Monday, February 16, 2026 — Tribes come to grips with $1.5 billion federal funding retraction

With help from Congress, the Trump Administration stripped some $1.5 billion in federal funds previously promised to tribes. A lot of that was in the form of contracts for clean energy manufacturing and development — new money doled out three years earlier as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. A new analysis by the Brookings Institution identifies three funding and policy changes, including reductions in SNAP and Medicaid, that negatively affect Native Americans. The research firm says the actions continue a pattern of disinvestment and falls short of the federal government’s binding responsibility to Indian Country.

GUESTS

Robert Maxim (Mashpee Wampanoag), fellow at The Brookings Institution

Chéri Smith (Mi’kmaq descendant), president and CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy

Timothy Nuvangyaoma (Hopi), vice president of tribal engagement for the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy and former chairman of the Hopi Tribe

Dr. Kyle Whyte (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan

 

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)