Recently, this blogger had a chance to look at the White Houseʻs “Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget”. This document, which came out on the 30th of May, provided detailed funding levels for various programs, following the release of the “Skinny Budget” (a preview of the budget) on May 2, 2025.
PC: Office of Management and Budget, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This is the document in which the White House lays out its more specific budget plan. This document went to Congress of which, as we speak, is being marked up in preparation for creating 12 funding bills that Congress will pass before the end of this current federal fiscal year – September 30.
The federal fiscal year starts on October 1 of every year. According to a recent statement by Wendy Hensel, the President of the University of Hawaii, the last time Congress and the President made the deadline was in 1996. This blogger, until that factoid came up on Monday the 21st, didnʻt remeber the last time Congress actually “passed a budget.”
Going back to the release of the supplement, I noted that it happened around the same time as President Trump and Congress were trying to move on getting the White Houseʻs “Big Beautiful Bill” passed. So it was no wonder that this quite informative document was put off to the side to concentrate on that first.
Now we have some political oxygen to breathe. Let’s take a look at one sliver of the supplement that should be of great interest to us here, and especially to Native Hawaiians, in what is being funded for them.
As a side tidbit, in the entire document, which takes up 1,215 pages, “Hawaii” is mentioned 40 times.
Overall, in reading the document, Native Hawaiians are getting hit through defunding of the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant (page 466). As mentioned in the “Skinny Budget” review back in May, that program was cut to zero in the proposed budget…that never changed. The Native Hawaiian Housing Loan Guarantees (page 468) will not see any future loan guarantees from (at least) this current administration.
PC: PHwSF – Hale Moiliili, Honolulu HI
Other areas, like the Native Hawaiian school improvement program (Page 242) housed in the Department of Education, are part of a group of programs aimed at supporting state and local efforts to improve schools and student outcomes. This program, primarily under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was also cut to zero, and there was no real explanation for this decision.
But, Native Hawaiians also have received, believe it, because on page 250, it shows maintaining funding in one key item – under the Office of Postsecondary Education (college), in the area of “strengthening institutions”. The line item called “Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions” funding was kept at $39 million for the next fiscal year.
While not overtly saying this is the reason, this blogger suspects that for this program, it fulfills a statement the Department of Education issued a few months ago, written by this blog, that it will “[C]ontinue to deliver on all statutory grant programs that support American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students.”
It would seem that, for this item, the White House is keeping its word when it comes to continuing funding.
On a side note, just in case you were curious, the monies from this line item are distributed mostly through competitive grants issued by the Department of Education. The Department specifically identifies eligible institutions that meet the programʻs requirements for the Alaska Native-Native Hawaiian program.
You can find out who the 14 eligible institutions are through this link.
In the end, it’s a mixed bag so far – some deep cuts where support is most needed, and a few glimmers of consistency that, if nothing else, show someone’s still reading the fine print. For Native Hawaiians, it’s not the full erasure feared by some, but it’s certainly no full-throated embrace either.
Chalk this one up as another chapter in the long, uneven story of federal promises—sometimes honored, sometimes not, and always worth keeping an eye on.