Wealthy tribes encouraged to give up federal money
Story-Date: 05:58 p.m. PST Wednesday, September 9, 1998

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Wealthy tribes encouraged to give up federal money


By Philip Brasher
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is prodding wealthy Indian tribes to give up
federal funding in return for promises that aid would be restored if
the gambling industry turns sour.

As many as a dozen tribes may return their money, Ron Allen, president of
the National Congress of American Indians, said Wednesday.

The money is to be redistributed to poor reservations, but the wealthy
tribes are small and often receive less than $1 million each.

"They are all small tribes. They're not the big budgets," said Allen,
president of the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe in Washington state. He said his
tribe can't afford to give up any money.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation in June that would
have taken $12 million in federal aid from the richest 10 percent of tribes
and given it to the poorest 20 percent. But the sponsor, Sen. Slade Gorton,
R-Wash., dropped that move in return for the Clinton administration's
agreement to come up with a plan by April for redistributing federal aid.

As part of the deal, the Senate approved legislation Tuesday night that
would assure tribes they won't have their legal status downgraded if they
turn down federal aid.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs currently distributes federal aid through an
arcane system that provides wealthier tribes with far more money in
proportion to their population than poorer tribes, and the disparities have
been growing year by year. One unidentified tribe that made $300 million
last year still received $350,000 in federal aid, according to a recent
study by the General Accounting Office.

The BIA funds almost every function of tribal government on reservations,
including social services, law enforcement, land management and road
maintenance.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux make so much money from a suburban
Minneapolis casino that it gives an estimated $600,000 a year to each of
its members.

The tribe uses its federal aid to provide welfare and other assistance to
Indians on its reservation who aren't members of the tribe and hasn't
decided whether to return the money, said Willie Hardacker, its legal
counsel.

"The tribe firmly believes it is entitled to federal funding," Hardacker
said. "The ancestors of the tribe gave up millions of acres of land and a
way of life in exchange for a perpetual trust relationship with the federal
government."

BIA officials say they expect to show Congress that federal funding falls
far short of meeting the needs of most tribes.

"We have tribes that are getting 30 percent of what they need. Others are
getting 20 percent or less," said Kevin Gover, the Interior Department's
assistant secretary for Indian affairs.



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