Senator Mullin Welcomes Cherokee Nation Chief to Indian Affairs Committee Hearing

In observation of the 50^th anniversary of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, the committee held an oversight hearing to discuss the impact of Tribal administration of federal programs under the law. The senators also heard from a panel of witnesses formed of Tribal leaders, Tribal organizations, and federal witnesses regarding challenges and successes of Tribal self-determination and self-governance.

In his remarks, Senator Mullin discussed his personal experience as a member of Cherokee Nation, credited Chief Hoskin as a "leading voice," and underscored the Senate's crucial responsibility to honor the federal government's obligation to Indian Country.

Sen. Mullin's full remarks can be found here.

Senator Mullin's Remarks as Delivered:

"Chief, welcome. I just want you to understand the servant that Chief Hoskin has become, and has been, for Cherokee Nation, an advocate and a voice that didn't just start with him deciding to run for chief but a long history of serving. He's been a dedicated servant, having served the Cherokee Nation as Secretary of State, as well as a member of the Deputy Speaker of the Council for Cherokee Nation prior to being elected principal chief in 2019.

He's a leading voice in Indian Country on several fundamental areas, including the rural health care, economic development, and tribal self-governance. And I want to speak just a second about the Indian Health Care. The hospital that Cherokee Nation is blessed to run is Hastings Hospital, which is where I received all my dental care, vision, I don't know 100 emergency care visits when I was a kid, to the point where they had to get me- when I was a kid, before they had medical records electronically, you had folders. And every time you went into the Hastings, you had to get your folder. And I had two before I was in seventh grade, and it was the only health care I ever received. It was the health care.

To see where it's at today, what Cherokee Nation has developed it into, that Hastings Hospital now is partnered with OSU Medical, and they're training rural doctors out of that hospital now. And because of the private, public partnership between the state, between the federal government, and between Hastings, which is Cherokee Nation, the vision they had, if we're going to have doctors in rural health care, we have to train them in rural America and so instead of just abandoning the hospital that I grew up going to, it's a medical hospital now.

And that's the type of partnership that we need, and visions that we need inside Indian Country. We need the ability and the flexibility to be a sovereign nation, to see the need and fit the need to those in our own community. And that's what this is all about. And Cherokee Nation is something that I love to brag about, because it is an example of providing that care. And Chief, it's wonderful to have you here in Washington, DC, and you know, I'll see you in Oklahoma soon, I'm sure."

### For more updates, follow @SenMullin on all platforms: X, Facebook, Instagram, Truth Social, & YouTube. Official website:https://www.mullin.senate.gov/