Will DOGE eventually trim tribal programs?

 

RAPID CITY—Across the nation, every one of the 574 federally recognized tribes, has seen what Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done to massive bureaucracies like USAID, and the concern is that Musk will set his crosshairs on the Department of Interior in general, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in particular. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is where you now find the Indian Health Service (IHS), and DOGE will probably give IHS the same scrutiny it gave USAID,

Looking at what Musk did to USAID might give tribes a heads up on what he might do to tribal bureaus. USAID was established by President Kennedy in 1961. Its mission statement was “to promote global economic development, humanitarian assistance, and democratic governance. Musk considered USAID to have become bloated and corrupt, a prime target for eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars of bureaucratic waste.

Critics of USAID have said that the department has become a front for CIA activities outlawed earlier by Congress, that USAID weighs geopolitical interest over their original mission statement. The percentage of budget spent on administrative costs, consultants, and contractors has also been deemed excessive and not directly benefitting those indicated by the mission statement.  Musk was especially interested in corruption, misallocated funds, or misuse of allocated funds.

Globally, USAID had over 10,000 employees, and DOGE wanted to cut loose 9,700 of those people, retaining only 294 staff members. However, US District Judge Carl Nichols issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) which put DOGE plans on hold. DOGE will undoubtedly appeal that decision, and if the case should make it to the Supreme Court, Trump controls the court 5-4. The wild card will be Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has never voted for anything threatening tribal interest. If he reasons that these audits threaten the BIA and IHS he might cross the aisle and uphold the lower court TRO.

The total Indian Affairs program budget is $4.6 billion. This is divided into three departments: the BIA $2.9 billion, the Bureau of Indian Education, $1.5 billion, and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration $111.3 million. There are over 8,000 employees in these three bureaus, and a DOGE audit will probably fine some waste and redundancy but whether it results in the gutting that happened at USAID will hinge greatly on the TRO appeal by DOGE.

The IHS budget is almost twice the size of the BIA budget, over $8 billion. IHS employs 15,265 people. Unlike USAID, over two thirds of that number are directly involved in patient care. Healthcare facilities tend to be understaffed, not overstaffed, and DOGE will probably find little to cut from the two thirds.

The power President Trump has, and Musk at the helm of DOGE, can never slash funding. Only Congress can deal with funding matters, but what Trump can do and is doing is firing staff. This will necessarily result in a massive unused portion of budget, which then can be reallocated via congressional oversight. But with every part of the federal bureaucracy eventually to be scrutinized by Musk’s young auditing team, reallocation may find it difficult to find a place to land.

Liberals have been alarmed by the people Musk selected to conduct his auditing. Marko Elez, 25, years before posted this on social media: “I was racist before it was cool.” Elez resigned, but Musk conducted an X poll which led to his reinstatement. If the earlier social media comment from Elez is actually how he still thinks, then when he audits the BIA and IHS tribes will be justifiably alarmed.

Musk’s selected assistants are no doubt brilliant, but Edward Coristine, is only 19, and has been dismissed in the past from a cybersecurity internship alleging cybercriminal activities by Coristine.

The next couple of years look to be a tumultuous struggle between executive power, congressional oversight, and judicial rulings. There is little tribes can do preemptively to protect themselves when Elez and his team come calling.

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)

 

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