Tribes in Montana and Wyoming are seeing fewer and fewer road funds despite having some of the largest reservations in the U.S.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes reside on a 1.3 million-acre reservation. But their Indian Reservation Roads funding has fallen from $1.3 million in 2006 to $750,000 this year.

"I don't understand how that's possible," Moran told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing, The Missoulian reported.

Moran and leaders from other tribes in Montana and Wyoming said the Bureau of Indian Affairs is partly to blame. They said the BIA's formula for IRR funds is open to abuse.

The formula has "been unethically manipulated by tribes and states that have learned how to do it," Moran told Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), who chaired the hearing.

Get the Story:
Tester, senators told road funding system on Indian reservations 'broken' (The Missoulian 10/16)
Tribal leaders tell feds road funding needs a fix (AP 10/15)

Committee Notice:
OVERSIGHT FIELD HEARING to examine tribal transportation in Indian Country (October 15, 2010)

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Echo Hawk to testify at hearing on Indian transportation issues (10/14)
Witness List: Senate Indian Affairs hearing on transportation (10/11)
Senate Indian Affairs Committee sets two October field hearings (9/29)