Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
On March 15th, President Biden signed into law H.R. 2741, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, a $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill containing discretionary funding for the federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. The bill comes after months of partisan division over topline spending numbers leading to a series of four continuing resolutions to maintain government operations since the beginning of the FY on October 1st. Now, the federal government will be funded at increased levels for the remainder of the FY through September 30, 2022.
Division G of the omnibus, the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill, contains funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and Indian Health Service (IHS).
For BIA, the bill provides a total of $2.26 billion, which is an increase of $104 million over FY 2021 enacted, but $355 million below the President’s request. This includes $1.82 billion for the Operation of Indian Programs (an increase of $204 million) and $147 million for Construction (an increase of $18 million).
Funding under the Operation of Indian Programs account includes the following Eastern Region Priorities:
- Social Services (TPA): $53 million, $2 million above FY 2021 enacted;
- Natural Resources (TPA): $14.2 million, $6.1 million above FY 2021; and
- Tribal Courts (TPA): $43.2 million, $4.2 million above FY 2021 and in line with the Request.
- In total, this account also includes $355.4 million for the Tribal Government line, an increase of $14.4 million over FY 2021 enacted and $1 million below the President’s Request. Within this sum, $27.8 million is reserved for Aid to Tribal Government ($571,000 above FY 2021 and in line with the President’s Request), with $480,000 allocated to newly recognized Tribal Nations (a decrease of $1.1 million).
- Finally, the bill allocates $32 million for Tribal Climate Resilience, $15 million above FY 2021 enacted and $29 million below the President’s Request.
The BIA construction account includes $47.8 million for Eastern Region priority Public Safety & Justice Construction ($5 million above FY 2021 and level with the Request).
Contract Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) Leases would continue to be funded via a separate, indefinite appropriation at an estimated $240 million (a $95 million decrease) and $36.6 million (a $15 million increase), respectively. While the Senate’s FY 2022 proposal expressed support for reclassifying these accounts as mandatory funding, language codifying this change did not make it into the final bill.
Further, regarding 105(l) leases, the bill contains the following language:
“The Committees are aware of recent litigation in Federal courts regarding what constitutes reasonable lease costs under the I 05(1) program. As part of the consultation required by language in Title IV of this Act, the Indian Health Service and the Department of the Interior are expected to consult with Tribes and Tribal organizations regarding agency regulations and policies that determine the amount of space and other standards necessary to carry out Federal programs under a section I 05(1) lease, and to ensure that such regulations and policies are consistent, transparent, and clearly communicated to affected Tribes. The Service and the Department are expected to periodically update the Committees on the status of the consultation.”
Finally, the joint explanatory statement indicates that, “land acquisitions for newly recognized or landless Tribes are fully funded at the authorized level of $2,000,000. BIA is encouraged to work with the committees of jurisdiction to evaluate whether a change in the authorization is warranted.”
For BIE, the bill provides a total of $1.28 billion, an increase of $44.6 million over FY 2021 enacted and $66 million below the President’s Budget Request. This includes $40.5 million for Eastern Region priority Scholarships & Adult Education (TPA), which is $5.7 million above FY 2021 and $4.5 million below the President’s Request. In addition, the Committee provides $7 million for DOI’s Indian Boarding School Initiative.
The bill also funds the IHS at a total of $6.6 billion. This number is $395 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, but $1.6 billion below the President’s Request, $1.5 billion below the House proposal, and $990 million below the Senate proposal. Of this, $4.6 billion would be allocated for the Indian Health Services Account and $940.3 million for the Indian Health Facilities Account.
Funding under the Indian Health Services account includes the following Nashville Area priorities:
- Hospitals and Health Clinics: $2.4 billion (a $161 million increase over FY 2021 enacted);
- Purchased/Referred Care: $984.9 million (a $9 million increase);
- Electronic Health Records: $145 million (a $110.5 million increase);
- Dental Health: $236 million (a $21 million increase)
- Mental Health: $122 million (an $6.8 million increase); and
- Alcohol and Substance Abuse: $258 million (a $6.9 million increase).
As for 105(l) leases and CSC the bill maintains the separate, indefinite appropriations for both lines, at an estimated level of $150 million and $880 million, respectively.
In addition, the bill contains the following directive regarding CSC and the Cook Inlet decision:
“The Committees direct the Service to report 30 days after enactment of this Act explaining whether recent actions taken by the Service indicate a major shift in the way contract support costs are being calculated or if the Service interprets the Cook Inlet Tribal Council v. Dotomain decision and recent actions as a restatement of current law. The Committees direct the Service to clearly explain the rationale behind its interpretation of the Cook Inlet decision and articulate whether current practices for calculating contract support costs will change.”
Finally, despite strong advocacy from Indian Country and the Biden Administration, Advance Appropriations for IHS in FY 2023 is not included in the bill. While the Senate proposal would have provided Advance Appropriations for the Services and Facilities accounts for the first time, this authority was not included in the final bill. The House proposal’s report language
indicated that the House Interior Appropriations Committee did not provide advance appropriations authority for IHS because of a lack of detail from the agency.
In our advocacy around FY 2022 appropriations, USET SPF submitted testimony to the Senate Interior Appropriations Committee, the House Interior Appropriations Committee, and the Office of Management and Budget. We also signed onto numerous letters supporting Advance Appropriations for IHS.
We will continue to monitor the implementation of FY 2022 appropriations and will provide any further updates as they develop. For more information about the FY 2022 omnibus bill, including joint explanatory statements for other funding divisions, please click here.
For more information, please contact Liz Malerba, USET SPF Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, at lmalerba@usetinc.org.
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