WASHINGTON DC –
Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced Wednesday the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will vote on the nomination of Larry Echo Hawk to become the Department of Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at a business meeting at 10:30 AM on Thursday, May 14. The meeting will take place in Room 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The committee held its hearing on the nomination Thursday, May 7. Both Dorgan and Vice Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) voiced support for the nominee.
Dorgan has urged the committee to act promptly to approve the nomination because the post of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs has been vacant for four of the past eight years. The position is an important one. The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs develops Interior Department policy on Indian related issues and makes budget recommendations that affect Indian education, public safety, social health and welfare, economic development, energy development, federal recognition of Tribes, and other issues.
If confirmed, Mr. Echo Hawk would also oversee agencies that carry out those functions. These agencies include: the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), the Office of Indian Gaming, the Office of Self-Governance, the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (OIEED), the Office of Federal Acknowledgement, the Office of Budget Management, and other offices at the Department of the Interior relating to Indian Tribes, individual Indians and Indian lands.
Details follow:
WHO: U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman; Vice Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY); and other members of the committee.
WHAT: Business meeting to vote on the nomination of Larry Echo Hawk to be Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.
WHEN: 10:30 AM, Thursday, May 14, 2009
WHERE: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
WHY: To vote on the nomination of Larry Echo Hawk to be Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior.