“The BIA is a part of Interior. Delia Carlyle, chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community near Phoenix, described the problems that have plagued Ak-Chin’s self-government agreements for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee chairman. The practice of “administrative holdback” emerged among others. “In short,” Carlyle stated in written testimony, “the BIA is not releasing the full amount of authorized and appropriated funds for tribes and holding back about five to 10 percent of tribally earmarked funds. This is a direct violation of Section 405 of the Interior Appropriations Act, which requires any holdbacks to be approved by the [Interior] Appropriations Committee. In this [Ak-Chin’s] case, there has been no such approval. … Positive impact would come simply from the BIA following federal law and not enabling administrative holdbacks. Section 405 of the Interior Appropriations Act prohibits administrative holdbacks and requires the BIA to send the full amount of authorized and appropriated funds directly to tribes unless the holdbacks were approved by the Appropriations Committee.”
