Administrative Record in CARES Act Litigation

Indianz.Com > COVID-19 > Administrative Record in CARES Act Litigation

Posted: May 22, 2020

The Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C. Photo: dog97209

The Department of the Treasury’s administrative record (AR) in ongoing litigation over the $8 billion coronavirus relief fund promised to tribal governments was submitted in federal court on May 22, 2020.

The AR is divided into 14 sections, according to the index submitted in court. Almost every section contains just one document but section 10 consists of numerous letters submitted by tribes and Alaska Native corporations regarding the distribution of the fund that was authorized by Congress under Title V of the CARES Act.

PDF: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

The AR was accompanied by a declaration from Daniel Kowalski, who serves as Counselor to Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin. He said the documents represent “to the best of my knowledge, the non-privileged information considered by Treasury in its determination that Alaska Native Corporations are ‘Tribal governments’ under the CARES Act Title V.”

PDF: CERTIFICATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD

Documents of note include:

A record of a call from staff for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to Daniel Kowalski on April 2, 2020 — after the first tribal consultation on the $8 billion fund took place that afternoon. The contents of the call are not disclosed.
An April 21, 2020, letter from Solicitor Daniel Jorjani, the top legal official at the Department of the Interior, recommending inclusion of Alaska Native corporations in the $8 billion fund.
An April 23, 2020, action memorandum from Brian Callahan, General Counsel at Treasury, siding with Interior’s analysis regarding inclusion of Alaska Native corporations in the $8 billion fund.

The AR was submitted in Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation v. Mnuchin, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. Mnuchin, and Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation v. Mnuchin.

Links to the documents in the AR are provided below.

Index Number	Date	Description
001	3/31/2020	Letter from Tara Sweeney, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, to Tribal leaders re: announcement of time- sensitive consultation information re: the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund
002	4/02/2020	Transcript re: first CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund Tribal consultation
003	4/02/2020	Outlook calendar entry for Daniel Kowalski, Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, for a call with Sen. Murkowski’s staff
004	4/06/2020	Letter from Alaska congressional delegation (Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan, and Rep. Young), to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior, re: “Coronavirus Relief Fund, Tribal Set-Aside of $8 Billion”
005	On or about 04/07/2020	Summary compilation provided by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Department of the Treasury re: “Coronavirus Relief Fund Summary of Tribal Comments (as of April 7, 2020)”
006	4/09/2020	Transcript re: second CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund Tribal consultation
007	4/13/2020	Form of the “Submission Required for Receipt of Coronavirus Relief Fund Payments” by Tribal governments
008	4/14/2020	Letter from Alaska congressional delegation (Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan, and Rep. Young), to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior, re: “Coronavirus Relief Fund, Tribal Set-Aside of $8 Billion”
009	4/22/2020	Final summary compilation provided by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Department of the Treasury re: “Coronavirus Relief Fund Tribal Set-Aside Compilation of Comments”
010 (a)- (y)	Various, between 04/14/2020¹ and 04/23/2020	Compilation of the comment letters received by the Department of the Treasury after the close of the Tribal comment period on April 13, 2020 but before Treasury’s eligibility determination on April 23, 2020, in which the eligibility of Alaska Native Corporations (ANC) is referenced 010a \| 010b \| 010c \| 010d \| 010e \| 010f \| 010g 010h \|010i \|010j \| 010k \| 010l \| 010m 010n \|010o \| 010p \|010q\|010r \|010s \|010t 010u \|010v \|010w \| 010x \|010y
011	4/21/2020	Letter from Daniel Jorjani, Solicitor, Department of the Interior, to Brian Callanan, General Counsel, Department of the Treasury, recommending that ANCs are eligible for CARES Act Title V funding
012	5/21/1976	Memorandum of Charles Soller, Assistant Solicitor for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, cited in n.5 of the letter included at Tab 011
013	4/23/2020	Action Memorandum for Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, from Brian Callanan, General Counsel, Department of the Treasury, re: “Treatment of Alaska Native Corporations Under Title V of the CARES Act”
014	4/23/2020	Department of the Treasury website posting re: Treasury’s determination that Alaska Native Corporations are Tribal governments under the CARES Act Title V

1 Certain letters are dated April 13, 2020 but were not received by the Department of the Treasury until after April 13, 2020, the date on which the Tribal comment period closed. Letters received after April 13, 2020 were not included in the summary compilations of Tribal comment letters as described in Index Nos. 005 and 009.

Join the Conversation