Stewart Huntington
ICT
The Trump administration’s moves to dramatically cut government spending have left much of Indian Country on edge, with tribal communities dependent on billions of dollars in federal funding and the Republican majorities in Congress largely standing by the president.
Effective voices for tribes in the nation’s capital can seem elusive. But don’t tell that to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to work with the folks in the administration,” she told ICT. “We’re not going to let our tribal programs and our tribal citizens suffer.”
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Last year, $32.6 billion was approved by Congress to benefit tribal communities for programs including education, health care, law enforcement and more, according to the U.S. General Accounting Office.
Murkowski emerged at the dawn of President Donald Trump’s second term in office as a vocal advocate for Native nations when Trump began announcing cuts and executive orders impacting tribal communities. On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – DEI – programs in federal agencies.
“I worked very, very quickly to make sure that the administration knew that …the DEI executive order should have nothing to do with tribes or tribal programs [because] the relationship that the government has with tribes is based on political status, not on racial status,” Murkowski said.
Another Day One executive order also riled Murkowski, who has been elected to the Senate four times. Trump ordered that the name of the country’s tallest mountain, Alaska’s Mount Denali, be renamed Mount McKinley after the country’s 25th president.
“We feel very strongly in Alaska about the Koyukon-Athabascan name that was given to Denali, generations, centuries ago,” Murkowski said. “Denali means, ‘the Great One.’ And if you’ve ever seen this extraordinary mountain, you would agree that it should be named the Great One. It should be recognized as Denali.”
Murkowski has introduced a bill in the Senate — co-sponsored by Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan — that would officially name the peak Denali. Last month, both chambers of the Alaska State Legislature passed a resolution urging the president, secretary of the interior, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to maintain the name Denali.
Pondering the current kerfuffle, Murkowski said she found it “interesting” that the president’s order renaming the mountain is titled, Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.”
“Let’s think about ‘American greatness,’” she said. “Why would we not want to honor and recognize the greatness of the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded this area, this region, this land for centuries? … It is important not only to maintain the traditional name that the Athabascan people have given this mountain but also, respect the Native people and the stewardship that they have had in this region.”
Last week, Murkowski’s committee unanimously approved and sent to the full Senate 25 bills that are “very keen priorities” in all or parts of Indian Country, including land and water rights in tribal communities and a bill that would establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian boarding school policies.
The bill creating the Truth and Healing Commission would establish a panel to “formally investigate, document, and report on the histories of Indian Boarding Schools … and the systematic and long-term effects of those schools and policies on Native American peoples.” The bill passed the Senate last year but stalled in the House of Representatives. The push for the commission is now on the agenda for the current 119th Congress.
“As much as anything, we’re trying to rebuild some of the trust that has been lost between our federal government and Native communities,” Murkowski said.
It’s a fragile trust that is under pressure in the current environment of fast-paced budget cuts, Murkowski said.
“I’m worried that when it comes to our tribal programs and our ability to see them implemented that the cuts [and] staffing in these programs, will jeopardize our ability to do so and cause damage to that very important trust relationship,” she said.
“It’s still too early to determine whether or not these cuts are going to stay in place,” she said, adding, “I’m not backing down on this.”
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