President Donald Trump’s Budget Requesthe proposes novel funding for tribes and universities, including eliminating support for the nation’s only federal government’s university for Native American arts.
If the budget is approved by Congress from October, the annual budget of the American Institute of Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico will be reduced to zero. It will be the first time that Congress’ chartered schools have not received federal support in nearly 40 years, said school president Robert Martin.
“We can’t wipe out 63 years of our history and what we accomplished in one budget,” Martin said Friday. “We can’t understand or understand why they do this.”
Founded in 1962, the college offers affordable education to thousands of native artists and cultural fosters, including American Poet Award winner Joy Harjo, painter TC Cannon, and bestselling novelist Tommy Orange. According to its website, it is the only four-year degree arts institution in the world dedicated to contemporary Native Americans and Alaskan native arts.
Martin spoke with members of parliament from both major parties who ensured he would work to maintain the institute’s budget level for the upcoming fiscal year, but he is concerned about the morale of students and staff. Martin also said he spoke to staff at the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, a member of Chickasaw County and chairman of the House Approvals Committee. Cole, a Republican, a former member of the IAIA councillor and a longtime council advocate for fundraising to support tribal citizens, could not comment.
Brave Heart, a junior studying the arts and business, said the proposal shocked her, saying, “Will these budget cuts allow her to continue her education at the IAIA?” Brave Heart began organizing with other students to contact members of Congress. “IAIA is under attack,” she said. “And I need other students to know this.”
Martin said during the crackdown on the Republican Trump administration’s support, crackdown on federal government policies and funding for its support. Diversity, equity, inclusionresponsibility for trust and treaty rights owed to tribal countries are also under attack.
“For us and many other organizations, if we have a DEI initiative that doesn’t really apply to us, that’s a problem. We are political positions as a result of the treaty, not racial categories,” he said. “We are easily identified as what this administration might call ‘awakening’. ”
Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico said the cut was another example of the Trump administration “turning its back on the native community and breaking the responsibility for trust.”
“As a member of the Senate Committee on India Affairs, I am still committed to fully funding the IAIA and I am committed to continuing to work with the Budgetar and the delegation of the New Mexico Congress to ensure the future,” Lujan said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The legislative budget bill includes roughly Tax cuts of $3.75 trillionextending the expired personal income tax credit for 2017, and temporarily adding new ones Trump has campaigned for. Loss of revenue is partially offset by nearly $1.3 trillion through reduced federal spending elsewhere, namely Medicaid and food aid.
The January 30 order from the internal sector, entitled “End of the DEI Program and Extremism of Gender Ideology,” stated that efforts to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion in sector policies should eliminate the obligation to trust the tribal state.
But earlier this year, several staff members from two other congressional chartered schools in the country (the Institute of Polytechnics in Southwest India in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the University of Haskell Indian Countries in Kansas) were fired as part of Trump’s push to disregard the federal workforce. in Litigation Both agencies submitted in March reported that some staff and faculty have been rehired, but the Indian Education Bureau has notified people of temporary people and could be fired again.
“It showed what the president’s values and priorities were, and that was difficult,” said Ahniwake Rose, president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization representing more than 30 tribal universities and universities. “It was difficult for our staff, students, and our faculty to ensure that the government’s priorities may not be at tribal universities through the Department of Home Affairs.”
In this year’s budget request, the Home Office has proposed cutting funding for BIE’s post-secondary program by more than 80%, which will have a devastating impact on tribal universities and universities, or TCUs that rely on the federal government for most funds, Rose said. Most TCUs provide tuition-free higher education to tribal citizens, and said that funding them was the moral and fiduciary responsibility of the federal government to the tribal state.
Many treaties the United States signed with tribal countries outlined some of the rights owed to them, such as land rights, healthcare and education, through later established sectors like BIE. Responsibility for trust It is a legal and moral obligation that the United States must protect and support those rights.
The Home Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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