Telling and Hearing the Story

A symposium in March, "Hear Our Story: Communications and Contemporary
Native Americans," attracted over 200 participants, among them
representatives from 49 tribes, Native leaders, journalists, scholars,
issue experts, and advocates for indigenous peoples.  These parties
examined factors in the mainstream media and popular culture that impact
Native communities, shape public opinion, and resonate in the halls of
Congress.  The current political climate demanded a forum to discuss
these critical issues from a Native perspective.  The conference,
organized by Friends Committee on National Legislation's Native American
Advocacy Program, and 22 cosponsors, brought together Native and
non-Native participants to start a dialogue, build networks, and
strategize about how Native and non-Native people can address the
biased, misinformed, and missing coverage of Native Americans in the
mainstream media and to counteract negative images and portrayals in
popular culture.

The event attracted participants from a number of religious, civic,
museum, and other organizations who do not normally attend American
Indian conferences.  Non-Native attendees said that they gained a new
awareness of social, political and economic factors affecting Indian
Country.  Opposition to tribal sovereignty from an increasing number of
organizations, elected officials, and commentators was one of many hot
issues that prompted concern, discussion, and planning among attendees.

For a few photographs and more information on the "Hear Our Story"
symposium, go to the FCNL's website at www.fcnl.org/nativeam/ or email
us at adamk@fcnl.org to request a conference report.  The report is
expected to be available by late spring/early summer.

ADMINISTRATION RELEASES CONTROVERSIAL FY07 BUDGET PROPOSAL:

In February, the administration unveiled its fiscal year 2007 budget
request.  Funding for Native American programs flows from federal trust
obligations to tribes, but the administration's budget proposal contains
items of great concern to Native Nations and urban Native Americans.  At
a February hearing convened by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,
committee members from both parties questioned budget proposals to scrap
the entire urban Indian health care program, take a "pause" in
constructing health facilities, reduce funding for construction of new
education facilities in Indian Country, and "zero out" money for the
Johnson O'Malley program, which provides crucial cultural and academic
services to meet the unique needs of Indian students attending public
schools. In his opening remarks Sen. John McCain (AZ), Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, summed up the controversial cuts to
Indian programs, "I think some of these cuts clearly send out the wrong
signal to Indian Country as to what our belief on our fulfillment of our
obligation to Native Americans is all about."

In addition, basic and necessary programs funded by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) are the focus of an unconscionable, across-the-board
funding-cut proposal to pay for the federal government's financial
responsibility to reimburse attorneys representing Native plaintiffs in
the Cobell class action rust fund lawsuit.  In a letter to tribal
leaders, Jim Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary of the BIA, claimed the
legal fees owed by the Department of Interior were "not a planned
expense" and thus millions had to be taken out of Indian programs.
However, the potential to have to pay such costs has been apparent for a
decade.  FCNL concurs with tribal leaders who believe the administration
and Interior officials are using a "divide and conquer" strategy to make
other Indian people resent the 500,000 Individual Indian Money account
holders who have sued to get unpaid trust land profits due to them from
the Department of Interior.

CONGRESS PURSUES GAMBLING RESTRICTIONS:

Sen. McCain has also convened three recent hearings on Indian gambling
operations.  Tribal gaming as a business started after a 1987 Supreme
Court decision and after the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by
Congress and signed into law by President Reagan.  These operations
involve tribal-state compacts.  Last year Sen. McCain introduced the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Amendments, S. 2078.  The bill, now
scheduled for a vote in committee on March 29, would increase the
National Indian Gaming Commission's regulatory powers over Class III
gambling.

S. 2078 would also block future efforts by tribes to open out-of-state
casinos and make it harder for tribes to get land into trust for
off-reservation gambling facilities.  Rep. Richard Pombo (CA) will hold
a hearing March 15 on H.R. 4893, a bill to restrict off-reservation
gambling.  The goal is to protect communities that oppose casinos.

Quakers and many other religious groups oppose all forms of gambling but
also believe in the sovereignty of tribes and in fairness toward groups
that have lived in poverty for generations. Some 80% of gambling profits
go to non-Native establishments which do not put money into social
programs as tribes usually do. As scholar and author Charles Wilkerson
notes, "It is somehow considered illegitimate to some when Indians
obtain wealth."

TRIBES SINGLED OUT IN "LOBBYING-REFORM" BILL:

The Senate Rules Committee has "marked up" S. 2349, a "bill to provide
greater transparency in the legislative process" introduced by committee
Chairman, Sen. Trent Lott (MS) [The bill was introduced in the wake of
the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal].  However, the bill also included a
provision to change legal requirements on tribal contribution reporting
and designation with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).  The
original language of Sen. Lott's lobbying-reform bill required tribes to
follow campaign rules similar to political action committees (PACs).
Currently, tribes are designated as "individuals" by the FEC.  An
amendment, offered by Sen. Daniel Inouye (HI) and accepted by the
committee, removed all language from the bill that singled out tribes.

On February 8, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs convened a hearing
to examine Indian tribes' designation under the Federal Election
Campaign Act.  The Jack Abramoff scandal and the role of his tribal
clients "has resulted in intense interest of tribes and how they are
regulated under the election laws" explained Larry Noble, executive
director of the Center for Responsive Politics during the proceedings.

Sen. David Vitter (LA) is seeking to attach an amendment to Sen. Lott's
stalled lobbying-reform bill.  Vitter's amendment would require tribes
to register as corporations when giving campaign contributions, a move
that would force tribes to form PACs registered with the Federal
Elections Commission (FEC).  The amendment is vigorously supported by
the National Association of Convenience Stores. On February 2, the FEC
issued an advisory to correct news reports stating Indian tribes were
using a "loophole" in federal campaign-finance laws and stated that
tribes have been following election laws.  Despite the advisory, Sen.
Vitter's allies on this issue continue to use the word "loophole" when
discussing his amendment.

An overreaction to off-reservation gambling, which is rare, and the
Abramoff scandal is taking place in Congress and the result is a
singling out of Native Americans in a way that unfairly punishes them
for growing economic and political gains.

_______________________________________

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________________________________________

Friends Committee on National Legislation
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fcnl@fcnl.org * http://www.fcnl.org
phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330

We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.

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