“I am proud to be a voice in the United States Senate for Washington’s tribal governments and tribal people. I believe we have a responsibility to live up to the promises the U.S. government made and that means working to meet our tribes’ health care, education, and other treaty-protected rights.”
My Priorities
- Safeguarding the sovereignty of tribal governments and the government-to-government relationship with the United States.
- Upholding the federal government’s trust responsibility and treaty obligations.
- Promoting economic development in tribal communities.
- Ensuring tribes have equal access to federal grant programs and other services.
- Increasing funding for treaty-guaranteed services, such as education and health care.
- Ensuring the Federal Government does its part to restore healthy salmon populations, which are critical to many Northwest tribes’ culture, diet, and identity.
My Accomplishments
- Cosponsored and helped pass the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
- Increased funding for tribal communities, especially in critical areas such as health care, education, transportation, and infrastructure.
- Helped draft and pass into law improvements to the tribal components of the Head Start reauthorization.
- Sponsored and helped pass into law the Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act to allow the Hoh Tribe to move out of a tsunami zone and flood plain.
- Cosponsored and helped pass into law legislation to ensure the Quileute Tribe can move out of a tsunami zone.