Gold Star Parents Annuity Act of 2007

Madam Speaker, I am today reintroducing four bills that would make various changes in current laws regarding Native Americans. Each of these bills is identical to one that I introduced last year, and each is identical to a bill passed by the Senate in 2005 or 2006 on which action was not completed before the end of the 109th Congress. I am reintroducing them today so that their consideration can resume without further unnecessary delay.

One bill corresponds to S. 1231 as passed by the Senate on December 14, 2005. Entitled the ``National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education Amendments Act,'' it would amend the Act to provide four key improvements intended to assist the Fund in achieving self- sufficiency. First, it would provide initial seed money to the Fund for three fiscal years to facilitate operations. In addition, it would authorize the Secretary to provide funding for operational costs of the Fund on a reimbursement basis. It also would authorize the Board to appoint the Chief Operating Officer rather than mandating the Secretary of the Board serve as the Chief Operating Officer. And it would increase the administrative cost cap of ten percent currently in place to 20 percent for one year, 15 percent the following year and then decreasing back to 10 percent.

Another bill corresponds to S. 1758, as passed by the Senate on September 26, 2005. It would amend the Indian Financing Act of 1974 with respect to loan guaranty and insurance to: (1) authorize the Secretary of the Interior to guarantee or insure loans to both for- profit and nonprofit borrowers; and (2) allow all or any portion of a guaranteed or insured loan, including its security, to be transferred by the lender by sale or assignment to

any person, and be retransferred by the transferee. It also would allow a fiscal transfer agent to be compensated through any of the fees assessed and any interest earned on any funds or fees the agent has collected while the funds or fees are in the agent's control and before the time at which the agent is contractually required to transfer such funds to the Secretary or to transferees or other holders. And it would make loans made by an eligible Community Development Finance Institution eligible for guaranty or insurance and increase from $500 million to $1.5 billion the amount of loans the Bureau of Indian Affairs can have outstanding.

Another bill corresponds to S. 1480, passed by the Senate on July 26, 2006. It provides that any actual rental proceeds certified by the Secretary of the Interior from the lease of land acquired with a FHA Direct Loan by an Indian tribe or Tribal Corporation shall be deemed to: (1) constitute the rental value of that land; and (2) satisfy the requirement for appraisal of that land.

And another bill corresponds to S. 1483, also passed by the Senate last July 26th. It would amend the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 with respect to grants to tribally controlled postsecondary vocational and technical institutions that are not receiving federal support under the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978 or the Navajo Community College Act to provide basic support for the education and training of Indian students. It also would revise the definition of ``Indian student count'' (essential to the formula for the determination of grant amounts). And it would require the Indian student count to be determined according to a specified formula, for each academic year, on the basis of the enrollments of Indian students as in effect at the conclusion of the third week of the fall term and the third week of the spring term, allowing the counting of students without secondary school degrees under certain circumstances.

I urge the leadership of the committees to which these bills will be referred to consider them as soon as practicable.