Last Friday, May 2, President Trump released his budget request for fiscal year 2026. The President’s budget request came in the form of a “skinny budget” which covers all federal departments and agencies in one document. The skinny budget means it has less detail than a typical budget request which includes individual agency budgets that have more detail. While the President is submitting his budget requests to Congress, only Congress can enact appropriation bills that authorize federal spending. The President’s fiscal year 2026 budget request proposes significant budget cuts to a number of federal human service programs that tribes access, including Department of Health and Human Services and Bureau of Indian Affairs programs.

NICWA is urging tribal nations and advocates for Native children and families to contact your congressional representatives and urge them to reject the President’s budget recommendations as they work on FY 2026 spending bills (appropriations). You can find your congressional representatives in the House and Senate here.

Read NICWA’s analysis of the President’s fiscal year 2026 budget request.