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the Navajo Nation due to budget shortfalls, so it won't go that route under looming cuts, Arsenault said. Instead, he would look to reduce his 1,800 employees by 200 -- mostly teachers -- and add a handful of students to each classroom.
• The Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota expects 22 jobs, mostly in law enforcement, will be lost immediately. Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said police already operate at a level considered unsafe by the BIA. Deeper cuts forecast for later this year will increase job losses to 39, and "public safety operations at Red Lake will collapse," he said.
• On the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a new $25 million, 67,500-square foot jail that was to provide cultural and spiritual wellness programs for tribal members charged with crimes sits empty. The annual operating budget of $5 million would be reduced to around $840,000 because of the automatic budget cuts, said jail administrator Melissa Eagle Bear.
• "I don't think this is intentional, but I do feel like it's the government's way of controlling things," she said. "They definitely have control, and we're going to keep going. ... I know Indian people. We tend to survive off what resources we have."
• The National Indian Education Association said the cuts to federal impact aid will affect the operation of 710 schools that serve about 115,000 American Indian students. Those cuts would be immediate because the money is allocated in the same school year it is spent.
• In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation said it is well-poised to handle cuts to its diabetes, housing rehabilitation, Head Start and health care programs. The tribe put a freeze on nonessential hires and halted most travel and training for tribal employees. The tribe's $600 million budget for services and programs comes largely from federal funds, but tribal businesses also post annual revenues in the same amount that have been used to fill in gaps, said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.
• "What this really is going to boil down to mean is that there won't be any new purchases, new equipment, and probably we'll hold our programs but not be in a position to add new programs," Baker said. "Luckily, we're in pretty good shape."
• Baker and other tribal leaders have argued against the cuts, saying the federal government has a responsibility that dates back to the signing of treaties to protect American Indian people, their land and tribal sovereignty.
• While food distribution, welfare programs and health care services that serve the (Continued on page 38)
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