REGIONAL- The potential termination of the Indian Health Service office lease in Bemidji by the Trump administration drew strong pushback on Tuesday from Minnesota U.S. Senators Tina Smith, a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats. In a strongly worded letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Stephen Ehikian, the pair highlighted the impact this decision could have on the health and well-being of thousands of Native Americans across the region.
“Thousands of members of federally recognized Tribal Nations receive health care within the Bemidji Area Office’s purview,” they wrote. “This includes emergency care, substance use disorder treatment, mental health care, primary, specialty, and dental care, and much more. Without an operational area office, recipients of this care will face immediate disruptions in care and health consequences. It is unconscionable to risk the health care of children and families in this way.”
The Bemidji Area Office is responsible for health care services for 34 Tribal Nations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and four urban Indian health programs in five states. It also operates direct services for the Leech Lake, Red Lake, and White Earth bands – Cass Lake Hospital, Red Lake Hospital, and White Earth Health Center.
In the letter, Smith and Klobuchar underscored that IHS services are provided under the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations and that any disruption in operations could jeopardize essential medical services. They demanded clarity on whether GSA intends to terminate the lease and if so, what plans exist to prevent service disruptions.
This follows on the heels of another controversy with IHS, the termination of about 1,000 health care workers in the so-called “Valentine’s Day Massacre” in which thousands of probationary federal workers were fired. The IHS layoffs were rescinded within hours of the action, with Kennedy vowing to strengthen the service during Trump’s term.
“My father often complained that IHS was chronically understaffed and underfunded,” Kennedy said. “President Trump wants me to rectify this sad history. Indians suffer the highest level of chronic disease of any demographic. IHS will be a priority over the next four years. President Trump wants me to end the chronic disease epidemic beginning in Indian country.”
Without any of the details demanded by Smith and Klobuchar, it appears that the closure of the Bemidji office runs counter to that promise.
The Bemidji lease is part of a large push by the Trump administration to cancel agency leases all over the country and count those as savings for DOGE, although there is no accounting for the costs of relocating and housing the personnel and services employed by those agencies. DOGE has also targeted many federally owned buildings in Washington, D.C. and around the country for sale.