American Indian Culture and Research Journal

In late July 1990, the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs called a hearing for Senate bill 2770, the “Indian Finance Corporation Act." This bill proposed the most significant innovation in economic development for Indian Country since the passage of the Indian Finance Act in 1974. It would have established a ”finance corporation” patterned after the development finance institutions found elsewhere in the world. An earlier version, the Indian Development Finance Corporation Act, did pass both houses of Congress, only to be vetoed by President Reagan in November 1988. That proposal would have made available up to $140 million for private sector development under the direction of a public/private corporation jointly owned by the federal and Indian governments. Because of strong support within the Indian community for this bill, it was reintroduced, despite the veto, during the next session of Congress, by Senators Inouye (Hawaii) and McCain (Arizona), as S.143. It never made it to the floor of the Senate. What follows is the saga of this opportunity nearly gained but subsequently lost.