May 5, 2020 9:00 a.m.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, along with 22 of their colleagues, are urging Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to immediately disburse $8 billion in critical relief funds to eligible recognized Tribal governments.
A release said the funding, which was allocated by the CARES Act, is critical to helping those governments, just like their state, local and territorial counterparts, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and continue providing essential government services to their communities.  However, the release said as of May 1st, the Treasury Department has not distributed any of the funding.
It said the disbursement was initially delayed due to litigation, but the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s April 27th Order makes clear that there are no legal barriers to releasing the funding to Tribal governments.
The group of senators are pushing not only for what they called “the expedient dispersal of the funding”, but are also advocating for additional, flexible dedicated resources in upcoming coronavirus emergency relief legislation for tribal communities.