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NCAI Seeks $6 Billion Tribal Inclusion in Obama's Economic Recovery Plan

By Adam McMullin

WASHINGTON—In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, National Congress of American Indians Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson Pata requested $6.12 billion for tribal government infrastructure investment to be included in President-Elect Barack Obama's upcoming American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

"We can't afford to be left out of President-Elect Obama's economic recovery plan for the nation," said Johnson Pata. "Eight of the ten poorest counties in the United States are home to Indian reservations, so economic development and growth in Indian Country is essential as it impacts nearly every aspect of reservation life and tribal governance."

The Tribal Government Economic Recovery plan includes infrastructure spending for shovel-ready projects that will create more than 50,000 local jobs.

Johnson Pata stressed to the committee two reasons why tribes must be included in the package.

First, by investing in tribal governments, America will be meeting its moral obligation to ensure those populations that have persistently lived in the poorest economic conditions have the opportunity to go down the same path to recovery as the rest of America, she said.

And second, tribal governments rely on revenue from economic development to provide core services to their citizens in lieu of a sustainable tax base. This reliance makes tribal governments much more vulnerable than other governments during economic downturns.

"This economic downturn that is affecting us all is also having a dramatic effect on tribal governments who many times occupy the bottom end of the socio-economic scale," Johnson Pata testified. "The U.S. government must not leave them behind."

Real per-capita income of Indians living on reservations is still less than half of the national average. Unemployment is still double what it is for the rest of the country, and many tribal governments lack the resources to provide the basic infrastructure that most U.S. citizens take for granted, such as passable roadways, affordable housing, safe drinking water, plumbing, electricity and telephone service.

"President-Elect Obama has promised a close working relationship with tribes, so I am confident we will be included in the bill as it goes before Congress next month," Johnson Pata said. "We are all anxious to go down the path to economic recovery with the rest of America."

Obama's economic stimulus package is expected to include $300 billion in tax cuts and about $500 billion in spending.

Adam McMullin is the communications director of the National Congress of American Indians. Founded in 1944, NCAI is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of tribal governments, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies, and promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights.