Sponsors (14)
Introduced May 29, 2025 by Emily Randall · Last progress May 29, 2025
The bill gives Tribes far greater control, funding flexibility, and faster, consolidated pathways to pursue climate resilience and voluntary relocation, but does so by centralizing authority, reducing program-specific safeguards and transparency, and creating fiscal, administrative, and legal risks for federal agencies, taxpayers, and neighboring communities.
Indian Tribes (and people living on tribal lands) can combine multiple federal program funds into a single, Tribe-driven Plan to finance climate resilience, voluntary relocation, housing, utilities, infrastructure, and economic development projects.
Tribes face much lower administrative burden and gain greater financial flexibility by reporting once annually, retaining carryover and interest, and recovering 100% of indirect costs, freeing resources for frontline resilience work.
Federal coordination and project approvals can be faster and less duplicative because the Department acts as a single lead, Plans are presumptively approved with 90‑day decision timetables (deemed approval if missed), agencies can adopt tribal environmental analyses, and a single interagency EIS is allowed.
Concentrating sole approval and integration authority in one Secretary (including 'notwithstanding any other provision of law' language and deemed approvals) reduces interagency checks, increases risk of unilateral decisions, and is likely to prompt litigation or implementation disputes.
The bill reduces transparency and program-level oversight by exempting TEK and some plan materials from disclosure, allowing Tribes to avoid original program audits/tracking, and consolidating fund sources, which limits public and congressional visibility into how federal dollars are spent.
Reprogramming and using federal funds for tribal relocation and integrated plans could reduce or divert funding from other program-specific purposes (health, education, etc.), raise taxpayer costs, and create disputes over eligibility, site selection, and timelines.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Tribes to combine multiple federal funding programs into Tribe-driven Plans for climate resilience, relocation, housing, infrastructure, and related services with consolidated reporting and DOI approval.
Allows Indian Tribes to create Tribe-driven, comprehensive Plans that combine multiple eligible Federal funding programs to prevent or address environmental impacts and natural disasters—including community-driven relocation, housing, infrastructure, and resilience projects—while reducing duplicate reporting and administrative burdens. The Department of the Interior is designated as the lead federal agency and the Secretary has exclusive authority to approve Plans, determine program eligibility for integration, and authorize consolidated budgeting and reporting for integrated funds. Requires a single annual tribal report based on a Secretary-developed model, establishes a single monitoring and oversight system, and directs the Secretary to convene participating federal agencies to streamline permitting, environmental review timetables, and coordination. The Act protects Tribal decisionmaking and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (including free, prior, and informed consent) while enabling Tribes to reallocate, consolidate, and use integrated federal funds for resilience, relocation, and related services consistent with Tribe-determined goals.