Mrs. HANSEN. Does that also include teachers?

Mr. BRUCE. Yes; it includes teachers too, of whom 5 percent are Indians.

NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS

I think we are moving ahead with Indian leadership in this area. We had requested the National Congress of American Indians and other groups to recommend Indian people, and we have quite a list. We will be considering those people and have them consideringserving at the central office level. We are very hopeful that with this kind of a team we will be able to move ahead and maybe make some corrections to the problems that we face there.

That concludes my informal statement. I am very pleased again to be here, to be with you.

Mrs. HANSEN. We are delighted to have you, Mr. Commissioner. This Bureau is considered by this committee to be top priority.

BIOGRAPHY OF COMMISSIONER BRUCE

Will you please insert in the record your biography, Mr. Bruce. (The biography follows:)

LOUIS R. BRUCE, COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

President Nixon appointed Louis R. Bruce Commissioner of Indian Affairs August 19, 1969. Mr. Bruce was born December 30, 1906, on the Onondaga Reservation in upstate New York. His father was a Mohawk Indian, his mother a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

After attending reservation schools, Mr. Bruce was sent to Cazenovia Seminary where his ability in sports lead to a scholarship to Syracuse University. He majored in psychology and business administration. He has been active in organizations working with the youth of our Nation throughout his adult life. He also helped found and lead several Indian organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).

Mr. Bruce is a former public relations and advertising executive with Mideastern Cooperatives and Compton Advertising Agency of New York; community relations consultant with the New York State Housing Division; Special Assistant Commissioner for Cooperative Housing, FHA; member of the board of direc tors, Dairymen's League Cooperative Association, New York; and for 7 years was New York State director for Indian projects for the National Youth Administration. Immediately preceding his appointment as Commissioner, Mr. Bruce served as executive director and chairman of the board of trustees, Zeta Psi Educational Foundation and Fraternity.

Commissioner Bruce is married to the former Anna Jennings Wikoff, has three children and five grandchildren. Since 1932 he has owned and operated a 600acre dairy farm in Richfield Springs, N.Y. This is his permanent home.

BUREAU ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Mrs. HANSEN. Mr. Commissioner, you have been in your present position about 7 months. What accomplishments have you been able to achieve during that period to improve the administration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Mr. BRUCE. I would list the realinement as the major accomplishment during these last 6 months. I say this because I think that we had difficulty in changing the structure of the organization.

Mrs. HANSEN. That is probably the understatement of the year. Mr. BRUCE. I am trying to say it carefully. I am not one who completely understands the civil service work. I am not a bureaucrat

myself. So it was difficult to realize that I couldn't do some things when I needed to.

Mrs. HANSEN. I presume that the Civil Service is the least understood agency of the Federal Government. Yet you have to respect the inherent rights of a person as an employee. To acquire the right people is a constant problem and the solution is not easy.

You can't have wholesale firing under the civil service laws, even though you might determine that this was necessary.

INDIAN INVOLVEMENT

Mr. BRUCE. I think the second point here is that we have made some progress involving Indians. While in the last administration former Commissioner Bennett pushed on this-and

agree with this philosophy and this procedure-I wanted to emphasize it as much as possible and move ahead on it.

I realize that it is difficult sometimes for tribes to realize that what I am saying to them is that we want your ideas, your plans, your programs, and this sort of thing.

And they keep coming back and saying, "Well, what is your program for us?"

Mrs. HANSEN. I think the Indian people wonder if their ideas, and programs will actually be considered. Isn't this correct?

Mr. BRUCE. That is true. That is very true.

Sometimes the question comes up, Are your people really interested in what we want to do? You know, we have been listening to other people tell us what to do, and it is hard to move this thing around and change it the other way and get the ideas from them. But I think we are making some real progress.

Mr. HANSEN. The former Commissioner of BIA, Mr. Bennett, was a great friend of this committee. We considered him to be very competent and I am delighted to know he is continuing to work in the Indian community, because I think he can make a contribution as long as he lives.

Mr. B8Z35. I have known the former Commissioner for a number of years. We still do discuss situations. Often we run into each other, needless to say, at Indian conferences somewhere.

But this is an area which I feel we must move ahead in and do everything possible to make the setting right for them to come back in and offer their programs. There are some programs that started before, like the Zuni program which I am tremendously in favor of, where they have developed programs. I hope we can promote this kind of activity and involvement.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Mrs. HANSEN. Will you please insert in the record a copy of your organizational chart. Mr. BRUCE. All right. (The chart follows:)

Mrs. HANSEN. I do want to congratulate you on reorganizing your educational system. You are now using the same kind of managerial techniques that a good State government uses.

EMPLOYEE MORALE

How would you describe the current status of morale among employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Mr. BRUCE. Very low.
Mrs. HANSEN. Why?

INDIAN HOUSING REGULATIONS

Mr. BRUCE. I would say this-and let me just take you back 6 or 7 years ago as Congressman Reifel knows, I came in to serve as Assistant Commissioner for Federal Housing for a very short time. The administration changed the following year, but I did have a chance to do what I came here to do, and that was to change the regulations, the housing regulations, so that Indians could participate also. I guess we got this off the ground in a sense during that short period.

But I come back now and find that the regulations that we changed there haven't gotten out to the field and aren't being made effective. And this bothers me very much.

But during this changeover period, when new people were coming in, my morale was pretty low too, in this changing kind of thing. I think there is a hope that there can be some stability within BIA with the new team coming on, and so forth, and let us get moving. I have a feeling that the employees would be very happy to see this thing moving ahead. It has been a little uneasy, I think. I hope I am right in what I am saying.

Mrs. HANSEN. This feeling is probably also reflected in your relationship with the Indians. I think the quicker you institute your programs to help solve the Indian problems the better results you will have. Mr. Reifel and I share identical viewpoints on the Indian problems and on the solutions that have to be found.

SERVICE ORGANIZATION TO INDIANS

Mr. BRUCE. I look at the Bureau building itself and the people in it. We are a service organization to Indians, and that is the way we ought to be, right from the minute they come through that door, everybody is ready to help. I hope we can set up a special room where they can go and sit down and have their meetings and write their letters or meet some place, sort of a lounge type of thing, and give them all the kinds of services that they need there in that building.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH TRIBAL LEADERS

Mrs. HANSEN. How would you describe the current relationship between the various tribal leaders and your Bureau?

Mr. BRUCE. I would say we have an association which is very good. I see many of them as they come through, and I want them to feel that I am going to be as helpful as possible in following through with correcting their problems or doing something about them.

I would say our relationship is very good, very excellent. And I get this from meeting with tribal councils outside.

Mrs. HANSEN. You have budgeted an increase of $34.9 million for 1971. This is about a 12-percent increase over funds available in 1970. We will get into details of the various programs later, but I think it would be well for you at this time to give us a general description of your overall plans of activity for fiscal year 1971.

FUNDS IN BUDGETARY RESERVE

Mr. Hite, how much of the BIA 1970 appropriations are in reserve? Mr. HITE. Do you want me to respond first, Madam Chairman? Mrs. HANSEN. Yes. You might set the stage.

Mr. HITE. Madam Chairman, there is a total of $25.7 million in

reserve.

Mrs. HANSEN. Why are these funds held in reserve?

Mr. HITE. And in addition, $30 million of contract authorization. Mrs. HANSEN. How much was that of BIA's total appropriation last year?

Mr. HITE. I believe $299 million, that is, for the entire Bureau.

Mrs. HANSEN. The committee intended that those funds were to be spent to help solve some of the problems of the Indian people. What are the items in reserve?

Mr. HITE. Madam Chairman, in construction-and I am giving you first, items that were in the appropriation as presented to the Congress in 1970-in buildings and utilities, the Colorado River Jail, $250,000. Mrs. HANSEN. Why was that held back?

Mr. HITE. This is part of the construction reduction. It was directed by the President.

REDUCTION IN CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM

Mrs. HANSEN. Why would a construction reduction, to hold down inflation, be applicable to Indian people whose economy is the lowest in the Nation?

Mr. HITE. Madam Chairman

Mrs. HANSEN. Law and order is a problem in every single Indian area. This is one of the greatest problems. The Justice Department has made many speeches about law and order. An integral part of the law and order system is adequate jail facilities. The jail in Gallup, N. Mex., is a disgrace to this Nation. Yet they haven't enough funds to build a new jail.

Mr. HITE. Not presuming to respond for a higher authority, Madam Chairman, I can only say that the Bureau of the Budget's Circular 70-5, which implied this

Mrs. HANSEN. I don't care about their circulars.

Mr. HITE (Continuing). The reduction did not exempt the jails and related prison facilities.

Mrs. HANSEN. Why have they been making all these speeches on law and order? Has this just been rhetoric?

NAVAJO IRRIGATION PROJECT

How much of the irrigation system funds have been placed in reserve?