Message to the House of
Representatives Returning Without Approval the Bill Amending the Native
American Programs Act of 1974
To
the House of Representatives:
I
am returning herewith without my signature H.R. 3247, which would extend and
amend the Native American Programs Act of 1974.
I
fully support the objectives of the Native American Programs Act of 1974 to
help American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians achieve economic
and social self-sufficiency. My decision not to approve H.R. 3247 is based on
my belief that this bill would seriously undermine the administrative
flexibility needed to ensure responsiveness to individual tribes and Native
American organizations -- flexibility that is essential to the effectiveness of
the Native American programs.
The
Executive branch must be allowed to carry out its responsibilities to
administer the laws effectively. H.R. 3247 would cause undue interference with
ongoing program management. This legislation, if signed into law, would make
effective administration of this important program extremely difficult by
creating delays in implementing program policy that can only hurt rather than
help the Native Americans it is intended to serve.
If
H.R. 3247 were to become law, it would require diverting scarce resources away
from program-related activities to meet wasteful and unnecessary administrative
requirements and would involve the Congress inappropriately in ongoing
administrative activities that should be left to the Executive branch.
Specifically, the bill would:
require
``notice and comment'' rulemaking for rules and policy statements that have
been and should continue to be handled informally, without permitting
exceptions for good cause or in other circumstances where exceptions generally
apply, thereby substantially increasing administrative costs and delays;
require
the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) to use peer review panels to
review and rank all grant applications, even though the use of such panels is
not appropriate in all cases; and
require the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to report and explain to the Congress all decisions on grant
applications at variance with recommendations of the peer review panels.
These
provisions of H.R. 3247 would unnecessarily increase administrative requirements
and thereby shift resources away from technical assistance and other activities
more directly related to helping applicants and grantees. Equally troublesome,
they would inevitably involve both the Congress and members of the public in
second-guessing the ANA on details related to administration of Native American
programs. This would have adverse results for the programs and would
potentially set a dangerous precedent for unnecessary restrictions disrupting
the operations of other Federal human services programs.
Quite
simply, the Executive branch cannot effectively carry out its responsibilities
to implement the laws if agencies are required, as a routine procedure, to
justify each grant decision to the Congress, or if every general statement of
agency policy or procedure must be made through formal notice and comment
rulemaking.
The
provisions of H.R. 3247 also raise concerns about confidentiality, in requiring
the Commissioner of the ANA to discuss publicly the weaknesses and problems of
applications submitted by individual tribal organizations. This could well have
a chilling effect on the competitive grant process. New and less experienced
organizations could be more hesitant to apply, and established Native American
organizations might be disturbed about public distribution of information about
their applications.
I
reiterate my support for the continuation of the Native American programs. I
therefore urge the Congress to provide funding for these programs in the fiscal
year 1987 continuing resolution and urge that the 100th Congress promptly
consider new legislation to authorize appropriations for these programs. The
Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, looks
forward to working with the Congress to develop legislation that will meet the
Congress' legitimate concerns for accountability of the Executive branch, while
also meeting our concerns that the law not be burdened with requirements
incompatible with our responsibility to achieve the statutory purposes of these
programs.
Ronald
Reagan
The
White House,