WASHINGTON – U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today issued the following statement on President Biden’s issuance of a formal apology to Native Americans for the federal government’s role in Indian boarding schools. For more than 150 years, the U.S. government removed Native American children from their homes and communities, forcing them to attend boarding schools, where they were physically, sexually, and psychological abused in an effort to erase their cultural identity.
“Today’s apology brings into light one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history,” said Ranking Member Grijalva. “While there are no words or actions that can ever return to Indigenous peoples all that was taken from them or right the atrocities committed against them, a formal acknowledgment is a much needed and long overdue step in the path to healing. I want to thank President Biden and Secretary Haaland for their continued commitment to supporting Indian Country. But even more so, I want to express my deep reverence to Native communities for their resilience through pain, loss, and mourning in pursuing a true and full account of our history.”
On May 12, 2022, under the leadership of then-Chair Grijalva, the Natural Resources Committee led the first-ever congressional hearing on the Indian boarding school era. The hearing featured testimony from boarding school survivors. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Haaland has also led the first Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to investigate the forced assimilation efforts and injustices committed by the federal government through these schools. In this work, the Biden-Harris administration released reports in 2022 and 2024 that outlined the current and intergenerational impact of boarding schools and made policy recommendations.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
During today’s visit to Gila River Indian community, President Biden also spoke to the administration’s many executive actions to support Indian Country, including the 2022 Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation, which closely mirrors Ranking Member Grijalva’s landmark RESPECT Act.
The Biden-Harris administration has also deployed historic investments in tribal communities through the American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Ranking Member Grijalva and Natural Resources Committee Democrats were instrumental in securing these investments, including $2.5 billion for tribal water rights settlements, $216 million for climate adaptation and community relocation efforts, and $200 million to improve dams, water sanitation, and other facilities in the IIJA, as well as $235 million for climate resilience and $216 million for emergency drought relief in the IRA.
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