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Honor tribal sovereignty through enforceable treaty ledgers, early consultation, direct self-government funding, tribal data authority, and fast remedies when the United States breaks its commitments.
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AI-researched, unverifiedLast Reviewed
Jul 12, 2026
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What is failing, what we would change, and the conclusion we are willing to defend.
Tribal nations are governments with retained sovereignty. Treaties are binding commitments between governments. The federal trust responsibility carries legal duties toward tribal lands, assets, resources, and rights. National honor begins with keeping those promises when another use of land, money, or authority looks more convenient.
The Innovation Party supports a Tribal Treaty Performance and Self-Government Act:
Publish a Treaty Performance Ledger. Each federal agency must identify the duties it administers, the responsible official, appropriated and obligated funding, performance deadline, current status, affected tribal nations, and available remedy. Tribes can contest an omission or inaccurate status through an independent review process.
Make consultation capable of changing a decision. Consultation begins before an agency selects its preferred option. Tribes receive adequate notice, relevant records, technical support, and access to an official with decision authority. The final record explains which tribal recommendations were adopted, rejected, or modified and gives the reason for each material choice.
Expand direct self-government funding. Eligible tribes may consolidate federal programs into predictable multi-year agreements, carry funds across fiscal years, set local delivery methods, and report against agreed outcomes. Federal agencies remain responsible for adequate funding and lawful oversight.
Recognize tribal authority over tribal data. Federal grants and systems must specify tribal authority over access, correction, reuse, linkage, retention, and publication of tribal data. Interoperability agreements require tribal approval and may never convert technical integration into a transfer of ownership or jurisdiction.
Create fast jurisdiction and treaty remedies. A specialized intergovernmental resolution process should issue public findings on consultation, funding, and jurisdiction disputes within a defined clock while preserving access to court. Public-safety agreements must fund tribal courts, counsel, law enforcement, victim services, and cross-jurisdiction evidence sharing.
Consultation does not create a universal tribal veto. A treaty, statute, or recognized sovereign authority can create controlling rights in a particular case. Agencies must identify that authority before treating consultation as the full extent of their duty.
Treaties are public debts. The United States must keep the ledger and pay what it owes.
Turn frustration into useful pressure.
If this position misses evidence or a lived consequence, challenge it. If it holds up, help test it locally and connect it to the issues around it.