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Native Group Asks for $5.4 Billion

By Kevin Abourezk

It's a bold move. Asking the federal government for billions of dollars in taxpayer money to bail out a group of people suffering from the failing economy.

Never mind the fact that, unlike the Wall Street brokers who dug themselves a financial pit and dove in with eyes wide open, this group of aspiring bailout-ees did little to nothing to cause their current economic pains.

Never mind that the last group to win a bailout did so by flying to Washington, D.C., in a fleet of corporate jets they later strategically traded for hybrid vehicles and promises to work for free in the coming year. For those sweet nothings whispered in the ears of federal legislators, General Motors and Chrysler LLC walked away with $17.4 billion.

Now comes the boldest plea for a bailout yet: Indian Country wants $5.4 billion for schools and bridges.

Can you hear the righteous indignation? The shouts echoing in the U.S. Capitol chambers for Indians to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and take their rightful place in line behind the fat, overpaid auto industry and Wall Street CEOs?

No doubt some legislators may even scratch their heads and ask matter-of-factly: Do Indians still even exist?

Nevertheless this week, the National Congress of American Indians announced plans to request economic assistance for Indian Country.

"We are advocating that tribal governments be treated at the same level as state governments in the economic recovery plan by equally distributing funds to enable tribal governments to serve their citizens and allowing them access to capital," said NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson Pata. "This country cannot move on economically without involving tribal governments."

The NCAI is asking for a fraction of the $775 billion economic stimulus package president-elect Barack Obama is assembling. The NCAI wants just $5.4 billion for basic infrastructure needs like tribal roads, bridges and schools, which are comparable to those in developing countries.

No doubt many will see this request as a hand-out. Some of those will be the same people who argued passionately in favor of saving the all-American auto industry (wait, isn't Chrysler partly owned by German car company Daimler AG?).

They'll conveniently neglect the U.S. government's treaty obligations to Native people, obligations won in exchange for vast tracts of land upon which companies like bailout-ees General Motors and Merrill Lynch have since made their fortunes.

Instead, they'll attempt to retrain their thoughts on the economic apocalypse that surely will come should the nation forget the poor CEOs facing a bleak future devoid of multi-million dollar bonus packages.

Still, the NCAI persists.

"A tribal provision in the economic plan could mean funding for Indian Health Care programs, schools and job training projects," said NCAI President Joe A. Garcia.

And the organization goes even further in its shameless plea: asking legislators to relax federal regulations that limit tribal governments' access to capital, regulations that prevent tribes from using tax-exempt bonds to leverage spending on infrastructure and economic development efforts.

"Indian Country needs a chance to develop the systems to grow their local economies and Indian people deserve the opportunity for a secure future," Garcia said.

So why should the government worry about Indians versus General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner, who earned $14.4 million last year?

I would offer the following: Because 25 percent of all Natives live in poverty and the median household income for Natives is $35,200 (30 percent less than that of all Americans).

And because a collapse in Indian Country, which contributes 927,000 workers to the U.S. workforce (compared to the mere 96,000 people employed by General Motors), could lead to economic collapse nationwide.

Call me shameless.

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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