Lawmakers and their staff meet with leaders of the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation. Photo from Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Arizona)
Members of Congress who control the federal budget are looking at ways to end the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation. Congress created the office in 1974 to relocate members of the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation from each others' reservations following a land dispute between the two tribes. The effort was supposed to cost $41 million over five years but government has spent $564 million over the last four decades -- and the job still isn't done. “I want to move this forward,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California), the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, told the Associated Press. “The relocation program was never intended to be carried on in perpetuity.” According to a December 2014 report from the Inspector General at the Interior Department, Congress must either change the law or provide more funds in order for the office to complete its goal. Get the Story:
Lawmakers seek to wrap up costly tribal relocation program (AP 2/9)
Congress Meet with Navajo & Hopi Leaders (Lake Powell Life 2/1) Inspector General Report:
Operations of the Office ofNavajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (December 2014)
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