Congress allocated a historic amount of federal funds to tribes through the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. For some Indigenous communities, those federal funds were beneficial. For others, the pandemic highlighted deeper systemic complexities federal funding cannot fully address.
Indigenous nations across the country have experienced chronic federal underfunding, which has led to disproportionate impacts tied to COVID-19 through housing, employment, public safety, food security, health care and economic outcomes.
In March 2020, the CARES Act established the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which allocated $8 billion to tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations to address “necessary expenditures” incurred due to COVID-19.
One year later, American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated $31 billion for infrastructure needs and other federal programs for Indigenous communities.
Additionally, $1 billion is being divided and dispersed to each eligible tribal government, and $900 million was allocated for several purposes, including tribal housing improvements.
Congress also allocated funds to various Indigenous entities through smaller COVID-19 relief bills: $2.6 billion from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, no less than $750 million plus a share of no less than $11 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, and $74 million from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
“What we learned was, even though money was allocated, we were still running into a lot of issues,” said Eugenia Charles-Newton, a council delegate for the Navajo Nation. “There were so many rules from the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the CARES … that made it really difficult to try to spend that money where it was needed.”
‘They won’t help me’
The Blackfeet Nation received $38,692,273 in CARES funding, according to Richard K. Delmar, acting inspector general for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
But Marietta Green, a Blackfeet elder who lives on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana, said she has been waiting for the tribal housing department to address her problems for years.
Green lives in a four-bedroom house where she raises three grandchildren. She said her home has high levels of mold, her plumbing is unpredictable and her lights get shut off around 11 a.m. when her electric bill isn’t paid on time.
The tribe distributed $500 checks to enrolled members 18 and older from CARES Act funds. Green said she used her check to buy food and take care of her grandchildren.