Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today issued a Final Determination in which she declined to acknowledge a group known as “The Nipmuc Nation” from Sutton, Mass.

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service today announced nearly $40,000 in repatriation grants under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to assist museums, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations in returning ancestral human remains and cultural objects to their people.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson and Office of Indian Education Programs Director Edward F. Parisian are traveling this week to North and South Dakota as part of their continuing tour of Bureau of Indian Affairs funded schools. Starting today, Anderson and Parisian will be attending an honor roll banquet at the Turtle Mountain High School in Belcourt, N.D., where the assistant secretary will stress the importance of encouraging and inspiring all BIA students to grow through learning.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – President Bush’s pledge on education that “no child shall be left behind” was reaffirmed today with the release of his Fiscal Year 2002 budget request of $2.2 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).The request includes $292.5 million for BIA school construction – an increase of $162,000 over the 2001 enacted level – of which $122.8 million is to replace six aging BIA school facilities around the country, including the Polacca Day School located in Polacca, Ariz., on the Hopi reservation.

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today issued a proposed finding to decline to acknowledge a Derby, Conn., group, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, as an Indian tribe.

WASHINGTON – President Trump today proposed a $944.5 million Fiscal Year 2021 budget for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The BIE’s budget request is presented separately, continuing the historical action in FY 2020 to recognize the distinct and separate responsibilities and missions of the Indian Affairs’ two bureaus. The FY2021 budget request will continue to advance BIE reform, provide autonomy and accountability, streamline services, maximize efficiency, and build capacity.

PHOENIX – In an address yesterday before a large crowd of tribal government and business leaders attending the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb drew upon his 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur to point out the importance of partnerships between tribes and federal agencies and corporations.

“Partnerships are a powerful tool” for tribal businesses to use, McCaleb said, citing the role they play in the business world as a mechanism for creating profits and expanding market share.

BLOOMINGTON, MINN.–Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt, Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney established the first of seven offices dedicated to solving cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Washington - The Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb has named Daniel J. DuBray, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, as his Special Assistant for Communications - Indian Affairs.

"Dan will be a valuable asset to Indian Affairs with his extensive media and Capitol Hill experience, and his understanding of American Indian issues," McCaleb said.

(Washington, D.C.) – The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb is in Ottawa, Canada today for bilateral talks with representatives from the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The bilateral talks were created to provide an opportunity for the United States and Canada to exchange information on how each administer their responsibilities to their indigenous populations.