Just how important will the Native vote be this election year?
Marnee Banks of KXLH examines that question for Montanans in her piece “Campaign Battleground: Montana’s Native Americans.”
Both Democratic and Republican parties in the state acknowledge the importance of the vote.
John Bennion, the author of “Big Sky Politics,” has studied the political landscape in Montana and how it impacts elections.
“If you look at the Native American reservations, they are very rural areas of the state and they tend to vote Democratic,” Bennion says.
However, in an unprecedented wave of Republican sentiment, conservatives won two legislative districts (House Districts 16 and 41) on the reservations last election.
One Native leader in the state sees Native support going to those who can create jobs on reservations. (See Banks’ full video here.)
Montana Representative Tony Belcourt (D – Box Elder) represents a portion of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation.
He agrees with Bennion saying Native Americans typically vote Democrat, but he adds people need to realize Native Americans are an independent population. Belcourt says the problem is getting those 60,000 voters to the polls so their voices can be heard.
“You look at reservations with double digit increases in population, compared to the last Census, and the local towns and counties surrounding reservations are growing, but we don’t see them participating in the legislative process,” Belcourt says. “Hopefully we can change that with the grassroots efforts like Montana Indian Democratic Caucus.”
Jenna Cederberg
Tags: bowen greenwood, Box Elder, Democrats, election 2012, john bennion, marnee banks, Montana Legislature, native vote, republicans, Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, tony belcourt
Mark Trahant
Congress has a long to-do list to complete before the end of the year.
It must enact a budget, either a real one, or for most federal agencies, a Continuing Resolution that funds the government after the current one expires on Dec. 16. Many ask: “Why doesn’t Congress just pass the budget?” Because neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have enough votes to say yes, but they do have enough votes to reject the alternative.
Still, Congress must pass a new round of payroll tax cuts and extend unemployment benefits or both of those programs will expire at the end of the year.
Currently Republicans are adding all sorts of amendments that have little to do with either a budget or a tax cut. The House bill on the payroll tax, for example, requires a 60-day deadline for permitting the Keystone XL Pipeline to pipe oil from Northern Alberta across Montana, South Dakota and other states in the midwest. There is significant opposition to the pipeline construction from Indian Country. The National Congress of American Indians in June said: “The Keystone XL pipeline . . . would threaten, among other things, water aquifers, water ways, cultural sites, agricultural lands, animal life, public drinking water sources and other resources vital to the peoples of the region in which the pipeline is proposed to be constructed.”
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Tags: Congress, Democrats, Mark Trahant, National Congress of American Indians, payroll, payroll tax, payroll tax debate, republicans, Trahant Reports, u.s. budget