As the new chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of the featured speakers at the National Congress of American Indians winter summit in Washington, D.C. last week, and her name kept popping up.
“Lisa Murkowski can’t do this alone,” said one of Murkowski’s colleagues in the House, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn.
NCAI President Mark Macarro used almost the exact same words in his State of Indian Nations Speech.
“I know tribal communities are debating how to respond to the actions of the new administration,” Macarro said. “Well, I strongly affirm it’s time to speak up. It’s time to stand-up.”
Macarro and other tribal leaders are worried about President Trump’s executive orders to shut down programs that promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – and how they might threaten the ability of tribes to deliver services that are culturally sensitive and appropriate, services that can differ widely from tribe to tribe.
McCollum told the gathering that the Trump administration has sent mixed signals.
“When it deals with DEI, what does that mean? We have been told by the administration it means one thing,” McCollum said. “I want to see the proof that Indian Country really is not included in that.”
McCollum is vice chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus. She said there’s a bi-partisan effort underway to protect tribal funding – and Murkowski, in her role as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has been very outspoken about the need for clarity.
“When I’m home in Alaska, I am often introduced by my gifted name, which is Aab shaawátk’l,” Murkowski said, as she began her presentation.
Aab shaawátk’l means “Lady of the Land” in the Lingít language of Southeast Alaska, where Murkowski was adopted into the Deisheetaan clan. She says the name is an honor but also a responsibility, which is why she has pushed back against the administration.
The senator says the Trump administration must not be allowed to apply its DEI initiatives to tribes.
“This is a different category altogether, folks,” she said. “The federal government is charged with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust toward Native Indian tribes, and it’s that trust responsibility that we’re talking about here.”
Murkowski told the group she has been encouraged by a directive from the U.S. Interior Department, which says the president’s DEI initiatives do not override the Department’s pre-existing legal obligations to tribes.
She said she’s written the Office of Management and Budget to request that it direct all government agencies to follow suit.
Murkowski said she appreciates the administration’s desire to find efficiencies, which she calls a worthy goal.
“But how we achieve it matters,” she said. “These efforts need to follow proper channels. They need to follow the procedures that we have in place.”
“They should not, they cannot, they must not, undermine the obligations that we have to tribes, and they have to follow the law,” she said.
Murkowski told the gathering that she came with a message of hope.
“We’ll get through it,” she said.
She even cracked a joke, when she compared the current political climate to boating in the rough seas of Southeast Alaska. It’s not easy to find safe harbor, she said.
“I think we got people vomiting off both sides of the boat,” said Murkowski, as the crowd laughed. “It’s kind of tumultuous right now.”
Murkowski said she’s heard that some tribes have had trouble accessing their federal money. She encouraged them to contact her Senate Indian Affairs committee, so it can keep track.
The senator also noted that the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) should look to tribes and their success in using tribal compacts, a self-governance mechanism that has given tribes more capabilities to manage their own money, at a big savings to the federal government.
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