DOGE’s impact in Indian Country: Nearly $470 million in lost funding
On July 4 of this year, the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officially shut down .
今年7月4日，白宫政府效率部（DOGE）正式关闭。
Despite failing to reduce overall federal spending, DOGE—led by Elon Musk—nonetheless significantly disrupted government agencies and programs serving communities across the United States and the world.
尽管未能减少联邦总体支出，但埃隆·马斯克领导的 DOGE 仍然严重扰乱了为美国和世界各地社区服务的政府机构和项目。
This analysis measures the impact of DOGE’s funding cuts on Native American Tribal nations, citizens, and communities.
该分析衡量了 DOGE 资金削减对美洲原住民部落国家、公民和社区的影响。
Previous research has shown that Tribes and Native communities have been disproportionately affected by federal funding cuts under the Trump administration.
此前的研究表明，部落和原住民社区受到特朗普政府联邦资金削减的不成比例的影响。
For example, a 2025 analysis by GrantExec found that “Tribal” was the most frequently flagged term in canceled grant programs, with 31% of all canceled grant programs containing the word.
例如，GrantExec 2025 年的一项分析发现，“部落”是取消的资助计划中最常被标记的术语，所有取消的资助计划中有 31% 包含该词。
We estimate that DOGE’s actions led to Indian Country losing nearly $470 million in federal funding.
我们估计 DOGE 的行为导致印第安乡村损失了近 4.7 亿美元的联邦资金。
The most significant sources of funding losses came from cuts to environmental efforts, agriculture programs, and economic development.
资金损失的最重要来源来自环境努力、农业计划和经济发展的削减。
These cuts matter for two reasons.
这些削减之所以重要有两个原因。
First, they will have negative impacts on the well-being of Native and non-Native people and communities.
首先，它们将对土著和非土著人民和社区的福祉产生负面影响。
Second, by cutting funding that had already been promised to Tribal nations and Native organizations, DOGE’s actions violate federal trust and treaty obligations to Tribes.
其次，通过削减已经向部落国家和原住民组织承诺的资金，DOGE 的行为违反了联邦对部落的信任和条约义务。
As The New York Times and others have reported, Elon Musk and DOGE inflated the headline numbers on federal spending reductions on the official DOGE website.
正如《纽约时报》和其他媒体报道的那样，埃隆·马斯克和 DOGE 在 DOGE 官方网站上夸大了联邦支出削减的标题数字。
To mitigate that challenge, this report cross-references DOGE’s self-published numbers with de-obligations data from USAspending to validate whether cuts that DOGE claimed credit for actually took place.
为了缓解这一挑战，本报告将 DOGE 自行发布的数据与美国支出的解除义务数据进行交叉引用，以验证 DOGE 声称的削减是否确实发生。
We reconcile these transaction-level data with obligation records from USAspending’s account-level dataset, which is subject to more stringent robustness checks and records de-obligations more reliably than the transaction data alone.
我们将这些交易级数据与 USAspending 账户级数据集的义务记录进行核对，该数据集受到更严格的稳健性检查，并且比单独的交易数据更可靠地记录解除义务。
To determine which awards were going to Native American Tribes and organizations, we then geocoded awards and grants to recipient location and filtered to include only recipients located in the U.S. Recipients were tagged as American Indian/Alaska Native under the following conditions:
为了确定哪些奖项将授予美国原住民部落和组织，我们对获奖者位置的奖项和赠款进行了地理编码，并进行了筛选，仅包括位于美国的获奖者。在以下条件下，获奖者被标记为美洲印第安人/阿拉斯加原住民：
We make special exceptions in the data for colleges and universities classified as Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs) and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNHs), which are picked up in our identification procedure but receive the majority of their federal funding for purposes unrelated to Native causes (such as medical school research and campus improvements).
我们对分类为美国原住民服务非部落机构 (NASNTI) 和阿拉斯加原住民和夏威夷原住民服务机构 (ANNH) 的学院和大学的数据做出了特殊例外，这些机构在我们的识别程序中被选取，但其大部分联邦资金用于与原住民事业无关的目的（例如医学院研究和校园改善）。
Therefore, we classify awards to NASNTIs and ANNHs as Native-serving only if they had at least one Native sub-awardee.
因此，只有当 NASNTI 和 ANNH 至少有一名原住民子获奖者时，我们才将其授予的奖项归类为原住民服务。
Other awards were also flagged as Native-serving if more than half of their sub-award funding was being channeled through Native organizations.
如果其他奖项超过一半的子奖项资金是通过原住民组织提供的，则也被标记为原住民服务。
However, documented challenges with USAspending’s collection and validation of sub-award data make it impossible to definitively identify the amount of this sub-award funding that was potentially impacted by DOGE.
然而，记录在案的 USAspending 子奖项数据收集和验证方面的挑战使得无法明确确定可能受到 DOGE 影响的子奖项资金数额。
We looked at de-obligations reported during the period DOGE was operating, from the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 through the end of FY 2026.
我们研究了 DOGE 运营期间（从 2025 财年第二季度到 2026 财年末）报告的债务解除情况。
In total, we were able to confirm through USAspending that DOGE cancelled a total of 1,597 grants and contracts affecting Tribes and Native organizations, totaling $468.7 million in de-obligated funding.
总的来说，我们通过 USAspending 确认 DOGE 总共取消了 1,597 项影响部落和原住民组织的赠款和合同，共计 4.687 亿美元的非义务资金。
This analysis is limited to measuring the impact of grant and contract cancelations implemented by DOGE.
该分析仅限于衡量 DOGE 实施的赠款和合同取消的影响。
As such, it does not include the impact of federal government employees who lost their jobs because of DOGE actions, nor does it calculate the impact of federal office or agency closures and downsizings.
因此，它不包括因 DOGE 行动而失业的联邦政府雇员的影响，也不计算联邦办公室或机构关闭和裁员的影响。
These actions nonetheless had significant impacts on Indian Country.
尽管如此，这些行动对印度国家产生了重大影响。
As one example, the BIA-managed Haskell Indian Nations University saw more than a quarter of its staff get cut due to DOGE-mandated layoffs—a development that Dalton Henry, the interim president of school’s board of regents, said would “have disastrous consequences for fulfilling its educational mission”
举个例子，BIA 管理的哈斯克尔印度国家大学 (Haskell Indian Nations University) 的员工因 DOGE 强制裁员而被裁减，学校董事会临时主席道尔顿·亨利 (Dalton Henry) 表示，这一事态发展将“对其教育使命的履行造成灾难性后果”
As such, DOGE’s total impact on Indian Country is higher than this analysis can calculate, and is likely to have lasting negative impacts for years to come.
因此，DOGE 对印度国家的总体影响超出了本分析的计算范围，并且可能在未来几年产生持久的负面影响。
In total, we find that DOGE canceled nearly $470 million worth of grants and contracts going to Native American Tribes and organizations.
总的来说，我们发现 DOGE 取消了向美洲原住民部落和组织提供的价值近 4.7 亿美元的赠款和合同。
This accounted for roughly 6.5% of all DOGE funding cuts that we were able to confirm using de-obligations through USAspending.
这约占所有 DOGE 资金削减的 6.5%，我们通过 USAspending 使用债务解除确认了这一削减。
Notably, the share of DOGE cuts affecting Indian Country was significantly higher than Native Americans’ share of the U.S. population.
值得注意的是，DOGE 削减影响印第安人的比例明显高于美洲原住民占美国人口的比例。
While estimates vary, the most recent numbers from the Census Bureau show that Native Americans account for between 1% and 2.7% of the U.S. population.
尽管估计有所不同，但人口普查局的最新数据显示，美洲原住民占美国人口的 1% 至 2.7%。
This means that DOGE’s cuts impacted Tribal nations, citizens, and communities at a rate two to six times higher than their share of the population.
这意味着 DOGE 的削减对部落国家、公民和社区的影响比其人口比例高出两到六倍。
Funding to Native American Tribes and organizations was also more significantly affected by DOGE than funding to non-Native organizations.
对美洲原住民部落和组织的资助也比对非原住民组织的资助受到 DOGE 的影响更大。
We find that Tribes and Native organizations lost 12.1% of obligated funding under awards canceled by DOGE, compared to just 8.3% for non-Native recipients.
我们发现，部落和原住民组织在 DOGE 取消的奖励下损失了 12.1% 的义务资金，而非原住民接受者仅损失了 8.3%。
One of the factors leading Native-serving awards to be more significantly impacted by DOGE actions may be that federal funding awards made to Tribes and Native organizations tend to have more unspent funding than awards to non-Native entities.
导致原住民服务奖励受到 DOGE 行动影响更大的因素之一可能是，向部落和原住民组织提供的联邦资金奖励往往比向非原住民实体的奖励有更多的未用资金。
As research by Brookings and others has shown, Tribes face more significant barriers to accessing and spending down federal funding than other groups.
正如布鲁金斯学会和其他机构的研究表明，与其他群体相比，部落在获取和支出联邦资金方面面临着更大的障碍。
These barriers can contribute to them drawing down federal funding awards at slower rates than non-Native organizations, which left more funding vulnerable to DOGE cuts.
这些障碍可能导致他们以比非原住民组织慢的速度提取联邦资助金，这使得更多的资金容易受到 DOGE 削减的影响。
Funding cuts to Tribes and Native organizations largely centered on programs related to pollution abatement, climate resilience, and building agricultural economies.
对部落和原住民组织的资金削减主要集中在与减少污染、气候适应能力和建设农业经济相关的项目上。
USAspending classified over 65% of all Indian Country grants and contracts canceled by DOGE as Natural Resources and Environment, while another 11% were classified as Agriculture.
在 DOGE 取消的所有印度国家拨款和合同中，美国支出将 65% 以上归为自然资源和环境类别，另有 11% 归为农业类别。
Within the Natural Resources and Environment subject area, the most significant sub-function was Pollution Control and Abatement, which singlehandedly accounted for over 61% of all funding DOGE cut in Indian Country.
在自然资源和环境主题领域内，最重要的子职能是污染控制和减排，该职能占印度国家 DOGE 削减资金总额的 61% 以上。
For example, DOGE terminated a roughly $20 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Change award for the Alaska Native village of Kotzebue to build and independently own two wind turbines.
例如，DOGE 终止了环境保护局 (EPA) 为阿拉斯加原住民村庄 Kotzebue 建造并独立拥有两台风力涡轮机的约 2000 万美元的社区变革奖励。
The Tribe planned to generate energy locally and use revenue to fund Tribal programs and essential community needs such as water and sewer improvements and economic development initiatives.
该部落计划在当地生产能源，并利用收入资助部落计划和基本社区需求，例如供水和下水道改善以及经济发展举措。
Kotzebue is partially reliant on external sources of diesel fuel to meet its energy needs, and the project would’ve supported energy grid reliability and independence.
科策布部分依赖外部柴油来源来满足其能源需求，该项目将支持能源网的可靠性和独立性。
Other terminated awards included funding for the Nevada Clean Energy Fund and the Walker River Paiute Tribe to implement a multi-year climate resilience plan , as well as funding for a river stabilization project that would enable the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk to remain on its ancestral land.
其他终止的奖项包括为内华达清洁能源基金和沃克河派尤特部落实施多年气候恢复计划提供资金，以及为河流稳定项目提供资金，该项目将使阿拉斯加原住民村庄基普努克能够继续留在其祖传土地上。
While USAspending classifies these funding streams as Natural Resources and Environment or Agriculture, many also focused on Tribal economic and workforce development.
虽然 USAspending 将这些资金流归类为自然资源和环境或农业，但许多资金流还关注部落经济和劳动力发展。
For example, the Chippewa Cree Tribe on Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana lost $6 million that was meant to purchase a piece of reservation land for young farmers to manage.
例如，蒙大拿州 Rocky Boy’s 保留地的 Chippewa Cree 部落损失了 600 万美元，原本是为了购买一块保留地供年轻农民管理。
Similarly, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota planned to use a roughly $2 million award to create a revolving fund to help prospective farmers purchase property.
同样，南达科他州的 Lower Brule Sioux 部落计划使用大约 200 万美元的奖励来设立循环基金，以帮助潜在的农民购买房产。
These types of investments would have helped these Tribes bolster their agricultural economies.
这些类型的投资将帮助这些部落增强农业经济。
Meanwhile, Piikani Lodge Health Institute planned to use a nearly $9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program to build an industrial community kitchen and producer training hub on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.
与此同时，Piikani Lodge Health Institute 计划利用美国农业部 (USDA) 增加土地、资本和市场准入计划提供的近 900 万美元拨款，在蒙大拿州的 Blackfeet 保留地建造一个工业社区厨房和生产者培训中心。
Launched under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the program aimed to support underserved and young producers through grants and cooperative agreements with local governments, nonprofits, and Tribes for technical assistance, land, and market access projects.
该计划是根据 2022 年《通货膨胀削减法案》启动的，旨在通过赠款以及与地方政府、非营利组织和部落的技术援助、土地和市场准入项目的合作协议来支持服务不足和年轻的生产者。
The training hub would have supported 300 Native and non-Native farmers and ranchers in Glacier and Pondera counties.
该培训中心将为 Glacier 县和 Pondera 县的 300 名原住民和非原住民农民和牧场主提供支持。
As these examples show, DOGE’s funding cuts directly harmed the ability of Tribes to develop healthy, self-sustaining economic opportunities for their citizens and communities.
正如这些例子所示，DOGE 的资金削减直接损害了部落为其公民和社区发展健康、自我维持的经济机会的能力。
DOGE’s funding cuts in Indian Country also affected distinct subject areas and agencies compared to cuts affecting non-Native communities and organizations.
与影响非土著社区和组织的削减相比，DOGE 在印第安地区的资金削减还影响了不同的主题领域和机构。
Cuts in Indian Country affected a significantly higher share of natural resources and environment funding (65%) than DOGE cuts overall (40%).
印度国家的削减对自然资源和环境资金的影响 (65%) 明显高于 DOGE 整体削减 (40%)。
This also meant that more than half of all awards and contracts to Native/Tribal recipients cancelled by DOGE were funded by the EPA, compared to just over 20% for non-Native recipients.
这也意味着，在 DOGE 取消的向原住民/部落接受者授予的所有奖项和合同中，有一半以上是由 EPA 资助的，而非原住民接受者的这一比例略高于 20%。