CARES Archives » Native Voice One

There are a lot of questions about the disbursement of an $8 billion fund by the federal government to tribes and Alaska Native corporations.

This is Trahant Reports.

The $8 billion tribal relief fund will not last long. More than 600 tribes, corporations, and even nonprofit organizations registered last week with the Treasury Department documenting what’s needed to at least partly mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

And based on the leaking of sensitive information, it’s clear the pool will be far short of what’s needed, likely less than ten percent.

There is also no clear indication from the Trump administration about the process.

Will the release of the funds be public? What formula will be used, population, or land base, or employees? Or all three?

And will even the formula be a public document?

These questions are punctuated by the chaos of an $8 billion disbursement that could happen as soon as Tuesday with a completion date of April 26.

Several tribes — including two in Alaska — have sued the Treasury Department over the issue of money directed to Alaska Native Corporations.

The lawsuit says “COVID-19 is causing devastating harm in Indian country” and that Congress recognized the unique hardships on tribal governments.

The Interior Department said Alaska Native corporations are eligible for the funding, pointing to a definition that includes them as an “Indian Tribe” in the Indian Self Determination Act.

And most of the tribes arguing against funding Alaska Native corporations argue that money should be used to to support governments with a political relationship with the United States.

The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island says there is a middle ground. “A very workable solution to controversy (is) the authorization by Alaska’s federally recognized tribes for tribal organizations/consortia to receive funding on their behalf, if they so choose,” wrote Amos T. Philemonoff, Sr. in a letter to the Treasury Secretary.

Philemonoff makes the case to let the money flow up, not down.

However in an op-ed published in Indian Country Today four leaders of Alaska Native corporations had their own take. “The law is clear. Our legal mandate as Alaska Native corporations is to support our Alaska Native communities and shareholders economically, culturally and socially,” they wrote.

The federal court, like the spending program itself, is on a tight deadline. Once the money begins to flow any legal challenge could be irreversible.

The federal government is moving quickly to transfer $8 billion to tribes. So fast in fact that it’s making up the rules as it goes. And it raises a thorny question: Are Alaska Native corporations considered tribes?

This is Trahant Reports.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES act will transfer $8 billion to tribes not later than 30 days after the enactment of the March 27th law.

So everything is running at hyperspeed.

National Congress of American Indians’ President Fawn Sharp, Quinault, wrote the Secretary of the Treasury Stephen Mnuchin and said the funding should be “distributed to Tribal governments.” However, she said the legislation uses a definition that lumps federally recognized tribes together with for-profit corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

“It is important to note the distinction between Alaska Native tribal villages and ANCSA regional or village corporations,” Sharp wrote. “Alaska Native tribal villages exercise sovereign governmental authority over their lands and citizens, possess a government-to-government relationship with the United States.”

Sharp’s letter was blunt: “These funds will be critical to assist Tribal governments in withstanding the impacts of COVID-19.”

If the 13 regional Alaska Native Corporations, and the 270 village corporations are included in the fund that would significantly reduce the funding available to 574 federally-recognized tribes, including those in Alaska.

A consultation letter Monday from the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association went even further.

“Please do not allow Alaska Native Corporations to be counted as Tribal governments under the CARES Act … that would be contrary to the plain language of the CARES Act, and it would allow for double or triple counting of Alaska Natives since members of federally-recognized Alaska Native villages are also shareholders in Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations,” wrote Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association.

Alaska Native corporations also have profit-making as their primary mission, not governmental services such as public safety, health, or education. Still, their businesses from telecommunications, fisheries, oil and gas support, to logging have been deeply impacted by the national emergency.

The CARE Act the single largest investment ever made by the United States in Indian Country– yet how that money will be spent remains a open question.

I am Mark Trahant.