- Details
- By Kristen Lilya, Native StoryLab
When Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the headlines came and went fast. But in Indian Country, the effects didn’t fade.
Next on Native Bidaské, host Levi Rickert sits down with Brookings Institution experts Rob Maxim and Glencora Haskins to unpack a new report that traces what happens when federal policy shifts collide with tribal realities. At the center of the conversation: the repeal of key provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, and what that rollback means for Native communities already navigating fragile funding systems.
The Brookings report finds that before those provisions were repealed, roughly $2 billion in IRA funding had flowed directly to tribal entities, including $1.5 billion earmarked for clean energy projects. For many tribes, this wasn’t abstract policy—it was active planning, infrastructure development, and economic opportunity already underway.
So what happens when that funding disappears?
As Maxim and Haskins explain, the issue goes deeper than a single bill. The conversation reveals a familiar pattern: federal programs that acknowledge tribal needs on paper, but fail to account for how tribal governments actually operate. From limited administrative capacity to chronic data gaps, tribes are often expected to meet verification and reporting standards designed for states—not sovereign nations.
The panel explores:
- How $2 billion in IRA funding reached tribal entities—and what its rollback means
- Why federal funding remains unreliable for tribal governments
- The burden placed on Native citizens to prove exemptions under SNAP work requirements
- The urgent need for better tribal data systems, verification tools, and federal support
This episode doesn’t just analyze a report. It exposes the real-world consequences of policy decisions made far from tribal communities—and asks what accountability looks like when the federal government changes course.
For anyone trying to understand how national policy actually plays out on the ground in Indian Country, this is a conversation worth sitting with.
Watch Native Bidaské on Facebook, YouTube, and Nativenewsonline.net.
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