Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer and Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Department of the Interior (DOI) will hold presentations beginning next week on the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) for the agencies’ regional employees. The Department is seeking to increase accountability and efficiency in its trust management functions by reorganizing the agencies that manage Indian trust funds and assets.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ada E. Deer said today the President's fiscal year 1995 budget request of $2.24 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) continues the shift of resources from the BIA to Indian tribes and strengthens the foundation established last year by President Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to fulfill the federal Indian trust responsibility and the creation of a government-to-government partnership.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today announced the appointment of Faith Roessel, a licensed attorney and enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, will serve as co-Grand Marshall in a march honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., on January 15, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change is commemorating the twenty-eighth Annual King Week, and Dr. King's sixty-seventh birthday with a week of activities in Atlanta. The Center's activities began on January 7, 1996, and will culminate with a "National March of Celebration & Rally" at 1:00 P .M. on Monday, January 15th.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, issued a notice today declining to acknowledge the Ramapough Mountain Indians Inc., as a federally recognized tribe.

A Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge the Ramapough Mountain Indians Inc., was first published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on December 8, 1993 and the original 180-day comment period was extended until May 8, 1995. The 60-day comment period for the Ramapoughs to respond to third-party comments ended on July 10, 1995.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, today expressed her gratitude to Vice President Al Gore for directly intervening on behalf of Americans Indians in last week's intense negotiations over the Department of the Interior's (DOI) continued funding resolution.

"Vice President Gore once again demonstrated his strong leadership and concern over the devastating effect massive budget cuts would have on American Indian programs," said Ms. Deer. "His efforts will have a decisive and immediate positive impact on the Indian Community," she says.

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.

The U. S. Supreme Court rendered its decision on the Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida et al., case on March 27, 1996. The 5 to 4 decision held that the "Eleventh Amendment prevents Congress from authorizing suits in federal court by Indian tribes against States to enforce" the provision in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) requiring States to "negotiate in good faith."

In July 1993, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (the Tribes) submitted an application for treatment-as-state status under the Clean Water Act with respect to all surface waters within the Flathead Indian reservation. The State of Montana opposed the EPA granting the Tribes treatment as state status by arguing that the Tribes did not possess inherent civil regulatory authority over land owned by nonmembers.

In a newly released report, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt charged each Interior Department office and bureau with identifying policies and procedures that protect and conserve Indian resources. The report, entitled Protection of Indian Trust Resources Procedures, outlines how each Interior Department bureau and office will integrate trust protection practices and policies into daily activities.