DNC Director of Outreach Communications Tracy King released the following statement: 

“This election is about two drastically different visions for America: the Harris-Walz vision of a new way forward for our country where all Native people have the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead, versus the Trump-Vance plan to drag our country backward. The Biden-Harris administration has fought for Tribal Nations and Tribal communities through historic investments to improve Tribal health care, public safety, language preservation, and education, close the digital divide, expand economic opportunities, and address the impacts of climate change on Tribal communities. On the other hand, Donald Trump and JD Vance have failed Native communities, proposing cuts to critical services, undermining federal Tribal land protections and efforts to address the climate crisis, and spewing hateful rhetoric. The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are the only candidates in this race championing the rights of Native communities and taking steps to advance Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.” 

Donald Trump and JD Vance have repeatedly attacked the ACA, which helped expand coverage for and meet the health needs of Native Americans, and a judge found Trump’s administration caused “irreparable harm” by delaying COVID-19 relief funds for Tribes. 

NBC News: “Trump doubles down, saying ‘Obamacare Sucks’ and must be replaced”

NOTUS: “Vance suggested overhauling Obamacare would still be a priority. ‘Well, I think we’re definitely gonna have to fix the health care problem in this country,’ he said.” 

New York Times: “The Trump administration formally declared its opposition to the entire Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, arguing in a federal appeals court filing that the signature Obama-era legislation was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Such a decision could end health insurance for some 21 million Americans and affect many millions more who benefit from the law’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and required coverage for pregnancy, prescription drugs and mental health.” 

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Despite the assurance of health care, AI/ANs face persistent health disparities, including a high uninsurance rate, barriers to accessing care, and significant physical and mental health needs. Like many other groups, AI/ANs have benefited greatly from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage expansions.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “Nonelderly AIAN and Hispanic people had the highest uninsured rates at 19.1% and 18.0%, respectively as of 2022…

“For example, between 2010 and 2022, the uninsured rate for AIAN people grew from 2.5 to 2.9 times higher than the uninsured rate for White people, the Hispanic uninsured rate grew from 2.5 to 2.7 times higher than the rate for White people, and Black people remained 1.5 times more likely to be uninsured than White people.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: ​​“Following the ACA’s enactment in 2010 through 2016, coverage increased across all racial and ethnic groups […] Nonelderly Hispanic people had the largest percentage point increase in coverage, with their uninsured rate falling from 32.6% to 19.1%. Nonelderly Black, Asian, and AIAN people also had larger percentage point increases in coverage compared to White people over that period.”

USA Today: “Native Americans, Alaska Natives and a bipartisan group of their allies are worried that repeal of the Affordable Care Act will also eliminate a non-controversial portion of that law that commits federal funding for tribal health care around the country, a move that the National Indian Health Board warns would be ‘catastrophic.’ …

“The law also provides scholarships to Native Americans and Alaska Natives to get medical degrees if they come back and work in their tribes.” 

HuffPost: “Judge Orders Trump Administration To Give Tribes Their COVID-19 Relief Funds.”

“A federal judge on Monday ordered Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to distribute $679 million in emergency COVID-19 relief funds to Native American tribes that should have gotten it months ago, and he chided the agency for causing ‘irreparable harm’ with its delays.”

Trump repeatedly proposed slashing funding for vital programs supporting Native Americans on issues like education and housing.

Associated Press: “Tribes Bash Proposed Trump Budget Cuts To Native American Programs.”

“The proposed budget would slash $64 million in federal Native American funding for education, $21 million for law enforcement and safety, $27 million for natural resources management programs run by tribes plus $23 million from human services, which includes the Indian Child Welfare Act, said Carina Miller, a councilwoman with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, in Oregon. It would also eliminate funding for tribal work on climate change and cut block grant programs that provide housing assistance for Native Americans, she added.”

Las Vegas Sun: “The budget calls for massive cutbacks in staffing — 1,835 National Parks Service employees, 1,209 from the U.S. Geological Survey, 559 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 330 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

Washington Post: “Shrink funding for Adult Employment and Training Activities, which serve veterans, Native Americans and young people who have dropped out of high school, by nearly half, from $810 million in 2017 to $490.3 million in 2019.” 

CNN: “The Budget proposes to eliminate rural business and cooperative programs given findings that the programs have failed to meet the program goals and are improperly managed.” 

Trump has repeatedly shown his willingness to undermine federal Tribal land protections and revoke funding for programs that address climate change despite the significant risk it poses to Tribal communities. 

Associated Press: “Dozens of Native American tribes in six Western states expressed outrage Thursday at President Trump’s proposed budget cuts to American Indian programs, saying they would erase significant progress on child welfare and climate change and gut social services and education on reservations across the U.S… Eliminating $10 million for a program that helps tribes prepare for and deal with rapid environmental change would be particularly harmful, said Fawn Sharp, president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.”

New York Times: “Dispossessed, Again: Climate Change Hits Native Americans Especially Hard”

Financial Times: “Donald Trump would gut Joe Biden’s landmark IRA climate law if elected”

“Donald Trump is planning to gut US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year. … The Inflation Reduction Act — the centrepiece of Biden’s economic strategy, with $369bn in tax breaks and subsidies for clean energy — would be in Trump’s crosshairs.”

Washington Post: “In 2016, President Barack Obama created the Bears Ears National Monument […] His proclamation recognized the area’s ‘extraordinary archaeological and cultural record’ and the land’s ‘profoundly sacred’ meaning to many Native American tribes. Eleven months later, in early December of 2017, President Trump reduced Bears Ears by 85 percent…” 

The Hill: “The amount of land placed into trust by Interior shrunk to 75,000 acres during Trump’s four years in office, from 560,000 acres during former President Obama’s two terms.”

Associated Press: “The rule, which takes effect in November, reverses a Trump-era action that limited the ability of states and tribes to review pipelines, dams and other federally regulated projects within their borders.”

Bloomberg: “Trump will discuss the ways he intends to woo foreign manufacturers to the US through a lower corporate tax rate, fewer regulations, cheap energy, strong ports and even government land.”

Trump’s Project 2025 agenda would eliminate the Head Start Program after he tried in his first term to cut millions in scholarship funding meant to help ensure Native families have access to quality education. 

KNAU: “Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating Tribal Scholarships For Third Year In A Row.”

“The administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget would slash nearly $40 million from tribal scholarship and education programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Education… [Navajo Office of Scholarship and Financial Assistance’s] Graham says in 2017 nearly $10 million in federal funding went to partial scholarships for nearly 4,000 Navajo students. The Trump administration’s proposal would eliminate all of it. Just over 4 percent of Navajo tribal members have a bachelor’s degree compared with about a third of the total U.S. population.” 

Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, pg. 482: “Eliminate the Head Start program.”

REMINDER: Trump and JD Vance have long disrespected Native Americans, from claiming Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a “fake holiday” and mocking Native American history to spewing racially charged rhetoric. 

Trump, Faith and Freedom Conference: “But in history, they say Andrew Jackson was treated the worst president. He was a great general and a very good president.”

Trump: “‘I think I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations.’”

Washington Post: “In 2000, when New York was considering expanding Native American casinos in the Catskill Mountains, a series of TV, newspaper and radio ads popped up in the state accusing the Mohawk Indian tribe of having long criminal records and ties to the mob…

As far as the public knew, the ads were sponsored by a newly formed group called the Institute for Law and Safety. The group claimed that it was funded by 12,000 ‘grass-roots, pro-family’ donors. But in reality, it was bankrolled by Trump’s casino company… Trump paid more than $1 million for the campaign.”

Washington Post: “One hundred years after U.S. soldiers killed and maimed hundreds of Sioux men, women and children at the Wounded Knee massacre, Congress formally apologized in 1990… President Trump used that same massacre as a punchline in his latest broadside against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Democratic presidential hopeful whom he regularly calls ‘Pocahontas’ in jeering reference to her claims of American Indian heritage.”

Indianz: “President Trump Disavows Indigenous Peoples Day”

Associated Press: “‘Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy,’ Trump said in his proclamation declaring Monday Columbus Day. ‘These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions.’”

U.S. News & World Report: “President Donald Trump’s proclamation of Monday as Columbus Day contains a notable omission: any mention of Native Americans.” 

Washington Post: “November Is Native American Heritage Month. Critics Say Trump Is Subverting It With A New Celebration Of The Founding Fathers.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “In Ohio, JD Vance Implied Tribes Were ‘Enemy,’ And Called Indigenous Peoples’ Day ‘Fake’” 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Vance also made comments on social media disparaging the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day […] He posted on Twitter in October 2021 ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a fake holiday created to sow division.”

Breitbart: “J.D. Vance Criticizes Opponent Matt Dolan For Indians Name Change, Rails Against ‘Weak Republicans’”

“‘And when the woke mob came after the Cleveland Indians, he bent the knee and changed their name,’ Vance added.”