Hours after a judge temporarily blocked a federal funding pause that would’ve significantly affected tribes, a group of leaders tasked with advocating for Indigenous people met to touch base at Tulsa City Hall.
Daniel Carter, a tribal law attorney and vice chair of the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission, told the small group meant to advise area government what he knew about the pause on federal assistance ordered Monday by President Donald Trump.
“It was unclear, and still is unclear, the scope of the freeze on federal grants,” said Carter.
But Carter went on to say that not all federal grants are currently described as being affected by the freeze. A clarifying memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget says the pause will only affect programs “implicated by the President” in seven previous executive orders.
“It mostly pertains to homeland security, renewable energy initiatives or environmental initiatives, gender preference, things that you’ve heard in the news,” said Carter.
Currently, services like nutritional programs would not be changed, but Carter said reports on initiatives that make self-governance possible are now mandated.
“There’s a whole Excel spreadsheet that lists programs they want reports on, and those reports do include your self-governance contracts and compacts. They do include dozens of programs that tribes have that receive federal funding,” said Carter. “They’re not frozen, but they’re under scrutiny, and so that’s even more of a concern to me.”
A judge was set to rule Feb. 3 on whether or not to continue the freeze, but on Wednesday, Trump rescinded the memo ordering the pause.