Tribal leaders call for exemption from federal funding freeze to protect treaty rights

Tribal leaders are pressing for an exemption from a sweeping federal funding freeze, emphasizing their unique status as sovereign nations with treaty-protected rights to federal services. 

The Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) passed an emergency resolution passed today, calling for the White House Office of Management and Budget to exempt tribal governments and entities serving tribal citizens from the freeze. COLT, representing 21 tribes with large land bases including the Navajo Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation, stressed that tribal funding stems from treaty obligations, not discretionary spending. 

"Most COLT Tribes are more than fifty percent funded by Federal dollars," the resolution states, noting these funds support essential services including public safety, healthcare, and child protective services.

Individual tribes are also taking action. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' Fort Hall Business Council is "diligent in efforts to protect and preserve the rights granted by the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty and hold the Federal government to their trust responsibilities," according to a tribal statement. Chairman Lee Juan Tendoy will lead a delegation to Washington D.C. to advocate for treaty rights.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the freeze through 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 3, but concerns persist across Indian Country. The National Council of Urban Indian Health has identified more than 200 affected federal programs serving Native communities, from healthcare to housing and infrastructure.

The funding disruption stems from a Jan. 27 Office of Management and Budget memorandum directing federal agencies to pause funding while reviewing programs potentially affected by recent executive orders. By Tuesday, impacts were evident — the Mescalero Apache Nation learned their Department of Justice funding would freeze, while the Zuni Pueblo's youth program lost access to funding for employee payments.

COLT cites President Reagan's 1983 Indian Policy statement affirming that the "government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes has endured" through treaties recognized in the Constitution. The organization says OMB must immediately restore account access and establish that tribal funding requires no additional justification.

The White House has since clarified that legally required payments will continue, but tribal leaders argue their treaty-based obligations should be explicitly exempted from any freeze.

"Even if just temporary, Tribal Nations depend on the federal government fulfilling the treaty and trust obligations. We prepaid for every penny we get with nearly 2 billion acres of land. Treaties do not expire when we change presidents, so we expect the federal government to be good to their word and not interrupt our funding. Our funding should be fully funded, mandatory, and multiples of what it is today," Dr. Aaron A. Payment, former first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians and federal Indian policy expert, wrote on Facebook. 

Tribal advocates stress that federal funding for tribes differs fundamentally from other federal spending because it stems from tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Kevin Allis, former CEO of the National Congress of American Indians, wrote in a recent Native News Online opinion piece, tribes hold "a unique and legally distinct status" as sovereign nations with a political, not racial, classification under U.S. law – a principle affirmed by the Supreme Court in Morton v. Mancari (1974).