2
JUNE 15, 2020
Smoke Signals
General Council meeting
11 a.m. Sunday, June 28
Tribal Council nominations
Tribal members can watch remotely
through the Tribal website.
NOTICE — Monthly Tribal Council Wednesday Meetings
DATE
TIME
Wednesday, June 24..........................................................................10 a.m.
Wednesday, July 8.............................................................................10 a.m.
Wednesday, July 22...........................................................................10 a.m.
Please note that these times and dates are subject to change if needed.
sNok signflz
PUBLICATIONS OFFICE
9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347
1-800-422-0232, FAX: 503-879-2173
Website: www.smokesignals.org
E-mail: news@grandronde.org
Editorial.Board@grandronde.org
Twitter: CTGRSmokeSignal
www.facebook.com/SmokeSignalsCTGR/
www.youtube.com/channel/UCMDXdTzfGjzJ_j3NPpCrtcw
Wyden questions CARES
Act funding to Tribes
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon
Sen. Ron Wyden joined other Sen-
ate colleagues in questioning the
Trump administration’s formula
used to allocate payments to Native
American Tribes from the Coro-
navirus Aid, Relief and Economic
Security Act on Friday, May 29.
In a letter, the senators asked
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
to ensure that the disbursement
formula is fully transparent and
that all Tribes receive adequate
funds to protect the health and
safety of their peoples.
A Harvard study found that the
Treasury and Interior departments
used Housing and Urban Devel-
opment population data instead
of enrollment data submitted by
Tribes when it allocated the initial
$4.8 billion in CARES Act funding
and that might have resulted in an
inaccurate and unfair distribution.
According to the Harvard study,
all nine Oregon Tribes received
more money than they would have
if Treasury had used Tribally sub-
mitted enrollment numbers that
were required to participate in the
CARES Act funding.
For instance, the Harvard study
estimated that the Grand Ronde
Tribe would have received $11.57
million instead of the estimated
$32.94 million that Treasury’s al-
location formula resulted in.
On May 5, Mnuchin and Interior
Secretary David Bernhardt an-
nounced that the federal government
was using Housing and Urban Devel-
opment Indian Housing Block Grant
population figures as the dataset for
distributing CARES Act funds.
“Since this announcement, we
have received reports that call into
question the validity … and raise
the possibility that Treasury inac-
curately calculated the first round
of Tribal allocation payments,” the
senators said.
Treasury has not provided an
explanation of how it accounted for
Tribes not included in the IHGB
population data or addressed its
reliance on HUD’s population
figures without prior consultation
with Tribes. Treasury also had not
released a list of Tribes and the
amount of CARES Act funds they
received.
Congress allocated $8 billion
to Tribes in late March, but a
court ruled later that some of the
money should be held for Alaska
Native corporations in case they
are deemed eligible. The ruling,
however, allowed Treasury to start
distributing 60 percent of the fund-
ing to federally recognized Tribes.
Treasury used population data
from the Indian Housing Block
Grant program to determine Trib-
al allocations despite the fact that
Tribes provided up-to-date en-
rollment numbers in applying for
CARES Act funding.
Treasury requested that Tribes
certify their enrollment citizen-
ship populations as of Jan. 1 upon
registering for CARES Act funds
before the April 17 deadline. To
qualify, Tribes were asked how
many enrolled citizens they have,
how many acres of land they own
and how many people they employ.
The departments of Interior and
Treasury told Tribes that they
needed the data to determine the
allocations to each Tribe.
“Given Treasury’s determination
that ‘Tribal population is expected
to correlate reasonably well with
the amount of increased expendi-
tures of Tribal governments related
directly to the public health emer-
gency,’ it is critically important
that the population numbers it
relied on are as accurate as pos-
sible,” the senators wrote. “While
Treasury has provided Tribes an
opportunity to review the under-
lying IHBG dataset, Treasury has
not published any modifications to
the dataset to allow Tribes affect-
ed by the issues above to provide
feedback and correct any potential
errors or inaccuracies.”
While Oregon’s nine federally
recognized Tribes benefitted cumu-
latively by more than $90 million in
the initial disbursement of CARES
Act funds, other Tribes received the
minimum allocation of $100,000
because they did not participate in
the housing program.
For instance, the Delaware Tribe
of Indians in Oklahoma received
the minimum disbursement of
$100,000 because it was listed by
Treasury has having zero citizens
despite the Tribe having an en-
rolled membership of approximate-
ly 11,000 members, resulting in an
estimated loss of $23.4 million in
CARES Act funding.
DEAN RHODES
PUBLICATIONS
COORDINATOR
503-879-1463
DANIELLE
FROST
TIMOTHY J.
GONZALEZ
STAFF WRITER
503-879-4663
PHOTOJOURNALIST
503-879-1961
dean.rhodes@grandronde.org
danielle.frost@grandronde.org
timothy.gonzalez@grandronde.org
SAMUEL F.
BRIGGS III
JUSTIN
PHILLIPS
KAMIAH
KOCH
GRAPHIC DESIGN
SPECIALIST
503-879-1416
PAGE
DESIGNER
503-879-2190
SOCIAL MEDIA/
DIGITAL JOURNALIST
503-879-1461
samuel.briggs@grandronde.org
justin.phillips@grandronde.org
kamiah.koch@grandronde.org
DEADLINE DATE
ISSUE DATE
monday, june 22 ...................july 1, 2020
monday, july 6 ....................july 15, 2020
monday, july 20 ...................aug. 1, 2020
wednesday, aug. 5 ............aug. 15, 2020
friday, aug. 21 ......................sept. 1, 2020
Editorial Policy
smok signflz , a publication of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Communi-
ty of Oregon, is published twice a month. No portion of this publication may be reprinted
without permission.
Our editorial policy is intended to encourage input from Tribal members and readers
about stories printed in the Tribal newspaper. However, all letters received must be
signed by the author, an address must be given and a phone number or e-mail address
must be included for verification purposes. Full addresses and phone numbers will not
be published unless requested. Letters must be 400 words or less.
smok signflz reserves the right to edit letters and to refuse letters that are determined
to contain libelous statements or personal attacks on individuals, staff, Tribal administration
or Tribal Council. Not all letters are guaranteed publication upon submission. Letters to the
editor are the opinions and views of the writer. Published letters do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of smok signflz .
Members of:
Native American Journalists Association
Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
2020
Tribal Council
tribalcouncil@grandronde.org
Cheryle A. Kennedy
Tribal Council Chairwoman
— ext. 2352
cheryle.kennedy@grandronde.org
Chris Mercier
Tribal Council Vice Chair
— ext. 1444
chris.mercier@grandronde.org
Jon A. George
Tribal Council Secretary
— ext. 2355
Jack Giffen Jr.
— ext. 2300
jack.giffen@grandronde.org
Denise Harvey
— ext. 2353
denise.harvey@grandronde.org
Michael Langley
— ext. 1777
michael.langley@grandronde.org
Lisa Leno
— ext. 1770
jon.george@grandronde.org
lisaleno@grandronde.org
Kathleen George
Steve Bobb Sr.
— ext. 2305
— ext. 4555
kathleen.george@grandronde.org
steve.bobb@grandronde.org