The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a proposed rule that rewrites 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Guidance) — the single regulation governing every federal grant, cooperative agreement, and pass-through award. The proposal reaches across all 42 federal departments and could negatively impact Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations and their respective Tribal programs. Federal funding for Tribal programs is not discretionary. It stems from treaties, congressional statutes, court decisions,  and is a requirement of the federal government’s trust obligations to Tribal Nations.

OMB has acknowledged the need for Tribal consultation, but consultation after publication is not meaningful. Tribal Nations must be provided the opportunity to share their input with OMB before the rule and its subsequent policy framework is proposed.

Why This Is a Serious Threat

The proposal would reshape how the Federal government awards and administers all grants and financial assistance, giving them control over $1 trillion in annual Federal awards. The provisions will reach every Tribal Nation, Tribal Organization, most major universities and hospitals, and countless Tribal nonprofits and community organizations serving American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), in rural and urban settings.

Threatens the sovereignty of Tribal Nations including Tribal and culturally specific programs. New national-policy, disparate-impact, reporting, and procurement provisions may be used to restrict Tribal advocacy, data sovereignty, culturally specific services, cross-border Tribal work, and Tribal procurement laws.

Political control over awards. The proposed rule would appoint senior political appointees from the Executive Branch to ensure grantees are aligned with the Administration’s “national interest,” thus demoting peer review to advisory in nature only, creating risk that changing political priorities override Tribal Nations’ priorities, statutory purposes, and Tribal specific expertise and community need.

Suspension and termination risk. Proposed sections of the rule permit termination of discretionary awards based on agency priorities or the “national interest” and permits suspension in an agency or pass-through entity’s interest. A pause can shut down life-safety services within Tribal communities.

Risk conditions and funding barriers. Proposed sections of the rule would expand applicant-risk review and program-level conditions. The proposal also creates pressure favoring lower indirect-cost rates, penalizing remote and under-resourced Tribal governments.

Direct program consequences. At risk are VAWA, MMIP, victim services,Tribal justice, housing, education, natural resources, water, energy, transportation, broadband, workforce, and Tribal cultural and language programs, among other critical programs serving AI/ANs.

What Tribal Leaders Can Do Now

• Attend the NCAI Webinar on July 1.
• Attend the NAFOA Webinar on July 8.
• Visit the Coalition for Tribal Sovereignty website to download the Tribal Grant Termination toolkit and monitor for a template comment letter on the OMB Rulemaking.
• Submit formal Tribal comments by July 13, 2026, and demand that OMB engage in meaningful government-to-government Tribal Consultation (not after-the-fact consultation), before adoption of a final rule.
• Include a Tribal impact analysis and/or program examples.
• Demand a binding savings clause protecting treaty rights, trust duties, and statutory Indian programs, and program-specific protections over conflicting Part 200 proposed requirements.
• Oppose political-priority grant-making authority, termination and suspension; require notice, due process, appeal rights, advance payments, continuity funding, and full recovery of negotiated indirect costs.
• Demand that OMB publish a Tribal impact analysis and certify that no final rule will impair Tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, trust obligations, and congressionally appropriated Tribal program whether administered through direct services or by a Tribal Nation.

Comments are due July 13, 2026 (45 days after publication).

Please go to www.regulations.gov to submit your comments under docket OMB-2026-0034. The Administration aims to make the rule effective October 1, 2026.

Note that submitting comments by the July 13th due date will help Tribal Nations build an administrative record to preserve APA claims as well as important ISDEAA, treaty and trust arguments.  

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. A general grant-management regulation must not be permitted to weaken the United States’ treaty, trust, statutory, and government-to-government obligations to Tribal Nations.