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WASHINGTON, DC - A new congress means new opportunities for Indian tribal leaders to make their

Pictured left to right: Governor Bill Anoatubby, Chickasaw Nation; Council Member Bob Pate, Choctaw Nation; Principal Chief Perry Beaver, Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Lieutenant Governor Jefferson Keel, Chickasaw Nation; and Principal Chief Chad Smith, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

representatives aware of the issues currently facing Indian Nations. Chiefs representing the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma recently returned from Washington, where they briefed congressional members and their staff on matters of importance to the tribes.

"We have to make sure that the leadership in Washington understands that our sovereignty as Indian nations is just as important to us as the sovereignty of the United States is to them," said Chuck Hoskins, a tribal council member for the Cherokee Nation.

"We have to make sure that when they think of Indians, they don’t think of these historic pictures they see on walls. That’s who we were," said Mary Flute-Cooksey, a tribal council member for the Cherokee Nation. "We want them to deal with who we are today, people looking after our interests."

Of primary interest to the tribes was the inequity in funding within the Indian Health Service. The IHS receives just $856 per Indian patient per year for the Oklahoma area. That makes Oklahoma the lowest funded IHS area, at only 45 percent of the total need, according to an IHS study.

"The Oklahoma service area has the largest Indian population of any area within the IHS, but we get the least per capita funding," said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. "We don’t advocate taking funding away from other areas because they don’t get enough money either. What we ask is that all additional money for Indian health care be distributed under a different formula that would address the funding disparities of the past."

The chiefs addressed land issues, advocated for the continuation of tax incentives that encourage businesses to hire Indians and requested additional funding for Indian housing. They also asked Congress to pass the Five Nations Land Reform Act, which would protect the small amount of remaining restricted Indian land allotted to individual members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The law would apply only to those five tribes and make the laws governing the status of that land similar to those that govern the land of Indians in western Oklahoma and the rest of the United States.

The delegation met privately with Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) and Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), and held public briefings for other congressional members and staff. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) Nations are commonly known as the Five Civilized Tribes and their total tribal membership is more than 400,000 citizens.