Nation v. Dept. of Health & Human Services
| Decision Date | 08 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-16129.,99-16129. |
| Citation | 285 F.3d 864 |
| Parties | Navajo NATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES, Secretary, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Thomas W. Christie, Assistant Attorney General, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Navajo Nation (Arizona), for the plaintiff-appellant.
John S. Koppel, Appellate Attorney, Civil Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Roger G. Strand, District Judge, Presiding.
Before B. Betty B. FLETCHER, Diarmuid F. O'SCANNLAIN, and Ronald M. GOULD, Circuit Judges.
We must decide whether the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, qualifies as a program "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians" within the meaning of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act ("PRWORA" or the "Act"), which made extensive changes in the welfare laws of this country. The Act replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program ("AFDC") with a new program of temporary assistance and work requirements, called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ("TANF"). 42 U.S.C. § 601, et seq. Under the Act, the federal government provides TANF block grants to interested states, 42 U.S.C. § 603, or to Indian tribes, 42 U.S.C. § 612, which then can fund welfare programs for citizens within their jurisdictions, subject to federal conditions.
In October 1997, the Navajo Nation (the "Tribe") applied to the Secretary of Health and Human Services ("HHS") to receive TANF funds for citizens within its jurisdiction. However, rather than apply for TANF funds under the provision of PRWORA which allowed Indian tribes to apply directly, 42 U.S.C. § 612, the Tribe applied for a funded contract under a provision of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act ("ISDEAA"), 25 U.S.C. § 450f. Under this provision, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as well as the Secretary of the Interior, are "directed, upon the request of any Indian tribe ..., to enter into a self-determination contract" with the tribe. 25 U.S.C. § 450f(a)(1).
The ISDEAA defines a "self determination contract" as "a contract ... entered into ... between a tribal organization and the appropriate Secretary for the planning, conduct and administration of programs or services which are otherwise provided to Indian tribes and their members pursuant to Federal law...." 25 U.S.C. § 450b(j). In other words, to the extent that the federal government provides services to members of Indians tribes, or pays others to provide those services, the ISDEAA gives Indian tribes the option of accepting those funds and providing the services "in-house," as it were.
Not all federal programs, however, are eligible to be transferred to Indian tribes through a self-determination contract; only those programs described in § 450f(a)(1)(A)-(E) are eligible. In this case, the Tribe applied for a self-determination contract under § 450f(a)(1)(E) which includes programs "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians...." 25 U.S.C. § 450f(a)(1)(E). The Tribe chose to apply for TANF funds under the ISDEAA, rather than under the PRWORA, primarily because it would have received additional funds for administrative costs under the ISDEAA which it would not have received under the PRWORA.
In a November 1997 letter to the Tribe, the Secretary rejected, for two independent reasons, the application because it went "beyond the scope of programs ... covered under [§ 450f(a)(1)]." 25 U.S.C. § 450f(a)(2)(E). First, the Secretary ruled that because the TANF program served all of the poor, whether Indian or not, the "TANF program is not one that operates for the particular benefit of Indians," in contravention of § 450f(a)(1)(E). Second, she determined that, even if the TANF program did operate for the particular benefit of Indians, a contract for TANF funds did not meet the requirements of a "self-determination contract" in § 450b(j) because the "TANF program is not a program under which the Federal government would otherwise directly provide services to Indian tribes pursuant to Federal law."
The Tribe attempted to appeal the Secretary's decision through administrative procedures, but the Board of Indian Appeals determined that the only remedy available was suit in federal court. As a result, the Tribe filed this suit in February 1998 in United States District Court for the District of Arizona and asked the court to order the Secretary to enter into a self-determination contract with it for TANF funds. The Secretary filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which was granted by the district court on the second ground asserted by the Secretary, that a contract for TANF funds did not meet the requirements of a "self-determination contract," as defined in § 450b(j). The Tribe filed this timely appeal.
Although the district court agreed with the Secretary's interpretation of the ISDEAA, the district court did not consider whether the Secretary's interpretation is entitled to substantial deference under Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-45, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). Consequently, we ordered supplemental briefing on this issue. Under Chevron, we employ a two-step process to determine whether we should accord deference to an agency interpretation. First, we ask "whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue." Id. at 842, 104 S.Ct. 2778. If the meaning of the statute is unambiguous, then "that is the end of the matter...." Id. If, on the other hand, the meaning of the statute is ambiguous, then we ask whether the agency's interpretation is a reasonable construction of the statute. Id. at 843, 104 S.Ct. 2778.
The Secretary ruled that, because the TANF program "is intended to operate for the benefit of needy families without consideration of the status of these families as Indian or non-Indian," the TANF program "is not one that operates for the particular benefit of Indians...." Thus, the Secretary ruled that the TANF program did not meet the strictures of § 450f(a)(1)(E), that the program which the Tribe seeks to administer was "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians...." 25 U.S.C. § 450f(a)(1)(E). The Tribe argues that the Secretary misconstrued § 450f(a)(1)(E) in making this determination. The Tribe argues that § 450f(a)(1)(E) unambiguously supports the proposition that the TANF program is a one "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians...."
The Tribe's argument in this regard rests exclusively on the fact that, in enacting the PRWORA, Congress separated the provision under which states can apply for a TANF block grant, 42 U.S.C. § 603, from the provision under which Indian tribes can apply for a TANF block grant, 42 U.S.C. § 612. The fact that Indians apply for funds under a different provision than do states does not make the TANF program one "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians," if the funds the Indians receive are otherwise identical to the funds states receive. That is, if the funds are otherwise identical, Indians receive no marginal "benefit" from the separate application provision.
It is not the case, however, that the TANF funds which Indians receive are otherwise identical to those received by states. For example, states receiving TANF block grants are under strict limits regarding the number of years they can allow citizens to receive block grants, 42 U.S.C. § 608(a)(7), and the portion of citizens receiving block grants who must be employed, 42 U.S.C. § 607. By contrast, the PRWORA leaves open the possibility that Indian tribes may not be subject to the same constraints on their use of the block grants. 42 U.S.C. § 612(c)(2) ().
The Secretary interpreted § 450f(a)(1)(E) to require more than preferential treatment for Indians under the program in question. She interpreted "program[] ... for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians" to mean that Indians must be the exclusive beneficiaries of the program in question. In her letter, she ruled that the Tribe's application must be denied because "[t]he TANF program is not one that operates for the particular benefit of Indians...." (Emphasis added.) In her brief before this Court, she elaborated on her interpretation by arguing that a program qualifies under § 450f(a)(1)(E) only if "in order to be eligible for the program an individual must be a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe." (Emphasis added.)
The question under the first step of the Chevron inquiry is whether the phrase "for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians" in § 450f(a)(1)(E) has an unambiguous meaning. We conclude that it does not. The plain language of the words "program[] ... for the benefit of Indians because of their status as Indians" is susceptible both to the meaning that the program must be for the exclusive benefit of Indians and the meaning that the program can benefit non-Indians as well as Indians, but that it must benefit Indians on a preferential basis.
Moreover, we find nothing specific in the legislative history of the ISDEAA which...
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