Senator Warren Joins New Mexico Delegation in Introducing Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Reauthorize Native American Language Programs
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), along with Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Representatives Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), in introducing the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Programs Reauthorization Act to strengthen tribally-developed Native American language revitalization programs.
The bill is named after Esther Martinez, an Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo traditional storyteller and Tewa language advocate who passed away in 2006. It amends existing law to reauthorize two federal Native American language programs at the Administration for Native Americans until 2024, expands eligibility for those programs to smaller-sized tribal language programs, and allows both programs to offer longer grant periods.
This bill is co-led by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Representatives Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.). It is also supported by the National Congress of American Indians and the National Indian Education Association.
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