{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=f59f6ef2-abdd-435a-8116-ba5e2349eaf9", "Murkowski \u201cIncredulous\u201d at Indian Health Service\u2019s Failure to Fully Fund Native Health Clinic Contracts", "2013-11-14", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.14.13\n\t\t\t Murkowski \u201cIncredulous\u201d at Indian Health Service\u2019s Failure to Fully Fund Native Health Clinic Contracts \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t \u201cI Feel Like I Am Fighting the Administration\u201d to Abide by Supreme Court Ruling\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON, DC \u2014 Senator Lisa Murkowski today had a candid exchange with the Director of the Indian Health Service over the Obama administration\u2019s continuing refusal to fully fund the contract support costs for tribal health care providers nationwide, saying she is \u201cincredulous that we are still living through this\u201d fight.\u00a0Contract support costs are the operational costs of tribes to manage tribal health programs \u2013including personal management systems, liability insurance, and facility support costs. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Ramah vs Salazar that tribes should be fully compensated to for the operation of self-governance contracts in delivering the promises of the Federal trust responsibility.\r\nMurkowski also rebuffed President Obama\u2019s recent comments at the White House Tribal Nations Summit acknowledging his administration is shortchanging native tribes but seeking answers.\u00a0 \u201cI went to the summit to focus on what the President would say about Contract Support Costs.\u00a0 The President said \u2018I hear you loud and clear and we need to find answers,\u2019\u201d recalled Murkowski in her introduction. (clip below) \u201cWe don\u2019t need to find answers; I think the Supreme Court laid it out very clearly \u2013 full reimbursement must be provided.\u201d\r\n\r\n(Murkowski on Obama claim: Supreme Court\u2019s decision requiring full funding was \u201cunequivocal\u201d \u2013 click image to watch statement.)\r\nWhen the time came for questioning witnesses, Murkowski again referred back to the Ramah ruling when she opened her line of questioning.\u00a0 She focused on the administration\u2019s continuing practice of shortchanging tribes despite the Supreme Court ruling. \u201cI am still incredulous that we are still living through this.\u00a0 I had to work with my colleagues here in the Senate and \u00a0on the House of Representatives side of Capitol Hill to keep that language out of the current continuing resolution (CR) because the administration was insisting on putting it in,\u201d Murkowski said.\u00a0 \u201cYou say you\u2019re listening, but you still keep capping funds in the C.R\u2026. I want to know whether the administration is planning to propose the same language in this year\u2019s budget, capping contract support costs.\u201d\r\n\r\n(Murkowski \u2018incredulous\u2019 at the continuing refusal to fully fund contract support costs \u2013 click image to watch statement.)\r\nIHS Director Yvette Roubideaux then testified to Senator Murkowski about the extent that the agency was consulting with tribes when mapping out future budgets.\u00a0 Challenging the director\u2019s testimony, Murkowski said she has been informed that the \u201cIndian Health Service is going to be limited to a 2% sequestration cut in FY14 if a sequestration proceeds under the Budget Control Act - is that your understanding?\u201d\u00a0 When Roubideaux responded that she did not have final information about the funding levels, Murkowski interrupted her with a follow-up question \u201cSo our tribal health providers actually have more information than you do about this?\u201d\r\n\r\n(Murkowski to Roubideaux: \u201cAlaska tribal health providers have more information than you?\u201d Click image for exchange.)\r\nRoubideaux again claimed that she did not have a final determination on budget figures, eliciting a frustrated response from Murkowski.\u00a0 \u201cI feel like I\u2019m fighting the administration. You all are supposed to be working to advance this. You\u2019re supposed to be consulting with the tribes on this.\u00a0 You say you are listening, but I want to see that translated into advocating with us on the budget. You can\u2019t put the monkey on our back unless you\u2019re willing to step up and be that advocate with us.\u201d\r\nAfter these remarks from Senator Murkowski, Roubideaux finally acknowledged that she did believe that the 2% cut figure mentioned by the Senator was correct, and promised to confirm that once she had final figures.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n     \n\t\n \n\t\n    \n    \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t  \n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=f59f6ef2-abdd-435a-8116-ba5e2349eaf9"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.2097397595643997, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}