Murkowski, leading Senate Cmte. on Indian Affairs, pens letter sharing concerns over potential tribal funding cuts after Trump executive order

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget earlier this week, urging the office to demand that federal agencies move to protect Indian tribes across the country — as well as related programming — in the aftermath of recent Trump Administration orders to include those affecting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA), and environmental justice (EJ) programming.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and sent the letter to the OMB on Wednesday.

“I ask OMB to take action now to reaffirm the unique treatment, programs and services to Indian Tribes based on their political and legal status, which is recognized in the U.S. Constitution, treaties, and many federal laws and policies, to ensure that there is no disruption to federal Tribal programs,” she wrote in part. “As the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed, Indian Tribes are a unique political class, not a racial one, and their sovereignty and trust relationship with the federal government must be upheld.”

The letter goes on to state that the Department of the Interior could serve as a “model” for other federal agencies implementing presidential initiatives after the DOI issued Secretarial Order 3416, in anticipation of Executive Order 14151 being implemented to completion.

The order includes, in the committee’s words, “a limitation that acknowledges that nothing in the order should be construed to affect activities that implement legal requirements independent of the EOs, including ‘the statutory authorities, treaty, and/or trust obligations of the Department and its Bureaus/Offices to Tribal nations and the Native Hawaiian Community.’”

The DOI, however, is not the only department or division that implements Tribal programs; those programs, according to the letter, “are found throughout nearly all of the federal agencies, which makes this clarification critical.”

“It is imperative that the relationship between Tribes and their federal partners be honored,” Murkowski wrote, “which is in line with President Trump’s prior support for Indian Tribes, tribal sovereignty, the government-to-government relationship, and the federal trust responsibility during his first term.”

Vivian Korthuis, who serves as chief executive officer of the Association of Village Council Presidents — a nonprofit tribal consortium representing 56 member tribes of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, whose mission is to, “work together with Tribes to enhance sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and Our Way of Life” — responded to a request for comment in a prepared statement shared via email Friday.

Korthuis said, in part, that the AVCP is grateful for Murkowski’s advocacy and was pleased to learn of the letter to the OMB and its acting director, Matthew Vaeth.

“This is the type of advocacy that we need to support and protect our Tribes, our programs, and our federally funded services,” Korthuis wrote. “We rely on the federal government to honor their trust responsibility as required by treaties, laws, policies, and the United States Constitution.”

She added that the committee letter provides hope, and even some relief, as people across Alaska face a “very confusing time.”

“We only hope that our Federal Government and the Office of Management and Budget listen, take note, and issue a blanket exemption in a memorandum,” she added, “that protects our Tribes and our federally funded programs and essential services from any future impact that the President’s Executive Orders and policies could have on Tribes, if not exempted.”

The committee letter also requests return correspondence, in writing, detailing any action the OMB is taking or will take “ensure all federal agencies properly recognize the unique status of Indian Tribes based on their political classification.”

As of publication time, Alaska’s News Source had not yet received a response to a request for comment sent to the OMB Friday.

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