Tribal programs should be spared axe in any deal

As political leaders scramble to keep the United States from slipping off the fiscal cliff, tribal leaders are wondering if the first boulder to fall will land on tribal nations. The Indian Country budget will be one of the main concerns discussed on Wednesday when leaders from the 566 federally recognized tribal nations meet with the President and the Obama Administration for the fourth annual White House Tribal Nations Summit. The federal responsibility to tribal nations is not driving the deficit. In fact tribal programs, as part of the discretionary budget, have already done their part to reduce the deficit following the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission and enacted through the bipartisan Budget Control Act. Federal responsibilities to tribes are already significantly underfunded and the problems we are working hard to confront will only be exacerbated if treaty obligations are treated as line items.