Past News Items

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover will hold a media briefing on Thursday, September 9. Their briefing will focus on a new report documenting the management of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and other issues affecting the BIA budget.

The briefing will be held in Room 7000 of the Main Interior Building, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC, it begins at 4:00 p.m. EST.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today announced the appointment of Robert T. Anderson as Counselor to the Secretary. Anderson will be based in Seattle and advise the Secretary on a wide variety of policy matters, including Native American, environmental and Northwest issues.

Public comment is sought on a proposal by the Secretary of the Interior to allow the statutory approval of Alaska Native allotment applications in cases where protests against such actions have been withdrawn. A notice requesting comment is published in today's Federal Register (62 Fed Reg 7033).

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today signed agreements to complete final action on implementation of the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Act of 1990.

Clinton Pattea, President of the Fort McDowell Indian Community, joined Secretary Babbitt in signing the agreements at a ceremony held at the Interior Department. Also attending the ceremony was Ada Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

The Lifetime Learning and Rebuild America economic stimulus package proposed by President Clinton will provide economic development opportunities, rebuild and maintain roads, repair schools, jails and juvenile detention centers, and provide funds to operate elementary and secondary schools on many of America's Indian reservations.

The total stimulus package calls for $102.4 million, with most of the funds to be spent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for the benefit of Indians by the end of Fiscal Year 1993.

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) welcomes tribal leadership and stakeholders to attend an informational virtual meeting scheduled for 2:00 pm eastern standard time on July 8 to hear BIE leadership present its plans for distributing its Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to schools to support the COVID-19 Pandemic recovery.

A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) investment that created three "business opportunity centers" last September is paying off with real jobs for Indian people.

The Rensselaerville Institute of Rensselaerville, N.Y., one of the three new centers, has been working with tribes and individual Indian entrepreneurs across the country. It has created and saved a total of 84 jobs.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Richard Darman and the Intertribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds announced today the creation of a new OMB-Interior "SWAT" team. Its purpose is to address financial management problems associated with the $2 billion in Indian trust funds. The management problems include:

Failure to reconcile or audit the 300,000 trust fund accounts, some of which are more than 50 years old;

The Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary .for Indian Affairs, Eddie F. Brown, today announced the appointment of Patrick A. Hayes as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Trust and Economic Development. The 44-year-old enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe has been acting in the position for the past several months. The appointment is effective immediately.

Leaders of the Ak-Chin Tribe in Arizona and the Department of Interior have signed an "agreement in principle” for the revision of legislation designed to assure the Tribe of a permanent water supply, provided in an economically efficient manner, according to William P. Horn , Interior Deputy Under Secretary .