US Government Shutdown Hits Native American Tribes Especially Hard - Senator Leahy

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2019) The three-week US government shutdown has resulted in a funding cutoff of many programs for Native American tribes, undermining trust, violating treaty obligations and otherwise having a devastating impact, Senator Patrick Leahy said in a press release.

Leahy pointed out that payments to tribes that operate their own Federal programs under self-determination contracts and compacts have been halted.

"Tribes are being forced to scramble for funds to keep health care facilities open, keep law enforcement personnel on the job, and providing for basic needs for their communities by furloughing tribal employees, taking out loans, and/or reducing other services," Leahy said on Friday.

While some essential federally operated tribal programs related to health, education and public safety remain in effect, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has furloughed more than 30 percent of its workforce and a number programs have ceased, including general assistance payments for low-income tribal members, Leahy said.

The senator cited several examples such as the Mescalero Apache tribe in the US state of New Mexico, where the BIA Chief of Police is furloughed on a rotating basis. As a result, the BIA currently has one law-enforcement officer rotating on a 12-hour shift policing 720 square miles of reservation lands - the size of the entire city of Houston, Texas - with no backup.

Leahy also said that on a nationwide basis, funding has been cut off for Urban Indian Health Programs. Indian Health Service grant funding for these programs - which service tribal members who live in urban areas and areas without access to other Indian Health Service facilities - has ceased, threatening access to Primary care, substance abuse treatment, and other crucial health services.

Failure to make good on funding commitments made to Native Americans violates trust and treaty obligations made by the US government to tribes when they ceded millions of acres of lands, according to the release.