U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Friday, urging her to establish an Office of Tribal Affairs.
The new office would improve the U.S. Department of Treasury’s relationship with tribal nations and provide more in-house expertise on tribal nation matters.
“The recent tribal consultations and interactions between Treasury and tribal nations underscore the need for sufficient, dedicated, in-house expertise at Treasury on tribal policy matters,” the lawmakers said in their letter. “The establishment of such an office has support from Indian Country and would improve Treasury’s ability to fulfill its trust responsibilities to respect the nation-to-nation relationship between the federal government and tribal nations.”
While the Treasury Department has had a role in tribal matters, including tax and finance issues, for a long time, the department’s role has increased over time and has become more important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on in the pandemic, Congress charged the department with disbursing billions of dollars in relief funds to tribal nations.
On Jan. 26, 2021, President Joe Biden issued a memorandum that affirmed the importance of tribal consultation in these issues, and that it is his “priority” to make “regular, meaningful, and robust consultation with Tribal Nations cornerstones of Federal Indian policy.” The Treasury Department has acknowledged this commitment as well, and the Deputy Treasury Secretary has “reiterated the importance of the nation-to-nation consultation process.”
The Congress members said an Office of Tribal Affairs would help achieve those goals.
“Although the pandemic has underscored the urgency of Treasury having proper in-house capacity to address tribal issues appropriately, this need existed before the pandemic and before this administration, and absent institutional changes at the Department, it will continue to exist after the pandemic and after this administration,” the senators wrote.
The letter asked the department to respond to their request no later than Oct. 13, 2021.