- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) urged federal officials to protect tribal programs as agencies implement new diversity and equity policies, following disruptions that tribal leaders say threatened essential services.
In a Feb. 5 letter to Acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth, Murkowski requested immediate guidance to ensure tribal programs and funding remain intact across federal agencies.
"Any pauses or elimination of these programs would undermine the United States' trust responsibility to Indian Tribes and their ability to provide services to their members," Murkowski wrote.
Murkowski pointed to the Department of Interior's recent actions as a model approach. "At least one federal agency seems to understand this distinct legal and political relationship with Indian Tribes—the Department of the Interior," she wrote, noting the department's Jan. 30 secretarial order that explicitly protects tribal programs.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. welcomed Interior's approach. "Cherokee Nation applauds Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on his recent confirmation and for taking immediate action to exempt tribal programs from unwarranted scrutiny and reinforce the federal government's treaty and trust obligations to tribal nations," Hoskin said in a statement.
In a statement, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Principal Chief Lewis Johnson emphasized tribes' unique status: "Always remember that Tribal Nations have a unique political status as sovereigns and we can never allow our status to be misconstrued by anyone based on racial classification."
The Coalition of Large Tribes, representing 21 tribes including the Navajo Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation, passed an emergency resolution emphasizing that tribal funding stems from treaty obligations, not discretionary spending that could be affected by the orders.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. granted a temporary restraining order last week blocking OMB from pausing federal financial assistance programs, including tribal funding. The ruling follows a similar order from Rhode Island protecting funding in 22 states and D.C., though questions remained about its application to tribal nations in other states.
