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Members press Interior on tribal schools, law enforcement and thousands of unresolved probate cases
Summary
Lawmakers pressed Secretary Burgum about the Bureau of Indian Education school system, tribal law enforcement gaps including missing and murdered Indigenous persons, and an Interior review that identified roughly 48,000 unresolved probate cases affecting tribal land and benefits.
House members used Secretary Doug Burgum’s FY2026 hearing to press the Department of the Interior on several longstanding tribal issues: Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school performance and facilities, law enforcement shortfalls on reservations, and a newly surfaced backlog of unresolved probate cases that can block housing and mineral royalty payments.
Ranking Member Chellie Pingree said the proposed 30% reduction to the department would “shamefully abandon our trust and treaty obligations to native Americans,” calling out an estimated $1,000,000,000 school construction backlog and stated cuts to public safety programs. “This budget with a 30% cut shamefully abandons our trust and treaty obligations to native Americans,”…
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