Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) met with First Nations Community Health Source, an urban Indian provider, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on January 26, 2019, to discuss the impact of the government shutdown on Indian Country. Photo: Congresswoman Deb Haaland

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'We shouldn't have to fight': Tribes worried about the next shutdown

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

By Acee Agoyo

With the threat of another government shutdown looming over Indian Country, tribal leaders are supporting legislation they hope will protect their communities from the drama and disorder in the nation's capital.

S.229, the Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act, ensures that key programs at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service will remain operational during any future impasses. The agencies would be provided with federal funding ahead of time if the bill becomes law.

"The trust responsibility shouldn't be considered discretionary," National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel said on a conference call in support of the legislation.

"We shouldn't have to fight for that every year through a dysfunctional federal budget process," said Keel, who also serves as lieutenant governor of the Chickasaw Nation.

With @IHSgov & @USIndianAffairs shut down, Native communities are losing essential health & safety services. I'm introducing legislation to ensure Tribes are protected in future shutdowns— because even when this ends, who knows if @POTUS will force another?
— Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) January 25, 2019

S.229 was introduced on Friday, just hours before the longest shutdown in U.S. history came to an end. But the deal announced by President Donald Trump is only temporary -- the BIA, the IHS and other key agencies will once again go without funding unless a more permanent solution is reached by February 15.

After suffering through 35 days of uncertainty, tribes are understandably on edge. Many were forced to cut back on services, reduce hours for employees and make other adjustments in order to limit the impacts of the lapse in federal appropriations, which were promised as part of the trust and treaty responsibility of the U.S.

A government shutdown is an "infringement on our tribal sovereignty," J. Michael Chavarria, the governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara Pueblo and the chairman of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, said on Friday.

Further infringements are on the table because there is no guarantee that Trump will accept any funding bills passed by Congress, especially if they don't address the issue that started the fight in the first place -- money for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Within hours of signing H.J. Res.28, the measure that reopened the government for the time being, the president raised the possibility of another shutdown.

"This was in no way a concession," Trump insisted in a post on Twitter later in the evening, after the deal drew fire in the conservative media. "It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!"

Tribes are suffering tremendously because of the government shutdown. @MartinHeinrich & I sat down with First Nations Community Health Source to fully understand the long term damage. pic.twitter.com/7IsCM6ToRn
— Congresswoman Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) January 26, 2019

Party divisions on Capitol Hill are also at play. While Democrats who control the House -- including the first two Native women in Congress -- repeatedly passed bills to reopen the government this month, Republicans who are in charge of the Senate refused to take them up.

The inaction frustrated tribal leaders but the saga was a familiar one. For the past decade, they have engaged in government-to-government consultations with federal officials and worked closely with lawmakers from both parties in hopes of making gains in the BIA and IHS budgets.

Those countless hours of work have been dealt a cruel fate. Congress hasn't passed a stand-alone Interior appropriations bill, the mechanism for most of Indian Country's programs, since the Obama era, instead resorting to short-term solutions or massive funding packages put on the table at the last minute.

"You know, maybe the silver lining on this crazy Trump shutdown is that it shows why there is a need for legislation for advanced, forward-funding," said Ron Allen, the longtime chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the leader of a tribal self-governance consortium.

Deal Reached to Reopen Government Until Feb. 15. Read full NCAI Broadcast here: https://t.co/JpKwqSo1bR #GovernmentShutdown pic.twitter.com/TLU0qYW8B5
— NCAI (@NCAI1944) January 26, 2019

S.229 helps alleviate the situation by providing funding a year in advance for the majority of programs at the BIA, including the accounts for operation of Indian programs, contract support costs and the Indian loan guarantee. Contract support costs at the IHS are also included, in addition to the accounts covering the agency's other operations, such as clinical services and funds for urban Indians.

"It's really a modest request," said Allen, pointing out that funding for the BIA and the IHS represents a very small percentage of the overall federal budget.

Advance appropriations are not a new idea in government. Congress approved advance funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2014, protecting the agency from the impact of shutdowns.

Advance funding is also already a part of the BIA. Schools overseen by the Bureau of Indian Education are forward funded so they continued to operate during the shutdown.

With future shutdowns a real possibility, Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), who introduced S.229 on Friday, said it was time to take action to protect Indian Country's funding.

"Even when the shutdown ends, who can be sure that this president will not force another one?" Udall, who serves as the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said on the conference call with tribal leaders.

Over in the House, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, introduced H.R.195, the Pay our Doctors Act. The bill, which enjoys bipartisan support, provides forward funding to the IHS.

"By the end of each fiscal year, the chronically underfunded IHS has typically depleted its funding," Mullin wrote in a recent column. "This is a problem in itself, but the Pay Our Doctors Act would—at the very least—allow IHS hospitals to keep their doors open to its tribal population in the event of a government shutdown."