Pete Domenici: “the Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA) Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been an issue of controversy for…”

“the Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA) Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been an issue of controversy for several years. For next year, the Senate Interior appropriations bill provides $693 million for TPA. This money is used by local tribal governments to operate a wide range of programs like public safety, resources management, education, economic development, and human services. Many tribes are not able to relate TPA funds to their own tribal needs with any specificity. As a result, the BIA simply does not know, and is not able to relate TPA spending to actual tribal needs. We are not saying that tribes misuse these funds. We are saying that there is precious little information about how TPA funds are directed toward tribal needs as determined by the tribes themselves.”