IHS due to take bigger cut than expected with budget sequester

Tuesday, March 12, 2013  

Sequestration of the federal budget will take a bigger hit on the Indian Health Service than expected, Indian Country Today reports.

IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux initially told tribal leaders to prepare for a 2 percent reduction. She believed some of the agency's funding was protected under a law that shields the Department of Veterans Affairs from cuts.

But the White House Office of Management and Budget has determined otherwise. IHS, like most other federal agencies, will be seeing a 9 percent cut as a result of the misinterpretation.

“Fully exempting the Department of Veterans Affairs budget from sequestration is an acknowledgment of our sacred responsibility to our troops,” Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) told ICT. “I am angered by the administration’s double-standard. How can they choose to uphold one sacred responsibility and not another?"

Get the Story:
A Miscalculation on the Sequester Has Already Harmed Indian Health (Indian Country Today 3/11)

School district on Navajo Nation braces for cuts with sequester (3/6)
Tribes brace for cuts in federal funds under budget sequester (3/1)
Eastern Cherokees prepare for budget hit with sequestration (2/27)
Indian programs at Interior face $130M cut under sequester (2/26)
Agency leaders detail effects of sequester on Indian programs (2/15)