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Native America Calling: Tribes come to grips with $1.5 billion federal funding retraction
Monday, February 16, 2026
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Tribes come to grips with $1.5 billion federal funding retraction
With help from Congress, the Donald Trump administration stripped some $1.5 billion in federal funds previously promised to tribes.

A lot of the funding was in the form of contracts for clean energy manufacturing and development — new money doled out three years earlier as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. And a new analysis by the Brookings Institution identifies three funding and policy changes, including reductions in SNAP and Medicaid, that negatively affect Native Americans.

The research firm says the actions continue a pattern of disinvestment and falls short of the federal government’s binding responsibility to Indian Country.

Guests on Native America Calling
Robert Maxim (Mashpee Wampanoag), fellow at the Brookings Institution, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C.

Chéri Smith (Mi’kmaq descendant), president and CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C.

Timothy Nuvangyaoma (Hopi), vice president of tribal engagement for the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy and former chairman of the Hopi Tribe in Arizona

Dr. Kyle Whyte (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan

Eagle Staff and Flags
Eagle staff and flags on display at the National Congress of American Indians executive council winter session in Washington, D.C., from February 9-11, 2026. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

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