Implementation and Reauthorization of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Hearing before the Committee on Indian Affairs on the Implementation and Reauthorization of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 in Indian Country. United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Second Session.

A Senate committee hearing received testimony on the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 in American Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities. The act provided authority for tribal governments to administer welfare programs formerly administered by the states but did not provide funds to develop the infrastructure to administer welfare programs. A panel of researchers from the General Accounting Office and elsewhere reported on an ongoing study of tribal welfare programs, focusing on economic conditions on Indian reservations; changes in the numbers of Indian welfare recipients since the law was enacted; how the law's flexibility has allowed recipients to engage in traditional subsistence activities and self-employment and pursue education and job training; and tribes' lack of administrative experience and necessary infrastructure, such as automated data systems. Written statements and testimony from Senators and representatives of various tribes, American Indian and Alaska Native organizations, and federal and state agencies discussed poverty and unemployment in Indian country, needs of tribal governments for administrator training and technical assistance, the need for financial assistance to develop small businesses, policy and governance problems in relationships between state and tribal programs, the need for "rural/frontier status" for isolated areas, inadequate funding to meet education and job training needs, needs for child care assistance, and descriptions of tribal welfare services. Many witnesses supported a proposed "American Indian Welfare Reform Act." (SV)