How OMB has Strengthened the Relationship Between Tribal Nations and the United States

By OMB Tribal Advisor Elizabeth Molle-Carr

Today, as the Biden-Harris Administration hosts its final White House Tribal Nations Summit, I reflect on my time as Tribal Advisor to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the importance of effectively representing Tribal Nations in the Federal Government.

Since taking office, President Biden has worked to advance Tribal sovereignty, reform critical Federal processes for Tribal Nations, and strengthen the Nation-to-Nation relationships between the United States and Tribal Nations.

As part of this commitment, OMB created a consultation plan and conducted Tribal consultation. In response to the calls of Tribal leaders, OMB Director Shalanda Young worked to create and appoint the agency’s first-ever Tribal Advisor—a critical step toward making OMB more accessible to Tribal Nations. And for the first time, the President’s Budget has been informed by direct consultation with Tribal governments. Through these efforts, OMB has achieved several accomplishments for Tribal Nations, including:

• Creating the First OMB Tribal Advisor in U.S. History: The creation of this role was ground-breaking, giving Tribal Nations an influential voice within the agency that oversees the implementation of the President’s vision and guides his budgetary, management, and regulatory priorities – all of which have the potential to directly impact Tribal Nations

• Historic Investments in Tribal Communities: Each year, the President’s Budget called for historic investments in Tribal communities and laid the foundation for shared growth and prosperity for decades to come. The FY 2025 Native American Crosscut captures the most recent of these investments in addition to investments secured through legislative achievements such as:  

• The Largest-Ever Single Federal Investment for Tribal Communities: Through the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris Administration delivered critical relief directly to Tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs), enabling them to address the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the American Rescue Plan was the largest single Federal investment in history for Tribes, Native communities, and ANCs at more than $32 billion.

• $13B for Tribal Infrastructure and Clean Water: Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden-Harris Administration is providing over $13 billion specifically for Tribal infrastructure, including $3.5 billion dedicated to water and sanitation projects for Native communities.

• $4B for Strategic Energy and Climate Investments in Native Communities: Through the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve made over $4 billion in strategic investments directly to Tribes, Native communities, and ANCs to harness the power of renewable energy, modernize energy resources, and strengthen climate resilience.

• Secured Advance Appropriations for the Indian Health Service: In a historic first, the Indian Health Service (IHS) received advance appropriations in FY 2023, which protects IHS patients from the harmful impacts of potential continuing resolutions or lapses in appropriations. Advance appropriations provide long overdue funding stability and predictability for the Indian health system and aligns IHS with other federal health care providers.

• Landmark OMB Guidance for Assessing Unmet Federal Obligations for Tribal Nations: Through the President’s Executive Order on Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations, the Biden-Harris Administration committed to assessing and providing funding in a manner that is more effective, efficient, and accessible for Tribal Nations. As part of the President’s vision for a new era of Federal policies that empower Tribal Nations as they govern on their own terms, OMB has released guidance to Federal agencies on how to assess unmet Federal obligations to support Tribal Nations. Federal agencies are set to respond to this guidance by the spring of 2025. Furthermore, over the past four years, OMB has worked with agencies to reform Federal funding programs and make programs more accessible, flexible, and in-line with Tribal self-determination through over 300 individual agency actions, highlighted in the Executive Order 14112 addendum.

• Unprecedented Opportunity for Tribal Consultation: In addition to consulting on the President’s Budget annually, the OMB Tribal Advisor position created a direct point of contact for individual Tribal issues. OMB also conducted consultation on important Federal management topics including:

• Updates to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards that resulted in reduced burden, clarified existing requirements, and provided additional flexibilities to Federal agencies and Federal financial assistance recipients, including Tribal Nations.

• Revisions to OMB’s 1997 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15): Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity to ensure the comparability of race and ethnicity data across Federal datasets and to maximize quality of these data by ensuring the format, language, and procedures for collecting the data are consistent. OMB’s revisions are intended to improve estimates of the American Indian Alaska Native population in Federal statistics, and are not intended to measure Tribal enrollment or in any way diminish or otherwise affect the political relationship between sovereign Tribes and the Federal Government. 

• Changes to the annual Native American Funding crosscut to be responsive to Tribes’ consultation feedback, OMB worked to provide additional information and increase transparency to Tribes on governmentwide Federal funding and programs that support Tribal communities. The FY 2025 Native American Crosscut provides details from more than 30 agencies across the government.
  • Release of the Columbia River Salmon Budget Crosscut to provide information on Federal annual funding for programs and projects targeted toward restoration of salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations in the Columbia River Basin in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic agreement to work in partnership with Pacific Northwest Tribes and States to restore wild salmon populations in the Basin.

Appointing a Tribal Advisor to OMB has ensured that Tribal voices are not just heard, but fully considered and integrated into Federal decision-making. The position has enhanced coordination in program and policy implementation across the more than 30 agencies and departments that serve Tribal Communities. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as the first ever Tribal Advisor at OMB, and I am hopeful that the strides we’ve made together result in lasting and transformational impacts for Indian Country. It is absolutely critical that the United States continues to understand and invest in Tribal needs and priorities, and I am proud of the steps the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to faithfully represent Native communities.