WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren today responded to inaccurate statements by the Navajo Nation Council in an Oct. 1 press release that questioned his reasons and use of his line-item veto authority applied to the Council’s Sept. 16 continuing resolution.
The President provided the following statement:
In analyzing the budget and expenditures, I found that the Council lost sight of its role as lawmakers. Lawmakers serve the Navajo people by being at the Nation’s capital to focus on drafting legislation. This includes budget legislation. They are responsible for updating the many outdated laws that are hindering progress for our Nation.
Instead, our analysis has found delegates of this Council have abused their travel while arguing that I have misused mine. For example, in FY2024 I cut my $350,000 travel budget by 50% to fund other areas of my office. Meanwhile, the Council moved funds around to increase its travel.
For FY2024, the Council spent $1,415,971 on travel. Meanwhile, I cut my travel budget to enable the Office of the President and Vice President to continue to function. Had I not made these sacrifices, I would have been under my travel budget.
This is the reason I directed the Controller to include in his quarterly reports to the Council all travel, salaries, stipends, expenses and reimbursements for me, as President, the Vice President and all the Council delegates. Because I hear criticism of my travel, I am happy to make these reports public.
In my opinion, and that of my staff qualified to analyze it, the continuing resolution sent to me for my signature was botched. Consequently, it warranted my line-item vetoes. The line-item veto is a presidential authority granted to Navajo presidents by the Navajo people through the initiative process, not the referendum process. The continuing resolution I received is an example of the Council not doing its job nor fulfilling its responsibility to prepare a comprehensive budget prior to the next fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1.
If our lawmakers were in Window Rock and made it a priority to discuss the continuing resolution, I wouldn’t have had to make so many corrections to this continuing resolution.
The Navajo Nation Council’s main duty and responsibility is to appropriate funds so that our government can function and so that the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch can continue to provide direct services to our people. The Navajo Nation Council does not provide direct services to the people.
The Executive Branch, including Chapters, provide social services, educational services and veteran services to our people, among others, while the Judicial Branch operates the courts that adjudicate claims being filed by and against our people. The Council needs to leave direct services to the Executive and Judicial Branch.
I am happy to reinstate the Council’s off-reservation travel (which includes airfare, off-reservation car rentals, and the like) with the passage of a comprehensive budget. However, I must ensure that the Council, its committees and its support staff stay on the Navajo Nation and are focused on developing a comprehensive budget for FY2025.
The press release goes on to state that, “President Nygren zoned in on funding for the Legislative Branch by eliminating nearly $1 million that is used to fund attorney positions, support staff, and other resources that support the drafting and delivery of critical legislations requested by constituents, chapters, and many others along with other critical legal support to the Legislative Branch.”
In reviewing the FY2024 Comprehensive Budget, I discovered that the Legislative Branch has far more funding resources than it is leading our People to believe. It has several buckets of funding to draw from that allows the Council to continue its operations and to fund personnel.
For example, the Council’s full-time in-house attorney positions and other staff positions have been preserved. I did line-item veto items for the Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC) such as outside contract attorneys (totaling $634,585), outside consultants (totaling $70,000), and $4,000 for media. Even with these vetoes, OLC still has $831,634 to operate. In comparison, the Office of the President and Vice President’s legal office does not have its own budget. It is folded into the overall OPVP budget.
Even with the line-item vetoes for the Legislative Branch:
- the Speaker still has $1,053,826,
- the full Council has $1,086,849,
- the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee has $173,122,
- the four other standing committees of the Navajo Nation Council have a total of $145,649,
- the Office of Legislative Services still has $1,120,646, and
- the OLC still has $831,634.
These items total $4,411,726 for six months. The Legislative Branch has sufficient resources to get a comprehensive budget in place.
The Council further states that the “… six-month Continuing Resolution (was) adopted unanimously by the Council on Sept. 16 in order to avoid employee layoffs and continue critical government operations…”
A continuing resolution is passed to maintain spending status quo while a comprehensive budget is being worked out. CS-39-24 – a confusing combination of both a continuing resolution and a comprehensive budget – was rushed and passed without debate or consideration by the full Council. All budget legislation should be vetted carefully to ensure that the Council is fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility and properly appropriating money. The Council failed to do this. CS-39-24 contained many errors that I was forced to correct using my line-item veto authority.
Our employees are now having to navigate and implement this confusing resolution. Again, some programs are being partially funded while others are being fully funded.
In addition, Speaker Curley stated, “President Nygren campaigned on working together with the Navajo Nation Council, but his recent line-item veto actions contradict his promises.”
The Council was fully aware and anticipated that line-item vetoes were possible if they chose not to do their duty to approve a comprehensive budget. The Council had to waive our laws in order to get a continuing resolution passed. I should not be forced to sign a resolution that waives our tribal laws in order to get a continuing resolution passed – especially one that is fraught with errors.
Further, I have maintained and publicly stated from the beginning of this budget process that I am willing to work with the Legislative and Judicial Branch, and I have. I have had countless meetings with the Speaker, Chief Justice, and the Budget and Finance Committee to figure out a path forward. When those repeated efforts failed, I called on the entire Navajo Nation Council to meet with me and the other branch chiefs on August 14, 2024, to discuss how to move forward with the comprehensive budget. For the one delegate who attended, she refused to talk about the budget.
The Council also questions whether I, as President of the Navajo Nation, “abused and overstepped the presidential line-item veto authority.”
It is the Council’s role to approve budgets and enact legislation. It is not the Council’s role to act as the jury and judge on whether any president “abused or overstepped the presidential line-item veto authority.” Line-item veto authority was given to the Navajo president by the People. It is within my authority as President to exercise my fiduciary duty over fiscal matters using my line-item veto authority.
The Council fails to point out that the reason why “local leaders and community members voiced their disappointment and disapproval of my line-item vetoes during a Central Agency Council held on Sept. 28,” is because the Speaker and members of the B&F Committee irresponsibly made – and continue to make – incorrect statements to the public and chapter officials.
For example, they state that chapter stipends were line-item vetoed – this is blatantly untrue. Chapter officials will continue to be paid stipends.
Lastly, people have asked why a comprehensive budget important?
We – as a Nation and government – cannot plan effectively without a comprehensive budget because there is no certainty for many of our programs. The current continuing resolution does not account for the rising costs of services and inflation that are impacting our families and communities. It also undermines strategic investments in critical areas such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare. All I am asking for is that the Council stay within the reservation and focus on getting me a comprehensive budget for FY2025.
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