WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today attended the White House Tribal Nations Conference, which included representatives from North Dakota’s five Tribal nations, as well as Tribal leaders from across the country.

President Obama established the annual conference five years ago to foster a strong government-to-government relationship between the U.S. government and Tribal leaders. Today’s conference included President Obama, and Secretaries from the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Energy, Justice, and Labor.

A member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Heitkamp was invited because of her decades-long commitment to making sure the U.S. government upholds its treaty and trust responsibilities with American Indians. Among many other initiatives she is working on to improve the lives of Native Americans, Heitkamp discussed with conference participants her recently introduced legislation to find solutions to the complex challenges facing Native American children in North Dakota and throughout Indian Country.

“It was an honor to represent North Dakotans today at the White House Tribal Nations Conference,” said Heitkamp. “This conference is crucial to helping shed a bright light on the challenges facing Native American families, which too often get swept under the rug. It has also served as another important way for the U.S. government and Tribal nations to collaborate on ways to improve conditions in Indian Country. Throughout the week, I’m also working closely with North Dakota Tribal leaders, to discuss my Commission on Native Children bill, as well as many other pressing issues affecting Indian Country like housing, energy, and economic development.”

Last month, Heitkamp introduced the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children. The bipartisan bill would create a national Commission on Native American Children to conduct an intensive study into issues facing Native children – such as high rates of poverty, staggering unemployment, child abuse, domestic violence, crime, substance abuse, and few economic opportunities – and make recommendations on how to make sure Native children are better taken care of and given the opportunities to thrive. The comprehensive plan has been widely praised by a cross-section of people across the nation, including all of North Dakota’s tribes. For a summary of the bill, click here. For quotations from the five Native American tribes in North Dakota, as well as Senator Byron Dorgan, strongly supporting the bill, click here.

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