Draft regulations aimed at reforming the federal administrative process for recognizing American Indian tribes will be available for review by Congress and tribes this summer, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn told a House subcommittee.

“We hope to have a discussion draft … to roll out and discuss with your staff and with tribes, hopefully before the summer, or during the summer,” Washburn told the Subcommittee on American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs meeting Tuesday in Washington.

“We will then proceed, hopefully, to a rule-making process.”

A working group has been looking into the issue since October, when Washburn was appointed by President Barack Obama to head the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“I believe they’ve had five or six meetings, so far,” Washburn said, “and we are looking at everything related to the process with an effort toward making recommendations.