By
Shannon Shaw Duty
The debate is ongoing among Osage Nation officials about whether individual payments are allowed under the American Rescue Plan Act’s interim final rule.
On June 16, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear sent a letter to U.S. Secretary Treasurer Janet Yellen, urging her to remove the ARPA restrictions, according to an Osage Nation press release. Within the 4-page letter is a question about individual assistance payments.
“Treasury should presume for Tribes, which have historic and widespread status as low-income, disadvantaged populations and subject to disproportionate effects of COVID-19, that a uniform ‘cash assistance’ program to individuals, including adults and children, is allowable,” Standing Bear wrote in the letter. “To alleviate the administrative burden already weighing on Tribes, it would be administered to all Tribal citizens subject to applications that each Tribe would create and of dollar amounts that each Tribe felt appropriate to address the needs of their citizens.”
Unlike the CARES Act funds the Nation received last year, the Executive Branch will not be able to spend the ARPA funds without an appropriation from the ON Congress. This is due to a new law, ONCA 21-49 (sponsored by Speaker Angela Pratt), passed by the Osage Congress during a special session in May that stipulates all federal money the Nation receives must be appropriated by the Congress and cannot be drawn from the Treasury by the Executive Branch.
Standing Bear laid out his plan to Congress on what projects he wishes to spend the ARPA funds on and he did not publicly confirm he was in favor of individual assistance payments. To date, Congress members have filed eight bills that request ARPA funds and their requests exceed the amount given to the Nation by $4.2 million.
ONCA 21-51 (Goodfox)- $8,100,000- Senior Housing in Hominy.
ONCA 21-52 (Tillman)- $46,496,000- Direct payments to the Osage People ($2,000 each).
ONCA 21-53 (BigHorse)- $5,000,000- Pawhuska Village infrastructure improvements.
ONCA 21-54 (BigHorse)- $17,000,000- Rail Way Remediation/Outdoor Health Complex in Pawhuska.
ONCA 21-55 (Lemon)- $8,000,000- Senior Housing in Fairfax.
ONCA 21-56 (Lemon)- $5,000,000- repairs and improvements to Grayhorse Rural Water District.
ONCA 21-58 (Revard)- $18,000,000- Male/Female Primary Residential Facility, an adolescent male and female PRT, transitional living facility, and a counseling center with administrative and counseling offices.
ONCA 21-59 (Pratt)- $5,000,000- Water and Sewer infrastructure repairs and improvements to the Hominy Indian Village and Hominy Community.
In a July 2 press release from ON Congressmen Eli Potts, Billy Keene, John Maker and Joe Tillman, they call out Standing Bear for not adding Tillman’s legislation, ONCA 21-52, for direct assistance payments to a special session agenda scheduled for Wednesday, July 8. The only item on the July 8 special session agenda is for a real property purchase.
“The Chief has not taken any action on creating our plan to make direct assistance cash payments to our Osage Citizens. Numerous tribes across Indian Country have already begun making payments available to their citizens because of the tremendous need,” Tillman said in the release. “I have spoken with countless Osage citizens that are severely in need of help with a variety of issues that were created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Other Oklahoma tribes have opened surveys and needs-based applications for their tribal members to receive individual payments from their ARPA funds. The payments vary from tribe to tribe, as do their requirements. Not all tribes are giving individual assistance.
According to Oklahoma tribal websites and social media, approximately 17 of Oklahoma’s 39 federally recognized tribes are giving out individual assistance payments using federal funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act. They are:
– Apache Tribe of Oklahoma: $2,100 per tribal member in three payments
– Cherokee Nation: $2,000 per tribal member
– Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes: $2,500 per tribal member
– Comanche Nation: Business Committee has approved payments, but amounts have not been finalized.
– Delaware Nation: $1,000 per tribal member; up to $800 for tires and/or vehicle repair assistance; up to $1,500 in mortgage, rent and utility assistance; up to $800 in general welfare assistance depending on household size.
– Delaware Tribe of Indians: $1,500 per tribal member
– Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma: $2,500 per tribal member
– Kialegee Tribal Town: giving assistance but the website did not specify the amount
– Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma: giving assistance to children
– Kiowa Tribe: $2,200 per adult and $500 per child
– The Muscogee Nation: Council approved payments, Chief has not yet signed into law.
– The Otoe-Missouria Tribe: $1,000 per tribal member for the first round of payments
– Pawnee Nation: initial $1,400 per tribal member with follow up payments per eligibility
– Quapaw Nation: Elders receive $4,000; adults $3,000; children $1,000
– Sac and Fox Nation: $2,000 per tribal member
– Wichita and Affiliated Tribes: $2,000 per tribal member
Wyandotte Nation: 55 and older $2,000; ages 18-54 receive $1,500; children $500
Original Publish Date: 2021-07-02 00:00:00
