Indian country Archives - Page 8 of 10

Chief Wansum Tail Seeks Pocahottie: Yes, It’s Halloween Again

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Sorry ladies, but we’re calling Halloween 2013 a win for the boys.

Because Halloween in Indian country is always a horrorshow of snide stereotypes peddled to mainstream America as harmelss costumes. Usually — like, almost always — the stereotype is the playful “Native American women are sluts.” Oh, so fun. But this year we’re struck by the men in the Dreamgirl “Restless Wranglers”collection of Halloween costumes: Chief Wansum Tail and Chief Big Wood.

Really? Chief Wansum Tail is OK? Because we wonder whether the same company would dare market an African-American themed costume (we don’t claim to know what it would look like) with the name “Big [anything sexual] Jones.” And lest we neglect the American Indian women unjustly characterized as “Pocahotties,” let’s also wonder whether Dreamgirl could put out an Asian-themed costume called “Little Miss [anything sexual] Geisha.”

Here’s the complete collection of Native-themed costumes from Dreamgirls — and yes, we’re aware that most of them were available last year, if not earlier. No points for longevity. Dreamgirl has a Facebook page.

Chief Big Wood

Chief Wansum Tail

Hot On the Trail

Pocahottie

Rain Dancing Diva

Reservation Royalty

Tribal Princess

Tribal Trouble

Yeah, the Government Is Open; How Come the News Ahead Is Worse?

By Mark Trahant, ICTMN

The government is back in business and now there are lots of questions. What was all that about, anyway? What’s next? And what’s the best course for Indian country?

To answer the first question you have to think on multiple tracks. Yes, the government was shuttered because of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Mike Lee, and the House Republicans that combined to fight the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

But that was never really the fight. It was only a distraction.

The primary division is simpler: It’s about the role of government and how to pay for that government. This is the debate that Republicans – and some of their Democratic allies – have already won, the austerity framework. It starts with the premise that federal spending is “out of control” and therefore dramatic steps must be taken.

It’s a faulty premise but the results are a disproportionate impact on Indian country.

Indian country has an oversized and direct relationship with the federal government so deep spending cuts wipe out both investment and opportunity. That means less money for schools (which is future opportunity), less for economic development, and less money in general for local government (healthcare is a different story … more about that in a series I have coming soon on the Affordable Care Act & Indian country).

Beyond Indian country, the problem with austerity is that it does not work. It starts a cycle of general economic decline, instead of “saving” money for taxpayers (now or future ones). The government shutdown is a case in point: It cost billions of dollars in terms of economic output. It made the problem worse, not better. Ireland will soon be the first country to move past the austerity terms of its bailout. But the budget cuts continue and the damage to the country is severe. As Stephen Kinsella writes in Foreign Affairs: “The real threat to Ireland’s recovery is demographic. A recent survey found that young Irish people have no savings whatsoever. Their consumption levels are far below those of their European counterparts. With more babies born this year than in any other since 1891, Ireland’s only boom in the next few years will be in people.” This sentence could be Indian country. Only we have no where to go.

So what’s ahead? The deep divide over austerity remains. The Senate budget “fully replaces the harmful cuts from sequestration with smart, balanced, and responsible deficit reduction, which would save hundreds of thousands of jobs while protecting families, communities, and the fragile economic recovery.” While The House budget “cuts government spending to protect hardworking taxpayers.” So in order to meet in the middle, the two Houses will have to resolve their differences and (key word here is and) then get a majority of votes in both the House and Senate. Democrats will have to be happy with austerity and Republicans will have to live with more spending. There needs to be a resolution of these differences before January 15, 2014, when a new round of budget cuts will be required under the sequestration law (The Budget Control Act) that continues every year until 2021.

And, finally, what’s the best course for Indian country in this budget maze? The National Congress of American Indians report the Senate level of appropriations remain short of what’s required. The Interior budget, for example, accounting for inflation, “the Senate level is 11 percent below FY10,” NCAI said. “The House proposed level would drop critical tribal governmental services to 19 percent below the FY10 level.” NCAI said tribes are losing ground for critical governmental services.

The ideal would be for Congress to consider treaty obligations separately from the budget. A smaller scale solution might be trying to convince the Congress to forward fund more tribal programs, so that the money will not be at risk every time there’s another fight in Congress.

But forget the ideal in this Congress. We’ll be lucky to get a resolution of any kind. And that means more austerity for Indian country.

Mark Trahant is the 20th Atwood Chair at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is a journalist, speaker and Twitter poet and is a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Join the discussion about austerity. Comment on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/IndianCountryAusterity.

Indian Country Anxious to See Federal Government Reopen

Shutdown Deal is Struck in Senate

BY Levi Rickert, Native News Network

WASHINGTON – The US Senate announced just after noon today, the sides have reached a deal that will lift the debt ceiling and reopen the federal government which was shutdown on October 1.

The measure still needs the approval of the US House of Representatives and then sent to the White House for approval by President Barack Obama.

With the federal government shutdown lasting over 15 days, the impact on Indian country has been devastating to American Indian tribes and is at crisis state for many impacted because of the lack of federal assistance.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the Oglala Sioux Tribe is based, some 340 of the 850 employees – or 40 percent – have been directly impacted by the federal government shutdown. While most have had hours reduced, some 87 tribal employees have been laid off.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe at this time employs 850 people. Of this number, 340 will be directly affected.

Most seriously affected will be 87 tribal employees who are being laid off from their jobs.

Meanwhile, the Chippewa Cree Tribe, located in central Montana, declared a financial disaster yesterday because of lack of federal dollars during the shutdown. Many programs will be stopped completely if the federal government is not reopened by tomorrow, according to tribal spokesperson Wade Colliflower.

Congresswoman McCollum issued the following statement:

“I intend to vote today for the bipartisan Senate plan that puts federal employees back to work, protects American families from the catastrophic economic consequences of a default, and keeps ObamaCare intact. The end of this manufactured crisis, that has hurt so many people, is a victory for common-sense Democrats and Republicans who are willing to put our country ahead of political party. I commend President Obama, Senator Reid, and Leader Pelosi for their steadfast resolve and determination to carry out their constitutional responsibilities in the face of unprecedented congressional recklessness.”

Congresswoman Betty McCollum is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and serves as the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus.

At press time, there still has not been a reaction from the US House.

The Government Shutdown Hits Indian Country Hard, On Many Fronts

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The government shutdown continues into its third week as funds are drying up for many agencies struggling to remain open. Even with an end potentially in sight, the crisis has proven to be good for some areas of Indian country but has been very bad news for most of it.

The shutdown of non-essential government entities like national parks around the country has helped the tourism business for the Hualapai and Navajo Nation. Both tribes offer attractive alternatives to the Grand Canyon, which is closed. As NPR reports, the Hualapai who owns Grand Canyon West, offers a Plexiglas horseshoe walkway tour of the Canyon. The Navajos offer tours of Antelope Canyon – the often-neglected stepchild of the Grand Canyon.

“Tourism is the backbone of the tribe,” Matthew Putesoy, Havasupai vice chairman told NPR. “We really don’t have any other economic development.”

The lack of economic development is a situation that hurts many tribes. “One of the real casualties is our economic development projects,” Kevin Washburn, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, said in a phone interview with Indian Country Today Media Network. “We are working only on matters posing an imminent risk to life and property. I had a tribe that came in and was ready to close on a loan. The loan just needs a review and signature and we’re not able to do that, so that loan is not being funded yet.”

Washburn also mentioned a tribe waiting for a coal mine project review, and another waiting for a renewable energy project approval. “Everything has come to a screeching halt,” he said.

While the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education are running for the most part, social services are operating at minimal staff, according to Washburn. Social services and tribal assistance for heating are two areas of grave concern in Indian country as the harsh winter season approaches.

A New York Times article on October 13 followed Audrey Costa, a Native in Montana who is wondering where the money for the heat will come from. Costa, a mother of three, “relies on lease payments from the Bureau of Indian Affairs” and has yet to see a check since the shutdown.

Costa lives on the Crow Reservation, one of many impoverished Indian tribes that rely heavily on federal dollars according to The Times. The Crow tribe has continued to operate with a skeleton crew.

Skeleton crews are also operating in South Dakota, particularly the Pine Ridge Reservation, which was just hit with an unexpected blizzard. The storm brought 70-mile-per-hour winds and blinding snow, and trapped at least 60,000 cattle throughout Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota. The exact number of cattle lost on the Pine Ridge Reservation is unknown, as the slim crew continues to search the almost 3,500 square mile reservation. This job was made even tougher by power outages caused by the storm.

On October 11, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) shared stories of tribal families in North Dakota being put in difficult situations during her speech on the Senate floor. North Dakota was also pounded by the recent snowstorm that hit the plains. “The stories that I heard I want to share with this body today, Mr. President, because they are telling stories about how foolish – how foolish and how dangerous – this government shutdown is to many, many, very, very vulnerable families, particularly vulnerable Native American families.” (Most of the tribes in North Dakota are direct service tribes which rely on the BIA for much of the assistance.)

“Because of the shutdown, BIA Law Enforcement at the Spirit Lake Nation is limited to one officer per shift, in charge of patrolling the 252,000 acre reservation,” Heitkamp said. “And because of the shutdown, when the Sisseton-Wahpeton community recently lost a three month old baby, the mother now has been turned away for burial assistance for her child.”

According to a press release from Heitkamp’s office, the majority of the BIA offices – which provide services to more than 1.7 million American Indians and Alaska Natives from more than 500 recognized tribes – is now shuttered. This means funding has been cut off for foster care payments, nutrition programs, and financial assistance for struggling Native families.

According to Washburn, the BIA has roughly 1,600 employees still working while another 2,500 are furloughed. “Everyone of those 2,500 furloughed employees has an important job serving Indian tribes and they aren’t able to do that right now,” Washburn said.

For the Oglala Sioux and its Pine Ridge Reservation, this shuttering will result in the release of prisoners, hundreds of tribal employees furloughed and a suspension in the heating assistance to elderly tribal members according to The Rapid City Journal.

“It is a devastating situation, not a political debate,” Oglala Sioux President Bryan Brewer said in the statement via The Journal. “Our people suffer the worst poverty in the country. It is unthinkable to have to close programs, stop services and turn people out of their jobs. In an area with 80 percent unemployment, furloughs are a humanitarian disaster.”

Like Brewer, Darrin Old Coyote, Crow tribal chairman, does not agree with the way the shutdown is being handled. “They don’t have a clue what’s going on out here,” Coyote said in The Times of politicians in Washington. He was speaking from his office in Crow Agency, which sits in the shadow of the Little Bighorn battlefield, itself closed because of the shutdown. “It is hurting a lot of people.”

“[The shutdown is] going to be more and more damaging the longer it goes,” Washburn told ICTMN. “And the longer and longer it goes on it will be harder for us to ramp back up…

“We are feeling for everyone out there in Indian country.”

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Crime in Indian Country

By Duane Champagne, ICTMN

Poverty is a root cause of crime, and without solving the poverty issue it may not be possible to solve the violent crime issues plaguing Indian reservations. Where there are high rates of poverty, so there are high rates of crime. The official poverty rate for individual Indians in the United States on reservations is 29.4 percent, compared to the U.S. national average of 15.3 percent. The reservation poverty rate for Indian families on reservations is 36 percent, compared to the national average of 9.2 percent. Urban Indians have a poverty rate of 22 percent, which is better than reservation poverty rates. Some of the worst poverty rates are on reservations in the states of Washington, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico, where poverty rates often are higher than 60 percent.

Poverty is associated with low income, high unemployment, poor health, substandard housing, lack of market opportunities, and low educational achievement. Cycles of poverty are extremely difficult to break and tend to last over generations.

Poverty is closely related to social distress. Impoverished persons are more likely to be engaged in underground economy, use drugs and alcohol, which, in turn are highly associatied with violent crimes, domestic violence, and high crime rates.

In 2009, rapes in Indian country outpaced the total in Detroit, which is one of the most violent cities in the United States. Violent crime in Indian country increased during the 2000 to 2010 decade. Over the same decade, national violent crime rates fell, while Indian country violent crime rose by 29 percent.

Murder rates in Indian country increased 41 percent between 2000 and 2009. Nevertheless, federal funding for police and courts serving Indian country declined during the same period. While the decline in federal funding of public safety in Indian country may account for the rise in violent crimes, the funding decline does not account for the persistence of high rates of violent crime. More police, courts and jails will only partially address the fundamental issues of violence associated with poverty and social distress.

A recent study on high violent crime rates in U.S. cities points to the relations between poverty and violent crime. The 10 cities with the highest violent crime rates all had poverty rates over 20 percent, while the cities with the worst violent crime rates had poverty rates from 30 to 41 percent. On a per capita basis, cities provide more funds to police, courts, and jails than Indian reservations.

U.S. cities and counties also pride themselves on having better trained police, courts, and incarceration facilities. The two worse cities for violent crimes were Flint, Michigan, and Detroit, Michigan. Flint has a poverty rate of 40.3 percent and Detroit’s poverty rate is 40.9 percent. These statistics suggest that much of the violent crime on Indian reservations is highly associated with poverty, and increase funding of public safety, by itself, may not significantly curtail violent crime and improve public safety.

Indian reservations with poverty rates above 30 percent are particularly at risk. High rates of violent crime on reservations can be expected on reservations like Pine Ridge and San Carlos, which both have poverty rates over 50 percent. High rates of poverty combined with justice discrimination and cultural marginalization may account for higher rates of violent crime on Indian reservations than the rest of the nation. More investment in police, courts and public safety are necessary, but not sufficient for reducing crime and restoring healthy tribal communities.

More police and courts may help contain violent crimes, but do not address the root causes of crime. Solving the poverty issues in Indian country is only a partial solution. Federal Indian policies, and tribal governments need to meet the challenges of providing college education for tribal youth, achieve market sustainability, provide jobs to tribal members, restore individual health, improve housing, support cultural renewal, and reestablish the exercise the inherent powers of tribal governments. High crime rates are symptoms of deeper social and cultural distress, and there will be no solution to high rates of crime without solving the causes of distress.

Key Thoughts From KeyBank: Indian Country and America’s Energy Needs

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The United States is entering a new age in energy: Natural resources are rapidly being unlocked by new technologies, and the market for renewable energy sources is booming. That’s good news for Indian country.

Native American lands contain huge amounts of natural resources, the vast majority of which is undeveloped. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates that there are 15 million acres of potential energy and mineral resources on tribal land compared to 2.1 million acres already in use. If fully developed, energy projects could add billions in revenues to tribes, helping them build their economies, create jobs and achieve a better quality of life.

Oil and gas has great potential: The Navajo Nation in the Southwest, the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota and Alaska Native Corporations are engaged in large extraction enterprises. And some tribes like the Southern Ute own companies that manage the entire exploration and development undertaking.

Major coal operations are taking place on Navajo, Hopi and Crow lands, and many tribes have sizeable reserves available for development. Tribal lands also have considerable potential for hydroelectric projects and renewable energy production. For example, the Moapa Band of Paiutes in Nevada is launching the first large-scale solar project on Native soil.

Taking full advantage of natural resource opportunities requires access to capital, both debt and equity and a strategy that protects the land through conservation and sustainable practices. Just as important, it requires careful planning and a financial advisor that understands each Nation’s laws and values.

“Key is uniquely well positioned to work with tribes and energy development,” said Mike Lettig, director of KeyBank’s Native American Financial Services. “When our bankers team up with KeyBanc Capital Markets energy specialists, we ensure that our financial solutions meet Native America’s short- and long-term natural resource objectives.”

Securities products and services such as investment banking and capital raising are offered by KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Member NYSE/FINRA/SPIC. Banking products are offered by KeyBank National Association.

Breaking Bad or Already Broken? Drug Crime on the Rez Is All Too Real

By Walter Lamar, Indian Country Today Media Network

What does it say about safety in Indian country when a television plot featuring meth distribution incorporates tribal land? Breaking Bad might give Indian country the new name of “Broken and Bad” after the brutal television series, featuring tribal lands, exemplified a continuing public safety crisis. Season 5, Episode 13, entitled “To’hajiilee,” aired on September 8, 2013 and marks the beginning of the end for the wildly popular AMC series. It’s also one more example of how the media persistently depicts Indian country as the place to go to commit drug crimes, murder, and general mayhem.

From the very first episode, and periodically throughout the series, the remote To’hajiilee lands have been the setting for drug manufacture, murders, and concealing evidence. To’hajiilee is a non-contiguous section of the Navajo Nation lying in parts of three New Mexico counties, about 32 miles west of Albuquerque. Despite its proximity to an urban area, To’hajiilee feels isolated and remote. A tangle of secondary roads, many both unmarked and unpaved, crisscross the reservation’s 121 square miles. With only 2000 residents, you may go miles without seeing a soul. In “Breaking Bad,” the series of crimes committed on these tribal lands (theft, murder, extortion, drug manufacture and distribution, assault and much else), set the stage for what promises to be a violent and action-packed series finale.

To’hajiilee is not so different from tribal lands across the nation. All this got me to thinking, “What if the crime depicted in Episode 13 had really happened?” The To’hajiilee reservation is in trust status, which means concurrent federal and Navajo Nation criminal jurisdiction. Federal statute and Navajo Nation codes, ordinances and statutes govern the activities of visitors and residents. But wait, it’s not that easy. Indian Country is the only place in the world where jurisdiction is dependent on race. When a crime is committed within the exterior boundaries of the reservation, law enforcement has to determine if the perpetrator is American Indian, if the American Indian perpetrator is an enrolled tribal member of a federally recognized tribe, whether a tribal or federal statute is being violated, whether the land is indeed trust land, and whether officers responding to a crime are properly certified or deputized.

With that in mind, back to how the To’hajiilee showdown might play out in reality. White supremacists show up with fully automatic weapons (non-Natives to be sure), called by drug kingpin Walter White (another non-Native) when approached by two armed DEA agents and their informant. Everyone knows that $80 million in cash is buried in plastic barrels at the site. Predictably, the shooting starts. Some folks are wounded, some killed. Let’s say one of the wounded tries to make a panic-stricken call to 911. Too bad there’s not good cell phone coverage on the rez— he is out of luck. But wait, some distance away, a Navajo family hears the SUVs rumbling by, followed by a barrage of gunfire, and one heroically drives to a spot of known cell coverage and calls 911. The 911 call gets routed to a surrounding country dispatch, who places a telephone call to Navajo Police dispatch at Crownpoint, New Mexico.

Only about 300 officers patrol the Navajo Nation, which covers a territory larger than many US states. The tribal government has been active in stepping up law enforcement activity under the Tribal Law and Order Act, but cuts in funding have prevented the tribe from hiring anywhere close to the level they need- estimated to be about 800 officers. A couple of officers are on duty at the To’hajiilee substation when the call comes in, and one of them responds by driving to meet the family who called. They direct him toward the area where they heard the gunshots.

The brave officer approaches the scene and finds himself seriously outgunned. When fired upon, he retreats and finds that he doesn’t have radio coverage to call for help, so he drives until he gets a signal so he can communicate he has been fired upon and that there are multiple armed subjects. At best, there are two other Navajo Nation officers on duty at To’hajiilee and back up is 118 miles away in Crownpoint. Back at the substation, they call in to the FBI and the BIA, 32 miles away in Albuquerque. They think about calling in the State Patrol (“Wait, is there a cross-deputation agreement in place? Who could we ask?”). Then they realize, “Whoa, is the incident for certain on our land? Isn’t that near the boundary with Laguna Pueblo? Do we call them, too?”

Meanwhile, the white supremacists kill everybody, grab the money and head out. After no shooting for a period of time, the Navajo officer cautiously approaches the crime scene fraught with death and destruction, over an hour after gunshots are first heard. Later, the FBI and BIA arrive on scene. They realize two DEA agents are among the dead. The FBI and DEA immediately engage in a turf battle as to primary jurisdiction. BIA is caught in the middle and the tribal police are left out. Another twist comes when US Attorney’s office decides where and how survivors are going to be prosecuted, a result of Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, a 1978 United States Supreme Court case wherein the court found that non-Indians are not subject to tribal jurisdiction.

Sure, television is fanciful, but it’s true that criminals have found that doing business in Indian country is profitable because of the remoteness, the lack of officers on patrol, and the jurisdictional tangles created by non-Indian crime on Indian land. Tribes struggle constantly with violent crime and drug trafficking committed by non-tribal members. Meth certainly is a problem on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere in Indian Country; Native Americans are more than twice as likely to abuse this terrible drug.

The effects of meth on people and the environment are truly horrific and would require another article to describe. Methamphetamine use affects the user’s physical health, mental health and emotional stability. The production creates toxic fumes and chemicals, as well as explosive gases, and abatement can require residential demolition. Children exposed to meth either in utero or in the home can develop neurological, cognitive, developmental and behavioral problems.

The Navajo Nation actually has a zero-tolerance policy toward methamphetamine sales, and in the past, the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety has successfully collaborated with the Drug & Gang Unit, the FBI, the BIA, the Flagstaff police and even the Phoenix police to investigate, arrest and prosecute meth distributors, resulting in entire rings being busted up.

There hasn’t been a high-profile arrest in years, but it’s not necessarily because there are fewer people manufacturing, smuggling or selling drugs on our tribal lands. Just as with tribes across the country, the Navajo Nation police, courts and corrections have been hit hard by the double whammy of planned budget cuts and an across-the-board sequester. The Navajo Nation Department of Corrections has completed two new jails, built as part of the TLOA promise, but the department faces a shortfall in completing the remaining five, or even staffing the new ones. Law enforcement is staffed at less than half of recommended levels. Criminal investigators routinely cover 600 or 700 miles a day to accomplish a single task. The 19 lawyers in the US Attorney’s office dedicated to prosecuting crime are too few to cope with the volume of cases, and end up declining to prosecute about half the time.

Everyone is frustrated by their inability to curb the violent drug crimes that are occurring in their jurisdictions. Officers at Fort Peck, another large reservation, know about drug smuggling from Canada, but often can’t respond in time when planes touch down on remote airstrips. Tribal law enforcement from New York to California know about gang or cartel members who seduce Native women, who protect them (and abet them) as they distribute drugs in the jurisdictional limbo of Indian Country.

How do cartels know that Indian country is the best place to commit crimes? To come around full circle, we can thank the media, from NPR to the New York Times, for sensationalist coverage about reservation crime. Breathless coverage of a Mexican drug trafficking organization on the Wind River Reservation, who exploited Native women to move meth, spurred copycat cases across the country. Evidence collected in one cartel bust actually yielded a Denver Post article discussing how hard it is for drug dealers to get busted in Indian country.

What can be done? The fact is that meth use is ever so slowly lessening its grip on our people, and part of the change is coming from community members. Events like Meth éí Dooda Awareness Day involve everyone in the community from small children to grandparents, and from people in recovery to representatives of the tribal government. In the case of tribal communities like To’hajiilee, outreach to citizens on the best information to give to 911 for a speedy response would also help. Community awareness is the first step in community policing, but there has to be actual policing as well, and that’s where the stumbling block remains.

To effectively police the lands under their jurisdiction, tribal police need resources, and they just don’t have them now. The Tribal Law and Order Act, if fully funded, would enable tribal police departments to patrol remote territory, to negotiate shared resources with state and county agencies, to engage in outreach to endangered youth, and to staff tribal courts and tribal prosecutors’ offices. Congress is back in session this month and we need to put pressure on them to address this problem by fully funding TLOA.

This week, To’hajiilee made the news again as catastrophic flooding hit the Navajo Nation and took out a chunk of the Interstate through the To’hajiilee lands, in the midst of evacuations in many communities, and alarm about the dam failing. The Navajo first responders worked smoothly with each other and with state police and tribal agencies to rescue, evacuate, direct traffic and keep the dam from breaching. Our Native law enforcement officers have proved that they can meet the challenge of To’hajiilee’s real-life crisis. The question remains whether Congress can meet the challenge of keeping their promise to our tribal police.

With Federal Shutdown Looming, Interior Releases Contingency Plan for BIA

Levi Rickert, Native News Network

WASHINGTON – For the first time in 17 years, a federal shutdown is realistic at 12:01 am est Tuesday, October 1.

Late Saturday night, the Republican-controlled US House passed a measure that would fund the federal government at its current level for one year with the stipulation, the Affordable Care Act – most commonly known as Obamacare – would not be part of the federal budget.

This measure is unacceptable to President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party-led United States Senate.

With the US Senate not reconvening until this afternoon, it is looking more and more likely a federal government shutdown will occur at midnight tonight.

What does this mean to Indian country?

The federal shutdown will impact some services in Indian country. The breakdown is broken down into two categories as essential and non-essential services. Essential services include law enforcement and social services to protect children and adults.

“The impact of a Federal government shutdown is elusive to most folks as we, as citizens, generally take government services for granted. The impact in both the short term and long term to Tribes, however, will be devastating. In 1995, the impact was to delay federal checks, impose furlough work days for federal employees, shut down federal tourist and National Park services, and ultimately the cost of both closing down and reopening Federal services at a whopping $1.4 billion ($1.7 billion today with a one percent annual inflationary adjustment),”

commented Aaron Payment, chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to the Native News Network Sunday morning.

“In some cases, the Sault Tribe subsidizes a large portion of the Federal government’s treaty obligations for “health, education, and social welfare”. One hundred percent of the Sault Tribe’s net gaming revenues are already pledged to pick up the Federal government’s annual shortfall. For some programs – not all – we will be able to rely on Tribal support or casino dollars for a brief period. However, for those programs not subsidized by Tribal Support funds, we will have to consider furloughs. In some cases, federal funds have already been received such that we can operate for a few days during a shut down. However, if the shutdown lasts more than a week, we may need to shut programs down. In this event, we will first try to minimize the impact on services and second on jobs,”

Chairman Payment continued.

“Obviously we are watching the possible shutdown by the federal government. We are trying to balance what we can do at home and we are reviewing what possible services would be impacted by the shutdown,”

commented Erny Zah, director of communications from Navajo Nation President Shelly’s office on Sunday evening.

“Our Council just passed our budget, so we are attempting to see how a shutdown will coincide with our new budget. Our goal is to keep all government services unhindered and uninterrupted as possible.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA, is part of the federal government under the US Department of the Interior. Late Friday, the Interior Department released the following contingency plan fact sheet:

Bureau of Indian Affairs
Contingency Plan Fact Sheet

With a potential shutdown on October 1, 2013, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will be required to administratively furlough all employees unless they are covered in an Excepted or Exempted positions. The BIA will also discontinue most of its services to tribes which will impact most programs and activities.

Services and programs that will remain operational.

Law enforcement and operation of detention centers.
Social Services to protect children and adults.
Irrigation and Power – delivery of water and power.
Firefighting and response to emergency situations.

Services and programs that would be ceased.

Management and protection of trust assets such as lease compliance and real estate transactions.
Federal oversight on environmental assessments, archeological clearances, and endangered species compliance.
Management of oil and gas leasing and compliance.
Timber Harvest and other Natural Resource Management operations.
Tribal government related activities.
Payment of financial assistance to needy individuals, and to vendors providing foster care and residential care for children and adults.
Disbursement of tribal funds for tribal operations including responding to tribal government requests.

Predatory lending and Indian country

By Arvind Ganesan, The Congress Blog

Western Sky, a private online payday lender based on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, suspended its operations in early September after New York’s attorney general filed suit against it for violating state usury laws. This was the latest blow to a company already facing a number of state and federal suits for its allegedly illegal and abusive practices. Finally, the company said it stopped operating to deal with its legal problems. It would be easy to simply say good riddance to Western Sky. But the situation is more complex.

I spent the day with Butch Webb, Western Sky’s owner, and some employees last December. Webb told me Western Sky was the largest private employer on the reservation. In a place where about 50 percent of adult workers are either unemployed or out of the workforce, that means a lot.

Webb offered the promise of hundreds of jobs to tribal members in exchange for peddling online predatory loans to people off the reservation. Western Sky said it never lent money to people at Cheyenne River or in South Dakota. One employee told me it would create too big a backlash if they had to collect these loans from members of the tribe. Webb told me he had “enough problems to deal with.”

Many people on the reservation are very uncomfortable with how this business reflects on them. But when the Tribal Council scrutinized the company, Webb would remind the council how costly it would be to shut him down.

Even though Western Sky did not lend at Cheyenne River, predatory lending plagues people there and on other reservations. Such loans are the only source of credit for many Native Americans and almost all of those lenders are off reservations and not Native-owned. At Cheyenne River, people regularly drive hours to Pierre or Rapid City to take out predatory loans and growing Internet access is making it easier to borrow this way, even on remote reservations.

Even if some of those borrowers could qualify for bank loans, though, there are few banks on reservations and others are not always welcoming to Native Americans.

Storefront and online lenders exploit the harsh reality that people on reservations and throughout the country are hurting, have basic expenses they can’t meet, and don’t necessarily have access to credit. The Pew Center has done some remarkable work on payday lending throughout the country that shows why people borrow and its impact on them.

With the help of local groups, we surveyed almost 400 people on reservations around the country about predatory borrowing, including more than 100 at Cheyenne River. The survey is not a representative sample of reservation populations, but the results point to worrying trends that are consistent with other research.

Most of the people surveyed were the working poor. Almost half had taken out predatory loans—mostly for basic needs, food, or for emergencies, like medical care. Federal sequestration is probably making things worse because of cuts to essential services.

But these loans carry triple- or quadruple-digit interest rates and can easily turn into nightmares. Of those that borrowed, nearly half said they had “some” or a “great deal” of trouble repaying what they owe. More than 70 percent said repayments made it more difficult to meet basic expenses. I have interviewed people who could not meet their basic needs, such as food for their family or medical care for their children because these loans had overwhelmed them.

The major reason these loans exist is inadequate—or nonexistent—regulation by states and the federal government.

Regulating online lenders is crucial, but alone isn’t a panacea, and would not ultimately resolve the complex issues facing Indian country. Furthermore, tribal governments that operate their own online lenders are hostile to regulation, seeing it as a challenge to their sovereignty and an attempt to stifle economic development. They are suing New York to prevent it from regulating.

There is an alternative. Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), chartered by the US Treasury Department, have a mandate to provide financial services on reservations. At Cheyenne River and elsewhere, some are trying to offer cheaper and fairer alternatives to predatory loans. They also teach financial literacy because often people don’t know how onerous the terms of their loans are until after they desperately secure the money. Entrepreneurship programs offered by Native CDFIs help people create jobs and businesses that truly serve the community. But Native CDFI’s or others throughout the country have nowhere near the resources to compete with predatory lenders.

A three-pronged policy response is needed to start addressing the problem of predatory lending: one that regulates high-cost lending, improves financial literacy skills, and provides the vulnerable poor with better access to fair, non-exploitative, credit facilities.

Ganesan is director of the Business and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/324007-predatory-lending-and-indian-country#ixzz2g6teS2eg
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Increases in Gaming Revenues Bode Well for Indian Country

By Gale Courey Toensing, Indian Country Today Media Network

An increase in Indian gaming revenues in 2012 of almost three percent offers “economic encouragements” for Indian country, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). The commission released data in late July showing revenues generated by the Indian gaming industry in 2012 totaled $27.9 billion—the third consecutive year of increases in gross gaming revenues (GGR) since the recession began in 2007.

The Indian gaming industry saw its largest gross gaming revenues ever in 2012, Tracie Stevens, NIGC chairwoman said. “The 2012 Indian gaming industry’s gross gaming revenues of $27.9 billion indicate a strong and mature Indian gaming industry. Additionally, gross gaming revenues in 2012 reached its highest level in history, ahead of 2011’s gross gaming revenues by $746 million. For those who judge casino spending as an indicator of increased discretionary spending and economic recovery, 2012 revenues certainly display economic encouragement,” Stevens said in a media conference in late July.

The National Indian Gaming Commission is an independent federal regulatory agency that was established by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. It provides training and technical assistance and regulatory oversight to ensure the integrity of more than 420 gaming establishments owned and operated by nearly 240 tribes across 28 states.

The NIGC calculates Indian gaming revenues based on a fiscal year. The 2012 GGR is calculated based on independently audited financial statements received by the NIGC through June 20, 2013. Financial statements are submitted by Indian gaming operations in accordance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Gaming revenues represent the net win from gaming activities, which is the difference between gaming receipts and payouts.

Yvonne Lee, director of finance for NIGC, explained, “First, it is important to note, gross gaming revenue, or GGR, is the amount wagered minus the winnings returned to players. GGR is the figure used to determine what a casino or other gaming operation earns before salaries, compact fees and other expenses are paid—the equivalent of sales, not profit. Gross gaming revenues should in no way be interpreted as profit-margin. These are revenues earned before paying other expenses.”

Last year’s GGR of $27.9 billion was 2.7 percent higher than the 2011 GGR of $27.2 billion. The NIGC data attribute the overall growth of revenues to 66 percent of the Indian gaming operations, which reported an increase in gaming revenues. Of the operations that reported an increase in revenues, approximately 44 percent showed moderate growth of less than 10 percent.

Associate Commissioner Dan Little said a key role in the growth of the Indian gaming industry was the commission’s review and updating of regulations. “Over the past three years our regulatory review has provided much needed reform to meet the needs of the changing industry and provide flexibility and consistency for tribes and tribal regulators,” Little said.

The 2003–2012 Gross Gaming Revenue Trends table shows the revenues trends over the past 10 years. Since 2010, the Indian gaming industry experienced approximately three percent annual growth—reaching its largest GGR this year.

Small and moderate gaming operations make up 56 percent of Indian gaming, the commission said. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act determines how gaming revenues may be expended. Many Indian tribes use gaming revenues to fund economic development activities on reservations and to provide their citizens with social services, including health services, housing, early education programs and language and cultural preservation activities.

In 2012, 98 Indian gaming operations reported gaming revenues between copy0 million and $25 million, 70 Indian gaming operations reported gaming revenues between $3 million and copy0 million and 69 Indian gaming operations reported gaming revenues less than $3 million. Stevens said these numbers show that most tribal gaming operations are medium-sized or smaller. “The industry is driven by the demographics of each area. Most tribal gaming operations are in rural parts of the country where jobs are greatly needed for both Natives and non-Natives alike,” she said.

The map shown illustrates the seven NIGC regions across the country. All regions showed growth in revenues in 2012, continuing a trend that began in 2011. The largest increase in GGR of 5.1 percent or $233 million occurred within the St. Paul Region, which has 120 gaming operations across nine Great Plains states. The Tulsa Region, which has 64 gaming operations in Kansas and eastern Oklahoma, had the largest percentage increase from 2011—6.6 percent or copy25 million. There is also a chart that shows regional gross gaming revenue trends.

The NIGC calculates the Indian gaming industry’s gross gaming revenues data based on financial statements that are submitted by Indian gaming operations in accordance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.