Federal shutdown hurts services for Native Americans and they worry worse is coming

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe just outside Reno, Nevada furloughed at least 25 employees starting on Oct. 1 and closed its museum and cultural center, higher education department, and services for Native children in the public school system.

It said the closures would be temporary but that more closures could still come if the shutdown endures.

“As the government shutdown continues other departments may become limited in operation,” Chairman Steven Wadsworth wrote in a letter to tribal members. “These furloughs are necessary to ensure the continued operation of public safety, such as the police, EMS, and the food bank.”

People across Indian Country worried that the Trump administration would use the shutdown to lay off federal workers who uphold their treaty rights.

“I’m extremely nervous about that,” said Liz Carr, vice president for intergovernmental relations for the Cedar Rock Alliance, which helps tribes develop health care, self-governance and land management policies.

President Donald Trump and his now-former adviser Elon Musk this year called on the General Services Administration to start terminating leases held by the nation’s 7,500-odd federal offices, including 25 regional offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

During the Biden administration, Carr was appointed as the first tribal adviser to the Office of Management and Budget. Carr said she was instructed to resign by the new administration and that position remains unfilled. There is a lack of understanding about trust and treaty responsibilities in the agency and at the White House, she said.

“I can see some of those programs being considered either DEI or some kind of waste. Then they come back to dismantle those programs and people aren’t able to come back and deliver those services,” she said. “And the tribes have nowhere to turn.”

Tribes go through BIA regional offices to approve things like road projects and law enforcement funding and 15 BIA offices across 38 states have closed, according to the agency. Federal employees that protect life and property are exempt from the shutdown, but BIA law enforcement officers in the department will likely be working without pay because of the way funds are appropriated.

The Indian Health Service, a department within Health and Human Services, provides health care to Native Americans and Alaska Natives and will remain funded and operational, HHS contingency plan says.

However, hundreds of health care centers and clinics across that country that are owned and managed by tribal nations but federally funded are a different matter.

Agencies that assist tribes have already closed, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which operates the Indian Housing Block Grant, and the Federal Highway Administration, which operates the Tribal Transportation Program.

The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers — a national organization of tribal workers dedicated to safeguarding Native traditions and cultures — is asking the federal government to halt projects like oil and gas development that require consultation with tribal nations.

The government is legally required to consult with tribes on projects could affect them, and that cannot happen without the necessary federal employees on the job, said the association's executive director, Dr. Valerie Grussing.

“Projects should only resume when agencies are fully staffed and tribes have someone to consult with,” she said.