The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit marks the latest escalation in a dispute that’s roiled the Native American community and raised sharp concerns over the administration’s handling of the $8 billion fund, which Congress created as part of its most recent $2.2 trillion rescue package.
Democrats and major Native American organizations contend the aid should be distributed solely to the 574 federally recognized tribes struggling to keep their economies afloat amid the pandemic.
But the Trump administration is also including more than 200 for-profit Alaska Native corporations among the eligible recipients, based on a strict reading of the language Congress passed as part of its bill — a decision backed by Alaska lawmakers. The language includes a definition of eligible “tribal governments” that includes non-governmental entities like Alaska Native corporations.
Alaska Native corporations were created by Congress in the 1970s as part of a settlement of Alaska Native land and financial claims, with Alaska Native villagers given stock in the businesses. But while many provide extensive services to villagers in the state, they are technically separate from its tribal governments.
Allowing those corporations to apply for the $8 billion fund could significantly shrink the pot for the nation’s tribal governments, the lawsuit alleges. It could also tilt much of the funding even further toward one state by giving some Alaska Natives the ability to seek aid as both villagers and shareholders of a corporation.
Three Alaska Native villages — the Akiak Native Community, Asa’carsarmiut Tribe and Aleut Community of St. Paul Island — are backing the lawsuit, as well as Washington state’s Tulalip Tribes and Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and Maine’s Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
The dispute over the last week has also drawn in a top Interior Department official, who previously lobbied for one of the largest Alaska Native corporations. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney has advised Treasury on the fund, prompting conflict-of-interest complaints due to her status as an current shareholder of the corporation, Arctic Slope Regional.
On Thursday night, 13 tribal organizations called on Sweeney to recuse herself from work on the fund.
“The Department and her office are responsible for decision-making and other actions that could put federal obligations by tribal governments at odds with the interests of state-chartered, for-profit corporations owned by Alaska Native shareholders, including her former employer,” the organizations wrote.
The Interior Department has defended Sweeney’s work, and said career officials reviewed her role and determined there were no restrictions preventing her from offering guidance on the fund.
Tribes sue Treasury over recovery money for for-profit corporations
0 Comments: