Key lawmakers are once again attempting to hold the Donald Trump administration accountable for the U.S. government’s trust and treaty obligations in Indian Country.

In a letter on Friday, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs warned that a reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) threatens programs serving American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. They called on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to engage in tribal consultation before cutting jobs, closing offices and eliminating initiatives affecting Indian Country.

“The restructuring of HHS, including job cuts and consolidating agencies, will result in significant changes and further harm programs serving Tribes and Native communities,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the chair and vice chair of the committee, respectively, wrote in the May 9 letter to Kennedy.

“As you know, the programs administered by these federal agencies support the federal government’s commitment to provide health care services to Native people grounded in treaties, statutes, executive orders, other federal laws, and agreements,” the committee leaders added.

“The termination of staff responsible for managing these programs threatens the health, safety, and well-being of Native communities across the country,” Murkowski and Schatz told Secretary Kennedy, who boasted of his experience in tribal issues during his confirmation process earlier this year.

Murkowski and Schatz will get another chance to air their concerns about the Trump administration’s efforts at a hearing in the nation’s capital on Wednesday. A panel of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian leaders are testifying about critical programs at HHS that serve their communities, whose needs have long been underfunded despite promises made through treaties, laws and nation-to-nation agreements.

“As you know, Tribal Nations have political, government-to-government relationships with the United States, and we prepaid with our lands and resources for the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations which are carried out, in part, through a series of federal statutory mandates,” a coalition of tribal governments said in an April 19 letter of their own to Kennedy.

But one person who won’t be witnessing Indian Country’s message in person is Kennedy, who on Mother’s Day shared photos of himself and his grandchildren swimming in a creek in Washington, D.C., known for high levels of bacteria from pollution and sewage. No official from HHS is appearing at the committee’s hearing.

The Trump administration’s absence was also felt at the committee’s most recent hearing on April 2. Native leaders discussed devastating cuts to Indian Country programs at the Department of Education, which the Republican president is proposing to eliminate altogether.

“The president does not get to wash his hands of the federal government’s trust responsibility by memorandum,” Schatz said of Trump’s agenda at the prior hearing. “If he wants to eliminate that trust responsibility, he has to come back to this committee and to this Congress.”

According to HHS, Kennedy is indeed leading a “dramatic restructuring” in response to one of Trump’s memos. A fact sheet released in March derides the cabinet-level agency for increasing its budget and workforce during the administration of former president Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The Indian Health Service (IHS), which is responsible for providing care to more than 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives, was one of the beneficiaries of the historic investments implemented during the Biden era. The IHS saw nearly $7 billion in appropriations for the current fiscal year and was in line for even more before Republicans took control of the U.S. Congress following the November 2024 elections.

But the improvements at IHS go beyond dollars, which remain far below Indian Country’s needs. After years of advocacy, tribes convinced Congress to provide what is known as “advance appropriations” to the agency, protecting Indian health programs from government shutdowns and changing political winds.

The Trump administration, however, is not only seeking to cut $900 million already allocated to the IHS — the White House wants to get rid of advance appropriations altogether. Advocates warn of major setbacks if Kennedy doesn’t step in and protect Indian Country from harms, as he has previously pledged.

“As the primary federal agency upholding the United States’ obligation to provide for the health of American Indian and Alaska Native people, it is critical that IHS is fully funded to the maximum extent possible,” Francys Crevier, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Council on Urban Indian Health, said in an April 18 letter to Secretary Kennedy.

“As you know, IHS is a chronically underfunded agency, and any cuts to IHS funding only exacerbate this issue,” continued Crevier, who is a citizen of the Algonquin First Nation from Canada. “It is also critically important that IHS funding is protected from funding interruptions such as government shutdowns.”

In April, Kennedy met with tribal leaders and visited Indian health facilities in Arizona and New Mexico as part of an initiative he’s calling Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA. He also hosted tribal leaders in D.C. earlier this month for a consultation about the HHS budget.

“I strongly defended the success of IHS Advance Appropriations, which shields life-or-death care from government shutdowns and provides essential year-to-year funding stability for Indian health programs,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation said of the meeting in an opinion published on Indianz.Com on Monday.

“I also raised alarms about the termination of vital federal grants meant to build long-term public health infrastructure for Indian Country,” added Hoskin, who noted that HHS is responsible for tribal programs at numerous other agencies besides the IHS.

The National Indian Health Board, for instance, has pointed out that Trump is seeking to cut funding at HHS for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The proposed reductions in the fiscal year 2026 budget include a complete elimination of $4 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that Chief Hoskin said protects tribal elders and families.

“The federal trust responsibility is not about politics; it is a constitutional and moral obligation rooted in treaties and the sacrifices of our ancestors,” Hoskin observed.

Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs takes place at 3:30pm Eastern in Room 628 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building. The witness list follows:

The Honorable Janet Alkire
Chairwoman
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Fort Yates, North Dakota

The Honorable Loni Greninger
Vice Chairwoman
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council
Sequim, Washington

Ms. Melissa Charlie
Executive Director
Fairbanks Native Association
Fairbanks, Alaska

Ms. Lucy Simpson
Executive Director
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
Lame Deer, Montana

Dr. Sheri-Ann Daniels
Chief Executive Officer
Papa Ola Lōkahi
Honolulu, Hawaii

A webcast will be available on indian.senate.gov shortly before the start of the hearing.

Oversight Hearing entitled “Delivering Essential Public Health and Social Services to Native Americans – Examining Federal Programs serving Native Americans across the Operating Divisions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services” (May 14, 2025)