- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
President Donald Trump signed legislation Wednesday night ending a 43-day government shutdown that disrupted federal programs across Indian Country, including food assistance, housing and tribal lending operations.
The continuing resolution reverses the Oct. 10 reduction in force, or RIF, that eliminated all 81 staff members at the Treasury Department's CDFI Fund, which administers financing programs for Native community lenders. The new legislation requires the Treasury to notify terminated CDFI Fund employees by Monday that they have been reinstated with full backpay.
The measure also restores full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves at least 42 million Americans, including tribal citizens who received only partial payments in November. The bill provides SNAP funding through fiscal year 2026 and replenishes the program's $6 billion contingency fund.
The Native CDFI Network said in a news alert that it will work with reinstated CDFI Fund staff to determine timelines for distributing delayed fiscal year 2025 awards under the Native American CDFI Assistance Program, which provides technical assistance and financial support to tribal lenders.
The continuing resolution also prohibits federal agencies from initiating new RIFs before Jan. 30, 2026, when the current funding measure expires.
The shutdown, the longest in history, forced tribal governments to redirect limited resources to fill gaps in federal services. Tribes including Fort Peck, Blackfeet, Lower Brule Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux and Crow culled bison herds to distribute meat to citizens who lost SNAP benefits, according to the Associated Press.
About one-third of Fort Peck's tribal members depend on monthly benefit checks, nearly triple the national rate, the AP reported. Fort Peck tribal members received only partial SNAP payments in November after the Trump administration stopped funds to the program during the shutdown, according to the report.
Rudy Soto, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council, said the shutdown disrupted operations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Native American Programs, leaving federal employees unavailable to process funding requests or provide technical assistance for housing projects.
“Each day that funding and program support were delayed meant tribal governments were forced to make difficult decisions affecting housing development, maintenance, and safety,” Soto said in a statement.
The organization is collecting feedback from tribal housing programs on shutdown impacts through a survey on its website.
NAFOA announced it will host a webinar Friday addressing how tribal nations can prepare for operational challenges as the federal government reopens. The session will cover impacts on tribal operations, service disruptions, funding backlogs and strategies to strengthen resilience against future shutdowns, according to the organization.
The continuing resolution funds most federal agencies through Jan. 30, 2026, while a three-bill appropriations package provides full-year funding through Sept. 30, 2026, for the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, including SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
Congress must reach agreement on nine remaining appropriations bills by Jan. 30 to continue funding agencies including Treasury and the CDFI Fund. The House has passed a Financial Services and General Government bill that includes $276.6 million for the CDFI Fund, with $35 million designated for the Native CDFI program, but the Senate has not yet released its version.
The National Congress of American Indians said the shutdown exposed how "temporary fixes are not enough" and that stopgap funding forces tribal governments to divert resources away from serving citizens.
A Brookings Institution analysis found that tribal nations face unique vulnerability to federal funding disruptions because they cannot levy broad taxes or maintain reserve funds like states, leaving them more dependent on consistent federal appropriations than other governments.
