4

(A) The total population of the tribe(s),

and the population of tribal members located in

the service area, where applicable.

(B) The size of the service area.

(C) The location of the service area.

(D) The availability of similar programs

within the geographical area to tribes or tribal

members.

(E) Socio-economic conditions that exist

within the service area.

(2) The Secretary shall consult with tribal gov

ernments in establishing and conducting the needs assessment mandated by this Act.

(3) Within 1 year of the enactment of this Act, and every five (5) years thereafter, each Federal agency or department, in coordination with the Secretary, shall conduct an Indian Needs Assessment

("INA") aimed at determining the actual needs of

Indian tribes and Indians eligible for programs and

services administered by such agency or department.

(4) The Indian Needs Assessment developed pursuant to subsection (c)(3) above shall be filed with the Committees on Appropriations and Indian Affairs of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations and Resources of the House of Representa

8 612 IS

5

1

2

3

tives on February 1 of each year in which it is to be submitted.

(b) FEDERAL AGENCY INDIAN TRIBAL PROGRAM

4 EVALUATION.

(1) Within 180 days of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop a uniform method, criteria, and procedures for compiling, maintaining,

keeping current and reporting to Congress all information concerning

(A) the agency or department annual expenditure for programs and services for which Indians are eligible, with specific information regarding the names of tribes who are currently participating in or receiving each service, the names of tribes who have applied for and not received programs or services, and the names of tribes whose services or programs have been terminated within the last fiscal year;

(B) services or programs specifically for the benefit of Indians, with specific information regarding the names of tribes who are currently participating in or receiving each service, the

names of tribes who have applied for and not received programs or services, and the names of

8 612 IS

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tribes whose services or programs have been terminated within the last fiscal year; and

(C) the agency or department method of delivery of such services and funding, including a detailed explanation of the outreach efforts of each agency or department to Indian tribes.

(2) Within 1 year of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, cach Federal agency or department responsible for providing services or programs to or for the benefit of Indian tribes or Indians shall file an Annual Indian Program Evaluation ("AIPE") with the Committees on Appropriations and Indian Affairs of the Senate, and the Commit

tees on Appropriations and Resources of the House

of Representatives.

(c) ANNUAL LISTING OF TRIBAL ELIGIBLE PRO17 GRAMS.-On or before February 1 of each calendar year, 18 those Federal agencies or departments mentioned in sub19 section (b) (2) above, shall develop and publish in the Fed20 eral Register a list of all programs and services offered 21 by such agency or department for which Indian tribes or 22 their members are or may be eligible, and shall provide 23 a brief explanation of the program or service.

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1 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

2

(a) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary shall, within 1 year

3 of the enactment of this Act, develop and submit to the 4 Committees on Appropriations and Indian Affairs of the 5 Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations and Re6 sources of the House of Representatives a report detailing 7 the coordination of Federal program and service assist8 ance for which Indian tribes and their members are eligi9 ble.

10

(b) STRATEGIC PLAN.-The Secretary shall, within 11 18 months after the enactment of this Act, and after con12 sultation and coordination with the Indian tribes, file a 13 Strategic Plan for the Coordination of Federal Assistance 14 for Indians.

15 (c) CONTENTS OF STRATEGIC PLAN.-The Plan re16 quired under this Act shall contain: (1) Identification of 17 reforms necessary to the laws, regulations, policies, proce18 dures, practices, and systems of the agencies involved; (2) 19 proposals for remedying the reforms identified in the Plan; 20 and (3) other recommendations consistent with the pur21 poses of the Act.

22 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23

Beginning in fiscal year 2001 and for each fiscal year

24 thereafter, there are authorized to be appropriated such 25 sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.

S 612 18

The CHAIRMAN. I want to inform the witnesses that we do have stacked votes at 11 a.m., so they might want to abbreviate their comments so that we won't have to recess and then have them come back again.

We will start with Kevin Gover, back for the second day in a row. Nice to see you, Kevin.

STATEMENT OF HON. KEVIN GOVER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Mr. GOVER. Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, S. 612 begins to deal with an item that really is of critical importance to Indian country and to the executive branch in trying to begin to meet the needs that exist in Indian country. At the same time, I must say that this is where angels fear to tread. There is so little definition of what it is that the BIA in particular, but even more generally, all of the agencies is really expected to accomplish with these programs, that it's very difficult to know where to start. Many of our programs are funded under the old Snyder Act from 1921 which basically says that we are to go forth and do good for the Indians, provide the kind of assistance that they need just for sort of "basic living."

The problem is that because there are no standards in the act, and because the BIA has never developed any sort of meaningful program objectives for these various programs that we operate, we won't know when we've completed the job. At the same time I think it is fair to say that we know for sure that we have not completed the job in areas like housing, scholarships, general assistance even our management of tribal natural resources. In all of those areas we can demonstrate shortfalls so significant that identifying the shortfall with precision is almost a meaningless exercise.

For example, when we were putting together our fiscal year 2001 budget, we got information from the tribes indicating a need in the Housing Improvement Program of over $800 million. Last year we asked for and received about $16 million to $18 million; this year, we've asked for about $32 million. In either event, and whether or not we get the money we have asked for this year, we are so far short of the need that the tribes tell us exists that we really are sort of "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

I don't know if that is worth the effort, to try to identify with precision whether that $800 million is really, absolutely correct, or whether it's only $400 million. Those exercises don't necessarily get us anywhere, and especially in the absence of some definition of what it is that we're trying to accomplish with the Housing Improvement Program. At what point will we have accomplished the mission of the Housing Improvement Program? At the current pace, we will never meet the objectives, whatever they may be, of the Housing Improvement Program.

The same is true in an area like scholarships. Obviously we will continue to offer scholarships as new generations of Indian young people come along and need that kind of assistance to go to college. We can probably document to some degree the number of students. We can find out, for example, the number of students that apply, year by year. We can tell you how many students get funded, how many do not. But again, the absence of programmatic objectives