By
Shannon Shaw Duty
The Osage Nation has received its second payment from the American Rescue Plan Act in the amount of $29.2 million. However, it’s half of what was expected.
In an Aug. 20 memorandum from James Weigant, COVID Task Force Coordinator, to Speaker of the Osage Nation Congress Angela Pratt, he said the Nation expected around $58 million, not $29.2 million.
“On August 16th, 2021 we received the remainder of our ARPA funding in the amount of $29,226,525.07. This was quite the shock, being approximately half of what we were anticipating,” Weigant wrote in the memorandum. “We are investigating whether or not this is an error and we are exploring options for filing an administrative appeal.”
The American Rescue Plan Act set aside $20 billion for tribal governments. The U.S. Treasury allocated $1 billion to be spread equally to all 574 federally recognized tribes, with the remaining $19 billion to be distributed based on tribal enrollment ($12.3 billion) and tribal employment ($6.65 billion). In May, the Nation received its initial payment of $108.3 million, based on the Nation’s tribal enrollment.
According to an Aug. 2 article in Tribal Business News, the formulas being used for the ARPA distributions are being scrutinized by tribes and lawmakers. They claim the tribal enrollment formula gives bigger tribes the bulk of the funding (about 90%) to less than 28 tribes.
They claim the same problem exists with the tribal employment formula for the second ARPA payment. The wealthier tribes that employ thousands of people, Native and non-Native alike, are receiving the bulk of the money and leaving out the smaller tribes who are in the greatest need of monetary relief.
Weigant said the news of the Nation’s lower-than-expected second ARPA payment will leave the task force with many tough decisions to make for the remaining funds. The ON Congress during its July 10th Special Session appropriated all but $221,454 of the Nation’s first ARPA payment.
“That gives us $29,447,979.66 in unappropriated ARPA funds. Congressman Tillman’s individual assistance bill was reduced from $46,496,000 to $35,000,000,” he wrote. “This was done with the understanding that we would hold back the difference ($11,496,000) from the next round in case that amount is needed. Doing that leaves us with $17,951,979 in unobligated ARPA funds.
“We have some tough decisions ahead of us to wrap up our ARPA response package. We look forward to working with the Osage Nation Congress to finalize this step.”
Original Publish Date: 2021-08-20 00:00:00
