Tribal Affairs
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Congress gets a bad rap for never getting anything done. It’s not completely undeserved, but every single day bills pass out of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.
This week was no exception. My legislation to honor former Congressman and Rosebud Sioux tribal member Ben Reifel passed the U.S. Senate and is headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
Washington, D.C. – Today, legislation authored by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) to honor former Congressman and Rosebud Sioux tribal member Ben Reifel passed the U.S. Senate and will head to the president’s desk for his signature. The bill designates the United States Postal Service building in Rosebud, South Dakota, as the Ben Reifel Post Office Building.
Washington, D.C. – Today, legislation sponsored by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) to designate the United States Postal Service building in Rosebud, South Dakota, as the Ben Reifel Post Office Building passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
Washington, D.C. – Today, legislation sponsored by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), which will divert millions back to tribal students’ education, passed the U.S. House unanimously. The Tribal School Federal Insurance Parity Act (H.R.
A presidential task force says the Indian Health Service still needs to improve its child sexual abuse prevention methods after investigating the “institutional and systemic breakdown that failed to prevent and stop” a pediatrician from sexually abusing children on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Montana for decades.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Greg Gianforte (R-MT) urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to hold convicted pedophile and former Indian Health Service (IHS) pediatrician Stanley Patrick Weber fully accountable for his actions. The Representatives demanded HHS take quick action to revoke Mr. Weber’s government pension after an investigation reported the felon, convicted of child sexual abuse, was still receiving his pension.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) today issued a statement following the bipartisan passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Previously, Johnson supported two legislative packages to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and provide federal reimbursement to small employers for paid sick and emergency leave provided to their employees. Rep.
Q: Will I receive a $1,200 check from the federal government to help with the economic stress of COVID-19?
Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed the Tribal School Federal Insurance Parity Act (H.R. 895), which was introduced by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) earlier this year.
This week, South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson became just the second member of Congress to speak Lakota on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Johnson spoke the language as a way to advocate legislation that would advance the practice of Lakota languages.
He emphasized the importance of indigenous languages as the life-blood of cultural understanding.
The last member to speak Lakota on the floor was Representative John Kyl of Iowa. He used a Lakota phrase on the floor in 1963.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) today applauded the Trump administration for approving a major disaster declaration for several South Dakota counties, including Aurora, Brookings, Brule, Charles Mix, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hanson, Hutchinson, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Turner, Union, and Yankton, and the Yankton Indian Reservation and Flandreau Santee Indian Reservation following severe flooding and tornadoes from September 9-26.
Washington, D.C. – This week U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced legislation that would designate the United States Postal Service building in Rosebud, South Dakota as the Ben Reifel Post Office Building. Click here for full speech.
When Professor Sean Flynn, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, released his book Without Reservation: Benjamin Reifel & American Indian Acculturation, I was quick to snag a copy. I was fascinated by the story of the first Congressman of Lakota Sioux descent, Ben Reifel.
Throughout Ben Reifel’s career at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade in Congress, he worked tirelessly to further economic opportunity for American Indians. He celebrated education, hard work and self-determination.
I came to Congress to solve real issues for South Dakotans. This office has awarded me the opportunity to meet and engage with constituents that perhaps I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to know. Every meeting that comes through my door is important, but I am particularly impressed by the intentionality of South Dakota’s tribal members.