Budget tug-of-war between Osage Chief and Congress threatens to shut down Nation’s programs Tuesday

The budget tug-of-war between the Osage Nation Principal Chief and the Osage Nation Congress has lasted longer than any Osage Nation employee would like, and come Tuesday if the two branches still haven’t compromised – the Nation’s programs will have to be shut down.

“There are entire families that work for the Osage Nation and knowing that possibly Tuesday morning I could be told ‘don’t come to work today, you’re being furloughed,’ and ‘no we don’t know when it will end,’ I am distraught at the fact that I may not have a job to come to,” said an Osage Nation employee who asked to be anonymous for this article.

The Nation shutting down its programs and the Chief having to furlough more than 2,000 employees would be the worst case scenario. Congressional Speaker Archie Mason said Wednesday that there is no way he would let that happen and he said that when Congress meets on Monday in the 22nd Special Session, they are going to pass a continuing resolution to operate on 2009 levels until Jan. 8.

Chief Gray has already vetoed numerous continuing resolutions because they all would make each program, and the Chief’s office, operate on one-twelfth of the 2009 levels each month and Gray said not all programs can operate at those levels. Gray said he called the Special Session so that Congress can consider the new budget he sent over last week.

Chief and directors trim $3 million from the budgets

The new budgets for ONCA 09-63, an act to provide an appropriation to the Office of the Chiefs and ONCA 09-66, an act to provide an appropriation for the Government Operations Departments and Programs, have been trimmed down to $30 million and were sent to Congress last week.

This is in an effort to get the total amount of the Nation’s spending down because the Gaming Enterprise Board set the Nation’s projected revenue at $27 million for the 2010 fiscal year and according to the Osage Nation Constitution the Congress cannot appropriate more than the next year’s projected revenue.

The $27 million figure has been controversial, with the majority in Congress holding firm to the figure while a few in Congress maintain that the figure is flawed because it isn’t a true accounting of the projected revenue, due to the fact that the gaming board took out about $20 million for the construction of the Ponca City casino and other projects for next year.

Speaker Archie Mason says Christmas bonuses could have been given out

Last year at this time many Osage Nation employees were enjoying Black Friday, armed with their Christmas bonuses from the tribe and having enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving dinner the day before, turkeys courtesy of the Nation. Now employees are wondering if they’re going to have a job, let alone a bonus.

“I’ve heard there’s going to be a petition to impeach every congress member and the chief, I’ve actually been told that,” said the Osage Nation employee who asked to be anonymous for this article. “If they can’t come to some resolve they don’t need to be in there. And believe me, I’m not the only one who feels this way.”

According to Mason, ONCA 10-15, a continuing resolution by Congressman William “Kugee” Supernaw, was passed and is still alive. Chief Gray on the other hand said he pocket vetoed ONCA 10-15.

If Speaker Mason is right, and ONCA 10-15 is still alive, than the employees should have received their Christmas bonuses because the bonuses were specifically protected in the bill. But Chief Gray is not recognizing ONCA 10-15 because he sent a proclamation to the Nation’s employees Wednesday that said it was Congress’s fault they didn’t get their bonuses because Congress still had not appropriated the money for the Executive Branch and the continuing resolution they are operating under restricts the Christmas bonus.

22nd Special Session begins at 10 a.m. Monday and is broadcast live

On the agenda for Monday is ONCA 09-63, ONCA 09-66, ONCA 10-07, an act to amend ONCA 09-65 to include an appropriation for the Osage Nation Enterprise Board and Gaming Enterprise Board; ONCA 10-08, an act to amend ONCA 09-65 to include an appropriation to the Osage Nation Foundation Board; ONCA 10-09, an act to amend ONCA 09-58, to remove two positions from the Office of Fiscal Performance Review and to reduce the appropriation to the legislature; and to amend ONCA 09-61.

To listen to the live broadcast, go to osagetribe.com and click on the link Listen Live to Congress Session in the upper right corner under Media.