WASHINGTON — Despite widespread disrepair of schools, jails and health care facilities in Indian Country, the Bush administration requested only a fraction of the funding needed to fix the problems, senators of both parties said Thursday.

Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said there is a nearly $3 billion backlog in construction or repair of Native American health facilities, a $1.8 billion backlog to repair or build schools and $6 billion to repair and construct jails.

He said administration officials told the committee that things are “swimmingly good” when they’re actually depressing. “It’s unbelievable to me,” he said.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said administration officials should “protest violently” the cuts in funding. He said the departments engage in too many studies.

“We’ve got major problems and when we send dollars out, and they’re spent on study after study after study and nothing gets done, that’s almost criminal,” Tester said.

On the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, buildings sit condemned and vacant because of gas leaks, fires and general maintenance issues, said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. The law enforcement department is stretched to the maximum and shares a building with four other offices. The Fort Washakie Health Center serves 11,000 clients out of a building put up in 1877 for the cavalry, he said.

“What is happening there is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrasso said.

Administration officials acknowledged that completing new or replacement facilities on the Indian Health Service priority list alone would cost an estimated $2.6 billion. But President Bush’s proposed budget requested $15.8 million for health care facilities construction for 2009.

Gary Hartz of the Indian Health Service said these are “severely tight budget times” and that the department prioritized delivery of much-needed health care over construction.

Hartz said that at facilities including Fort Washakie, major efforts are made to maintain accreditation and keep it qualified for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. He also said there is a comprehensive effort under way to look at needs across Indian Country.

Randy Grinnell, another IHS official, said that the average age of IHS facilities is 33 years, compared to nine years for health-care facilities in the U.S. He said there’s a need for maintenance, modernization and expansion.

Funds for school construction fell by nearly $28 million from 2008 to $115 million in the administration’s proposed 2009 budget, Dorgan noted, despite a $1.8 billion backlog. Tribal leaders told of schools with compromised drinking water, rusted pipes, no fire alarms and cracking walls.

Jack Rever, director of facilities for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said there has been significant progress in improving the condition of Bureau of Indian Education schools over the past seven years. In 2001, 120 of the 184 schools and dormitories were rated as being in poor condition, but by the end of fiscal year 2009, 50 schools will have improved to fair or good condition, for a total of 114 schools.

Dorgan said the administration officials all painted an optimistic picture when the picture is actually “pretty pessimistic.” He slammed them for not requesting more funding.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the top Republican on the panel, asked about the detention facilities. “If you know that it’s bad and is getting worse, why has the administration asked for so little funding?” she said.

Rever said because of the lack of facilities only about 50 percent of offenders that should be held are being held. But he said a draft master plan for justice in Indian Country is under review. “This is such a big problem we have to look at how the justice system works across Indian Country,” he said.

Dorgan said he personally asked the Interior secretary for the results of a study on 38 correctional and detention facilities in Indian Country that is the basis for the new plan, but that the department refused to give his panel a copy. “It’s arrogant and it’s wrong,” Dorgan said.

Domingo Herraiz of the Bureau of Justice Assistance cited a 2004 report by the Interior Department’s inspector general showing many Indian Country detention and correctional facilities were outdated and unsafe for both staff and inmates.

Herraiz said simply replacing all the correction facilities is not the answer, but that solutions could include increased use of noncustody programs, renovating buildings and providing less-costly, lower-security beds.

Wendsler Nosie, chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona, said the federal government has failed in its trust responsibility to provide adequate facilities to tribes across the country.

“We can’t live this way, we can’t continue this way,” Nosie said. “We’re talking about lives, we’re talking about souls, we’re talking about the future for Indian Country.”