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Navajo council votes to send big checks to tribal members

The vote to send the checks to about 350,000 tribal members still needs approval by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez to take effect.

Credit: AP

File - In this Jan. 15, 2019, file photo, Jonathan Nez addresses a crowd after he was sworn in as president of the Navajo Nation in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Nez has asked President Donald Trump to commute the death sentence of fellow tribe member Lezmond Mitchell to life in prison. Nez cited the tribe's longstanding opposition to the death penalty in a July 31, 2020, letter to Trump. Mitchell is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 26. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)

NAVAJO, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation’s tribal council has voted to send $2,000 checks to each qualified adult and $600 for each child using $557 million in federal coronavirus relief funds.

The vote to send the checks to about 350,000 tribal members still needs approval by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez to take effect.

Nez has approved previous rounds of relief checks using money from federal coronavirus relief funds.

A spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Wednesday’s 18-2 vote during a special session of the tribe’s lawmaking body will tap some of the approximately $2.1 billion the tribe is receiving from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act.

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