Past News Items

Restoration of federal funds needed for Tribal Priority Allocations (TPA) that provide basic reservation programs and develop strong and stable tribal governments is a key component of the Fiscal Year 1997 Bureau of Indian Affairs $1. 78-billion budget request.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today expressed the Department’s opposition to the so-called “Four States" Indian bills.

He said the three identical bills, S.574, H. R. 3362 and H. R. 3634, would make the Federal Government financially responsible for a multitude of services which rightfully should be provided by the States.

Moreover, it would extend special Federal responsibility to include a great number of additional persons, some of them not even necessarily Indians, he said.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Eddie Brown today ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to revise procedures and to focus attention on increased monitoring and inspections to curtail abuses and mismanagement in federal programs to improve housing for American Indians.

Additional progress toward the goal of full educational and economic opportunities for American Indians was accomplished by the Bureau of Indian Affairs along many different lines in the fiscal year 1957, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today directed implementation of short-term and long-range plans-to improve regulation of gaming on Indian reservations

The Department of the Interior today announced plans for liberalizing the Federal regulations covering the bonds required in connection with leases and permits for developing minerals other than oil and gas on Indian lands.

The purpose of the proposed change is to allow bonds of less than $1, 000 in cases where the Department believes that such bonding will adequately protect the interests of the Indian landowners. Bonds in the amount of $1, 000 are the lowest permitted under the present regulations.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan said today the confirmation of Carl J. Kunasek of Arizona as Commissioner of the Office of Navajo &Hopi Relocation signals the beginning of the final phase in settling the century-old land dispute between the two Indian tribes. President Bush nominated Kunasek and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on May 22, 1990, after a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today announced the adoption of regulations governing the preparation of a roll for distribution of the Oklahoma Quapaw Indian Judgment Fund.

The roll is being prepared under the provisions of a recently enacted congressional law in order to identify the persons entitled to share in a judgment awarded to the Tribe in 1954 by the Indian Claims Commission. The amount of judgment money now on deposit in the U. S. Treasury to the credit of the Tribe is nearly $1,000,000.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer has informed Indian tribal leaders that almost $3 million could be saved over a five year period by using a private contractor for services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.8 billion in Indian trust funds. The $3 million figure was arrived at in cost comparisons between the proposal of a selected bidder and an in-house Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) proposal.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that would adjust Indian and non-Indian land use on some 266,000 acres near the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New Mexico, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.