The partial federal government shutdown has left Native American tribes playing a shell game to avoid cutting services and laying people off.

In the case of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Tribal Chairman Mic Isham says they saw the shutdown coming and did early draw-downs of federal grants. They’re using those same grants as collateral for a loan from a commercial bank.

Isham says it’s a game they can only play for a few weeks. “If it goes past December 15, I don’t think that we’ll have any other option but to do a massive round of lay-offs,” says Isham. “There would be very few services. Most of our programs are either direct appropriations or grants – the Indian Health Service, our clinic.”