Sec. 3. Findings

421 words·~2 min read·/bill/118/s/5636/is/section-3

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Congress finds that— in December 2018, the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report entitled Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans , which made a number of important findings, which are related to the findings described in paragraphs

(2)through (8); the unique government-to-government relationship between the Federal Government and Indian Tribes, and the trust responsibility and obligations of the Federal Government to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Indian Tribes, are— enumerated in the United States Constitution, Acts of Congress, Executive orders, Supreme Court precedent, and Federal policies and regulations; and as applicable, established in Indian treaties signed by the United States; Congress has also passed more than 150 laws that promote the welfare of Native Hawaiians and affirm a special political and legal relationship with Native Hawaiians arising out of their status as Indigenous, Native people; Federal programs designed to support the social and economic well-being of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Indian Tribes remain chronically underfunded and sometimes inefficiently structured, which— leaves many basic obligations of the Federal Government in rural and urban areas with large populations of Native Americans unmet; and contributes to the inequities observed in Native American communities; woefully inadequate Federal funding for Native American programs often comes with restrictions that hamper access to funds, including indirect allocations of Federal funding to State governments to be provided to Tribal governments and Native American communities at the State’s discretion, which further diminishes the direct government-to-government relationship between the Federal Government and Indian Tribes and other funding mechanisms for Native American communities; Congress often provides funding for Native American programs in a manner that makes efficient long-term planning and budgeting impossible or exceedingly difficult for Tribal governments, Tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations, and Native American communities; the Federal Government continues to fail to keep accurate, consistent, and comprehensive records of Federal spending for Native American programs, either for a given fiscal year or for longer time periods, making monitoring of Federal spending to meet the trust responsibility and obligations of the Federal Government difficult; and the Federal Government continues to insufficiently track Native American populations and use outdated or incomplete data points, contributing to the lack of adequate funding provided for necessary resources; there is a critical need for more accurate and current data collection for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, including disaggregated data on those populations; and inaccurate and undercounted data can negatively impact Federal funds and services received by American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.