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“SENATE RESOLUTION 620--DESIGNATING MAY 5, 2022, AS THE ``NATIONAL DAY OF AWARENESS FOR MISSING AND MURDERED NATIVE WOMEN AND GIRLS''” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S2364-S2365 on May 5.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SENATE RESOLUTION 620--DESIGNATING MAY 5, 2022, AS THE ``NATIONAL DAY OF AWARENESS FOR MISSING AND MURDERED NATIVE WOMEN AND GIRLS''
Mr. DAINES (for himself, Mr. Tester, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Moran, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Smith, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Lujan, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Cramer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Rounds, Ms. Hirono, and Mr. Grassley) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
S. Res. 620
Whereas American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times more likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes compared to any other group of people in the United States;
Whereas, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Justice, in some Tribal communities, American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average murder rate;
Whereas, according to the most recently available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017, homicide was the sixth leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native females between 1 and 44 years of age;
Whereas the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women released reports finding that 64 percent of trafficking survivors in Hawaii identified as being Native Hawaiian;
Whereas little data exists on the number of missing American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States;
Whereas, on July 5, 2013, Hanna Harris, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, was reported missing by her family in Lame Deer, Montana;
Whereas the body of Hanna Harris was found 5 days after she went missing;
Whereas Hanna Harris was determined to have been raped and murdered, and the individuals accused of committing those crimes were convicted;
Whereas the case of Hanna Harris is an example of many similar cases; and
Whereas Hanna Harris was born on May 5, 1992: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates May 5, 2022, as the ``National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls''; and
(2) calls on the people of the United States and interested groups--
(A) to commemorate the lives of missing and murdered American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women whose cases are documented and undocumented in public records and the media; and
(B) to demonstrate solidarity with the families of victims in light of those tragedies.
Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, on February 3 of this year, at 4 in the morning, outside of Reno, callers told police that there was a car on fire on the shoulder of the interstate. Inside, officers found the body of a 23-year-old woman named Anna Marie Scott. She had been murdered by an unknown assailant.
This is Anna--as you can see, a beautiful, beautiful young girl. She was a beloved daughter and a sister and a devoted mother of two young children. She was also a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. And she joins a long and tragic list of Native women who have gone missing or been murdered, leaving families desperately waiting for answers.
Families like Anna's will tell you one of the worst things about a tragedy like this is that they never had a chance to say goodbye to their loved one. Another is knowing that decade after decade, the United States has not done enough to protect Native women, leaving families all over Indian Country searching for answers.
A National Institutes of Justice study found that an unbelievable 84 percent of Native women experience violence in their lifetimes, along with 81 percent of men. It also reported that Native women are almost twice as likely as White women to have been the target of violence in the past year. These numbers confirm what Native communities have known for years: Native people are vulnerable, and they can be taken from their families at any time.
In 2020, I secured passage of two bipartisan bills with Senator Murkowski, who we all know is a tireless advocate for Native communities, to finally create a national strategy to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked Indigenous women and girls. The Not Invisible Act instructs the Bureau of Indian Affairs to coordinate Federal efforts to address the epidemic of violence in Native American communities.
It also mandates a commission made up of Tribal, State, and local law enforcement, service providers, representatives of Federal Agencies, Tribal leaders, and survivors and family members.
The other piece of legislation, Savanna's Act, which we passed, requires the creation of guidelines for law enforcement on how best to keep Native women safe, and it improves reporting of violent crimes against Native people and strengthens vital access to Federal crime databases.
These two laws create powerful tools that will help curb violence against Native people. But they cannot fulfill that mission if they are not implemented by the executive branch. And to date, the administration has missed too many deadlines mandated by statute for putting the legislation into effect. That is why this week, I sent a letter, with Senators Tester and Murkowski, to the administration urging them to implement key provisions of our bipartisan bills.
Now, I am thrilled to share that, today, Secretary Haaland announced the members of the Not Invisible Commission, which now can begin its work. This is excellent news, and I appreciate this and other important steps the administration has taken to address the problem.
But there is still more we need to be doing to implement the policies Congress has passed that will make a difference on the ground for so many families. That includes issuing Federal guidelines to help local law enforcement with best practices to protect Native communities and implementing the data collection needed to address the crisis. The work must continue because families continue to wait.
Just as I call on this administration to do more, I am committed to doing more myself. My office is working to reintroduce legislation that I cosponsored with Senators Udall, Tester, and Murkowski last Congress to improve coordination and data-sharing between Tribal and Federal law enforcement.
My congressional colleagues and I have, this year, once again introduced a resolution recognizing May 5 as a day of awareness for the crisis of missing and murdered Native women and girls. But let's be clear: A day of awareness is for those who don't know about the problem. Indigenous families in Nevada and across the country are only too conscious of the risks their sisters, brothers, cousins, and children face. And they are looking to Congress and to this administration for concrete progress in the long way for justice.
I will keep fighting for that justice and for Anna. But I am here to say to our Congress and administration, let's not have any more Annas. Let's do the right thing for these families and individuals.
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