The White House on Friday announced that President Joe Biden will appoint The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (The National Center) President and CEO Chris James (Eastern Cherokee) to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. The Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations is an advisory committee established to provide overall policy advice to the United States Trade Representative on matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States.
Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) visited Arizona State University’s Tempe campus Monday to talk with students and tour a new library space. As assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, he was also there to discuss what the current administration is doing to help further the interests of Indian Country. “I know what it’s like to live in a community that often gets overlooked,” said Newland, who is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe) in Michigan, near the Canadian border.
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President Mark Macarro, who also serves as the chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians located in Temecula, California, gave his first State of Indian Nations address before a live audience at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. on Monday. The purpose of the annual address is to provide an update on the issues important to Indian Country and a vision for the upcoming year. On Monday, Macarro announced three actions NCAI will concentrate on during 2024.
Secretary Of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough announced at the National Congress of American Indians Executive Council Winter Session on Tuesday morning that the Department of Veterans Affairs has exempted or reimbursed more than 143,000 copayments totaling approximately $2.5 million for more than 3,800 eligible American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans. This is a result of VA’s new 2023 policy that eligible American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans are no longer required to make copayments for VA health care, urgent care, or prescriptions. Under this policy, VA also reimburses for copayments paid on or after January 5, 2022.
Longtime Native American journalist and advocate Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) has been selected to be inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Nigh University Center at the University of Central Oklahoma. Born in El Reno, Oklahoma, Harjo began her illustrious journalism career in 1967 in New York City at WBAI-FM, Pacifica Network’s free speech flagship, where she directed one-third of the airtime and co-produced Seeing Red, the first national Native American issues show until 1974.