Policy and Law
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- By Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
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Disturbed human remains have prompted the Lummi Nation to sue a local telecommunications company, Whatcom County and two federal agencies, alleging excavation work damaged ancestral burial grounds at Point Roberts in northwestern Washington.
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- By Brian Edwards
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The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would permanently establish the Small Business Administration's Office of Native American Affairs, a move supporters say would strengthen federal support for Native entrepreneurs and tribal economic development.
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- By Brian Edwards
- Policy and Law
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Congress has spent decades creating new pathways for tribal self-governance, giving tribal nations greater authority over land leasing, energy development, public safety and other functions long overseen by the federal government. Yet many of those authorities remain underused.
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- By Chez Oxendine
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Proposed cuts to Native-serving programs, staffing losses across federal agencies and growing delays in tribal project approvals dominated a Senate Indian Affairs Committee budget hearing Wednesday, as lawmakers from both parties questioned whether the federal government can continue meeting its treaty and trust obligations to tribes.
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- By Brian Edwards
- Policy and Law
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Federal prosecutors have filed a civil fraud complaint against Arizona-based telecommunications contractors accused of inflating costs and billing for nonexistent equipment on a federally funded broadband project on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.
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- By Brian Edwards and Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
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President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal calls for ramping up U.S. defense spending to $1.5 trillion, a shift that would come alongside deep reductions to domestic programs — including those that support tribal governments, Native businesses and essential services in Indian Country.
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- By Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
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A sweeping water-rights settlement for northeastern Arizona won unified tribal support at a Senate oversight hearing Wednesday, even as the Department of the Interior warned Congress the $5 billion plan may exceed available federal funding.
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- By Brian Edwards
- Policy and Law
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U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and David Schweikert, R-Ariz., on Wednesday introduced bipartisan legislation to expand tribal governments’ access to tax-exempt bonds, housing credits and other federal tax incentives, aligning their financing authority more closely with state and local governments.
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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
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A federal judge has sentenced a former senior employee of the Spokane Tribe of Indians to more than a year in prison for embezzling funds intended to support children in tribal foster care, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
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- By Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
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A bipartisan bill to speed up mortgage approvals on tribal trust land cleared the House Natural Resources Committee this week, positioning the measure for a vote on the House floor and, with the Senate’s companion already passed, potentially President Donald Trump’s desk.