U.S. to Begin Making Coronavirus Relief Payments to Native Americans

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin announced today that the United States will “begin making $4.8 billion in critical funds available to Tribal governments in all states”.

Funds come from the CARES Act, which allocated $8 billion in coronavirus relief funding to Native American Tribes.

However, as this funding had not been delivered by the end of April, a group of Native Americans are suing the Treasury Department “for failing to provide billions of dollars in coronavirus relief allocated for [their] tribe”. The Treasury Department commented how “the pending litigation has introduced additional uncertainty into the process of implementing the allocation and making payments” to the Native Americans, but they will still proceed with making the payments as promptly as possible.

The Treasury Department says the remaining 40 percent of the $8 billion will also be distributed soon.