[Letter]

B-272979 Aug 23, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Is not entitled to interest on amounts deposited into the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery Fund pursuant to the Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Act. That might have been earned but was not earned as a result of possible delay by the United States in making the deposit under the Act. Which was deposited into the Fund on January 29. Could have been deposited on December 13. We conclude that the Tribe is not entitled to any interest that the Fund might have earned. Interest that accrues on the amounts in the Fund is held in a separate account and is available for the Tribe's use for "educational. This arrangement was to compensate the Tribe for the taking by the United States of reservation land used as the site for certain dams and reservoirs that are part of the Pick-Sloan Project. View Decision B-272979 August 23, 1996 Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, is not entitled to interest on amounts deposited into the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery Fund pursuant to the Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Act, Pub. L. 102-575, 106 Stat. 4731 (1992), that might have been earned but was not earned as a result of possible delay by the United States in making the deposit under the Act. Federal law permits the United States to pay interest only on amounts on deposit to the Fund. The Honorable Kent Conrad United States Senate Dear Senator Conrad: This letter responds to a telephone inquiry from your staff regarding a claim by the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The Tribe claims lost interest earnings on a payment made by the United States into the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery Fund pursuant to the Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Act, Public Law 102-575. According to the Tribe, the loss resulted from a delay by the United States in depositing the payment into the Economic Recovery Fund. The Tribe argues that the payment, which was deposited into the Fund on January 29, 1996, could have been deposited on December 13, 1995. Your staff asked us for our opinion on the Tribe's claim. Because federal law authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to pay interest only on amounts held in the Fund, we conclude that the Tribe is not entitled to any interest that the Fund might have earned, but did not, had the payment been deposited earlier. As you know, the Compensation Act required the Secretary of the Treasury, beginning with fiscal year 1993, to deposit into the Economic Recovery Fund each year an amount equal to 25-percent of the receipts of the previous fiscal year of the Eastern Division of the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Project, a project administered by the Western Area Power Administration of the Department of Energy. Pub. L. 102-575, Sec. 3504(a)(2), 106 Stat. 4731, 4732 (1992). The Act specified that the aggregate of those annual payments, together with certain other amounts appropriated to the Fund, not exceed $149.2 million. Id. Interest that accrues on the amounts in the Fund is held in a separate account and is available for the Tribe's use for "educational, social welfare, economic development, and other programs." [1] Id., Sec. 3504(a)(4), 106 Stat. at 4733. This arrangement was to compensate the Tribe for the taking by the United States of reservation land used as the site for certain dams and reservoirs that are part of the Pick-Sloan Project. Id., Sec. 3503(a), 106 Stat. at 4732. We understand that the January 1996 payment into the Fund represents the final payment by the United States under the Compensation Act. To reconstruct the facts of this payment, we spoke with officials of the Department of the Treasury, including Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Budget Execution Branch, and the Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM), formerly part of BIA but now part of the Department of the Interior's Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. Documentation provided us shows that BIA's Division of Program Development and Implementation initiated the action that resulted in the January 1996 payment by mailing a letter, dated December 13, 1995, to FMS requesting a warrant in the amount of $13.6 million. Federal law requires that the Secretary of the Treasury may pay money out of the general fund of the Treasury only against a warrant specifying the appropriation to which the payment is to be charged. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3323. The Pick-Sloan Project receipts are held in the general fund; the Compensation Act stands as permanent appropriation authority, up to $149.2 million.