Clinton made a Historic Visit to Indian Country. In July 1999, President Clinton became the first sitting President to visit a reservation since Franklin Roosevelt. President Clinton visited the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota as part of his New Markets Tour to encourage private investment in Indian Country.
With the Largest Budget Initiative Ever. In order to better serve Native American communities and to honor the federal government's trust responsibility to tribes, the President's budget includes a total of $9.4 billion for key new and existing programs that assist Native Americans and Indian reservations. This total is an increase of $1.2 billion over Fiscal Year 2000, the largest increase ever. This initiative brings together several agencies in order to address the; $349 million through the Department of Transportation for roads in Indian Country; and $2.6 billion for the Indian Health Service.
American families moving from welfare to work and other low-income workers. The DOT will set aside $5 million for Indian tribes under the FY2001 DOT Job Access grant program and will propose allowing tribes to apply directly to the Federal Transit Administration for these grants.
Assisting Families with Housing Vouchers. Over the past two years, the President has won funding for 110,000 new welfare to work housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing assistance to get or keep a job. Families will use these vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long commute, or to secure more stable housing that will eliminate emergencies which keep them from getting to work every day on time. The FY01 budget includes $690 million for 120,000 new vouchers. As part of the FY99 competition, HUD awarded nearly 800 welfare to work housing vouchers to two tribes, and assuming Congress approves new vouchers, the Administration will maintain a similar policy in FY 2001.
PARR Ed. Note: This adds up to $5,750 per voucher. So, for a family of four, the household income exceeds the $20,000 Judge Crabb claims the Indians are entitled to, maybe they don't have to spearfish anymore!
Fighting for Equal Opportunity President Clinton met with Tribal Leaders. On April 29, 1994, President Clinton became the first President to invite the leaders of all federally recognized tribes to the White House. On this historic occasion, the President pledged that his Administration would work with Tribal leaders to establish a true government-to-government partnership.
PARR Ed Note: When did the congress recognize Indian tribes as Nations? Congress never revoked their designation as corporations. (Professional Indians).
Recognizing Native American Contributions to One America. The President appointed the most diverse Cabinet and Administration in history. President Clinton appointed 76 Native Americans to all levels of his Administration. This included 13 to top positions requiring Senate confirmation and 43 to presidential appointment positions.
Strengthening the Relationship between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations. In 1994, President Clinton executed a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies directing agencies to consult, to the greatest extent practicable and to the extent permitted by law, with Tribal governments prior to taking actions that affect federally recognized Tribal governments. On May 14, 1998, he issued an Executive Order that strengthens and makes effective across Administrations the 1994 Government-to-Government Memorandum. This executive order serves to establish regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with Indian Tribal governments in the development of regulatory practices on federal matters that significantly or uniquely affect their communities, to reduce the imposition of unfunded mandates upon Indian Tribal governments, and to streamline the application process for and increase the availability of waivers to Indian Tribal governments.
PARR Ed Note: They're still corporations. (Professional Indians). Commercializing their victim status doesn't make them nations.
Ensuring Tribal Sovereignty. President Clinton created the Office of Tribal Justice to promote government-to-government relations with Indian tribes and ensure aggressive representation of Tribal sovereignty in the courts. He also created a permanent White House working group composed of all Executive Branch Departments to advance Tribal sovereignty across the administration.
PARR Ed Note: There's that word sovereignty again. Sovereign power lies with the citizens of the United States, as the constitution specifies, and cannot be redistributed at politician's whims.
Protected Religious Freedom. President Clinton signed an executive order that requires federal agencies to accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by Indian religious practitioners and to avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity of such sacred sites. He also successfully fought for passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in order to protect the right of free exercise of tribal religions. Finally, he directed federal agencies to ensure efficient collection and distribution of available eagle feathers and eagle parts to American Indians and Alaska Natives for traditional religious purposes.
PARR Ed Note: Evidentially Indians are not included in the religious freedoms granted by the separation of church and state provisions. Perhaps they need more protection from religious zealots that may erect a cross on a reservation.
Building Roads and Bridges in Indian Country. The Transportation Department (DOT) will expand its program to improve roads and bridges on Indian reservations. The President's FY 2001 budget proposes to give the Indian Reservations Roads program the full authorization amount of $275 million with an additional $74 million from a highway receipts account for a total of $349 million, which is an increase of $117 million over the previous year. This will allow Tribes to address the estimated backlog of $4 billion in needs on these roads and bridges.
Highway Safety Grants. Because highway safety is a major problem on Indian reservations, the budget will double funding for highway safety grants in Indian Country, bringing the total to $2 million. These grants are used for problem identification, planning, and implementation to address highway safety problems related to human factors and roadway environment in order to reduce crashes, deaths, and injuries.
Signed Historic Executive Order on Native American Education. In August 1998, President Clinton signed an executive order designed to improve the academic performance of American Indian and Alaska Native students in grades K-12. The order focuses special attention on improving student achievement in reading and mathematics and increasing high school completion rates. Some of the highlights include: $300 million for Bureau of Indian Affairs school construction and repair.
Recognizing and Supporting Tribal Colleges and Universities. President Clinton signed an executive order that aims to ensure that Tribal colleges and universities are more fully recognized as accredited institutions, have access to the opportunities afforded other institutions, and have federal resources committed to them on a continuing basis. Under the Strengthening Institutions Program authorized by Title III of the Higher Education Act, the Clinton-Gore Administration currently awards approximately $6 million worth of grants per year to about half of the existing Tribal Colleges and Universities. The President's FY01 budget provides $9 million at the Department of Education a 50 percent increased over the FY00 level in order to improve and expand the capacity of the Tribal colleges to serve Native American students in several ways, including developing academic programs. With this increase at the Education Department, 24 tribal colleges will receive funding. At the Department of the Interior, the FY01 budget proposes a $3 million increase to $38 million to fund the operations of the Tribal colleges. Including these funds at Interior and Education, the budget includes a total of $77 million for support to Tribal colleges through funding at the National Science Foundation, and the Departments of the Interior, Education, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation.
PARR Ed Note: Why all the executive orders you ask? Very simple, none of this stuff would ever pass the exposure of debate in congress.
Tribal College Endowment Fund. This year, the President's budget proposes to increase the authorized level from $4.6 million to $7.1 million, a 54 percent increase over 2000 for the Native American Institutions Endowment Fund at the Department of Agriculture. The Endowment Funds help build educational capacity through student recruitment and retention,curricula curricula development, faculty preparation, instruction delivery systems and scientific instrumentation for teaching.
Summary: I bet most of you folks can remember back when the BIA budget was a mere $3 billion. We were flabbergasted at that amount because, at the time, the federal government was squeezing us for other concessions to the Indians. Well, look at what this administration has upped the ante to, in the last 8 years; the BIA budget went from $3 billion to $9.4 billion. Folks, after examining the Clinton proclamation, bragging on turning so much cash, land and special rights over to the Indians, (probably as a payoff for campaign financing); PARR has come to a conclusion, we have no one to blame but ourselves, because we could not change the minds of presidential voters. Yet, with all of their new found wealth, e.g. gambling casinos, one would think the Indians should be able to stand on their own two feet, get off the dole, and start supporting themselves like the sovereigns they claim to be.