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Floor Speech

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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I want to shift gears for just a moment. Colleagues know that I am the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. I have been on this committee since I came to the Senate, and it is a position that I hold very close. I represent a constituency of Alaskan Natives back in my home State.

We have over one-half the Tribes in the United States of America, and so my responsibility to them as their Federal representative is one, again, that I take very, very seriously.

There has been a fair amount of confusion, I think, uncertainty that has been brought about by many of the Executive orders, some of the Federal actions that we have seen, whether it is funding freezes or programs that are being put on pause. But one area that I want to make very, very clear to colleagues, as I have sought to make clear to those who are part of the incoming administration, that when we are speaking about our Indian Tribes and our Tribal programs, and the Federal funding that they receive, they do not fall into the category, if you will, of diversity, equity, inclusion.

And so when the Executive order was announced in the very first week of the Trump administration, there was confusion as to whether or not Indian and Tribal programs were impacted, and in that confusion, I think, a lot of undue stress and anxiety.

And so I immediately asked the OMB--I met with Mr. Vought personally, and I asked him to take steps immediately to reaffirm the unique treatment, the programs and services to Indian Tribes based on their political and their legal status, which is recognized in our U.S. Constitution, in our treaties, under many Federal laws and policies, to ensure that there is no disruption to our Federal Tribal programs.

We know--our Supreme Court has affirmed our Indian Tribes are a unique political class--this is not a racial one--and their sovereignty and their trust relationship with the Federal Government must be upheld. And I shared this in a letter to the Acting Director of OMB.

We have seen, at least in a couple of the Departments already, that they clearly understand this distinct legal and political relationship. The Department of the Interior very quickly moved to add clarification.

On January 30, the Department of the Interior issued a Secretarial order that acknowledges that nothing in their order should be construed to affect the activities that implement the legal requirements, independent of the EOs, including the statutory authorities, treaty, and/or trust obligations of the Department to our Tribal nations and to our Native Hawaiian community. And so I appreciated that very clear message coming out of the Department of the Interior so early.

I think that it can be used as that model, that template, for other Federal Agencies because it is not just within Interior that we see Tribal programs, it is in other areas. We have just recently seen, out of the Department of Health and Human Services, that they recognize that as well. We are working, again, to make sure that any Tribal program has the clarity that they need and assurance that they and the beneficiaries will not be impacted.

We have a trust responsibility. We have an obligation that is clear. So avoiding any confusion, misunderstanding, or anxiety is something that I think we owe to our indigenous peoples across the country, and I am thankful that many within the new administration have stepped up to work with us to clear up any confusion that may be out there.

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