Peace Garden News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) in introducing bipartisan, bicameral legislation to establish a congressional charter for the National American Indian Veterans (NAIV). Last Congress, the bill passed the Senate unanimously.

“Serving in the armed forces at higher rates than any other demographic, Native American veterans have honorably answered the call and defended our nation in every war since the American revolution,” said Senator Cramer. “Every U.S. veteran deserves the benefits they earned. A Congressional Charter recognizes the National American Indian Veterans dedication to attaining much-needed assistance, care, and resources for our Native American heroes.”

The legislation has garnered support from over 35 organizations and tribes, including Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. Click here for a list of endorsements.  

Joining Senators Cramer, Rounds, and Luján are Senators John Thune (R-SD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Barrasso (R-WY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Hoeven (R-ND), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Braun (R-IN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Angus King (I-ME).

Click here for bill text.

Background:

Congress grants charters to recognize patriotic and national organizations that operate for charitable, literary, educational, scientific or civil improvement purposes. The NAIV serves the needs and interests of Native American veterans in collaboration with its national leadership and 14 regional offices. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), there are more than 140,000 Native American veterans in the United States. While congressional charters have been granted to Italian-American, Polish-American, and Catholic-American veteran groups, as of today, no Native American veterans’ organization has received one.

Headquartered in South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Reservation, the NAIV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of tribal veterans. Originally established in 2004, today the NAIV serves the needs of Native American veterans in all 50 states. The NAIV formed as a result of a request by former Senators Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing in 2004.

Original source can be found here.