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MONDAY, JULY 15, 2002

Tribes throughout the country remain mired in poverty despite attempts to stimulate economic development and increase opportunities for tribal members, according to a new Congressional study.

Among other factors, geographic isolation, a limited workforce and lack of strategies hinder economic growth, the General Accounting Office said on Friday. As a result, the number of American Indians who live on reservations and receive welfare has not significantly decreased, the report stated.

"Tribes have used various strategies to stimulate economic development, but despite these efforts, unemployment and poverty rates on reservations remain high and prospects for economic growth may be limited," the GAO wrote.

Based on a survey of more than 150 tribes and more than 30 states with at least one federally recognized tribe, the 58-page report comes as Congress debates reauthorization a 1996 welfare reform law, which expires this September. President Bush has made the issue one of his top domestic priorities but obstacles might prevent renewal.

For Indian Country, the delay wouldn't change much, according to the report. A number of tribal welfare programs are in their infancy, so Congress investigators don't yet have long-term results.

What the GAO did find was that reforms haven't improved Indian economic conditions on the whole. While the number of Native families nationwide that receive welfare has fallen, this trend has not come to the reservation.

Of the tribes with reservations that participated in the study, 47 reported that the number of welfare families has stayed the same and even increased since the reform act. The report attributed this to flexibility in tribal programs -- states are more strict.

But in certain states, reforms don't appear to have succeeded either. Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming reported an increase in the proportion of Indian families on welfare.

In South Dakota for instance, the number of Native welfare families increase from about 60 percent in 1994 to about 80 percent in 2001, according to the GAO. Yet only about 8 percent of the state's population is Native.

In the states, however, Indian families on welfare dropped from almost 68,000 in 1994 to about 26,000 in 2001. But this decline was masked by the advent of tribal welfare services, the report said.

Under the reform act, tribes, tribal consortiums and Alaska Native corporations have the authority to implement Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. According to the GAO, a total of 36, serving more than 170 tribes, programs exist, which require approval by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The report recommends the HHS provide more help to Indian Country in order to improve the tribal TANF programs. This could help improve economic conditions, the GAO said.

The GAO delivered its report to several lawmakers, including Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has introduced the American Indian Welfare Reform Act. The bill creates tribal-specific reform measures and would, for the first time, authorize Alaska Native village governments to implement TANF programs.

Relevant Documents:
Welfare Reform: Tribal TANF Allows Flexibility to Tailor Programs, but Conditions on Reservations Make It Difficult to Move Recipients Into Jobs. GAO-02-768 (7/12)

Relevant Bills:
S.2484 (The American Indian Welfare Reform Act)

Relevant Links:
Welfare Reform, National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/issues/
human_resources/welfare_reform.asp
Tribal Welfare Programs, Department of Health and Human Services - http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/dts