Native American leaders warned senators last week that mass layoffs and potential benefit lapses are making this government shutdown more painful for their communities and insisted that the federal government fulfill its treaty obligations with tribal nations.
“The shutdown reductions in force have crept into our classrooms, our early childhood programs and our homes. What began as a budget dispute in Washington has become a daily crisis in Indian country,” Kerry Bird, president of the board of directors of the National Indian Education Association, told senators during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Bird and other witnesses were invited by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to testify about how layoffs, also called reductions in force or RIFs, and the shutdown have affected their communities. They emphasized that in reducing the number of the federal employees who interface often with tribes, especially on issues of education, economic development, health and food security, the administration has left Native communities isolated and unsupporte
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