Interior—Bureau of Indian Affairs

About the Bureau of Indian Affairs

The BIA serves an interesting role, acting both as a liaison between sovereign tribes and the federal government and as a service provider. Nearly every function performed by the federal government is also performed by the BIA on a smaller scale for Indian tribes.

The agency serves the members of 565 federally recognized Indian tribes with a total service population of about 1.9 million American Indian or Alaska natives.

The BIA’s budget for fiscal year 2011 was $2.6 billion. President Barack Obama's budget for the current fiscal year included a 5 percent increase for the BIA, and the 2012 budget proposes double-digit increases for the Indian Health Service and Justice Department. To read Assistant Secretary of the Interior Larry Echo Hawk’s budget request for fiscal year 2012 refer to this link: http://www.doi.gov/budget/2012/data/pdf/testimony_INTH_LH20110330.pdf

The BIA administers and manages about 55 million surface acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. The agency grants federal recognition to tribes that meet certain qualifications and go through a lengthy application process. Developing forestlands, leasing assets on these lands, directing agricultural programs, protecting water and land rights, developing and maintaining infrastructure and economic development are all part of the agency's responsibility. The BIA controls irrigation systems and provides electricity to rural Arizona.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs provides education services through the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to approximately 42,000 elementary and secondary students. The BIE implements federal education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Students attending one of the system's 183 schools, located in 23 states, are held to the same testing requirements as children in the regular public school system. NCLB was criticized by the National Indian Education Association, which blamed the testing-based system for the "the diminishment of Native language and culture." There are also 28 tribal universities, colleges ans post-secondary schools.

Issues at BIA

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee Web site has a useful list of all of the issues and legislation that impact indigenous peoples: http://indian.senate.gov/issues/ <

The BIA has been involved in several lawsuits over the past few years. Attorneys in a class-action suit filed over a decade ago on behalf of 300,000 Indian landowners claim their plaintiffs are owed between $10 billion and $40 billion. It all had to do with a trust fund, based on the previously noted 56 million acres held in trust, that Indian leaders say has been mismanaged since 1887. The agency is charged with collecting royalties and distributing the money to the landowners.

The process is complicated because much of the land is divided among various people who sometimes earn only pennies in royalties. Critics say the agency mismanaged the accounts and that officials did not properly accounted for all the money that was collected and distributed. The federal government agreed to a $3.4 billion settlement.

Other issues facing the BIA include the management of schools, law enforcement and health and social services.

Many Native Americans struggle with poverty, diabetes, methamphetamine abuse and gambling. Of these, Indian gambling receives the most media attention.

Some tribes are beginning to work against other tribes in an effort to keep casinos from growing. A division of the BIA is reviewing changes to Indian gaming regulations that can have an impact on which tribes get to build casinos in the future. According to the National Indian Gaming Commission, 226 Indian tribes operate about 400 gambling operations in 28 states,

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