetuity." Those services are now deemed non-essential. And when the shutdown ends, it is not guaranteed that tribes will be reimbursed for the costs they incurred during the closure, the way other federal employees will be.
"We prepaid for everything," Payment said.
"The government is only as good as its word."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/tribe-leader-says-government-shutdown-could-have-drastic-impact).
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Daley, author of the book 'Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,' joins Cheddar News to discuss redistricting battles taking place across the U.S.
Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
