TRIBES TESTIFY BIA RELUCTANT TO IMPLEMENT JOB TRAINING PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell today said an innovative federal job training program for Indian Country will fall short of its goals if the Bureau of Indian Affairs does not do its part as the lead agency.

At today's hearing on the Indian Employment, Training And Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-477), tribal leaders praised the program but said the Bureau of Indian Affairs was not moving quickly enough and was frustrating tribal efforts under the act. Criticism of the BIA included paperwork delays resulting in cash flow problems, insufficient staff assigned to the program and little or no commitment to implementing the program. Campbell announced that he would send the transcript of the hearing to the BIA for their response.

"This program can help Native communities bridge the gap as people are moved off the welfare rolls and into jobs," Campbell said. "By reducing paperwork and other administrative burdens, it lets tribes focus time and money where the needs are the greatest: with their members. But tribes -- facing an average unemployment rate of 52 percent --cannot help their members if they are held back by Washington bureaucrats resistant to change."

P.L 102-477 was designed to allow tribes to efficiently address unemployment problems combining job training funds from a number of different federal sources into one program. Programs eligible for consolidation under the act include the Job Training Partnership Act, the Jobs Opportunities and Basic Skills program for AFDC recipients and the BIA Employment Assistance and Tribal Work Experience Program.

"By respecting tribal governments to make the best decisions about what their citizens need, the program is built on a fundamental respect for tribal sovereignty. It also recognizes that local authorities are in the best position to create programs around local needs --- not the `one size fits all approach' that plagued Indian policy for decades."

Campbell also noted that job training is only half the solution. "All the job training in the world doesn't help if there are no jobs on the reservations. Creating incentives for job creation will be one of my main focuses as Chairman of the Committee. With the help of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I intend to work to remove barriers to Native entrepreneurs and to help tribal governments attract and maintain capital and employment."