WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to ease access for Native American tribes to federal funding programs, part of a slew of new initiatives aimed at promoting self-determination and economic independence.
The measure kicks off the two-day White House Tribal Nations Summit where tribal leaders will meet with administration officials in Washington and highlight recent federal investments on tribal land.
“These investments are transformative and are addressing issues that have been ignored for too long,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told reporters Tuesday.
Administration officials said Tuesday that federal funding programs can have burdensome reporting requirements, drain tribal resources and undermine their ability to make decisions about the needs of their communities.
“The executive order affirms that tribal self-governance is about the fundamental right of a people to determine their own destiny and to prosper and flourish on their own terms,” the White House said in a press release.
The Biden administration also announced final revisions to the Department of the Interior’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act regulations. The revisions will provide a systematic process for returning human remains, sacred objects and cultural artifacts to tribal nations. They seek to streamline requirements for museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify cultural items or human remains in their collections.
A separate part of Wednesday’s announcement reveals plans for a new study by the National Park Service covering the Indian Reorganization Period from 1934 to 1950.
The era deals with the time following the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, sometimes called the Indian New Deal. The legislation promoted tribal self-government by formalizing Native American governmental authorities. While it is lauded for ending the erosion of tribal land bases, it largely fell short of promoting full self-determination and economic independence.
Haaland said the study, which also will identify a list of properties for future consideration as historic landmarks, will “ensure we are telling an honest and inclusive story” of American history.
Administration officials said the study builds off the Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, which seeks to create a comprehensive history of the program and its legacy.
Another key announcement involves a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior to manage Rattlesnake Mountain in Washington state. The mountain, called “Laliik” by Native Americans, is a sacred site for the Yakama, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes.
But the mountain is located on the former Hanford nuclear facility, which developed the plutonium used in the first atomic bomb and later materials for the Fat Man nuclear weapon used on Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Production ended in 1989 and the site’s mission is now focused on cleaning up leftover chemical and radioactive waste.
Over the summer, The Associated Press reported that the tribes had been excluded from negotiations over cleanup of the site and have faced restrictions on accessing it.
It’s unclear what exactly will be in the memorandum or what role the tribes will play in the process. It was only mentioned in a fact sheet provided to reporters Tuesday afternoon under the heading “Significant Steps Toward Tribal Co-Stewardship of a Sacred Site at a Legacy Nuclear Cleanup Site.”
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