Some people don't think tribes in Florida should receive a share of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

So far, the Seminole Tribe and the Miccosukee Tribe have received $4 million from the stimulus. The money will address housing, water and law enforcement needs on reservations.

"I personally think it's the most insulting thing I've ever heard," Dan Adkins, the CEO of a non-Indian casino, told The Miami Herald. "These local police departments are having to lay off people because of budget constraints. Why should any of that money go to the Seminole Tribe? . . . They don't have a budget problem."

Indian Country received just a small portion -- $2 billion -- of the $787 billion stimulus. "When you look at the demographics, tribes occupy the bottom of the socioeconomic scale in a lot of categories," Dante Desiderio, an economic development policy specialist for the National Congress of American Indians, told the Herald. "There are tribes with over 50 percent unemployment."

Get the Story:
Federal stimulus to Seminoles, Miccosukees sparks criticism (The Miami Herald 8/1)

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
H.R.1 | S.1

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