Tester announces panelists for Friday’s Senate field hearing

Oct. 15 hearing in Polson will focus on transportation in Indian Country

(BIG SANDY, Mont.) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced panelists scheduled to take part in a field hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Montana this Friday, October 15.

The Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, the President of the National Congress of American Indians, and several representatives of Montana tribes are expected to be among the witnesses who will testify during Friday’s hearing in Polson.

Tester, a member of the Indian Affairs Committee, called the hearing to gather information from the nation’s leading experts on transportation issues in Indian Country.  The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. at the Best Western KwaTaqNuk hotel.  The meeting is free and open to the public.

The following panelists are scheduled to take part in Tester’s hearing:

PANEL I

• The Hon. Larry J. Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, Accompanied by Michael S. Black, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Leroy Gishi, Transportation Chief, Bureau of Indian Affairs

• John R. Baxter, Associate Federal Highways Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation, Accompanied by Robert Sparrow, Jr., Reservation Roads Program Manager, Federal Highways Administration 

• The Hon. Jefferson Keel, President, National Congress of American Indians

PANEL II

• The Hon. E.T. “Bud” Moran, Chairman, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

• James Steele, Jr., Chairman, Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council

• Timothy W. Rosette, Sr., Environmental Health Division, Chippewa-Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation

• John P. Smith, Transportation Director, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes (Wyoming)

EVENT:          U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
                  Oversight field hearing to examine tribal transportation in Indian Country
                  Chaired by Senator Jon Tester
DATE/TIME: Friday, October 15 at 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION:   Best Western KwaTaqNuk hotel
                  49708 U.S. Highway 93 East, Polson