The White House has finally released details of its proposed budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), confirming hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to tribal programs and services.

According to the 1,225-page document, the administration of President Donald Trump wants to reduce funding for public safety and justice at the BIA to $420 million, representing a loss of $140 million from current levels. Tribes have already warned Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum of the devastating nature of the proposed cut, calling it “absolutely unacceptable.”

“By nearly every measure and indicator, Tribal Nations and our citizens face a lower quality of life than do others in the United States,” the Coalition for Tribal Sovereignty wrote in April after word of the cuts surfaced in Washington, D.C.

“The disruption of what little resources are flowing will only deepen the divide between Indian Country and the rest of America,” the coalition of tribal governments said in the letter.

The White House released details of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, outlining cuts to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Public safety and justice is slated to lose $140 million while the Indian Loan Guarantee Program is being eliminated. #FY2026

More:https://t.co/LTr1psrj9C

— indianz.com (@indianz) June 2, 2025

In another significant cut, the White House seeks to take construction of Indian schools down to $48 million, translating to a loss of $162 million. The administration has accused the program of “poor” management, along with “cost overruns” and “delays” in building, maintaining and repairing facilities for tribal students.

“The poor condition of Indian school facilities has been reported for nearly 100 years,” the Department of Interior Inspector General said in a report last year that cited a $1 billion backlog in deferred maintenance at facilities funded by the Bureau of Indian Education.

Elsewhere, the Trump administration is planning to eliminate the Indian Land Consolidation Program, an initiative that helps return land to tribal nations, along with the Indian Loan Guarantee Program, which boosts economic development on reservations. When combined with cuts to numerous services that support self-determination and self-governance, the BIA will be taking a hit of at least $1 billion if the Republican president gets his way.

“Our trust and treaty responsibilities are national commitments to be upheld, and debilitating cuts jeopardize these obligations,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, told Secretary Burgum in a written statement for a hearing on May 20.

“Tribes already do their best with limited resources, and further reductions in funding for services and self-governance will create even greater challenges,” said Cole, who is the first Native person to lead the legislative panel that writes the bills that fund the federal government.

Released without announcement on Friday, the lengthy fiscal year 2026 document follows the “skinny budget” that the White House provided earlier in May. But even without details, key lawmakers have already been expressing alarms about the cuts being proposed for Indian Country.

“While I appreciate that, the skinny budget alleges that proposed cuts would enable tribes to focus on law enforcement, I’m not sure how reducing BIA law enforcement funding by $107 million is treating the program as a core priority of tribes,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), whose leadership position on the Senate Committee on Appropriations puts her in charge of Interior’s funding bill, told Burgum at a hearing on May 21.

“I know, ’cause I hear it,” continued Murkowski, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “Tribes have been requesting more support for this program to address a serious lack of policing.”

Despite concerns raised by Republicans, Burgum did not indicate whether he would be changing course on the proposed cuts at the BIA. When asked about reducing funds for Indian school construction, the former two-term governor of North Dakota suggested that the federal government isn’t getting enough of a return on its trust and treaty responsibilities.

“In terms of dollars in states like my own state of North Dakota, we put more dollars into BIE than we do into tribal and into public,” Burgum said at the hearing led by Murkowski. “And yet the outcomes are the worst.”

“When I have my education hat on, I’m not seeing a correlation,” said Burgum, arguing that the BIE isn’t spending the little funding it receives in a wise manner.

Fiscal year 2026 officially starts on October 1, a deadline just four months away. Without government appropriations, federal agencies like the BIA risk a shutdown, resulting in delays in services and programs promised to tribes by treaties, court decisions and federal laws.

Despite the responsibility, Congress has been unable to pass standalone legislation that funds most Indian Country programs for the last 15 years. Instead, lawmakers resort to omnibus bills that tribes say fail to keep pace with inflation and rising costs. The result is that Indian Country continues to be shortchanged of the resources promised to them.

“The federal government has a fundamental duty to ensure public safety on tribal lands, rooted in treaty and trust obligations to tribal nations,” National Congress of American Indians President Mark Macarro said in testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in February.

But Macarro noted that funding for public safety and justice in Indian Country falls far short of the need. He said tribes require at least 25,000 personnel on their lands to make them safe.

“The funding shortfall is $3 billion,” said Macarro, who also serves as chair of the Pechanga Band of Indians in California.

Cole, who took over the House Committee on Appropriations in 2024, issued a statement on May 2 that praised President Trump’s “decisive leadership” when it comes to cutting federal spending. He has not commented publicly on the budget details released by the White House on Friday.

Starting this week, Cole’s committee will advance standalone bills that fund the federal government. According to the schedule, the Interior bill will be considered during the week of June 23.

Additionally, the committee is holding a hearing on Thursday to examine the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for the Indian Health Service (IHS). Although the agency is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, the IHS is funded through the Interior appropriations bill.

Budget Hearing – Indian Health Service (June 5, 2025)