The head of the Cherokee Nation will not be invited back to speak on the House floor after he took a “political position” defending Medicaid expansion, the House speaker said Thursday. 

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert also acknowledged he sent Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. a five paragraph letter last week expressing disappointment about comments Hoskin made vowing to protect Medicaid expansion during a 20 minute address to the full House.

“I was particularly concerned with the tone and tenor of the speech, which was in direct contrast to the public position of an overwhelming majority of the members of the House of Representatives,” Hilbert wrote.

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Hoskin sent back a two-sentence reply, stating that Hilbert’s letter “illustrates the great challenges for tribes in engaging with the State of Oklahoma.”

The disagreement marked the latest dispute between state and tribal leaders, who in recent years have been at odds over a range of issues including gaming and tobacco compacts, criminal jurisdiction, taxation, car tags, and toll collection for tribal motorists.

In his letter, obtained by Oklahoma Voice, Hilbert wrote that it was “quite inappropriate and contrary to our House Rules for an invited guest to delve into political matters.” 

Weeks earlier, the House had advanced two measures to send state questions to the ballot that ask voters to reconsider a 2020 voter-led initiative that expanded Medicaid access to over 200,000 lower-income, working Oklahomans. Neither measure has been fully approved yet, and the Senate failed to garner enough support to one of the state questions on the Aug. 25 ballot.

Hilbert wrote that he will continue to have an open door policy with Cherokee Nation leadership and to have honest dialogue. 

“While it is certainly understandable, and frankly, to be expected for the Cherokee Nation to have public concerns with adjustments to Medicaid, there are other forums where this advocacy is more appropriate,” Hilbert wrote. 

Hilbert said Thursday that he and Hoskin had discussed Medicaid expansion prior to the Cherokee leader’s speech on the House floor, but he was not aware of what messaging the speech would contain. 

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Hilbert said he would not, as an invited guest, make political statements at Cherokee or tribal meetings. Hoskin will not be allowed as a guest in a “speaking situation” on the House floor again, Hilbert said.

A spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said Thursday that Paxton did not send a similar letter to Hoskin and will not be banning him from speaking on the chamber floor.

It is common for the House and Senate to allow invited speakers to their respective chamber floors. This week, Oklahoma State University’s president and head football coach spoke on the House floor as well as a member of a delegation from Taiwan. 

Hoskin has great respect for Hilbert and considers him a friend, a spokesperson for the Cherokee Nation said in a statement Thursday. 

“Given the gravity in which the speed of the Medicaid Expansion bills were developing, and the vast impact repealing these bills has on the Cherokee Nation … Chief Hoskin’s speech on the House Floor was timely, respectful and measured,” the tribe said in a statement. 

Medicaid expansion has had a $162 million direct impact on the tribal health care system and a $222 million impact on northeastern Oklahoma’s economy, the statement said. 

A day after Hoskin’s legislative speech letter, the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes passed a resolution supporting the preservation of Medicaid expansion. The council is composed of some of the nation’s largest tribes, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nation.