Cherokee chief seeks federal funds

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith on Thursday asked Congress for almost $3 million to expand Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah.

The tribe is looking for $2.5 million in federal aid for a student center that would house a gym and laboratories. It also is seeking $200,000 to expand the school to accommodate seventh-and eighth- grade students.

"Sequoyah High School has become a school of choice and last year we turned away 150 students," Smith told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

The panel fielded requests from leaders of 30 American Indian tribes and organizations. It soon will begin writing legislation setting fiscal 2006 spending for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Smith said the request was part of a Cherokee "100-year plan."

"I'm here to ask you to help us reach that vision by the tools necessary to accomplish our long-term mission," he said.

Besides money for Sequoyah High School, Smith requested Congress consider increases in health and federal aid programs that benefit all tribes.

Smith asked that $136 million be approved to reimburse tribes for overhead costs of administering federal tribal programs. He said the Cherokees face an annual shortfall of $4 million in such contract- support costs.

He also recommended an annual $200 million increase for the next five years to American Indian health care.

The Cherokee leader also asked lawmakers to eliminate provisions in federal laws that require government approval for tribes to change their election procedures or amend their constitutions.

The statutes, the 1906 Five Tribes Act and the 1970 Principal Chiefs Act, "continue a regime of patronage and paternalism by the Bureau of Indian Affairs," Smith said.

Also testifying Thursday was Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians. He criticized President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget proposal, saying it includes proposed cuts for American Indian programs.

The proposed $2.2 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is $108 million below what Congress spent last year, he said.

"We are deeply disappointed the budget does not support strong tribal self-government and self-determination," Hall said.

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Last updated on April 30, 2005