Coeur d’Alene, Idaho — U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, the Idaho Republican who chairs a key House Appropriations subcommittee, has advanced a budget that significantly increases funding for tribal justice and Native American services, citing the persistent crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous persons across the state and nation.

Simpson’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee approved a budget in June that included a 26 percent increase to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The proposal also boosted funding for tribal justice initiatives, even as other agencies faced reductions, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and Smithsonian Institution.

“We put a bunch more money into tribal justice, and that’s hard in a year when we’re trying to reduce spending at the federal level,” Simpson told reporters, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. “We’re not going to try to balance the budget on the back of the tribes. These are trust and treaty responsibilities we’ve got with our Native American brothers and sisters, and we’ve got to keep those.”

Simpson, who is Blackfoot and grew up near the Fort Hall Reservation, highlighted the scale of the problem after watching an Idaho Public Television program that cited approximately 6,000 Indigenous people murdered or missing annually across the country.

The funding push follows a July hearing Simpson held with the House Committee on Natural Resources on the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis. Data underscores the urgency: Indigenous women in Idaho go missing at a rate nearly twice that of the general population — 18.99 per 100,000 compared to 10.59 per 100,000 for all missing persons. A 2021 Boise State University study, conducted at the Idaho Legislature’s direction, found that 75 percent of missing Indigenous people in Idaho are women. Nationally, Indigenous women are murdered at a rate 10 times higher than the national average, according to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.

In 2023, Idaho’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse reported 79 missing Native Americans. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes spokesman Marco Ovando said the crisis “remains largely unaddressed,” citing a recent case from spring that resulted in limited investigation results.

Simpson identified jurisdictional confusion as a significant barrier to solving cases. When a missing person case involves tribal lands or tribal members, uncertainty can arise over whether Tribal police, local or county law enforcement, or the FBI should lead the investigation. Some counties adjacent to reservations lack formal memorandums of understanding with tribal entities, complicating coordination.

Nez Perce Tribe leaders raised similar concerns in 2023, noting that jurisdictional gaps included tribal inability to access law enforcement data systems shared by state and federal agencies.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Chairman Chief J. Allan expressed support for Simpson’s effort to increase resources for the crisis. The tribe operates in Kootenai County, one of North Idaho’s largest tribal jurisdictions.

Idaho has taken some steps to address the issue. The state Legislature created a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons taskforce in 2020 and that same year passed House Concurrent Resolution 33 declaring missing and murdered Indigenous women a state crisis. The Legislature received a report on the issue in 2021.

Simpson’s subcommittee budget reflects a broader federal commitment to tribal sovereignty and trust obligations, even in a fiscal environment demanding spending cuts elsewhere.