NCAI
Welfare Reform Task Force Accomplishments
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Welfare Reform Task Force (WRTF), as called for in NCAI Resolution GRB-98-44, was nominated by the tribes and established by the NCAI Executive Committee at the NCAI 55th Annual Convention in Myrtle Beach, SC. This task force is currently dealing with numerous issues in the arena of tribal social service delivery, employment and training, and family support services. Since the establishment of the NCAI WRTF, which includes two delegates and one alternate from each of the twelve federally-recognized areas of Indian Country, task force members have held three conference calls and one face-to-face meeting to address pertinent welfare reform-related issues. NCAI would like to thank the Welfare Reform Task Force for all of their hard work and commitment to advocating for tribal communities in the midst of welfare reform.
Thanks to the support of tribal leadership in allowing task force members to participate in NCAI WRTF activities, NCAI has been able to be active in making the voices of tribal communities heard in a variety of forums addressing welfare reform. Immediately following the formation of the task force, members participated in a 7 hour conference call to draft tribal comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)/Native Employment Works (NEW) Proposed Rule. The comments to the Tribal TANF/NEW Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) were submitted to DHHS by the comment deadline, November 22, 1998 and are available on the NCAI webpage at: http://www.ncai.org.
In early December, task force members decided to review a proposed amendments package to Public Law 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and authorized the newly developed TANF program. The amendments package, drafted by tribes and NCAI last year, had received mixed success in the 105th Congress. While some of the proposed amendments were incorporated into Pub. L. 105-33, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, other amendments that tribes proposed were not considered. Because many of the unadopted amendments attempted to make Tribal TANF programs more equitable to State TANF programs in terms of funding, eligibility for bonuses, and access to technical assistance, the NCAI WRTF decided to review and update the amendments package for possible re-consideration by Congress during this session. Indeed, following a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing on the Implementation of Welfare Reform in Indian Country, some technical and programmatic amendments to the welfare reform law were considered. During the House Ways and Means Committee's mark-up of H.R. 1802, the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, Representative J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) was successful in attaching an amendment to the bill that allows tribes operating their own Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) plan to "carryover" unexpended program funding from one year to the next.
On February 17, 1999, the NCAI WRTF met for a one-day meeting at the NCAI office in Washington, D.C. This meeting, held in conjunction with the NCAI Executive Council Winter Session, allowed task force members the opportunity to meet together face-to-face for the first time. At this meeting, the NCAI WRTF considered task force leadership, structure, and future projects. With help from established WRTF co-chairs Leo Cummings (Three Affiliated, ND) and Virginia Hill (Southern California Indian Health Council, Inc.), the task force identified a number of future efforts, including encouraging federal agency consultation and negotiation with tribes and the monitoring and comment on the promulgation of assorted federal regulations.
This spring, the NCAI WRTF has been occupied with the Bureau of Indian Affairs proposed regulations for 25 CFR Part 20, Financial Assistance and Social Service Programs. Since the BIA's announcement that they were revising these regulations, NCAI and the WRTF have encouraged the BIA to appropriately consult and negotiate with tribes as well as to extend the comment period. Some tribes have demanded that the BIA pursue a negotiated rule-making process to enact any revisions to 25 CFR Part 20. The task force held two conference calls to discuss the proposed regulations and draft comments by the current comment deadline, July 6, 1999.
In July, the NCAI WRTF will meet in Vancouver, B.C. in conjunction with NCAI's 56th Mid-Year Convention. The task force will continue discussions on their goals and on pertinent issues for the task force to address. Please contact Sarah Hicks, Welfare Reform Program Director, at (202) 466-7767 with any questions about the NCAI Welfare Reform Task Force.