The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would commission a study on missing and murdered indigenous people. The bill was initiated after a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on the epidemic of missing persons in Indian Country, including Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, a woman from the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana.
“In dealing with this tragedy of missing and murdered women, we must do better,” said Montana Senator Steve Daines, the bill’s cosponsor. “This legislation would hold federal agencies accountable and would help get the families and communities of these victims the answers they deserve.”