BREAKING NEWS: Indian Health Service Remains Unaffected as Federal Budget Cuts Hit Indian Country
By Darren Thompson
Washington—On Friday, federal orders sent sweeping budget cuts to many federal agencies, including some that serve Indian Country, a move many say is devastating. The cuts on Friday are just the first, however, and target only employees who were recently hired and are on probationary status, which can include veteran employees who transferred to new positions within the federal government. As of (last) Friday, layoffs tallied 188 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 38 staff members at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU), 2,600 at Department of Interior, 2 Department of Interior Assistant Secretaries, and 20% of the Indian Health Service (IHS) was slated to be cut.
The layoffs are a result of an executive order signed earlier this week by President Trump, aimed at directing federal agencies to prepare for “large-scale” reductions. However, information shared with LRI Media reveal that on Friday, all layoffs within IHS were withdrawn by recommendation of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy, Jr. Emails to the Department of Health and Human Services were not answered as of press time and probationary employees who were expecting to be laid did not receive emails notifying them that they would no longer be employed by the IHS.
Robert Kennedy Jr. addressed tribal leaders at a Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) quarterly meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, March 8, 2024. Photo by Darren Thompson.
“The Indian Health Service is already understaffed and underfunded and any cuts to the workforce would be devastating and could result in preventable deaths,” said Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Indigenous Health Co-Director Dr. Donald Warne in an interview with LRI Media. “I am happy to see that there are no cuts occurring to the IHS. But beyond that, we need to see investment in services and workforce development to adequately meet the treaty obligations of the United States to the American Indian and Alaskan Native population.”
On Thursday, several media sources reported that sweeping cuts to the IHS were expected on Friday, causing panic and worry among Tribal communities. 10 Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Friday urging him to not lay off IHS staff saying that the federal government is already failing to meet its trust and treaty responsibilities to federally recognized tribes. Several tribes, including the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Navajo Nation reported as of late Friday that they were unaffected by the federal staffing reductions.
Haskell Indian Nations University & Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Layoffs elsewhere, were not taken lightly, however. The Lawrence Times reported on Friday that a member of Haskell’s Board of Regents said 40 employees are losing their jobs and the layoffs affect nearly every department on campus. Some students will resume courses on Tuesday, but without a professor and steps moving forward are unclear. Many expressed on social media the frustration and disappointment in the recent layoffs, stating that education and the institution is a treaty right. According to multiple sources, a total of 38 employees were removed from their position.
Sierra Two Bulls, an Oglala Lakota from the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was one of seven faculty who was let go on Friday. “I found out about being terminated right before 2pm, Friday,” she said in an interview with LRI Media. “I was in the middle of preparing for my next class lecture and that is when my supervisor stopped by my office to break the news. I immediately went into shock. Words cannot describe how devastated and heartbroken I became.”
Two Bulls is a social worker who also adjunct taught at Haskell for 7 years before being hired full-time in August 2024 who enjoyed teaching social work courses for 6 months before being terminated. Two Bulls heard the announcement between classes on Friday. She was six months into her probationary period.
“I am devastated and heartbroken not only for myself and my colleagues but also for all our students,” Two Bulls said. “The first is my job security with great benefits like my healthcare plan. Nowadays I am reliant on my healthcare because I have a chronic illness that I need to manage for the rest of my life. The second is I am no longer able to teach and empower our next generation of Native students who are our future leaders. I know students who will be impacted but I hope that it does not impact their degree and graduation plans as it is would not be fair to them.”
Haskell Indian Nations University was established in 1884 through federal legislation, to fulfill the United States’ treaty and trust obligations to American Indian and Alaskan Native students. Today, it is a fully accredited land-grant university and enrolls approximately 1,000 students each semester from hundreds of federally recognized tribes. It is only one of two postsecondary institutions operating under the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); the other is Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both institutions have entirely Indigenous student populations.
HINU has had documented problems in the last few years though. Issues relating from censorship and sexual assault plague the BIE operated school and university officials are unable to provide comment without prior approval from the federal government. Some in the local community want the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who oversees the BIE, to be removed from its role as a trustee and want the Haskell Board of Regents to be given autonomy by Congress.
According to other reports, mismanagement and abuse at the institution have been ongoing for decades, resulting in a Congressional hearing last summer. The Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute lost 7 employees according to multiple sources.
“Indian country is experiencing catastrophic blows because of a lack of understanding of the distinct political status of Tribal Nations and Native America,” said Sacred Defense Fund Executive Director and Attorney Chase Iron Eyes. “It is not appropriate legally for the federal government to cut critical trust, and Treaty obligations that Indian Country depends on. It is imperative that the federal government exempt Indian country from the across-the-board cuts related to current policy. Native people are not a race of people and are not a racial class. Under federal law Native people are distinct political entities.”
With the recent executive order eliminating funding and mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion within the federal government, many tribal leaders worried about funding appropriated for Indian Country. Last week, at the National Congress of American Indians winter legislative summit brought hundreds of tribal leaders and advocates to Washington, D.C., where they met with various representatives to remind the federal government that it has a treaty and trust obligation to federally recognized tribes and the relationship is political in nature, and not race or cultural based.
Additional Budget Cuts to be Expected
President Trump said on Friday that his administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce would result in “tremendous savings” and that it his hope to make the federal government serve the American people better.
The federal government employs approximately 3 million people, working in departments and agencies housed under one of three branches of government—executive, legislative and judicial. According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, around 4-6%, goes towards paying federal employees, including their salaries and benefits. It’s unclear how layoffs resulting from the recent executive orders will have on saving federal spending, but more is expected to come. The New York Times reported that approximately 200,000 federally employees are currently on probationary status.
According to NPR, federal agencies are swiftly laying off employees and planning for more cuts as the Trump administration downsizes the government workforce. Other agencies reporting layoffs are the Department of Agriculture, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are also preparing for budget cuts.
“It’s all hands on deck,” said Iron Eyes of the urgency in advocating for funding directed to Indian Country.
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Darren Thompson is the Director of Media Relations for the Sacred Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and can be reached at darren@sacreddefense.org.