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- By Native News Online Staff
WASHINGTON — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other news released from Washington, D.C. that impacts Indian Country recently.
Register for the Feb. 18 Tribal Advisory Committee Meeting
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will hold a virtual, public meeting of the Tribal Advisory Committee on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, from 12-7 p.m. ET. Register to join the meeting either in listening mode or to deliver public comments using the Zoom registration link on the USDA Office of Tribal Relations website.
Public comment will be accepted between 3-4:00 p.m. Eastern Time and must be limited to no more than 5 minutes per person.
The Tribal Advisory Committee is tasked with providing advice and guidance to the Secretary of Agriculture on matters relating to Tribal and Indian affairs. The Committee is authorized to meet under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Committee members are appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture; Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The USDA Office of Tribal Relations provides support and staffing to the Committee.
Learn more about the Tribal Advisory Committee at the USDA Office of Tribal Relations website.
FACT SHEET: How Trump's Federal Layoffs Will Impact Some of Native American Programs
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, relesaed a statement on Friday after the mass layoffs were announced by the Trump administration. Her statement included a fact sheet that provided an overview of how the layoffs will impact the country. The fact sheet included a summary about Native Americans:
Indian Health Service: The Indian Health Service provides direct health care to 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives, but has, for years, been plagued with chronic staffing challenges and consistently high vacancy rates (upwards of 29%) across all service areas. The staffing shortage has, for decades, undercut the quality of care to Tribal communities across the country. Congress has consistently identified recruitment and retention as a high priority for the agency and has worked on a bipartisan basis to fully fund staffing at IHS facilities and to increase hiring incentives to provide relief.
- The Trump administration’s mass firing of more than an estimated 850 employees includes doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and lab technicians–and will devastate the Indian Health Service’s ability to provide services for patients and make an already dire situation worse. These indiscriminate cuts to IHS’ health care workforce will leave thousands without access to critical care and could cost lives.
- American Indians and Alaska Natives have a life expectancy rate of 11 years less than the national average of 65.2 years old. That’s the same life expectancy rate as the overall population of the United States in 1944.
Department of the Interior: The Interior Department is responsible for the management of public lands, waters, and natural resources, including both conservation and development on federal lands under the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, as well as administering programs affecting Native Americans. The Department is reportedly laying off 2,300 employees.
- These layoffs will lead to a damaging loss of full-time staff at the National Park Service, which is already operating well below prior staffing levels despite significant increases in visitation. As a result of onerous budget caps during the 2010s, the National Park Service lost 15% of its staff while park visitation also increased by 15%. National Park units experience a summer surge in visitation that peaks in July, and the Service hires more than 6,000 seasonal employees to manage that extra work. Without full-time or seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will not be properly maintained, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether canceled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable.
- These indiscriminate cuts are also likely to jeopardize the President’s own “America-First” energy agenda, delaying the processing, planning, permitting, environmental compliance, and approval of new and expanded transmission lines, renewable energy projects, oil and gas leasing and drilling, critical minerals mines, coal mining, and other development on federal lands or waters.
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