Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chair & Interior Department Say Tribes Should Not Be Part of DEI Executive Order

U.S. Capitol (Photo/Levi Rickert for Native News Online)

By Levi Rickert

February 06, 2025

On Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the agency to promptly issue a directive ensuring that all federal agencies protect American Indian tribes, their programs, and the federal funding they receive, from being impacted by the implementation of the President’s Executive Orders and policies.

She specifically referenced those related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), as well as environmental justice (EJ), explaining that tribes have a unique political status completely separate from DEIA.

“In the implementation of these Presidential initiatives, Tribes have raised concerns that Tribal programs may be misclassified as DEIA or EJ. Any pauses or elimination of these programs would undermine the United States’ trust responsibility to Indian Tribes and their ability to provide services to their members,” Sen. Murkowski wrote. “I ask OMB to take action now to reaffirm the unique treatment, programs and services to Indian Tribes based on their political and legal status, which is recognized in the U.S. Constitution, treaties, and many federal laws and policies, to ensure that there is no disruption to federal Tribal programs.”

Her letter came just days after a coalition of tribal leader councils and Native organizations sent a letter Sunday to President Donald Trump, congressional leaders and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum warning against misclassifying tribal programs as diversity or environmental justice initiatives that could face cuts under recent executive orders.

The full text of Sen. Murkowski’s letter can be found here.

On January 30, 2025, Acting Secretary of the Interior Walter Cruickshank issued Secretarial Order (SO) 3416 implementing Executive Order 14151 that limited President Donald Trump’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executive order from including tribal nations in its implementation at the Interior Department. The secretarial order cites “trust obligations of the Department and its Bureaus/Offices of Tribal nations and the Hawaiian Community.”

Executive Order 14151 directs the OMB to terminate all mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities relating to 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. It also mandates that agencies must report a list of all employees in DEI and "environmental justice" positions to the OMB director within 60 days.

In her letter, Sen. Murkowski commended the Department of Interior for issuing which could serve as a model for other federal agencies as they implement these Presidential initiatives.

“At least one federal agency seems to understand this distinct legal and political relationship with Indian Tribes—the Department of the Interior. On January 30, the Department of the Interior issued Secretarial Order (SO) 3416 implementing Executive Order 14151. SO 3416 includes a limitation that acknowledges that nothing in the order should be construed to affect activities that implement legal requirements independent of the EOs, including ‘the statutory authorities, treaty, and/or trust obligations of the Department and its Bureaus/Offices to Tribal nations and the Native Hawaiian Community,’” Chairman Murkowski wrote.

In addition to issuing the requested memorandum, Sen. Murkowski requested that the OMB provide a written response outlining any additional actions they plan to take to ensure all federal agencies properly recognize the unique status of Indian Tribes based on their political classification.