Kelly, Gallego Fight to Protect Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Western Regional Office from Musk-DOGE Cuts

The Phoenix-based BIA office serves 53 tribes across the western U.S.

Today, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego called on the Trump administration to keep open the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Western Regional Office. The Phoenix-based office, which serves 53 tribes across the western United States, is on the chopping block because of Elon Musk and his reckless DOGE cuts.  

“Its closure will severely limit access for all of these tribes to essential services ranging from economic development to child social services to water system improvements,” the Senators wrote. “This is part of a larger trend: 25 BIA offices, or 27% of all BIA locations across the country, are slated for closure.”  

To gain clarity on why the Western Region Office was slated for closure and what the impacts would be, the Senators requested answers to the following questions:   

• How did the GSA decide what BIA offices to close? What criteria were incorporated into this decision-making process?   
• What is your plan for ensuring the BIA continues to provide services to the tribes previously served by the Western Regional Office?  
• Was the federal government’s trust responsibility to tribes taken into account when making this decision?  

“We are very concerned that this office closure is the latest in a long string of arbitrary attacks on the fundamental functions of the federal government,” the Senators conclude. “The federal government is at serious risk of failing at its most basic obligations, including breaking long-held promises to tribes.”  

Read the full letter here.