Senate Appropriations Bill Would Decrease Funds for Richest Tribes Story-Date: 08:27 p.m. PST Friday , September 18, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Senate Appropriations Bill Would Decrease Funds for Richest Tribes By Brenda Norrell, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 21--WASHINGTON--A compromise worked out between Assistant Secretary of Interior Kevin Gover and anti-Indian legislator Slade Gorton while a Senate appropriations bill was hammered out keeps stirring controversy. Alma Ransom, tribal leader of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York, is among those criticizing Mr. Gover for legislation that could result in federal funds being slashed for revenue-rich tribes. "You've wasted four months of work," Ms. Ransom said of the resulting compromise. But Mr. Gover, vowing that it was the best that could be negotiated, said some tribes are receiving as little as 20 percent of the funding necessary to meet their needs. The Senate compromise calls for a task force to work out a redistribution formula for federal funding by April 1, 1999. It came as leaders from more than 150 American Indian tribes rallied legislators in Washington, anticipating the decimation of federal funding. The House of Representatives passed its FY '99 Interior Appropriations and the Senate bill is being debated. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, has reiterated comments he made last year at the annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians in Santa Fe., supporting some form of means testing. Sen. Campbell said federal funding should take into account tribes with successful enterprises such as casinos. Federal aid, he said, "should be more closely aligned with those tribes having the greatest relative need." Ron Allen, president of the NCAI, said as many as a dozen tribes may return federal dollars. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, touring Zia Pueblo near Albuquerque, was critical of the efforts by both the House and Senate to to slash funding for BIA schools. Mr. Babbitt said the House of Representatives cut the President's $86.6 million budget request for school construction by more than one-third, and the Senate by almost one-third. "This means Indian children are being educated in buildings with inadequate heat, lighting, ventilation and other basic health and safety needs." "In a prosperous country with a thriving economy these budget cuts are shameful," Mr. Babbitt said. The present budget levels in both House and Senate FY '99 Appropriations bills would not allow funding for the priority construction of a new Zia Day School. Sen. Gorton, R-Wash., announced plans to offer an amendment to the appropriations bill, Senate Bill 2237, that addresses tort liability insurance on tribal lands. The senator is combining language contained in his earlier measure, Senate bill 2303, with language from Sen. Campbell's proposed Senate bill 2097. He has no co-sponsors for his bill so far. Deswood Tome, information officer for the Navajo Nation Washington Office, said the amendment proposes to direct the Interior Secretary to conduct a comprehensive survey of liability insurance coverage of qualified Indian tribes and submit a report to Congress. It will include analysis of loss data, risk management, projected exposure of liability, category of risk and coverage involved, law enforcement liability and workers compensation. The amendment would also permit the Interior Secretary to pay liability insurance premiums for tribes which do not pay, and withhold the amount of money paid from Tribal Priority Allocation funding. The latest debate follows a move in June when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation, sponsored by Sen. Gorton, that would have taken $12 million in federal funds from the richest 10 percent of tribes and given it to the poorest 20 percent. The senator, however, dropped the plan with the promise from the Clinton administration that a formula would be created by April to redistribute federal funds to tribes with greater needs. In the current deal, the Senate approved legislation that would assure tribes their status will not be downgraded if federal funds are turned down. Meanwhile, the nation's mainstream media continues to scrutinize gains made by American Indian tribes. The Associated Press reports that the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux in Minneapolis gives each tribal member $600,000 annually. The tribe uses federal aid to provide welfare and social assistance to non-members. Willie Hardacker, legal counsel, said the tribe feels casino revenues should not prevent the tribe from receiving entitled federal funds. "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," Mr. Hardacker said. The Washington Post reported that the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut, owners of the Foxwood Casino, earn hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Further, it reported that American Indian tribes donated $2 million in campaign contributions, mostly to Democrats, in the 1996 election. Mr. Babbitt, however, said the ultimate victims of the decrease in federal appropriations will be American Indian children. During his visit to Zia Pueblo, Mr. Babbitt said, "Throughout this country, there are Indian school children trying to learn in buildings that are literally falling down around them." "The government is responsible for the funding of Indian schools and Congress has consistently turned its back on its responsibilities." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------