Hoopa Valley Tribe feels the strain from partial government shutdown

HOOPA, Calif. — As the partial government shutdown goes into its fifth week, a strain to find funding continues to hurt Native American tribes all over the country, even one in Humboldt County.

"It's kind of pathetic whats happening, you know," said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Ryan Jackson. "For too long, it's been that the United States hasn't lived up to its obligations, and this is another indication of where Indian tribes fit in the overall spectrum."

Jackson says the Hoopa Valley Tribe has relied on a reserve while the shutdown continues. He says the reserve has kept them from furloughing anyone for the time being.

"You know, there's anxiety and people don't necessarily want to lose their jobs," said Jackson. "We look out for our members. I don't want to be in a position to say, 'Hey here's a pink slip for a period of time.'"

But, Jackson says if the shutdown continues into the day President Trump's budget proposal is due on Feb. 4, things might start getting harder for the tribe.

"At that time, the council's going to have to decide whether or not we go to a furlough, my hope is that we don't," said Jackson.

Services like police, fire, and medical are partially funded through the federal government. Jackson says they will continue to provide money from their reserve to supplement those services no matter what.

"We'd have to just weather the storm until additional funding came down the pipeline," said Jackson.

According to the Federal Register, there are 573 Native American tribes registered under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If any of them rely on funding from the federal government, they could be hit hard as well.

"Indian tribes sign treaties with the federal government and there are obligations that the federal government has to fulfill as a result of seeding of land and signing those documents," said Jackson.