[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 94 (Monday, June 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S6889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INOUYE (for himself, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. 
        Lieberman):
  S. 1316. A bill to amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to modify 
requirements relating to the location of bank branches on Indian 
reservations, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill that would 
provide authority for the establishment of branch banking facilities on 
Indian reservations so that the Federally-chartered Native American 
Bank could enable access to financial services to Indian tribes and 
their citizens.
  Many years ago, as part of my service as Chairman of the Senate 
Indian Affairs Committee, I met with tribal leaders to discuss the 
challenges of economic development in Indian country. At that time, I 
suggested that they might give consideration to a means by which tribal 
governments could pool their resources and thereby provide the capital 
that other tribal governments could employ on a short-term loan basis 
to undertake reservation-based projects that held the potential of 
stimulating economic growth in their tribal communities.
  The tribal leaders with whom I met were very interested in this idea, 
and in the ensuing years, went forward and established the Native 
American Bank--which is headquartered in Denver--but continues to 
manage its first affiliated bank on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in 
Montana.
  As my colleagues know, there are few financial institutions located 
either on or near Indian reservations, and sadly, there is evidence 
that some financial institutions have found it apparently necessary to 
either charge very high rates that they associate with the risk of 
doing business in Indian country, or to deny financial assistance 
altogether.
  The Native American Bank has stepped into that latter void and has 
been providing meaningful financial services to tribal governments and 
their citizens for a number of years.
  This bill contains amendments to the McFadden Act that have been 
carefully sculpted to address only this narrow expansion of capacity on 
the part of financial institutions serving Indian country, and I am 
pleased that Senator Johnson, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, 
has agreed to join me in co-sponsoring this legislation.

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