SEATTLE, Washington — The nation’s oldest and largest inter-tribal organization opened their annual meeting here with a competing set of messages about the challenges facing Indian Country.

On one side were two of the most prominent Native women leaders. They told the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) on Monday of threats from President Donald Trump, a Republican who took office in January, ushering in a sea of upheaval and change to programs and services that are supposed to benefit tribal communities.

“The current administration thinks that programs in Indian Country are a giveaway and that is baloney,” said Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, a Democrat and citizen of the White Earth Nation who is running for the U.S. Senate.

“I feel a little bit stronger about that and I will not use that word here and curse in front of all of you, as some of us are just meeting,” Flanagan said to laughter at NCAI’s 82nd annual convention.

Yet after hearing encouragement from the audience, Flanagan let loose with a sentiment that’s been on the minds of many, some 10 months into the Trump administration and just days after the end to the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

“But these are … OK. It’s bullshit,” Flanagan said to loud applause at the Seattle Convention Center.

Flanagan’s “Auntie” was no less sparing in her assessment of the current state of Indian affairs. Deb Haaland, who made history as the first Native person to serve in a presidential cabinet under Democrat Joe Biden, blasted the “chaos and cruelty” inflicted on tribes and their communities over the last several months.

“Cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP benefits, cuts to Indian Health Service, cuts to Indian education,” observed Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna who is running for governor of New Mexico.

“Cuts, cuts, cuts,” continued Haaland, a Democrat. “Those cuts are harming our people and I believe very strongly that I have the ability to fight back against that,  to hold feet to the fire, to make sure that we are instilling and making sure that the federal government lives up to its trust and treaty obligations to our people and our tribal governments.”

On the other side of the coin, literally and figuratively, were officials from the Trump administration. After defending the president’s decision to stop producing the penny, a move that will impact Native communities where cashless payments aren’t always an option, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach from the Department of Treasury painted a much different picture of the way tribes are interacting with Washington, D.C.

“You have a friend in the Trump administration, you have a friend in the Treasury, you have a friend with the Treasurer of the United States,” said Beach, as he promised that the Internal Revenue Service would stop  ”aggressively” auditing tribes.

“We’re gonna stop that,” Beach said to applause. “I just wanna let you know that. We think you can determine your welfare better than Washington, D.C.”

And while the Trump administration did not send its most prominent Indian Country figure — that would be recently confirmed Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs William “Billy” Kirland, a citizen of the Navajo Nation — to NCAI’s opening day, tribal leaders heard from two other political appointees who also stressed messages of cooperation.

“I have to really say the Secretary has a genuine and deep commitment to Indian Country,” Mark Cruz, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, said of his boss, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“The Secretary remains very engaged in Indian Country,” added Cruz, who serves as a senior adviser to Kennedy in Washington. He promised that a proposed reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, a cabinet agency that includes the Indian Health Service, would not ignore tribal voices.

“Before I came out here, I worked with his office and the Deputy Secretary’s office, and I got a commitment that no matter what we do on that front, we’re going to make sure that we have tribal consultation as a part of that,” said Cruz, who had a role at the Bureau of Indian Affairs during Trump’s first administration.

Another Trump official encouraged tribes to work closely with the administration, by taking part in the relatively new self-governance initiative at the Department of Transportation. James Crawford, a citizen of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, is only the second person to hold the title of Assistant Secretary for Tribal Government Affairs at his cabinet level agency.

“Unlike some of the other tribal self-governance programs, we don’t come in and run your program,” said Crawford, whose position was created by an act of Congress. “Once you are approved into the Tribal Self-Governance Program for Transportation,  it’s up to you and your tribe to run that program.”

But as a former chair of his tribal nation, Crawford told NCAI that he understands Indian Country’s concerns. He described how his community, which he led up until May of this year, avoided the “chaos” that often comes during a change in presidential administration in D.C.

“We had a huge project coming through our reservation that just finished up a couple weeks ago,” Crawford said of his tribe in Wisconsin. “But as a tribal chairman, I was able to gather all those funds for that project a year or so before that project even came to be.”

“And when all this chaos started happening with the change in administration and monies were being slowed down … we already had ours,” Crawford said at NCAI, as he vowed to use his position in Washington to be advocate for Indian Country.

 ”I just want you to know that, these aren’t just idle words,” Crawford told NCAI. “I stormed [Capitol] Hill as a tribal leader. I know our Congress people — Republicans, Democrats — I’ve been there. If we have something that we need to get done, I will be that voice.”

Crawford’s acknowledgement was the closest the Trump team came to being somewhat on the same page as Indian Country. After four years of the Biden administration, when tribes secured numerous policy achievements and history making appointments, the landscape looks very different now.

“We will work with any administration and any Congress to support NCAI’s principles and priorities, and we will disagree with any administration and any Congress that attempts to ignore the United States obligations and fails to respect and honor tribal sovereignty,” NCAI President Mark Macarro said to applause.

“Our sovereignty is not on the table,” said Macarro, who is seeking a second term as NCAI’s president this week.

“This is not a new approach,” continued Macarro, who also serves as chair of his tribe, the Pechanga Band of Indians in California. “It’s what NCAI has been doing for 82 years.”

“NCAI has never faltered in our commitment to you,” said Macarro, who noted that NCAI worked quickly to keep tribes informed during the government shutdown that began on October 1. “People who want to undermine tribes and tribal sovereignty for their own interest benefit from a divided Indian Country. It’s an old trick. And that’s why we must be vigilant every day and stand united.”

“We’re strongest when we speak with one voice,” concluded Macarro, who enjoyed close ties with the Biden administration, even traveling with the former president on Air Force One for the historic apology for the abuses of the Indian boarding school era.

NCAI is expecting record turnout for its event, which runs all week in Washington’s most populous metropolitan area. As of dawn on Monday morning, the organization had already seen upwards of 2,500 people registered — and more were on the way.

“We will have an election this year,” noted Patrick Anderson, who acts a parliamentarian for NCAI. Anderson, who is Tlingit from Alaska, spent some of his formative years in Seattle

By the middle of the day, enough tribal leaders and representatives had registered to make the 82nd annual convention official. According to NCAI’s constitution and bylaws, 50 percent plus one of tribal delegates are needed.

“We’re now perilously close to quorum,” Anderson said around Noon on Monday.

Nominations for NCAI’s President, 1st Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary take place on Wednesday, when the candidates will offer speeches to the tribal delegates. The election itself is on Thursday.

In addition to the election, NCAI will consider resolutions on a wide range of issues, from cannabis to child welfare. Delegates submitted 125 policy proposals as of Monday.

“It took us four days to walk our way through the resolutions,” said Ron Allen, the chair of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington who serves as co-chair of NCAI’s Resolutions Committee.