Feb 03, 2005 - 23:24:32 CST
The leader of the nation's oldest and largest American Indian advocacy group on Thursday appealed for federal help to meet underfunded needs in Indian Country."In many ways, tribal governments are exactly like state and municipal governments providing critical services to citizens and helping shape a community's value system," said Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians.
"Like state governments, we struggle to provide these essential programs -- education to the youth, health programs to the elderly, and to support programs for our veterans."
Delivering the group's third annual State of Indian Nations Address in Washington, Hall called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would improve the quality of life of Indian people.
Federal funding is needed to improve tribal self-governance, economic development, homeland security, law enforcement, education, health care and housing, said Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota.
And of those areas, tribal self-governance is central to improving tribal economies, he said.
Hall cited a recent report by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development that described conditions on reservations as "bleak" in the 1990s.
Since then, Indian income on reservations has increased 33 percent, the poverty rate has dropped 7 percent and economic growth has been three times the national average, according to the report.
Still, the average reservation-based income is less than half of the national average. Unemployment is twice the national average.
He asked Congress to create "fair rules" legislation for tax-exempt bond financing, allowing tribes the same access to capital now available to state and city governments.
He also called for passage of the Tribal Homeland Security Act to fund security programs on tribal lands that include 260 miles of international borders -- 100 miles more than the California-Mexico border.
He also pressed for legislation to give tribes jurisdictional authority over non-Indians who commit domestic violence against Indians.
The U.S. Justice Department reports one in three Indian women will be raped in her lifetime, a rate triple the rest of the country. And nine of 10 crimes against Indians are committed by non-Indians.
To handle tribal court caseloads, money is needed to carry out the Indian Tribal Justice Act, Hall said. The act promised $58 million beginning in 1994, but nohing has been appropriated.
And unlike other federal education programs, the Office of Indian Education saw no budget increases. Meanwhile, only 50 percent of Indian youth graduate from high school.
Still, Hall offered hope: "Our governments are stronger, more vocal and more visible than ever before. We do not shy away from any challenges. Nor do we rest on our successes."
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