Tribal Nations are sovereign governments whose geopolitical relationships predate the founding of the United States. The Constitution recognizes this status and the treaty and trust doctrines that flow from federal Indian law. The federal trust responsibility is a legal obligation under which the United States has committed — through treaties, acts of Congress, and court decisions — to protecting Tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and resources, as well as ensuring access to other services. Despite this foundational recognition, federal spending on those obligations remains largely subject to the annual discretion of Congress, forcing Indian Country to rejustify federal investment in Tribal programs year after year.

The consequences are well-documented. The 2003 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, A Quiet Crisis, and the 2018 follow-up, Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans, both found that federal funding for Indian Country programs — from education and public safety to infrastructure and health care — lags far behind national averages. The 2018 report found that federal programs designed to support the social and economic well-being of Native Americans remain chronically underfunded, and that the federal government has failed to keep accurate, consistent, and comprehensive records of federal spending on Native American programs, making it difficult to monitor whether the government is meeting its trust responsibility.

Understanding how Indian Country funding actually flows through the federal budget is essential to changing it. Congress generally provides discretionary appropriations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations acts. BIA has seven discretionary appropriations accounts, five of which receive definite discretionary appropriations (a specific dollar amount) — with funding available for two fiscal years or until expended — and two of which receive indefinite appropriations ("such sums as are necessary") — also available for two fiscal years. This structure has important implications for program stability and Tribal planning.

A key feature of how BIA funding reaches Tribal Nations is the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) framework. As of March 2024, the DOI reported to the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs that 526 out of 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations had contracts under Section 638 — and that 295 Tribal Nations had self-governance compacts with DOI, resulting in nearly 3,200 ISDEAA agreements across the department. Under this system, Tribal entities are entitled to an amount equal to what the federal agency would otherwise have spent operating that program, and ISDEAA also requires the payment of Contract Support Costs (CSCs) — the reasonable indirect and administrative costs necessary to ensure contract compliance and prudent management. Congress established an indefinite discretionary appropriations account for CSC at the BIA, which grew from $277 million in FY 2016 to $342 million in FY 2024.

Tribal input into the BIA budget process is formalized through the Tribal Interior Budget Council (TIBC). Established in 1999, TIBC provides a forum and process for Tribal Nations to identify priorities and provide input to DOI officials developing BIA's annual budget requests, with DOI issuing a data call to Tribal Nations seeking ranked preferences across eight bundled Tribal Priority Allocation categories. While this process represents a meaningful avenue for Tribal engagement, the gap between Tribal input and final appropriations remains a challenge.

The current funding environment represents the most direct recent test of the federal government's willingness to honor its trust responsibility. The Administration's FY 2026 BIA budget request of $1.71 billion represented a decrease of approximately $781 million (31%) from FY 2025 annual appropriations — and the FY 2027 President's Budget Request proposes continued cuts to the Indian Affairs budget. The FY 2027 BIA budget request totals $1.78 billion in current appropriations, a reduction of approximately $740 million from FY 2026 enacted levels of $2.52 billion.

The cuts fall across every major program area. The Operation of Indian Programs account — which funds Tribal governments, human services, trust, natural resource management, public safety and justice, and community and economic development — would be funded at $1.27 billion, a reduction of over $703 million from FY 2026 enacted levels. Program eliminations in the FY 2027 request are sweeping: the Welfare Assistance program, the Housing Improvement Program, the Tribal Climate Resilience program, and the Small Tribes Supplement are among the programs proposed for elimination, while deep reductions are proposed across Human Services, Trust Natural Resources Management, and Trust Real Estate Services.

The FY 2027 BIE budget request of $929.8 million in current appropriations reflects a reduction of $436.6 million from FY 2026 enacted levels of $1.37 billion. The Education Construction account bears the sharpest cut: the FY 2027 request proposes just $35.4 million for Education Construction, compared to $234.7 million enacted in FY 2026 — a reduction of nearly $200 million — with Replacement School Construction, Replacement Facility Construction, and Tribal Colleges Facilities Improvement and Repair proposed for elimination. At the postsecondary level, the request eliminates funding for Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Tribal Technical Colleges, Scholarships and Adult Education, Special Higher Education Scholarships, and the Science Postgraduate Scholarship Fund — a combined reduction of over $161 million from FY 2026 enacted levels.

The FY 2027 budget request for the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, which manages approximately $8.8 billion in Tribal trust funds on behalf of more than 4,300 Tribal accounts and 414,000 Individual Indian Money accounts, is $90.1 million — a reduction of nearly $10 million from the FY 2026 enacted level of $100 million.

Congress has considered several options for addressing the structural vulnerabilities in BIA's current appropriations structure, including providing advance appropriations for BIA programs to minimize negative impacts on Tribal Nations from continuing resolutions and government shutdowns and providing mandatory appropriations to ensure budgetary consistency for accounts with legal obligations, such as CSC and Payments for Tribal Leases. NCAI strongly supports both approaches and continues to advocate for their adoption across BIA, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and the Indian Health Service (IHS).

NCAI works to unify Tribal leaders, organizations, and advocates to ensure that historic and modern promises made to Indian Country are honored across the federal budget.

Focus Areas and Goals

1. Cyclical Federal Appropriations and Budget Engagement: Engage in both executive and legislative branch budget formulation each year, including review of the President's Budget Request, submission of appropriations testimony, and analysis of congressional appropriations bills and final enacted amounts. This includes engagement in the TIBC budget formulation process and close monitoring of the BIA, BIE, and IHS appropriations accounts.

2. Annual Indian Country Budget Request: Compile and publish NCAI's annual Budget Request to Congress, developed in partnership with Tribal leaders, Tribal issue organizations, and regional interTribal groups. The NCAI budget request reflects the full scope of Indian Country's funding needs and serves as a primary advocacy tool throughout the appropriations cycle.

3. Mandatory and Advance Appropriations: Advance policies that move critical Tribal programs — particularly IHS, BIA, and BIE — from discretionary to mandatory or advance appropriations. Some Tribal Nations have advocated for advance appropriations to mitigate the impacts of Tribal from government shutdowns and continuing resolutions, while mandatory appropriations have been proposed to ensure budgetary consistency for accounts with existing legal obligations.
   
   The Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act of 2025 (S. 2771 / House of Representatives (H.R.) 5328), introduced in the 119th Congress, would authorize advance appropriations for BIA, BIE, and IHS accounts and represents a key NCAI legislative priority.

4. Federal Budget Transparency and Data: Advocate for the restoration of the Office of Management and Budget's Native American Funding Crosscut and improved reporting in the President's Budget Request, to improve transparency in federal spending on Tribal programs. Support Tribal governments in collecting and certifying their own data for federal use, and push for stricter confidentiality protections for Tribal data held by federal agencies.

5. Uniform Federal Funding Principles: Advocate for Congress and the Administration to adopt funding principles that provide mandatory or advance appropriations, maximum flexibility in the use of funds, direct funding, formula-based recurring allocations, reduced reporting burdens, and the application of Tribal canons of construction to all Tribal program funding.

Associated Organizations

NCAI works with partner organizations, Tribal government organizations, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) health organizations, Tribal Self-Governance (TSG) organizations, and a full range of issue-specific Tribal partner organizations.

Associated NCAI Bodies

Associated Committees and Subcommittees:

Litigation and Governance

Associated Task Forces:

Budget Task Force

Associated Legislation

1. H.R. 1 — One Big Beautiful Bill Act — On May 22, 2025, the House passed H.R. 1 by a vote of 215–214, advancing a major step in the budget reconciliation process with significant implications for Indian Country health programs. The legislation includes several provisions of direct consequence to Tribal Nations and Native health care.

   1. Most significantly, the bill includes an exemption for AI/AN individuals eligible for services through the Indian health system from Medicaid community engagement and work requirements. Without this exemption, Medicaid work requirements would likely cause many Tribal individuals to lose coverage and place additional strain on already under-resourced Indian health system facilities. The bill also protects existing cost-sharing exemptions for IHS-eligible beneficiaries.

2. Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act of 2025 (S. 2771 / H.R. 5328) — This bill would authorize advance appropriations for several covered appropriations accounts of BIA within DOI, and IHS within Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The covered BIA accounts include OIP, CSC, the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program, Construction, and Payments for Tribal Leases. NCAI has long supported advance appropriations as a structural reform to protect Tribal programs from the disruptions of continuing resolutions and government shutdowns.

3. FY 2027 Appropriations — NCAI is actively engaged in the FY 2027 House and Senate appropriations processes, tracking subcommittee marks and advocating for robust funding across all Indian Country program areas, including opposition to the Administration's proposed reductions to Indian Affairs accounts.

Past Year Achievements

FY 2027 House Appropriations Testimony (March 18, 2026)

NCAI President Mark Macarro provided oral testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on FY 2027 funding for DOI, IHS, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The testimony called for $32.57 billion for Indian Affairs programs, consistent with the TIBC's FY 2027 recommendations, and highlighted the serious harm caused by recent DOI staffing losses and hiring freezes — including disruptions to government-to-government relationships, delays in technical assistance, and dangerous gaps in the personnel authorized to process and approve federal funding that Tribal Nations depend on to deliver essential services.

The testimony documented a stark funding shortfall in public safety: against an estimated minimum need of $3.509 billion for Tribal law enforcement, courts, and detention, BIA spent just $446.7 million on public safety and justice in FY 2021 — meeting only 13 percent of total need — and called for $3.73 billion in FY 2027. The testimony also urged continued support for advance appropriations for BIA, BIE, and IHS, and reclassification of CSC and Section 105(l) lease payments as mandatory spending, so that these legally obligated costs no longer compete with direct program funding for Tribal citizens. The testimony raised concerns about the transfer of Department of Education (ED) programs to BIE through Interagency Agreements (IAA), urging that the financial burden of federal reorganization not be pushed onto already under-resourced Tribal schools.

Finally, the testimony called on the Subcommittee to strengthen EPA's Tribal General Assistance Program, increase Water Infrastructure State Revolving Fund Tribal set-asides, and streamline the Treatment as a State process to empower Tribal Nations to establish and enforce their own environmental standards.

Understanding Federal Government Shutdown Impacts on Tribal Nations Webinar (September 29, 2025)

NCAI hosted a national webinar for Tribal leaders and administrators on navigating a potential government shutdown and identifying available resources, providing timely guidance during a period of significant federal funding uncertainty.

Advance Appropriations Advocacy for IHS

NCAI intensified advocacy for advance appropriations for IHS, building congressional support for a structural funding reform that would protect Native health care from the disruptions of continuing resolutions and government shutdowns.

Next Year Goals

Budgeting and Appropriations White Paper and One-Pager

Develop and publish plain-language resources explaining the differences between authorizations, appropriations, advance appropriations, and mandatory appropriations — equipping Tribal leaders, administrators, and advocates with the foundational knowledge needed to engage effectively in the federal budget process.

Full Appropriations Testimony

Submit testimony to all 12 relevant appropriations subcommittees for FY 2027, ensuring Indian Country priorities are on the record across the full range of federal spending jurisdictions.

FY 2027 Budget Analysis

Produce comprehensive analyses of the President's FY 2027 Budget Request, the development of FY 2027 appropriations bills, and the final enacted FY 2027 appropriations — tracking outcomes against Indian Country priorities and documenting progress toward fulfilling the federal trust responsibility.