Bureau of Indian Affairs 1987 Budget Request Is $923.7 Million

The President's 1987 budget request of $923.7 million in appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) puts new emphasis on the concepts of Indian self-determination and tribal self-government through the introduction of a new line item category for tribal/agency operations, putting almost one-third of the total BIA budget under more direct control of the tribes.

The 1987 request also proposes the transfer of the $22 million Johnson-O'Malley education program to the Department of Education (DOE) and the move of $11.5 million in Title IV education programs from DOE to the BIA. Special legislation to effect ·this change will be needed. The rationale is to have all programs affecting Indian students attending public schools administered in the Department of Education and to move Indian education programs affecting federal or tribal schools to the BIA.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer, who assumed direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in December, 1985, said he "was pleased that the 1987 budget request reflected the growing role of tribal governments in the operation of reservation programs." He added, "Even though the President's budget has been designed to comply with the deficit reduction requirements of the Gramm-Rudman act -- with no further reductions anticipated -- there is still an increase of $8.5 million provided for the operation of Indian programs." The 1986 total for BIA program operation is $853.6 million; the 1987 request is for $862.l million.

The Assistant Secretary said he intended to send all tribal chairmen a detailed explanation of the budget request, with further information about opportunities for consolidated grants, contracts and cooperative agreements under the new tribal/agency operations funding category.

The $295 million requested for tribal/agency operations includes funding for local service programs planned and operated at the reservation or .agency level and some other programs offering direct services to tribes and individuals. The consolidated funding of these operations will allow tribes more flexibility in making local decisions concerning fund usage to meet current needs and will reduce federal restrictions.

The program dollars budgeted for tribal/agency operations will be justified under the umbrella of a single budget activity with no subactivity line itemization. This will allow the tribes to request the use of the funds for various purposes within broad Congressional authorizations without going through the cumbersome and slow process of reprogramming required for exchanges between line items.

Comparisons between the individual line items in the 1987 budget request and those in the 1986 appropriation are generally meaningless because of the new tribal/agency operations category, which includes funds transferred from most of the other line item programs.

Programs receiving 1987 increases include self-determination services, $4.2 million; social services, $1.2 million; business enterprise development, $1.2 million; real estate and financial trust services, $4.6 million; management and administration, $1 million; and a new consolidated training program, $1.4 million.

The increase in self-determination services results from a $5.6 million increase for the indirect costs of new tribal contracts for reservation programs, an increase in technical assistance and a decrease of $1.7 million for small tribes core management grants.

The $4.6 million increase in real estate and financial trust services includes $3 million for cadastral surveys, mostly in Alaska, and more than $700,000 for land records improvement. An increase of $450,000 for financial trust services will be used to improve trust fund investment operations and to develop and implement a new trust fund accounting system.

The $1.4 million requested for the new consolidated training program will be used to recruit and train qualified Indians to improve the quality and efficiency of the services provided by the Bureau to tribal groups. The BIA will activate understudy, cooperative education and in-service training programs for its employees.

Some of the major decreases from the 1986 appropriation levels are accounted for by the transfer of the Johnson-O'Malley program, $22.1 million; reduced construction, $41. 7 million; and elimination of one-time payments of $6 million for emergency hay purchases and $7.5 million for payments to the Alaska Escrow account.

There has also been a reduction of $12 million for programs in Alaska. Because of the implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the assumption by the state of greater responsibility for education and welfare programs, previous levels of federal financial support for Alaska Natives are no longer considered necessary.

* 1986 Appropriation figures have been adjusted to reflect a 4.3% Gramm-Rudman reduction.

(All dollar amounts are in Thousands.)