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The contract support costs account is to receive $135.3 million, an increase of $2.1 million over FY2003. This funding acts as a critical incentive to encouraging an expansion of tribal contracting and compacting under the ISDEAA.

b. Law Enforcement Activity. Safe and crime-free environments are critical to improving the quality of life in Native communities and are central to any effort to attract capital and employment opportunities to strengthen Native economies. For the past 6 fiscal years, funding has been provided to the ongoing joint Department of Justice Department of Interior Law Enforcement Initiative. The Committee encourages the President to continue funding this successful initiative.

The request includes $171.15 million for law enforcement, an increase of nearly $10 million over the FY2003 request.

Because of greater demands placed on tribal law enforcement the Committee encourages substantial increases for FY2004 with new funding increases targeted to additional law enforcement personnel, police vehicles, communications equipment, and staff detention services. The Committee encourages the increased inter-agency coordination for law enforcement evidenced by the Law Enforcement Initiative.

The request proposes $17.1 million for Tribal Courts, a modest $13,000 increase over FY2003. In FY2001, in partnership with Indian tribes, the BIA collected Tribal court caseload information. Of the 176 Indian tribes who responded, they reported a backlog in excess of 61,345 cases. Because of the additional burdens placed on tribal courts, the Committee supports an increase of $1 million in FY2004.

c. Education Activity. In addition to the Federal appropriation to fund the construction of Indian schools, the Committee anticipates legislation to authorize the issuance of bonds to raise capital for the construction of new schools and recommends $30 million be set aside in FY2004 for this proposal.

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The Committee notes the modest increases in funding for Tribally Controlled Community Colleges (TCCCs) of $167,000 but notes that the request is actually some $2 million less than the FY2002 enacted level. Because of the importance of TCCC's, the Committee urges that the account be funded at not less than $42 million.

Because the United Tribes and Technical College (UTTC) and the Crownpoint Institute of Technology have demonstrated high levels of success in educating Native people, the Committee strongly recommends, at minimum, that funding for these schools be restored to FY2003 levels plus the cost of inflation.

Although the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act authorizes $6,000 per student, the budget only requests $3,526 per student. The Committee supports full funding of $6,000 per student.

For the Indian School Equalization Program (formula funds) the request seeks an increase of $7.516 million for a total of $354.29 million. Although the Committee supports the modest $166,000 increase for student transportation, the Committee urges additional funding. The public school permile average 6 years ago was $2.97 per mile, yet even with this increase, BIA funded schools will only receive $2.37 per mile. In FY2002, the BIA estimated that student transportation was underfunded by $11 million. The Committee recommends full funding for student transportation, an additional $10 million over the President's request.

This year, the BIA acknowledges that it only addresses 70% of need for the Administrative Cost Grants (AC Grants). Although the Committee is encouraged by the $3 million requested increase, the increase would only bring AC Grant funding up to 75% of need. The Committee recommends AC Grant funding at $63 million to meet 100% of need.

d. Energy. Energy resource development on Indian lands can provide tribes with substantial opportunities for economic development and job creation, as well as assist the nation as a whole by lessening our dependence on foreign energy.

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While the Committee would prefer an increase in what is essentially level funding in TPA funds for both Natural Resources and Minerals and Mining, the committee strongly supports the $2 million increase in Non-recurring Programs for grants to tribes to evaluate mineral resource potential on tribal trust and restricted lands, as well as the $1 million request to help tribes expedite development of tribal regulations governing mineral leasing, permitting, and rights-of-way.

Because there are significant opportunities with regard to renewable resources, the Committee recommends that funds be used for the assessment of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy in addition to non-renewable resources to facilitate tribal participation in the Secretary's initiative on renewable energy.

2. Office of Special Trustee for American Indians

In 1994, Congress enacted the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act, 25 U.S.C. § 4001, et seq., to bring required reforms to Indian trust assets, accounts, and resources managed by the United States. Little or no progress in implementing the Act was made in the years immediately following enactment.

Beginning in 1997, through several oversight and legislative hearings, the Committee grew concerned with the pace and direction of planned trust management reforms in the Department and its bureaus. Since FY1998 hundreds of millions of Federal dollars have been appropriated to the Department for purposes of trust management reform.

Trust management continues to be the subject of great controversy, and a class action initiated in 1996 by beneficiaries of Individual Indian Money accounts entitled Cobell v. Norton (formerly Cobell v. Babbitt) continues to be litigated before Judge Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

After nearly a year of intense consultation between the Department of Interior and the tribes, in late 2002, the Department sought and secured congressional approval to reprogram some $5 million to effect a proposed reorganization

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of the trust apparatus in the department.

Recognizing that substantially increased funding will be necessary in the next several years to complete the trust reform process, the budget proposal includes an increase of $123 million for a total of $274.6 million (an 82% increase) in funding for Federal trust programs under the direction of the Office of Special Trustee for American Indians.

The request includes $130 million for historical accounting activities, an increase of $112.5 million. The request also includes $20.4 million to accelerate efforts in trust records administration, an increase of $6.8 million.

In the short-run, the Committee looks forward to working with the Department and Indian tribes on reorganization matters.

The Committee strongly believes that the substantial increases proposed in FY2004 funding for internal trust management reforms should not be viewed as justification for corresponding reductions in funding for other programs intended to fulfill the United States' responsibilities to Native people.

The Committee urges the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee to view funding for trust management reforms as separate and apart from funding made necessary by the need of the Federal government to defend the United States in the Cobell litigation. These costs include litigation and related costs accruing to the Departments of Interior, Justice and Treasury.

The costs of the litigation include actual dollar costs incurred but also include significant and negative effects to the Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs; significant and negative effects on the administration of tribal programs at the local level; and significant opportunity costs to the tribes, the Department and Congress.

Regarding Cobell, in the long-run the Committee strongly believes that alternatives to litigation ought to be pursued that will not result in the continued spending of

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hundreds of millions for accountants, lawyers, and consultants and others with little if any relief provided to the IIM beneficiaries.

In FY2004 and beyond, the Committee would prefer that funding priorities be targeted to those areas of trust reform that would most benefit from an intense Federal spending effort: land consolidation, probating Indian estates, and crafting a sterling Indian trust management system that brings the Department into compliance with the highest fiduciary standards.

With this in mind, the Committee is encouraged by the increase in the budget request for Indian Land Consolidation from $10.98 million to $21 million, an increase of more than $10 million over FY2003 levels.

In General.

IV. B. Department of Health and Human Services
The request includes $65 billion in funding for the
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), a $1.6
billion increase higher than the FY2003 Budget Request.

The DHHS budget requests total program spending authority by the Indian Health Service (IHS) of $3.04 billion, an increase of $90 million over FY2003 levels.

Included within that program authority is $150 million for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment, an increase of $50 million over FY2003 as provided in the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act, Pub. L. 107-360.

In addition, the DHHS includes other programs for Native Americans including the Administration for Native Americans, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Administration on Aging. These programs have been highly successful in addressing problems Native communities. The Committee strongly supports the continued funding and support of these programs.

Several DHHS agencies have developed cooperative and joint-venture initiatives with the IHS, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These initiatives have provided significant benefits, such as the joint

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