Navajo Nation Council loses quorum at 9:30 p.m. while questioning Navajo Area Bureau of Indian Affairs Office in Gallup, N.M., which seems to be a trend…

I was reading past posts and in 2014 and 2013, the Council lost quorum during as they listened to the BIA report during their summer session.

A quorum of the 24 member Council is 12. The Council had 12 delegates as the BIA started answering questions from Council delegates. The BIA had finished their quarterly report to the Council.

Delegate Nelson BeGaye said he feels that the Council is being held hostage late into the night because the Council gets started late.

But as the BIA Director Sharon Pinto informed Council that she and her staff sat in the Council chambers for about 12 hours and that the amount of money that they represent as federal employees was thousands of dollars.

And so Delegate Leonard Tsosie suggested that the Council continue to hear out the BIA.

Speaker LoRenzo Bates said that the Council could finish hearing the BIA report but they could not vote on accepting it or not.

It is now 9:50 p.m. and the Council is still here listening to the BIA…