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This story was originally published by ICT.

The 2025 government shutdown has reached a new record, and tribal leaders are beginning to run out of patience and funds, with many dipping into their own already strained reserve funding with no promise it’ll be reimbursed.

The 35-day shutdown has violated countless trust and treaty agreements between the United States and tribal nations. With a reduction of monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds violating several tribes’ guarantee of food in exchange for land usage, tribes like the Cherokee Nation are spending millions to protect their people.

The Cherokee Nation allocated more than $11 million of its own resources towards food security measures including $10.5 million in SNAP-like meal vouchers for 60,000 affected citizens and $1.25 million in food bank assistance to northeastern Oklahoma on Oct. 30.

“We went into this without any assurance that (reimbursement) would happen, without being able to identify a particular law regulation that we could rely on for the repayment,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin. “But the choice between helping, mindful that we may never remove these dollars, and standing back until we got some federal guarantee was really a nonchoice.”

On Nov. 4, the U.S. Senate failed for a 14th time to pass a continuing resolution and end what is now the longest government shutdown in United States history.

Americans are tired, said Michael Stopp, Cherokee and Muscogee and the president and chief executive officer of Seven Star Holdings.

“I think they’re tired of Washington nonsense,” Stopp said. “Members of Congress are still getting paid while programs that they depend on are not.”

Despite a 14th failed vote, there could finally be some movement this week to end the shutdown, Stopp said. Senators are starting to feel pressure to compromise and Democrats could be willing to vote on a Continuing Resolution, said Holly Cook Macarro, Red Lake Ojibwe and a tribal advocate and political strategist.

“Those higher premium costs are devastating to so many families and individuals, and that, in combination with the lapse in SNAP funding, it’s too much,” Cook Macarro said. “The reality of what has been threatened for the last, you know, the last few weeks is, this is where the rubber hits the road and the impacts are really being felt.”

With the recent loss of full SNAP benefits and Low Income Heating Assistance Program funding and expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, the U.S. Senate may begin feeling some pressure to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.

The deadline for next year’s spending bill is slated for Nov. 21 and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated the need for a new deadline to allow for more time to draft and pass the 2026 budget.

The result of the Nov. 4 midterm elections may also have an impact on the length of the shutdown going forward.

A blue sweep could lead to an increased desire for compromise among republicans, Cook Macarro said.

But it could also mean Democrats double down on their decision to hold out for Affordable Care Act subsidies, Stopp said.

Meanwhile, Americans are feeling the effects of a long-term shutdown, especially tribes who’ve spent the past 35 days operating off of reserve funding.

A federal court mandated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture tapped into its emergency funding to keep SNAP funding flowing to low-income Americans. However, in a social media post Tuesday morning, Trump said SNAP benefits “‘will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!’”

The White House later clarified Trump’s post, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump meant he “‘does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future.’”

The USDA has stated it only has enough money to cover half of the usual SNAP benefits and funding may be delayed as it........

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