Tribe petitions Meadows to end shutdown
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a federal agency, so those services aren’t available in Cherokee while the shutdown continues. Holly Kays photo
The ongoing federal government shutdown is having a negative effect on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and last week the tribe’s Tribal Council voted unanimously to send Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, a letter to tell him so.
“Us as elected officials have a responsibility to take care of our tribe,” said Councilmember Jeremy Wilson, of Wolfetown, who had suggested the action. “I get that Meadows is supposedly a good friend of ours, but Meadows does not come before our people, and (President Donald) Trump definitely does not come before our people.”
Principal Chief Richard Sneed requested that Tribal Council hear the action as an emergency resolution at the end of the Jan. 10 agenda. The document states that the shutdown is having an “immediate and negative impact on the daily lives operations of the tribe and impacting negatively the lives of tribal members” and directs Sneed to write to Meadows to “strongly encourage that he take action in his official capacity and end the U.S. government shutdown, detailing with candor the hardships that the EBCI and its tribal members are incurring because of it.”
“No one wants a shutdown, and I’m continuing to work every day to try and find a compromise where both sides can come together to secure our border and open up the government,” said Meadows in response to a request for comment. “And no member of Congress should leave town or receive a paycheck until we get the job done.”
As of press time, the tribe’s letter had not been made available to The Smoky Mountain News, but Sneed listed some of the impacts in his report to council at the beginning of the meeting. The Office of the Attorney General has a variety of projects going on that require collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, and those activities are on hold. Various federal grants the tribe receives are on hold — about a dozen are pending that can’t be acted on until the shutdown ends, Sneed said. Land transfers, which require action through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are on hold, as is progress on the National Park Service gathering rule that would permit tribal members to collect sochan from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. About five different projects within the tribe’s Natural Resources Program are affected.
Qualla Housing employees are paid using U.S. Housing and Urban Development dollars, so if the shutdown goes on much longer that money could run out. About a dozen employees at the Cherokee Indian Hospital are paid through Indian Health Services, a federal program.
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“Currently we’re able to keep paying them with an agreement we have with IHS,” said Sneed of the hospital employees. “That money has been advanced to them, but they can’t guarantee those employees will be paid this next pay period. This lends itself to why it’s important that the hospital keeps reserves on hand.”
While the shutdown is indeed having an impact, it’s less severe than it would be were the tribe’s financial status not as strong as it is, said Sneed. Smaller tribes around the country are discussing shutting down medical clinics until the government reopens, but Cherokee has enough reserves that it’s not having that conversation.
“It’s like watching middle schoolers argue back and forth, and these are the leaders of our country,” Sneed said. “What they’re not taking into consideration I don’t think is the impact this is having on everyday Americans and families.”
To help its members who are furloughed federal employees, the tribe is offering a disaster relief fund to ensure that their needs are met until the government reopens. Enrolled members who may qualify for assistance can contact Taylor Wilnoty at 828.359.7008 to apply.
“Interestingly enough, when we put that out there one consideration I hadn’t even thought of is we have enrolled members who work in other parts of the country that are furloughed, but we were getting calls from literally all over the country,” said Sneed. “This is where we are really blessed to have the resources to help our people.”
Editor’s note: This story was reported using online meeting videos, as Tribal Council’s April 2018 decision to ban non-Cherokee media from its chambers prevents The Smoky Mountain News from attending in person.
