Federal Government Administers Many Tribal Nation Services: So What Now?
“Entering its fourth week—the longest government shutdown in history—the impacts of the closure are being uniquely and deeply felt in Indian Country, particularly with constraints on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service. The closure has also affected the thousands of federal employees working within these agencies, many of whom are tribal citizens now furloughed. And tribal nations engaged in federal contracting have reported an estimated financial loss of $200,000 to $250,000 per day during the shutdown, according to some tribal leaders.”