Indianz.Com > News > Cronkite News: Tribes share frustrations with infrastructure funding
Hopi leader tells panel that red tape, financial hurdles put aid out of reach
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Hopi tribe told a Senate panel Wednesday that promises of federal funding remain just that – promises – for smaller tribes for whom the money is inaccessible because of bureaucratic and financial hurdles.
The remarks by Hopi Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma were part of a Senate Indian Affairs Committee roundtable on challenges tribes are facing in getting projects approved under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and others. Other tribal leaders from across the country shared similar frustrations.
Nuvangyaoma discussed how federal officials offered to fund improvements to the tribe’s power system if the Hopi could come up with a $10 million match – more than half the tribe’s annual $16 million general fund budget. He said that would force the tribe to choose between paying the cost match or funding schools and elderly services for that year.
“There’s a lot of impacted tribes just like us that don’t have the financial capability or stability to make these kinds of cost matches, to take advantage of such a great opportunity that’s on the table here for us and it bothers us,” Nuvangyaoma told lawmakers.


Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Notice
Roundtable discussion titled, “Implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act in Native Communities” (October 25, 2023)
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Search
Filed Under
Tags
More Headlines
‘Mr. Secretary, Why are you silent?’: Interior Department cuts impact Indian Country
VIDEO: Oversight Hearing to Examine Native Communities’ Priorities for the 119th Congress
AUDIO: Oversight Hearing to Examine Native Communities’ Priorities for the 119th Congress
AUDIO: Leaving Indian Children Behind: Reviewing the State of BIE Schools
Cronkite News: Native student program shuts down due to President Trump
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week (March 3, 2025)
Filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat makes history at Academy Award ceremony
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs schedules business meeting to consider bills
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation advocates for Indian Country
Native America Calling: Native education advocates assess the new political landscape
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 3
Native America Calling: The Trump administration, endangered fish and a new book
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 2, Afternoon Session
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 2, Morning Session
Native America Calling: The game is changing for student athletes
More Headlines
VIDEO: Oversight Hearing to Examine Native Communities’ Priorities for the 119th Congress
AUDIO: Oversight Hearing to Examine Native Communities’ Priorities for the 119th Congress
AUDIO: Leaving Indian Children Behind: Reviewing the State of BIE Schools
Cronkite News: Native student program shuts down due to President Trump
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week (March 3, 2025)
Filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat makes history at Academy Award ceremony
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs schedules business meeting to consider bills
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation advocates for Indian Country
Native America Calling: Native education advocates assess the new political landscape
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 3
Native America Calling: The Trump administration, endangered fish and a new book
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 2, Afternoon Session
AUDIO: American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing Day 2, Morning Session
Native America Calling: The game is changing for student athletes
More Headlines