Idaho Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson is pushing federal resources toward addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, securing a substantial budget increase for tribal justice programs as chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
Simpson’s subcommittee advanced a budget proposal in June that increased funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by 26 percent. The measure includes dedicated resources for tribal justice initiatives, marking a rare expansion during a period of broader federal spending reductions affecting other agencies and departments.
“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 said in comments obtained by 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.”
Simpson, who is Blackfoot and grew up along the border of the Fort Hall Reservation, has made the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis a legislative priority. Idaho officially recognized the issue in 2020, when the state legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution 33 declaring the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous people a crisis. The legislature established a taskforce that same year and released its findings in 2021.
A Crisis With Stark Numbers
The scale of the problem in Idaho is striking. According to a 2021 Boise State University report, women make up 75 percent of missing Indigenous people in the state. The missing persons rate for Native Americans in Idaho stands at 18.99 per 100,000 people, nearly double the state’s overall average of 10.59 per 100,000. As of 2023, Idaho’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse documented 79 missing Native Americans.
Nationally, the figures are even more alarming. Indigenous women are murdered at a rate roughly 10 times higher than the national average, and approximately 6,000 Indigenous people go missing or are murdered each year across the United States.
Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairman Chief J. Allan has backed Simpson’s efforts to increase federal support. The congressman has identified jurisdictional fragmentation as a central obstacle to an effective response to the crisis.
Jurisdictional Barriers Slow Progress
One of Simpson’s central concerns is the overlap and lack of coordination among tribal police, local law enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These entities often operate under different authorities and without formal coordination agreements, creating gaps in investigation and communication that can hinder efforts to locate missing persons or prosecute crimes.
Marco Ovando, spokesman for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, pointed to the same structural problems. He cited cross-jurisdictional barriers and insufficient funding as major factors limiting the tribes’ ability to respond to missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases.
Simpson’s budget proposal reflects recognition that money alone will not solve the crisis—but it acknowledges that tribes need adequate resources to work within and across jurisdictional lines. By increasing appropriations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and directing funds specifically to tribal justice, the budget aims to strengthen tribal capacity to investigate disappearances, prosecute offenders, and coordinate with federal and local partners.
The proposal also represents a deliberate choice to protect Native American funding during a budget environment under pressure to cut spending. Other agencies in Simpson’s subcommittee purview—including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and Smithsonian Institution—faced budget reductions, underscoring the prioritization of tribal needs.
What Comes Next
The subcommittee’s budget advancement is a first step. Full House and Senate approval would be required for the funding increase to take effect. The proposal will also need to navigate broader appropriations negotiations and reconciliation with Senate budget priorities. If enacted, the increase would provide tribes with expanded resources for law enforcement training, victim services, and coordination infrastructure—tools that advocates and tribal leaders say are essential to addressing the systematic disappearances and murders affecting Indigenous communities in Idaho and nationwide.