Melanie Stansbury Claims Trump Admin’s Handling Of Tribal Affairs ‘Feels Like A Betrayal’

Forbes Breaking News

During Thursday’s Natural Resources Committee hearing, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) spoke about the Trump Administration’s handling of tribal affairs.

Transcript

00:00As time has expired, the chair recognizes the gentlelady from New Mexico, Ms. Stansbury, for five minutes.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Hello, Mr. Secretary. It's wonderful to have you here today.

00:11We haven't had the opportunity to sit down, but I do hope that we do.

00:15And I'm grateful that you're here to talk about the administration's budget for 2026.

00:21And certainly, I know, personally, I have a lot of questions about the budget,

00:24but I want to use the majority of my time today to really drill down on one of the core mission areas of Interior,

00:30which is tribal affairs.

00:32And I know that as former governor of North Dakota, this is an area that you've worked on in the past.

00:40I know, at least from things I've read and folks have told me,

00:43you're proud of your work that you've done with North Dakota's tribes.

00:47And I know that many of our tribal leaders were actually very optimistic

00:50when you were named as the secretary because of that background.

00:53And so, I think it's within that context that the administration's handling of tribal affairs

01:00since January has been so, I'll just say, perplexing and frustrating.

01:07In New Mexico, we have 23 sovereign tribes, and I'm the vice chair of the bipartisan Native American caucus

01:14here in Congress that includes Mr. Cole and Cherise Davids as the chairs.

01:20And as I know you're aware, I mean, the issues that are affecting Indian country

01:25because of the administration is vast.

01:29And I'm literally hearing from tribal leaders every single day.

01:34And amongst the many, many things that folks are saying to me is that they feel like

01:40how the administration is approaching tribal affairs is not only broken, but feels like a betrayal.

01:46And among some of the issues that come up over and over again is the proposed cut in this budget

01:52of almost a billion dollars for BIA and BIE, the mass firings and layoffs of staff at BIA

01:59that happened over the last few months, and of BIE, the firing of faculty at our two tribal schools,

02:06which I'm sure you're well aware of, the loss of over 800 employees at BIA,

02:11and the proposed consolidation of the BIA regional offices, freezing of grants for tribes across the country.

02:18We had tribal leaders here just last week talking about they still have frozen grants.

02:25Threats to revoking critical protections for sacred places like Chaco Canyon,

02:31which I know BLM has reached out to our tribal leaders about.

02:34We have an executive order that was revoked on consultation policies.

02:39There's an executive order that proposes to turn BIE and tribal education into a school voucher program.

02:46We have a reconciliation bill here that the president's trying to push that would eviscerate Medicaid

02:51and food assistance to tribal communities, and just general chaos and fear.

02:56And you're a CEO.

02:58You come out of the business world.

03:00And so I respect that quite a lot.

03:02I grew up in a family of small businesses.

03:05And I'll just say this in a very honest way here, because I think it needs to be said,

03:10because many of our tribal leaders are afraid to say this directly,

03:13because they don't want to have a bad relationship with the department,

03:17because they need to have a good relationship.

03:20What's happening at the department right now is not okay.

03:23It's impacting all 570-plus tribes, and they are in crisis right now,

03:30spending constant time trying to figure out how they're going to plan for their communities,

03:35how they're going to finish projects, what they're going to do if these budget cuts go through.

03:39They're in crisis.

03:40And when they try to reach out to your office, when they try to reach out to Indian Affairs,

03:44when they try to reach out to BIA regional staff, they're not hearing back from people.

03:50And part of why they're not hearing back from people is because a lot of people got fired, right?

03:54But also because there's a lot of, there's a culture of fear inside of Department of Interior.

04:00And, you know, I know that there was a kind of shock and awe policy at the beginning of the administration

04:06to try to winnow out some of the staff.

04:09But because of the tribal trust responsibility, like, this can't continue.

04:14It's not sustainable for our tribal governments.

04:16So my ask to you in a very earnest way is that you will make space and create opportunities

04:25to meet with tribal leaders directly, honestly, and have these honest conversations

04:31that you'll fight to try to reverse the budget cuts that are in this budget

04:35because our tribes can't sustain a billion dollars in cuts to BIA.

04:39They can't.

04:39And I know you know that.

04:40I mean, most of this is contracts that go directly to tribes.

04:46And to work to try to address these issues and ensure that there's real consultation with our tribes.

04:52And I'm short on time, but Mr. Brigham, can I get your commitment that you'll do that?

04:58I would love to follow up with you.

05:01You've got some insights.

05:02I'd like to start off with a meeting with you.

05:05But if there's an opportunity to meet with the bipartisan caucus to have a more in-depth discussion

05:10and listen to everything that you're hearing, I would look forward to that.

05:14I would deeply appreciate that.

05:16And Mr. Chairman, I'll just say very quickly, you know, I'm a former OMB-er.

05:20I was a career staffer at OMB in the interior branch, and I know how that place works.

05:25And I know this budget was shoved down the throats of our agencies,

05:28and I hope you'll work with us to fix what's broken in it.

05:31So appreciate it.

05:33I yield back.

Category

Transcript

Recommended