Native Americans have suffered a great deal throughout this country's history. From European diseases to forced relocation to broken treaties, North America's original inhabitants have faced discrimination, misguided "assimilation" efforts aimed at destroying cultures, and a lack of support from the federal government.

Although this has changed some in recent decades, Native Americans still face discrimination and a high poverty rate. In 1995:

Of all ethnic groups in this country, Native Americans who live on reservations are the most impoverished. Over 20% of Native American reservation households have annual incomes below $5000, compared with 6% for the overall U.S. population. Only 8% of reservation households have annual incomes greater than $35,000, compared with 18% for the overall U.S. population.

And, more recently:

Based on a three-year average, 24.3 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives lived in poverty from 2003 through 2004. This rate was not much different from poverty among African-Americans (24.4 percent) and Hispanics (22.1 percent).

But it more than twice the poverty rate of Whites (10.5 percent) and more than twice the poverty rate of Asians (10.6 percent) for the same period, the Census Bureau reported.

The percentage of Native Americans without insurance was also high. Based on a three-year average, a whopping 29.0 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives did not have health coverage, a rate surpassed only by Hispanics (32.6 percent).

In comparison, the percentage Whites without insurance was 14.6 percent while among Asians it was 18.0 percent.

With all of this in mind, it would seem reasonable to me that it might be worth it to provide some federal assistance to Native Americans. In 1996, Congress passed the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, an act "to provide Federal assistance for Indian tribes in a manner that recognizes the right of tribal self-governance, and for other purposes." Tribal governments received block grants to help provide affordable housing.

Now, the program is up for reauthorization, with HR 2786, sponsored by Michigan's own Congressman Dale Kildee. A full summary of the bill is available here. It's estimated cost is $8.00 per American over the next five years.

HR 2786, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2007, passed the House of Representatives, 333 to 75.

Tim Walberg voted No. He and Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra were the only members of the Michigan delegation to oppose the bill.

Lately on Walberg Watch, the main focus has been on the candidates hoping to replace him, and, in one case, a candidate's chief of staff. To be honest, I'd much rather spend my time focused on Tim Walberg. But I couldn't for the last month or so, because he really hasn't been doing much of anything newsworthy while the House was on its recess.

Now that they're back in action and voting on legislation, we see that he's the same old Tim Walberg. Apparently, he couldn't spare $8.00 over the next five years.

Labels: 110th Congress, Affordable Housing, Issues, Native Americans, Poverty, Tim Walberg, Walberg Voting Record