The American Indian Policy Review Commission, created by an act of Congress on January 2, 1975, was charged with reviewing federal policy toward Indians and making recommendations "by Indians for Indians" to Congress. The commission, which consisted of three members of the Senate, three Congressmen, and five Native Americans—three from federally recognized tribes, one from a non-federally recognized tribe, and one from an urban area—appointed a staff and set up eleven task forces. Each task force conducted an extensive review of a particular policy area and reported its findings to the commission. The commission's major recommendations, submitted to Congress in May 1977, were to replace the Bureau of Indian Affairs with an independent Indian agency and to contract directly with tribes for services then being provided by the BIA.
Although the legacy of the commission continues to be debated, the two-year policy review increased the participation of congressional legislators in Indian affairs, began the process of limiting the role for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and promoted the idea of tribal self-governance. Unfortunately, however, Congress did not enact the commission's recommendations. This failure was due in part to the departure of key legislative sponsors (such as James Abourezk of South Dakota) and backlash from western legislators who feared that greater tribal autonomy would anger their constituents. Nevertheless, by the late 1980s Congress had authorized a Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project, which transferred significant administrative functions (and funds) from the BIA to selected tribes. This project implemented the original thinking of the commission. Thus, despite its lack of immediate results, the commission set forth a new vision of the federal-Indian relationship that continues to attract political support.
