H.R. 5328 — Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act of 2025

This section authorizes advance new budget authority—first available for the subsequent fiscal year—in annual appropriations acts, beginning with FY2026, for specified accounts of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and Indian Health Service (IHS), as follows: (1) BIA Operation of Indian Programs, Contract Support Costs, Indian Guaranteed Loan Program, Construction, and Payments for Tribal Leases accounts; (2) BIE Operation of Indian Education Programs and Education Construction accounts; and (3) IHS Indian Health Services, Contract Support Costs, Payments for Tribal Leases, and Indian Health Facilities accounts. (Advance appropriations provide funding one year ahead to support tribal self-determination contracts, operations, construction, and leases.) The section further requires the Secretaries of the Interior and Health and Human Services to include detailed funding estimates for these accounts in the subsequent fiscal year within documents supporting the President's annual budget submission under 31 U.S.C. 1105 and, by July 31 each year in consultation with Indian Tribes, to submit to Congress a report assessing resource sufficiency for the following fiscal year that includes workload and demand data.

This section requires the President's annual budget request under 31 U.S.C. §1105(a)—and the budget justifications for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and Indian Health Service (IHS)—to include estimates of appropriations for the fiscal year following the budget submission year for specified covered accounts (i.e., accounts funding administrative costs for tribal self-determination contracts, compacts, and self-governance agreements). Specifically, the section: (1) amends 31 U.S.C. §1105(a) to require such estimates for covered accounts described in §112(a)(1) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA) and §833(a) of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA); (2) revises ISDA §106(i) (25 U.S.C. §5325(i)) to require such estimates in the BIA budget request for ISDA §112(a)(1)(A) covered accounts and directs consultation with Indian tribes and tribal organizations in developing the request; (3) amends three BIE provisions—§1128(l)(1), §1129(c), and §1135(b) of the Education Amendments of 1978—to require budget information covering both the fiscal year of the request and the following fiscal year, including such estimates in the §1135(b) request for ISDA §112(a)(1)(B) covered accounts; and (4) restructures IHCIA §826 (25 U.S.C. §1680p) to require, in the IHS budget justification, both (A) amounts reflecting changes in the cost of health services (as indexed to the Consumer Price Index) and the population served by the IHS and (B) such estimates for IHCIA §833(a) covered accounts.