FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 1997
CONTACT: Christopher M. Changery
(202) 224-2251

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) today introduced a bill to extend and improve a program to provide home loans to Native American veterans.

The Native American Veteran Direct Loan Pilot Program, created in 1992, has so far resulted in only eight loans to Indians living in the continental U.S. Campbell said one of the main factors was little or no effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs to spread word of the program in Indian Country.

"Veterans seeking home loans face many obstacles unique to Indian Country, including poor economic conditions and the fact that the land cannot be used as collateral," Campbell said. "But the most surprising revelation at the Committee's hearing on veterans issues in May was that the majority of Indian veterans seem to have little or no knowledge that the VA's direct loan program exists. If they do, many do not know how or where to apply.

"The government has no problem finding these men and women when it is time to draft them to fight in a war. But when it is time to pay them back for their sacrifice, the effort just is not there. The direct loan program is an ambitious idea designed to help our veterans with the most basic human need: a roof over their heads. It should not sit unused because of bureaucratic complacency."

Campbell's bill, extends the direct loan program for three years and boosts the VA's efforts to implement it. The bill places new requirements on the Department to consult with tribal organizations, Native Veterans organizations and other groups prior to making decisions under the act. It also expresses Congress's desire that the Department carry out vigorous outreach and education efforts to inform potential beneficiaries of the housing assistance benefits under the act. The bill requires the Department to submit annual reports to Congress describing the outreach activities undertaken by the VA on a regional basis, with a second mandate that the VA conduct an assessment of how effective these efforts have been in encouraging greater use of the loan program.

The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

"Native Americans have been proud to be a part of this nation's defense," Campbell said. "We must honor and recognize their sacrifice. It is my hope that this reauthorization, with the appropriate changes, will jumpstart the Department's efforts to make the program available to Native veterans and help them use it. I believe it is the least we can do."