Ranking Member Pingree Statement at Tribal Programs Public Witness Day Hearing (Day 1)

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Ranking Member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's first day of American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearings for Fiscal Year 2024:

Good morning,

I echo Chairman Simpson's welcome to this first day of the public witness hearings on tribal programs under the jurisdiction of the Interior and Environment Appropriations subcommittee.

I am glad we are once again holding in person hearings and I want to thank you for traveling to Washington, D.C. to testify before this Subcommittee.

I look forward to learning about the needs and challenges facing Indian Country and about your priorities for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, and the Indian Health Service.

Our discussion today will help to inform us as we develop the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bill.

With that, I yield back to Chairman Simpson.