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Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) has offered an amendment to the FY2003 Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 5093) that would put in place an indefinite moratorium on the right of tribes to petition for federal recognition. The Interior Appropriations bill is under consideration on the Senate floor, and this amendment is likely to be considered on Thursday morning, and if not will be considered on Monday. NCAI opposes this amendment pursuant to Resolution MSH-01-069, and would encourage all tribes to contact their Senators and ask them to oppose Senator Dodd's Amendment.

The amendment, which includes some provisions from Senator Dodd's stand-alone bill, S. 1392, on which the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing for September 17, appears to increase funding for the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research (BAR) to $1.9 million in FY 2003, (up from current level of $1.05 million). But the amendment is a "limitations amendment" - it would prohibit the expenditure of funds to recognize Indian tribes until the Secretary of the Interior certifies to Congress that certain new administrative procedures have been implemented. Those new administrative procedures would require, among other things, a raising of the evidentiary standards, and require that the petitioner meet all of the criteria, while the current regulations allow flexibility in that the petitioner may be denied if there is insufficient evidence that it meets one or more of the criteria.

The most significant concern about the Dodd Amendment is that it would create a moratorium until the Secretary of Interior certifies that a new process has been created. Because there is little incentive for the Secretary to actually create this new process, the changes could be put off indefinitely. This would put the recognition process in a state of political limbo from which it would be difficult to recover. Instituting an indefinite moratorium on federal recognition does not resolve the problems associated with the process of recognition. We need a more equitable, less costly and less time-consuming approach to federal recognition, and a moratorium only further prohibits legitimate tribes from achieving recognition.

The Dodd Amendment is also attempting create a major change in federal Indian law and policy through a rider to an appropriations bill. Federal recognitions is a complex Indian law issue and any changes to the current practice should be carefully scrutinized through the committees of jurisdiction - the House Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Please contact Shelby Settles or John Dossett at NCAI if you have any questions. Send e-mail to: ssettles@ncai.org or jdossett@ncai.org or call 202-466-7767.