It’s Monday.
Hello, all, I’m back from vacation…
For Monday, November 15th, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This morning he will participate in a Tribal Nations Summit that coincides with national Native American Heritage Month. This afternoon President Biden will sign the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. President Biden and Vice President Harris will deliver remarks at the signing ceremony. Tonight at 7:45 p.m. D.C., time the President will meet virtually with President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping.
President Biden has tweeted 2 times so far for Monday.
The YouTube is currently live. It might be pulled down for upload.
The White House published the following fact-sheet:
To demonstrate the Administration’s commitment to this work, we are also announcing a number of new commitments during the Tribal Nations Summit.
Bullet Points:
- Executive Order on Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People. On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order directing the Departments of Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to create a strategy to improve public safety and justice for Native Americans and to address the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous peoples. President Biden tasked the DOJ, DOI, and DHS with addressing specific law enforcement issues, as well as providing support for Tribal Nations to implement Tribally-centered responses. He also directed HHS to develop a plan for prevention and survivor support initiatives.
- Greater Chaco Landscape Mineral Withdrawal. Located in Northwestern New Mexico, the Greater Chaco Landscape is a region of great cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to many Pueblos and Indian Tribes and containing thousands of artifacts that date back more than one thousand years. Chaco cultural sites were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and are one of only 24 such sites in the United States. For the past decade, Pueblos and Tribes in Arizona and New Mexico have raised concerns about encroaching oil and gas development threatening sacred and cultural sites, and Congress has passed a series of actions to temporarily defer new leasing. In the coming weeks, the Department of the Interior will initiate consideration of a 20-year withdrawal of federal lands within a 10-mile radius around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, protecting the area from new federal oil and gas leasing and development. The proposed withdrawal will not apply to Individual Indian Allotments or to minerals within the area owned by private, state, and Tribal entities. The action will also not impose restrictions on other developments, such as roads, water lines, transmission lines, or buildings. To support conservation of the area, the State of New Mexico Land Office has implemented a moratorium on new state mineral leases within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
- Tribal Treaty Rights Memorandum of Understanding. The Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, State, and the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Council Environmental Quality signed a Tribal Treaty Rights MOU. The MOU provides that the agencies will determine how they can best protect Tribal treaty rights in their policymaking and regulatory processes. The MOU sets a timeline of 180 days for signatories to report back to the WHCNAA on their progress for strengthening the protection of Tribal treaty rights.
- Tribal Treaty Rights Database. Tribal treaties are not readily accessible to federal employees. Yet, provisions of various treaties are often referenced and needed for specific work on Tribal issues. To remedy this problem and ensure ready access for implementation of the Tribal Treaty MOU, the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior have contracted with Oklahoma State University (OSU) to develop a publicly available, searchable, and indexed database of all the Tribal treaties. This new database will allow federal employees and the general public to search through American Indian treaties. The first phase of the project will digitize a set of treaties compiled by Charles Kappler, the former clerk of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which is widely considered the most comprehensive collection of treaties with Indian Tribes. Both the digitized treaties and the indexing in the database can be expanded in future phases. OSU has hired Indian law experts to advise on this indexing process. The beta version of the database will launch at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.
- Indigenous Knowledge Statement and Establishment of Interagency Working Group on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The Biden-Harris Administration issued a memorandum recognizing Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge as one of the important bodies of knowledge that contributes to the scientific, technical, social, and economic advancements of our nation. With Tribal consultation and input from knowledge holders and practitioners, the Administration will develop a guidance document for federal agencies on how the collection and application of such knowledge can be mutually beneficial to Tribes, Native communities, and federal agencies and can strengthen evidence-based analysis and informed decision-making across the federal government. An Interagency Working Group on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge will gather input from Tribes and Native communities and prepare the guidance document for planned release in 2022.
- Tribal Homelands Joint SecretarialOrder. In recognition of the importance of Tribal homelands under federal stewardship, the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior have launched the “Tribal Homelands Initiative” through a joint Secretarial Order. The Order commits the two Departments to increase opportunities for Tribal participation in federal lands management as well as co-stewardship agreements and other Tribal stewardship opportunities.
- Sacred Sites Memorandum of Understanding. The Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Tennessee Valley Authority entered into an MOU that creates a framework through which the agencies can protect Tribal sacred sites. The MOU identifies opportunities for considering Tribal sacred sites early in the federal decision-making processes that may result in regulatory and policy outcomes; adds a commitment to incorporate Indigenous knowledge when assessing impacts of federal actions on sacred sites; and provides clear direction on developing best practices for collaborative stewardship and co-management when working with Tribal Nations. The MOU also requires each agency to hold consultations with Tribal Nations when an action it may take could affect a Tribal sacred site. The MOU requires the signatories to submit an annual report to the White House Council on Native American Affairs.
- Native Language Memorandum of Agreement. In November 2021, the Departments of Education, Health and Human Service, and the Interior entered into a MOA that promotes the protection of Native languages through the establishment of a Native Language Working Group. Other participating agencies include the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The MOA promotes collaboration on programming, resource development, and policy related to Native languages.
- Department of Agriculture Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative. In November 2021, USDA announced the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative, acknowledging the history of how federal Indian policy has affected Native food and agriculture, and recommitted USDA to strengthening Indigenous food systems. This initiative includes the publishing of a public-facing USDA Food Sovereignty Resource Guide, the purchase of shelf-stable Tribal foods for the USDA’s new Hall of Tribal Nations, and several Food Sovereignty Cooperative Agreements.
- Established the Department of Agriculture Hall of Tribal Nations. The USDA Office of Tribal Relations opened the USDA Hall of Tribal Nations in November 2021 to better reflect the diplomatic nature of the Nation-to-Nation relationship with Tribal Nations.
- Creation of the First-Ever Secretary of the Interior’s Tribal Advisory Committee. The Department of the Interior has created the first-ever Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), a foundational step toward modernizing DOI’s Tribal consultation plan and making permanent, long-lasting change to prioritize the Nation-to-Nation relationship. The STAC will facilitate intergovernmental discussions, serving as a forum for open dialogue between high-level DOI leadership and bureau officials with elected Tribal representatives.
- Creation of the First-Ever Department of Homeland Security Tribal Homeland Security Advisory Council. DHS will establish the first-ever DHS Tribal advisory body. It will be made up of Tribal Nation leaders and subject matter experts (including Tribal organization subject matter experts), to inform the Department on a broad range of intergovernmental relations and homeland security interests of Tribal Nations.
- Creation of First-Ever Housing and Urban Development Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. HUD will establish its first-ever Tribal advisory committee, the HUD Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (TIAC). TIAC will allow Tribes to provide direct input on HUD priorities and policies.
- Creation of the First-Ever Veterans Affairs Tribal Advisory Committee. In October 2021, the VA created a Tribal Advisory Committee to ensure that the federal government is collaborating on veterans’ issues with Tribal Nations.
- New Veterans Health Administration Native Affairs Office. In order to ensure effective delivery of Veterans’ services, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has established a new office to coordinate issues related to Native veterans’ health. This includes allocating budget resources for staff, with the goal to commence hiring to have the office staffed by March 2022.
When Friday’s Biden Bits was published President Biden had tweeted 2 times. He added 4 times giving him a Friday Tweeting Total of 6 tweets and 0 retweets.
President Biden has a Saturday Tweeting Total of 3 tweets and 0 retweets.
President Biden has a Sunday Tweeting Total of 4 tweets and 0 retweets.
1 out of the 11 total new tweets since Friday focuses on something other than the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the Build Back Better Framework (Act).
The 1 minute video clip is snips from events held on Veterans Day.
Since today’s the big signing ceremony, I’m not going to break down each Infrastructure tweet; this saves my time and yours. The text of the tweets is as usual, taken in part or directly from his past remarks. If you’d like a refresher on his remarks you can find it here. Or here, there might be overlap…
The White House published remarks in the Cabinet Meeting.
Snip:
President Biden: On Monday, I look forward to signing into law the Infrastructure Act — the Investment and Jobs Act, which we’ll do outside, God willing, if the weather — the weather holding. And it’s going — you know, it was a lot of hard work to get it done. I know it was probably hard work for all the press here to watch me try to get it done. But I want to thank them for acknowledging that this was a bipartisan bill — it was bipartisan support — and proving we can still come together. It’s hard, but we can still come together to get something big done for the American people. And the bill represents critical investments that are long overdue in our country — from rebuilding our roads and highways, to getting rid of the lead pipes; delivering clean water to thousands of fam- — tens — actually, millions of people around the nation; to making high-speed Internet accessible to every American, rural and urban; to forfitin- — to fortifying our bridges and powerlines and levees that stand up to the increasing threats posed by extreme weather and super storms. And we have $99 billion worth of losses just this year because of the consequence of those environmental events. To fortifying our bridges, our power lines, as I said, and our levees. But also to — one of our biggest responsibilities is to make sure all the money is used efficiently and effectively.
SATURDAY:
SUNDAY…
The shade tweet…
When I grabbed the bill link, I used an old key word saved search and found this from Business Insider: Trump berates McConnell for ‘jeopardizing’ GOP electoral prospects over the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, says the leader should attend the bill signing
The quote featured in the article: Based on the fact that the Old Crow convinced many Republican Senators to vote for the Bill, greatly jeopardizing their chance of winning re-election, and that he led the way, he should go to the signing and put up with the scorn from Great Republican Patriots that are already lambasting him.
BUILD BACK BETTER FRAMEWORK aka ACT TWEETS…
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
On November 10th, President Biden delivered remarks on the Build Back Better Framework & the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill from Baltimore, Maryland.
President Biden: Anyway, but, last week, we took a monumental step forward as a nation and we did something long overdue and long talked about in Washington but almost never actually done: The House of Representatives passed my Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Along with another plan that I’m advancing, this bill is going to reduce the cost of goods to consumers and businesses, and get people back to work, helping us build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out that — where everybody is better off. You know, I’m tired of this trickle-down economy stuff. I come from Delaware — just across the line up here — and, you know, we have more corporations in Delaware than every other nation in the state [state in the nation] combined. And so, I understand big business. The fact of the matter is, it’s time they start paying their fair share. The fact is, you have 55 corporations last year that, in fact, made $40 billion — didn’t pay a single penny in taxes. Nobody is going to — nobody is going to pay more — if you make less than 400 grand, you’re not going to pay anything more in taxes at all. Period. Guaranteed. Including gasoline tax. Not going to — additional, from a federal government standpoint.
The daily White House press briefing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. D.C., time.
The signing ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. D.C., time.
P.S.
My vacation days would not be possible without Halodoc stepping in to post the posts.
This is an Open Thread.
