 Good afternoon,In this update, you will learn about some of the ways in which President Obama and his Administration continueto address the interests, concerns, and needs of the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) community.Please visit us online to learn more about the White House Office of Public Engagement, the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and the White House’s work with the Native American community. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up for updates!
Best regards, Raina Thiele President Obama Engages Native Youth at My Brother’s Keeper Town Hall On July 21, President Obama hosted a town hall session featuring the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. He announced new commitments in support of MBK and engaged in dialogue with young boys and men of color. Youth from the Center for Native American Youth’s Champions for Change program, the Native American Political Leadership Institute’s INSPIRE Initiative, and the Navajo Nation attended the town hall and asked the President about the Administration’s work to support Native American language and cultural preservation. The President reaffirmed his commitment to Native American youth and the importance of honoring one’s roots. Discussing his trip to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation in June, the President applauded the tribe’s work on Lakota language revitalization and remarked about the powerful stories he heard from the tribe’s young people. Click here to learn more about the recent My Brother’s Keeper town hall.
Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Announces Tribal Climate Resilience Program On July 16, the White House State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience held its fourth and final meeting. In an effort to help tribes prepare for climate change, the Administration announced its new Tribal Climate Resilience Program. As part of this initiative, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will dedicate $10 million in funding for tribes and tribal organizations to develop tools to enable adaptive resource management, as well as the ability to plan for climate resilience. Additionally, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency will partner to create a new subgroup on climate change under the White House Council on Native American Affairs. This subgroup will share data and information and coordinate Administration efforts to assist tribes in climate resilience and mitigation efforts. Click here to learn more about the Administration’s Tribal Climate Resilience Program. AmeriCorps Expands Presence in Tribal Communities As part of President Obama’s commitment to Indian Country, AmeriCorps announced $3 million in grants to support Native American communities. These funds will increase the number of AmeriCorps members serving tribal communities by 41 percent. In total, these 17 tribal grants will support more than 250 AmeriCorps members serving with tribal organizations in 13 states. Click here to learn more about AmeriCorps expansion in tribal communities. The President and First Lady’s Historic Visit to Indian Country On June 13, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation in Cannonball, North Dakota for the President’s first visit to Indian Country since taking office. Accompanied by the First Lady, the President met with Native American youth, tribal leaders, and attended the tribe’s annual Flag Day celebration where he spoke to Indian Country. “My Administration is determined to partner with tribes, and it’s not something that just happens once in a while,” the President said. “It takes place every day, on just about every issue that touches your lives. And that’s what real nation-to-nation partnerships look like.” Also on June 13, the White House released a fact sheet on economic development and education, including a blueprint for reforming the Bureau of Indian Education. Click here to learn more about the President’s June 2014 trip to Indian Country. Click here to watch the highlights.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended the Cannon Ball Flag Day Powwow in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on June 13, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Statement by the President on the Passing of Billy Frank, Jr. On May 5, President Obama released a statement on the passing of Billy Frank, Jr.:
Click here to read the President’s statement. White House Council on Native American Affairs Update On May 1, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell convened a successful third meeting of the White House Council on Native American Affairs. Seven Cabinet Secretaries and senior officials discussed ongoing progress and current priorities aimed at working more collaboratively and effectively with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes to advance their economic and social goals. Among the topics discussed were promoting sustainable Tribal economic development; supporting greater access to and control over healthcare; improving the effectiveness of the Tribal justice systems; expanding and improving educational opportunities for Native youth; and supporting sustainable management of Native lands, environments, and natural resources. The meeting was concluded with a discussion of the group’s preliminary findings and recommendations for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education. Click here to learn more about the May White House Council on Native American Affairs meeting.
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell convenes the third meeting of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, May 1, 2014. (U.S. Department of the Interior) Stay Connected |
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USDA
- Petitioning USDA, Tom Vilsack
This petition will be delivered to:
United States Department of Agriculture
USDA, Tom Vilsack
Food Safety and Inspection Service
FSIS, Alfred Almanza
Require that meat produced from animals fed antibiotics be labeled accordingly.
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Petition by
Rohnert Park, CA
Most antibiotics sold in this country are fed to farmed animals rather than to treat human disease.
These antibiotics are mixed in with the food and water fed to the pigs, cows, and chickens who become the meat we eat. Often these animals are not even sick. Meat companies give low doses of antibiotics to farmed animals because it makes them grow bigger and faster on less food. These animals are also kept in confined and filthy conditions – conditions that would make them very sick if they were not all given these antibiotics preventatively.
Unfortunately, this extensive use of low dose antibiotics is helping to breed resistance in bacteria – leading to the existence of “superbugs.” These superbugs create infections in people that cannot be treated by the antibiotics—and this problem is potentially the leading health crisis in the U.S.
Consumers who want to avoid meat produced with antibiotics have no way to identify such products.
Although some companies use the label “antibiotic free,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not regulate that term. Consumers therefore have no way of knowing whether the meat they buy is truly produced with or without large amounts of antibiotics.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) has recently asked the USDA to require labels on meat and poultry products to clarify whether those animals were fed antibiotics or not. Consumers should have a say in what goes in their meat.
As a father of a toddler and a newborn, I know how important it is that families know what they’re putting on the table for their kids. Consumers have a right to make informed choices, and it’s the job of our government regulatory agencies to help us by properly labeling food that could be harmful.
Please join me in urging the USDA to require that meat produced from animals fed antibiotics be labeled accordingly. Contact the USDA and ask them to adopt ALDF’s proposal!
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Faster, Easier Cures for Hepatitis C
07/28/2014 09:50 AM EDT
Advances in drug treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are giving the 3.2 million Americans with chronic hepatitis C a chance at a longer, healthier life. That’s welcome news for baby boomers, a generation that makes up three of four adults with the hepatitis C virus.
Today is World Hepatitis Day. Read the Consumer Update to learn more about new treatments.
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Why is Walgreens Moving to Switzerland?
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE — http://www.ourfuture.org
Walgreens is an American success story. Or, at least, they used to be.
In 1904, Charles Walgreen traveled from his small-town home in Dixon, Illin
ois, to Chicago and opened a pharmacy and soda fountain.
In the decades that followed, Walgreens grew with the city and the nation.
(Even if you could no longer buy a slice of pie from Myrtle Walgreen’s kitc
hen.) Today they are the largest drug retailer in America.
Walgreens should be a proud American company. But they don’t want to be.
They think they’d be better off if they were Swiss.
But they’re not moving anything.
It’s a gimmick. They call it “inversion.”
It’s a trick that companies use to skip out on their taxes by declaring the
mselves a foreign company. That leaves the burden on Americans and American
companies.
Walgreens is counting on the American people staying in the dark until it’s
too late. That’s where you come in.
We need your help to expose this scam, pressure Walgreens to do the right
thing and shut down the tax loophole that allows this to happen. Can you he
lp with a $10 donation to support this campaign?
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/stopwalgreens
The Campaign For America’s Future has helped turn back the tide on these so=
rts of scams before
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Weekend On The Wage
Things Many Of Us Take For Granted Are Not Feasible For Those On A Minimum Wage Budget
For most of us, the weekend means taking some time to relax and do something fun after a full week of work. Maybe it’s going out to dinner, seeing a movie, watching a child’s soccer game, or traveling to visit friends or family. But for full-time minimum wage workers, there’s little if any room to afford such activities. After housing and tax expenses, full-time workers earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour have just $77 per week on average left for other expenses. Take a look at some of the graphics below to see how many of the things we take for granted are simply not feasible on that budget. And ask yourself, where would you cut?
Workers who make the minimum wage have little, if any, leeway in how they spend their money each week. $7.25 an hour is not enough to live on—much less enough to invest back into the community. In solidarity with these workers, leaders and activists around the country are taking the #LiveTheWage challenge, attempting to live on $77 for one week in an effort to highlight the critical need to raise the federal minimum wage. Check out Governor Ted Strickland talking and tweeting about his experience so far.
BOTTOM LINE: It’s been over five years since the last increase to the federal minimum wage. If we raise the wage to $10.10, it would lift 4.6 million Americans out of poverty and would raise the wages of 28 million Americans by a total of $35 billion dollars. That means more than just a long-awaited paycheck increase — it means more people able to go to the state fair, watch their kid’s soccer game, or see a movie every once in a while.
Be a Seed for Change 
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