[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E462-E463]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FLOOR STATEMENT FOR TRIBAL CONTRACT SUPPORT COSTS TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS 
                                OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. J.D. HAYWORTH

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 30, 2000

  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, today my colleague Congressman Don Young, 
Chairman of the Resources Committee, is introducing the ``Tribal 
Contract Support Costs Technical Amendments of 2000.'' I am proud

[[Page E463]]

to be an original cosponsor of this legislation which would make 
technical amendments to the contract support costs provisions of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
  Over the past two years, the House Resources Committee has focused 
substantial attention on the problems associated with ongoing 
shortfalls in payments to tribes for contract support costs. The 
committee has not taken on this task without assistance. The National 
Congress of American Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the 
Indian Health Service (IHS), and many tribes have reviewed the matter 
and have assisted in developing a long-term solution.
  In 1975, Congress firmly launched the nation on a course of Indian 
self-determination by enacting the Indian Self-Determination and 
Education Assistance Act. An important goal was to begin dismantling 
part of our highly inefficient federal bureaucracy by turning over the 
daily operation of Native American programs to the tribes and tribal 
organizations.
  Twenty-five years later this Act has proven to be a resounding 
success. All across the country, tribes and tribal organizations are 
administering contracts to operate the federal government's hospitals, 
clinics, and many other programs.
  Despite its successes, the policy of self-determination has been 
consistently plagued by problems, with the most severe being the 
failure of the IHS and BIA to fully pay contract support costs 
associated with carrying out these federal government programs under 
duly-executed contracts.
  A recent study by the IHS shows that IHS programs, which are 
currently funded at roughly $2 billion, are still $13 billion short of 
meeting the health care needs of Indian and Alaska Native people. BIA 
funding is not much better. The net effect is that there is even less 
available in these woefully underfunded programs to meet local needs. 
This is not right.
  The ``Tribal Contract Support Costs Technical Amendments of 2000'' 
will clarify the rules governing the expenditure of contract funds, 
initiate a new measure to maximize efficiency in tribal program 
operations, improve federal administration of the Act; clarify the 
rules governing the computation of contract support costs; provide 
federal agencies more time to plan for the transfer of federal programs 
to tribal operation; and strengthen the Act's enforcement measures.
  I urge swift consideration of this proposal to ensure that Congress' 
support for Indian self-determination continues.

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