Recognition of tribes could see fast track

BILLINGS, Mont. — With some American Indian groups waiting decades for formal recognition from the U.S. government, federal officials Wednesday pledged to overhaul the cumbersome process but cautioned the changes could take two years to go into effect.

Federal recognition renders tribes eligible for economic assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.

Decisions on whether tribes qualify are supposed to be made by the Department of Interior within 25 months. Yet some Indians have seen their petitions languish within the agency’s Bureau of Indian Affairs for 30 years or more without an answer.

"We have survived Indian removal, genocide, the Civil War, the burning of our courthouse, Jim Crow laws and their KKK enforcers,” said Ann Tucker, chair of the Muscogee Nation of Florida. "We have waited long enough for a broken process to determine our fate.”

Members of the Muscogee began their drive for recognition in 1978 and are now among 15 Indian groups waiting for a final determination. Those include five in California, three in Louisiana and others in Michigan, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and New Mexico. Another 80 Indian groups remain mired in the early stages of a federal process that can cost millions of dollars to navigate.

George Skibine, the Interior Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs said his agency would begin drafting regulations setting a timeline for petitions.