[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 25 (Friday, February 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E300-E301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF FOUR NATIVE AMERICAN BILLS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 8, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam Speaker, I am today reintroducing four 
bills that would make various changes in current laws regarding Native 
Americans. Each of these bills is identical to one that I introduced 
last year, and each is identical to a bill passed by the Senate in 2005 
or 2006 on which action was not completed before the end of the 109th 
Congress. I am reintroducing them today so that their consideration can 
resume without further unnecessary delay.
  One bill corresponds to S. 1231 as passed by the Senate on December 
14, 2005. Entitled the ``National Fund for Excellence in American 
Indian Education Amendments Act,'' it would amend the Act to provide 
four key improvements intended to assist the Fund in achieving self-
sufficiency. First, it would provide initial seed money to the Fund for 
three fiscal years to facilitate operations. In addition, it would 
authorize the Secretary to provide funding for operational costs of the 
Fund on a reimbursement basis. It also would authorize the Board to 
appoint the Chief Operating Officer rather than mandating the Secretary 
of the Board serve as the Chief Operating Officer. And it would 
increase the administrative cost cap of ten percent currently in place 
to 20 percent for one year, 15 percent the following year and then 
decreasing back to 10 percent.
  Another bill corresponds to S. 1758, as passed by the Senate on 
September 26, 2005. It would amend the Indian Financing Act of 1974 
with respect to loan guaranty and insurance to: (1) authorize the 
Secretary of the Interior to guarantee or insure loans to both for-
profit and nonprofit borrowers; and (2) allow all or any portion of a 
guaranteed or insured loan, including its security, to be transferred 
by the lender by sale or assignment to

[[Page E301]]

any person, and be retransferred by the transferee. It also would allow 
a fiscal transfer agent to be compensated through any of the fees 
assessed and any interest earned on any funds or fees the agent has 
collected while the funds or fees are in the agent's control and before 
the time at which the agent is contractually required to transfer such 
funds to the Secretary or to transferees or other holders. And it would 
make loans made by an eligible Community Development Finance 
Institution eligible for guaranty or insurance and increase from $500 
million to $1.5 billion the amount of loans the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs can have outstanding.
  Another bill corresponds to S. 1480, passed by the Senate on July 26, 
2006. It provides that any actual rental proceeds certified by the 
Secretary of the Interior from the lease of land acquired with a FHA 
Direct Loan by an Indian tribe or Tribal Corporation shall be deemed 
to: (1) constitute the rental value of that land; and (2) satisfy the 
requirement for appraisal of that land.
  And another bill corresponds to S. 1483, also passed by the Senate 
last July 26th. It would amend the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and 
Technical Education Act of 1998 with respect to grants to tribally 
controlled postsecondary vocational and technical institutions that are 
not receiving federal support under the Tribally Controlled College or 
University Assistance Act of 1978 or the Navajo Community College Act 
to provide basic support for the education and training of Indian 
students. It also would revise the definition of ``Indian student 
count'' (essential to the formula for the determination of grant 
amounts). And it would require the Indian student count to be 
determined according to a specified formula, for each academic year, on 
the basis of the enrollments of Indian students as in effect at the 
conclusion of the third week of the fall term and the third week of the 
spring term, allowing the counting of students without secondary school 
degrees under certain circumstances.
  I urge the leadership of the committees to which these bills will be 
referred to consider them as soon as practicable.

                          ____________________