What Tribal Nations Have Been Telling Congress

Federal funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) sits at the center of a long-standing debate over whether the U.S. government is meeting its trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations. The Budget Hearing – Indian Health Service, scheduled for April 30 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, will put those obligations on the table as Congress works through fiscal year 2027 spending decisions. With tribal nations actively lobbying on IHS funding and subcommittee members on record about tribal priorities, the stakes for Native American communities are concrete and immediate.

In the weeks leading up to the IHS committee hearing, the subcommittee held Tribal Witness Days, a two-day session in which tribal leaders traveled to Washington to testify directly before members. Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson described the sessions as an opportunity to "hear their priorities, and discuss how the federal government can continue to uphold our trust and treaty obligations to our Tribal brothers and sisters."

Rep. Ryan Zinke pointed to specific program areas that tribes raised, including the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Program and the opioid crisis on tribal lands, both of which intersect with Indian Health Service programs. Rep. Jake Ellzey noted that the sessions gave members the chance to "listen and learn directly from their experiences."

Those sessions fed directly into the tribal health funding conversation that will continue at the April 30 hearing.

The Lobbying Record

The Tribal Witness Days were not the only channel through which tribal nations have pressed their case. Lobbying disclosures filed over the past year show a sustained effort by tribal governments to shape the IHS appropriations debate.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have filed lobbying disclosures in each quarter from the first quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026, spending $30,000 per quarter on issues that include the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations. Their most recent filing lists FY 2027 Interior appropriations and IHS as active issue areas.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians filed quarterly disclosures throughout 2025 at $30,000 per quarter, consistently covering Indian Health Service, tribal law enforcement, and appropriations. The Jamul Indian Village filed similar disclosures at $36,000 per quarter, with IHS and Interior appropriations listed as core issue areas.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe focused its lobbying specifically on IHS funding and water infrastructure, while the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians covered IHS, the EPA, the BIA, and tribal health and law enforcement programs. The Southcentral Foundation, an Alaska Native-owned health organization, filed disclosures centered on tribal health, appropriations, and health care.

The Chickasaw Nation has maintained one of the larger lobbying investments, spending $80,000 per quarter across five consecutive quarters on issues affecting Native American tribes, with budget and appropriations listed as a focus area in each filing.

The Tribal Appropriations Hearing in Context

The April 30 hearing arrives as the Trump administration's budget proposals and the broader Republican push to reduce federal discretionary spending have raised questions across Indian Country about the trajectory of IHS funding. The Indian Health Service is the primary federal agency responsible for providing health care to approximately 2.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives, and its budget is funded through the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, the same bill this subcommittee controls.

Witnesses scheduled to testify are Clayton Fulton and Jillian Curtis, both from the Indian Health Service. Their testimony will offer the subcommittee its first formal opportunity this cycle to question IHS leadership on the administration's budget request and program priorities.

The Subcommittee

The hearing will be chaired by Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, with Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine serving as ranking member and Rep. Celeste Maloy of Utah as vice chair. The subcommittee's membership includes Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Michael Cloud, Jake Ellzey, Ryan Zinke, Mark Amodei, and Tom Cole on the Republican side, and Reps. Betty McCollum, Josh Harder, Rosa DeLauro, and Jim Clyburn on the Democratic side.

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