The federal government’s newly enacted budget is a massive “omnibus,” it will spend $1.3 trillion and it makes some members of Congress pleased and others quite angry. It’s a document that reflects a broken budget system. And, at the same time, it’s a business as usual document in a White House that has promised change.
This is Trahant Reports.
President Donald J. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unhappy with the bill, but he signed it anyway because it added money for the military.
But this bill is also good for Indian Country. Federal Indian programs, some of which had been slated for either elimination or deep cuts, pretty much continued on course.
The omnibus spending bill increases funding for the Indian Health Service by 10 percent, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education by 7 percent to $3.064 billion. The IHS budget line is $5.5 billion. When the budget is compared to the president’s request, the increases are even sharper, more than 16 percent for the IHS and 23 percent for the BIA.
An analysis by Amber Ebarb at the National Congress of American Indians puts it this way: “Overall, the eliminations and reductions proposed in the president’s budget were rejected.”
Other items in the budget … well, the bill includes a 3 percent set aside for Indian tribes within the funds under the Victims of Crimes Act. The cap for these funds was set at $4.4 billion, so that amounts to $133 million for Indian Country. As Ebarb wrote: This is an important step. Indian Country has the highest rate of criminal victimization and had up until this point been left out of the funding. This will address the long standing inequity and meaningfully improve the landscape of victim services in Indian Country.”
The bill also provides $50 million for grants to tribes or tribal organizations to address the epidemic.
Infrastructure spending would increase for BIA and IHS construction, BIA road maintenance, and a $100 million competitive grant program is added under Native American Housing Block Grants in addition to the $655 million provided in current Native American formula grants.
This legislation is about a year late in the normal process. Leaders from both parties had to come together and find compromise. So this Omnibus bill has something for every constituent … and something that every constituent does not like.
In October the spending plan expires and Congress will have to find the votes yet again.
I am Mark Trahant.
