Over the weekend, most federal agencies released detailed FY 2026 budget justifications pursuant to the basic parameters President Trump included in his Discretionary Budget Request overview in early May. As expected, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Congressional Justification features a 90% reduction in funding for the CDFI Fund from its FY 2025 funding level of $324 million to just $33 million for FY 2026, which it pays for by eliminating all of the Fund’s existing discretionary award programs, including the Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program. Treasury’s Congressional Justification also does not mention funding for its Office of Tribal and Native American Affairs, and the language detailing the proposed new Rural Financial Assistance Program at $100 million fails to mention Indian Country generally or Native CDFIs specifically, meaning there would be no statutory guarantee that Native CDFIs would receive any of that funding.
Overall, according to Tribal Business News, President Trump’s full FY 2026 Budget Request features nearly $1 billion in cuts to Indian Country programs, including the elimination of the Indian Loan Guarantee Program at the Department of the Interior and funding for the Office of Native American Affairs at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Responding to President Trump’s “skinny” budget request in early May, NCN and 66 co-signatory Native CDFIs and partners issued a joint letter to Congress protesting the NACA Program’s elimination and calling for $50 million in funding for the program in FY 2026 commensurate with their demonstrated unmet funding needs. In response to this weekend’s developments, NCN calls on Native CDFIs and their partners to renew their advocacy push with Congress by calling their respective Congressional delegation offices and sending them letters using this template letter.
NCN will keep our members apprised of new developments with the FY 2026 Congressional Appropriations process as they arise.