[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11699-S11700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FUNDING OF THE MEDICAL CREEK TRIBAL COLLEGE

 Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, would the chairman of the Interior 
Appropriations Subcommittee yield for a question?
  Mr. GORTON. I would be happy to yield to the Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, Senator Gorton and I have been working 
with the Puyallup Tribe of Washington to establish base funding in the 
BIA budget for the Medicine Creek Tribal Community College in Tacoma, 
WA. The Tribe has been working diligently and patiently with the BIA to 
secure the necessary accreditation to facilitate such base funding. I 
am happy to report that the tribe has just recently received such 
accreditation.
  However, the BIA has recently denied the Puyallup request for funding 
on the grounds that they had not established their accreditation, even 
though that was not a requirement of the BIA rules when the initial 
request for funding was made. On April 8, 1997, I wrote the BIA to 
express my concern regarding an apparent accreditation ``catch-22''. It 
seemed that in order to be accredited, the school needed to demonstrate 
a secure funding base. However, to secure a funding base the college 
needed to be accredited. I expressed to the BIA my sincere desire to 
see this apparent conundrum resolved. Over the past several months, it 
appeared that the BIA was, in fact, moving to address this issue. In a 
recent meeting the tribe had with Michael Anderson, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Indian Affairs, they were assured they would receive 
funding for fiscal year 1998. But we now understand that the BIA has 
changed its mind and indicated that Medicine Creek Tribal College will 
not receive funding for fiscal year 1998. This is not acceptable.
  In the conference report on H.R. 2107, the conferees agreed to 
increase funding for tribally controlled community colleges by 
$2,500,000 over the fiscal year 1997 level. Is it the intention of the 
chairman of the subcommittee that the Medicine Creek Tribal College be 
eligible for some of this funding?
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, like Senator Murray, I am disturbed that 
BIA has now taken the position that the Medicine Creek Tribal College 
will not receive any funding. My office has worked with the tribe and 
understood that their funding needs would be met in fiscal year 1998. 
We urge the BIA make funds available from the increase in tribal 
community college funding to assist the Medicine Creek Tribal College 
move forward with its recent accreditation.

[[Page S11700]]

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the chairman for this important 
clarification.

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