Simpson Remarks at American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Day 2, Morning Session

The committee will come to order.

Good morning and welcome to the second day of our public witness hearings for American Indian and Alaska Native programs.  I want to welcome all the distinguished Tribal elders and leaders here today and to thank our witnesses for appearing before the Committee to share their concerns on these important topics. In terms of hearing logistics, I will call each panel of witnesses to the table one panel at a time. 

Each witness will have five minutes to present testimony.  The full written testimony will be included in the record, so please don’t feel pressured to cover everything in five minutes. We will be using a timer to track the progress of each witness; when the light turns “yellow,” the witness will have one-minute remaining to conclude their remarks.  When the light turns red, I will have to ask the witness to stop to remain on schedule.  We’ll hear from every witness on each panel before Members will be provided an opportunity to ask questions.  Because we have a full day ahead, I request that we try to keep things moving so we can stay on schedule and respect each other’s time.  I also want to note that Committee rules prohibit the use of outside cameras and audio equipment during these hearings.  The hearing can be viewed in its entirety on the Committee’s website, and an official hearing transcript will be available at GPO.gov.