Here & Now

Tribal Nations in Wisconsin Feeling Federal Shutdown Pain

Frederica Freyberg:
Nearly 3,000 federal employees in Wisconsin are either furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown. This includes Coast Guard staff, air traffic controllers, USDA staff and TSA at Wisconsin airports. Tribal nations in Wisconsin are also feeling the pain. The shutdown means the federal government has stopped funding what’s obligated under treaty rights. Marisa Wojcik reports from Shawano, where one tribe is already short more than $1 million.

Shannon Holsey:
Certainly we are monitoring this closely.

Marisa Wojcik:
Shannon Holsey is the president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians located on 22,000 acres in Shawano County, Wisconsin. Her office has been fielding questions from the community.

Shannon Holsey:
We’ve gotten calls asking how concerned they should be with regards to the services that are provided.

Marisa Wojcik:
Like any government, community services including health care, education, public safety and care for the elderly are all supported by the tribe. Most tribal nations receive federal funding budgeted through Congress annually.

Shannon Holsey:
The funds that we received are through trust and treaty responsibilities. They’re not aid.

Marisa Wojcik:
With the government shutdown, these funds are no longer coming into the community.

Andrew Miller:
I can say that we’re starting to feel the impact already.

Marisa Wojcik:
Andrew Miller is the director of the community health clinic.

Andrew Miller:
IHS, Indian Health Service provides funds to allow us to run this clinic. These are not handouts, if you will. These are requirements per those treaties. Right now we serve about 2,800 patients. Of those patients, about one-third are elderly, who rely heavily on our services.

Marisa Wojcik:
Even before the shutdown, the Tribal Nation has been offsetting costs from their own pocket.

Andrew Miller:
We started out underfunded. IHS has estimated that we’re only funded about 40% of our need to provide medical services to our population.

Marisa Wojcik:
The Stockbridge-Munsee community supports more than just its native citizens.

Shannon Holsey:
As the largest employer in Shawano County, we recognize the overwhelming need of the citizens. We don’t just live on a Native American reservation. We contribute to a broader extent our community.

Paige Lehman:
I try to be friendly to everybody and wave.

Marisa Wojcik:
Officer Paige Lehman is non-native. She’s cross deputized as a tribal officer and Shawano County sheriff deputy.

Paige Lehman:
We basically patrol two different areas of the whole Shawano County. I think for a long time, we actually had a Shawano patch on one side and Stockbridge on the other.

Marisa Wojcik:
Even though she serves all of Shawano County, she’s employed by the tribe.

Shannon Holsey:
We’re hoping that it never has to get to the point where we’re going to have to furlough people.

Paige Lehman:
I like working here and I hope that I never have to leave for something like that, but you never know.

Donald Trump:
My fellow Americans…

Marisa Wojcik:
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump made his first address from the Oval Office.

Donald Trump:
There is a growing, humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.

Marisa Wojcik:
Speaking as the government shutdown over the border wall with Mexico dragged on. A shutdown that leaves Tribal Nations severely shorted on the U.S. government’s obligations, hatched long ago in treaty agreements.

Shannon Holsey:
We gave up a great deal. A lot was lost in that. You give up a great deal. It’s not just land. We’re caught up in this unrelated DC politics over a border war. The president and Congress need to really, immediately open the government. We’re talking about human capital. We’re talking about people and the effect that it has on their lives.