— The Obama administration Thursday reiterated broad support for
American Indian social and economic aid programs and policies,
including one that would restore tribes’ right to acquire new land. But
for the newly recognized Shinnecock tribe, the wait for help continues.
After enduring a 32-year process for federal
recognition of their tribe before receiving it in October, Shinnecock
leaders ventured here this week for a conference of the nation’s 565
federally recognized tribes as much for ceremonial reasons as practical
ones.
Last-minute challenges to their federal recognition
status this summer locked them out of the 2011 federal budget cycle,
and so their hopes for funding for government infrastructure, law
enforcement, education and health care programs have been left in limbo
until 2012.
“We missed it,” said Shinnecock tribal chairman
At a ceremony Wednesday, Shinnecock trustees
presented the tribal flag at a gathering attended by Assistant
Secretary for Indian Affairs
privately Wednesday to discuss the tribe’s concerns about missing the
funding boat. He said the Interior Department was considering making
“discretionary funds” available to the tribe, but he was worried that
political pressures in Congress could squelch that.
Gumbs, who is also regional vice president for the
National Congress of American Indians, said he made the rounds with
other tribal leaders to the offices of more than 20 lawmakers, seeking
help to fix a 2009 Supreme Court decision that exempts tribes
recognized after 1934 from securing private land for tribal purposes in
federal land-in-trust arrangements.
Obama expressed support for legislation that makes
clear that the secretary of the Interior can take land into trust “for
all federally recognized tribes,” reversing a major impediment to
American Indian tribes’ ability to secure off-reservation land for
casino and other projects.
Interior Secretary
the Obama administration “is working overtime to deliver a fix that
will restore the authority and allow tribes to continue their important
work of restoring their homelands.”
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