Tribes objected to a federal rollback of Native welfare rules. HHS did it anyway.

The federal government is cutting a set of regulations that govern how Alaska's Native regional nonprofits run cash-assistance programs for low-income families — and it did so over objections from tribal organizations that said they weren't properly consulted first.

The rule, finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services, strips provisions from the regulations covering Tribal TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the related Native Employment Works program. In Alaska, the 12 Native regional nonprofit corporations and the Metlakatla Indian Community are the only entities allowed under federal law to run these programs, serving low-income families with cash aid and welfare-to-work support.

HHS casts the change as housekeeping — part of what the agency has called one of the most sweeping deregulatory efforts in its history, removing rules it considers duplicative, obsolete, or better handled through informal guidance than binding regulation. Cutting a regulation, the agency notes, does not necessarily end an obligation; some requirements remain in federal statute, and others move into sub-regulatory guidance.

But the record shows the rollback drew pointed objections. Large tribal organizations argued during the rulemaking that HHS had not adequately consulted them, and raised concerns about tribal sovereignty and federal overreach, with a stated desire to keep these programs under local rather than federal control. HHS took the position that its consultation duty under the longstanding federal executive order on tribal consultation was not automatically triggered — precisely because the action removes rules rather than imposing them. The agency said it nonetheless agreed with commenters on the need to protect tribal sovereignty and guard against overreach.

The concern is not new. A 2011 Government Accountability Office report found HHS had not given tribes sufficient guidance on implementing certain TANF requirements, and had not consistently monitored tribal programs — a gap that thinning the rulebook does little on its own to close. A plain-language summary of the rule is posted at regulations.gov.