The House Resources Committee held a hearing on the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the expansion of the Office of Special Trustee on Wednesday.

Aurene Martin, the principal deputy assistant secretary at the BIA, and Ross Swimmer, the Special Trustee, defended the reorganization against criticism from members of the committee, both Republican and Democrat, and from tribal leaders. They said the changes would improve trust management services for tribes and individual Indians.

Tribal leaders said the plan was implemented without adequate consultation. Harold Frazier, president of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, and Jim Gray, chief of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma, said it ignores local concerns.

Keller George, president of the United South and Eastern Tribes, said the Bush administration is using tribal funds to pay for the mistakes of the federal government. Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe of Minnesota, said the reorganization will hurt self-governance tribes by limiting their flexibility and by moving more and more programs to OST.

Get the Story:
Indian tribes say reorganization of trust fund left them out of loop (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 5/13)
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BIA reorganization plan called 'insulting' to tribes, Congress (AP 5/12)

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