Images (89)
Showing first 60 of 89 pages.
Document
| id |
id
350437653
|
|---|---|
| contentType |
contentType
document
|
| source |
source
import
|
Source image fields (6)
Extracted text
OCR Page 1 of 89[email protected] (Joan Huffer)
10/25/2000 06:37:19 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
CC:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
Subject: Sen. Johnson's Indian bonding language attached
updated version of S. 2580 and drafted as an amendment to Johnson-Rangel school
bond bill.
Here's info on why this is needed.
Funding of general School Construction projects - The Johnson-Rangel school
construction bill authorizes $25 billion in bonds to help finance public school
renovation projects in up to 6,000 schools nationwide. Within that bill, $200
million is set aside for two years to help finance school replacement projects
at schools funded or run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
President's Budget - The President provided $30 million in his budget for FY01
to provide funds to defease the cost of the bonds for tribes. However, the
Interior Appropriations does not provide this funding and that bill has now been
signed.
S. 2580 - Senator Johnson introduced S. 2580 with 8 bipartisan cosponsors to
create a federal escrow account for defeasing tribal school construction bonds
and to make sure funds are managed by experienced bond trustees. Hearings were
held in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and S. 2580 was reported
favorably by that committee.
Indian Programs - While funding for BIA school construction was increased to
nearly $300 million for FY2001, these funds have already been committed for
specific construction projects on the BIA replacement school list. Requiring
BIA to direct some of their construction funding or other funds to this effort
would have the effect of reducing the number of schools that would receive
direct funding or would result in cuts in other Indian programs most of which
are underfunded already. We need to be able to secure funding for this program
with out injuring other programs.
Indian Country - Tribes need to be able to take advantage of the school bonding
proposal. Not only would it help reduce the nearly $1 billion construction
backlog for BIA schools, but this proposal would encourage tribes to establish
relationships with financial institutions. One of the major obstacles to
investment and economic development in Indian Country has been that neither
financial institutions nor private industry is used to conducting business in
Indian Country, nor do many tribal members have experience with a variety of
financial instruments. This proposal will provide a much-needed incentive for