"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."
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 Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of 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, Native income on reservations has increased 33 percent, the poverty rate dropped 7 percent, and economic growth was three times the national average, according to the report.
Still, the average reservation-based income is less than half the national average. Unemployment is twice the national average.
"The report also makes it clear that the glass is only half full ... thus, while improvements have been made, much work is left to be done," Hall said. "If tribes are to continue to be successful, we must have access to all tools that are available to other governments."
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-Natives who commit domestic violence against Natives.
The U.S. Justice Department reports one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, a rate triple the rest of the country. And nine of 10 crimes against Natives are committed by non-Natives.
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 no money has ever been appropriated.
And unlike other federal education programs, the Office of Indian Education saw no budget increases. Meanwhile, only 50 percent of Native youth graduate from high school.
"The thrust of your remarks seem to indicate that Native Americans are the last to be funded -- perhaps the last funded, and the first cut," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., who attended the speech.
Said Hall: "It's a negative trend that we're seeing."
Still, he 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. We have faced the worst that could be thrown at us and survived."
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com.
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