Halito F/friends!
Happy Native American Heritage Month. This month, and every month, FCNL is proud to advocate alongside our Native community members. We are incredibly grateful for the contributions of Native communities to our work.
Native American Tribes Find Solutions in Face of SNAP Cut
After 43 days, President Donald Trump signed legislation ending the longest government shutdown in United States history. During the government closure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture immorally withheld funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Food Assistance Program (SNAP), which harmed Native American communities. Tribes and states were unsure about SNAP benefits as ongoing litigation caused the administration to issue conflicting guidance.
The cuts to SNAP affected over one million Native American and Alaska Native people. In the face of mounting adversity, tribes found remarkable solutions. Members of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Maine used trout from their hatchery and locally hunted moose meat to stock food pantries. In southeastern Oklahoma, the Comanche Nation filled food banks with deer meat. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma set up three meat processing facilities. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe ordered an additional 40,000 pounds of food to stock food lodges at four Wind River reservation schools through December.
The reopening of the federal government brought relief to communities across the nation and restored food assistance funds to their previous, fully funded levels.
Bill to Re-Open Government Reverses Reductions in Force
During the shutdown, the Trump administration issued mass Reduction in Force (RIF) notices that would have effectively terminated all staff at the Department of the Treasury working on Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Native CDFI leaders, tribal communities, and lawmakers warned the action would halt grantmaking and technical assistance programs serving tribal communities, which already face a lack of banking and financial infrastructure.
In response, members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, sent letters to Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget, demanding the administration rescind the RIFs and preserve the Fund’s statutorily mandated activities.
A federal judge temporarily blocked some shutdown layoffs, and negotiations in the Senate produced a deal that explicitly voided RIFs taken since October 1 and included language to prevent further shutdown-linked firings. That Senate agreement resulted in the administration rescinding the CDFI Fund RIFs and restoring staff and operations.
Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Lumbee Recognition Bill
On November 5, 2025, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a legislative hearing on S. 107, the Lumbee Fairness Act, which would grant the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina full federal recognition. Supporters of the bill, including bill lead Sen. Thom Tillis (NC), Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery, and attorney Arlinda Locklear, testified to the tribe’s historical, genealogical, and anthropological documentation and discussed the limitations created by the 1956 Lumbee Act, which acknowledged the tribe but withheld access to federal services.
Committee members asked questions related to the tribe’s history, the implications of the 1956 statute, and the differences between legislative recognition and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ administrative acknowledgment process. Senators also sought clarification on the documentation submitted by the Lumbee and on the procedural steps required under each recognition pathway.
Witnesses offering opposing views included Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks and Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes, who described the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Federal Acknowledgment procedures and outlined how that process is typically used to evaluate recognition petitions. They referenced the types of records and verification standards applied during administrative review and commented on the role of congressional action in tribal recognition.
What We’re Reading
- ‘Story is Medicine’: Fighting for the Rights of Native Peoples | Indian Country Today
- Special Diabetes Program for Indians Gains Temporary Extension in Deal to End Government Shutdown | Indianz.com
- Native American Kids Less Likely than Others in WA to be Offered Second Chance in Juvenile Court, Data Shows | InvestigateWest
- Religious Sisters Announce Historic Land Return to Wisconsin Native American Tribe | Catholic News Agency
- 20 Poets to Read for Native American Heritage Month | New York Public Library
