The federal government may be undergoing a shutdown if a Continuing Resolution (CR) is not passed by Congress and signed into law by 11:59PM today, January 19, 2018. Though the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 1-month CR to keep the federal government funded through February 16, 2018 on January 18, this bill does not have votes to pass in the U.S. Senate. The current potential shutdown is a result of disagreements within Congress over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
This would be the first government shutdown since 2013. Government shutdowns are enormously disruptive, with many federal functions, such as park services, oversight, and reimbursement duties not performed. Only federal employees performing duties essential to national security and human safety continue to work. While facilities operated directly by the Indian Health Service (IHS) will remain open and able to offer certain services, Tribal healthcare will be negatively impacted if the shutdown does occur. Because healthcare is a legal right to all members of a federally-recognized Tribe, the federal government’s inability to fulfill that obligation during a shutdown is a failure of its trust responsibility to Tribes.
