Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
Today, May 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a Dear Tribal Leader Letter (DTLL) announcing a two-week extension of the deadlines for Tribal Nations to submit their information through the Treasury Submission Portal to receive
payments from the Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund (FRF) for Tribal
Nations.
The deadline for Tribal Nations to submit their information through the Treasury Submission Portal to receive the first payment--to include a Tribal Nation's equal share of the $1 billion, as well as an enrollment-based distribution (from 65% of the remaining $19 billion)--was initially today by 11:59pm Pacific Time, this deadline has now been extended to June 7, 2021 by 11:59pm Pacific Time (or 2:59am Eastern Time on June 8th).
The deadline for Tribal Nations to confirm employment numbers to Treasury in order to receive a second payment from the remaining 35% of the $19 billion has also been extended and is now June 21 by 11:59pm Pacific Time (or 2:59am Eastern Time on June 22nd).
Any questions regarding the Treasury Submission Portal should be emailed to covidreliefitsupport@treasury.gov. For general FRF questions please email SLFRFP@treasury.gov, and for more information on the FRF please visit Treasury's website by clicking here.
Background on the ARPA Fiscal Recovery Fund
Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) $20
billion was allocated to Tribal Nations and the first FRF payment of $1
billion will be distributed equally to each Tribal Nation based on
Tribal Nation enrollment data submitted to the Bureau
of Indian Affairs in April 2021.
Treasury has determined that the allocation methodology for the remaining $19 billion of FRF funds will provide 65% ($12.35 billion) of the funds to be distributed based on self-certified Tribal enrollment data with the remaining 35% ($6.65 billion) to be distributed based on self-certified Tribal employment data.
Once Tribal Nations have submitted their information through the Treasury Submission Portal, Treasury has stated that it will take approximately 4-5 business days to review and process and the point of contact that a Tribal government designates in its online submission will receive status updates. that a Tribal government designates in its online
submission will receive status updates.
On Treasury's website the eligible uses for FRF funds incudes support for public health expenditures,
addressing negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency,
replace lost public sector revenue, provide premium pay for essential workers,
and to invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. Treasury has also
recognized that Tribal governments must have broad flexibility to decide how
best to use FRF funding to address COVID-19 impacts on their communities and
have expanded eligible uses to also include: addressing health disparities and
the social determinants of health; building stronger neighborhoods and
communities; addressing education disparities exacerbated by COVID-19; and promoting
healthy childhood environments.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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