- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
A bipartisan bill in Congress aims to streamline how tribal governments and other tribal entities access federal programs that support job creation, business development and local economies.
The REACH Our Tribes Act would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to strengthen consultation with tribal governments and make federal economic development programs easier to find and navigate.
The proposed bill, introduced today by U.S. Reps. Sharice Davids, D‑Kan., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R‑N.Y., directs USDA to establish a formal process for consulting tribal governments at least annually on the department’s budget requests and legislation to reauthorize USDA programs, including farm bills. It also requires USDA to develop a plan to analyze and publicly report how much funding tribal entities receive through USDA programs open to them.
Beyond USDA, the legislation would create an interagency task force composed of officials from USDA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. The task force would identify ways to simplify agency applications and reduce administrative burdens.
In a statement, the bill’s authors say siloed federal programs and inconsistent requirements often force tribal governments to spend significant time navigating duplicative paperwork before they can access resources intended to support local economies.
“Tribal communities know what their families and businesses need to succeed, but too often they have to navigate a maze of federal programs to find the resources that can help,” Davids, an enrolled member of Ho-Chunk Nation, said in a statement.
The bill also directs the Commerce Department to establish a working group to develop and regularly update a public list of economic development programs available to tribal governments.
Tribal leaders have long said that finding the right program can be as challenging as applying for it, with opportunities spread across multiple agencies and offices.
“By improving coordination across agencies and creating clearer pathways to federal resources, this legislation will help make federal investments more responsive and effective for tribal communities,” Cole Miller, chairman of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and Kari Jo Lawrence, CEO of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, said in a joint statement. Miller and Lawrence are co-chairs of the Native Farm Bill Coalition.
