Rob Maxim
@robmaxim.bsky.social
Fellow at Brookings writing about workers, tech, higher ed, and Indigenous communities. Mashpee Wampanoag 🌅
Time to rerun this post on who is most hurt by tariffs.
Rob Maxim@robmaxim.bsky.social · last yr.Spoke with @anaswanson.bsky.social at the Times about how foreign retaliatory tariffs will impact U.S. communities. Great job by @lazarogamio.bsky.social building a fantastic visual of which places are most exposed to foreign tariffs, based on our @brookings.edu work www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
For what it’s worth, this is the exact language used to describe Native Americans. They’re running the same playbook.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoStephen Miller: "The human rights that we are gonna protect are not of the savages that torture and rape and murder. The human rights we are going to protect are of the peaceable citizens who have an absolute human right to live in physical safety and security every day of their lives."
Amazing news about Alaska Native language revitalization and integration in Alaska pedagogy 🙌
KTOO Public Media@ktoopublicmedia.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe program would be for those who want to go into teaching Alaska Native languages to all ages. There are more than 20 distinct Indigenous languages throughout the state.
Those of us with toddlers are also acutely aware of the “Doggyland” figurine for the Tonie player
Jane Coaston@janecoaston.bsky.social · 6mo agoI'm aware it's been said many times but "Snoop Dogg, corporate mascot" is still remarkable to me
If you or someone in your network is interested in working at @brookings.edu on issues affecting Native Americans and Tribal economies, I am hiring for a (paid!) summer intern. You can find more info or apply here:
Jobs and Internships
interns-brookings.icims.com
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence: "Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
LPE Blog@lpeblog.bsky.social · 6mo agoToday, Luke Farrell (@lukef.bsky.social) explains how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
In the wake of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last year, I spoke with Terry Gerton at @federalnewsnetwork.com about how shutdowns affect Tribal nations, and the problems that relying on discretionary funding create for Native Americans.
The latest shutdown exposed real problems in how Washington funds Indian Country
"[I]n some areas, the federal government may be appropriating only about one-tenth of what it actually owes to tribal communities," Robert Maxim said.
federalnewsnetwork.com
the horror of this is compounded by the fact that the whipple building sits on the same military fort where 1600+ Dakota, mostly women and children were held in a concentration camp in 1863, where over 300 died
Paul "Princejvstin" Weimer@princejvstin.com · 7mo agoOglala Sioux Tribe demands the release of Lakota men detained by ICE www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Proud that @nativerights.bsky.social cited my @brookings.edu research with Glencora Haskins in their amicus brief for National Council of Nonprofits v. OMB. This federal case is challenging the Trump Administration's attempted blanket funding freeze, which would significantly harm Indian Country
U.S. must fulfill obligations by protecting programs - Native American Rights Fund
On December 24, 2025, NARF filed an amicus brief supporting an injunction that has blocked the destructive, broad-based freeze of federal funding that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directe...
narf.org
The Sen̓áḵw residential complex, developed by the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation, continues to rise by the Burrard Bridge in #Vancouver. A really impressive manifestation of indigenous urbanism (with a little sustainable futurism thrown in…)
Last month’s lack of jobs report showed the importance of reliable federal economic data. However, Native communities have never had access to high-quality federal data, with significant negative impacts for Tribal governance. My new piece for @nativenewsonline.bsky.social with Steven Estrada:
The Absence of October's Job Report Shows Why Native American Communities Need Better Data
Guest Opinion. On November 19, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that, as a result of the government shutdown, it would not release its October jobs report—the first time in the report’s 77-yea...
nativenewsonline.net
Last month I had the honor of giving the fireside keynote at the @minneapolisfed.bsky.social’s Center for Indian Country Development data summit. @camohrwriter.bsky.social has put out a great new article overviewing the summit and its takeaways for Indian Country:
At milestone CICD event, tribal leaders reflect on leveraging economic data as a tool of sovereignty | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Speakers at the Center for Indian Country Development’s tenth-anniversary commemoration and fifth annual data summit described how in the modern era, economic data support tribes in governing their na...
minneapolisfed.org
The government shutdown revealed a major flaw in how the U.S. funds Native American Tribes. @robmaxim.bsky.social and co-authors outline why reform is needed—and what Congress can do to ensure stability.
The government shutdown shows the need to reform how the federal government funds Native American Tribes and communities | Brookings
This piece summarizes the challenges that the congressional funding process and government shutdowns present to Tribal Nations, citizens, and communities.
brookings.edu
As part of today's Center for Indian Country Development Data Summit, Director Casey Lozar will give remarks followed by a fireside chat with Brookings Metro's @robmaxim.bsky.social. Tune in live 10:15-10:50 a.m. CT to listen: https://www.minneapolisfed.org/live
CICD 10th Anniversary and Data Summit | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Braiding the past and future of Native economies
bit.ly
A good conversation about the importance of maintaining the integrity of government economic data -- and investing in improvements. @brookings.edu Here's the video www.youtube.com/live/SnccjSu...
The importance of credible government economic data to business
YouTube video by Brookings Institution
youtube.com
“Charlene Aqpik Apok launched Data for Indigenous Justice in 2020 after trying to collect the names of missing and murdered Indigenous people to read at a rally, only to discover no government agency had been keeping track” Colonialism is also when the state makes it hard to gather data on MMIWP
Anchorage Daily News@adn.com · 11mo agoWhen the nonprofit Data for Indigenous Justice filed public records requests with the Alaska Department of Public Safety concerning cases it had investigated, the state rejected them.
"It is obviously disappointing that the Trump Administration continues to attack federal workers and their Unions. It is particularly upsetting that this administration has done so on the eve of Labor Day, a federal holiday intended to honor and thank workers."
IFPTE Condemns Trump Administration’s Latest Attack on Federal Workers and Their Unions — IFPTE
As the nation prepares to honor and thank working families across the nation this Labor Day weekend, the Trump Administration has issued another Executive Order (EO) attempting to strip collective bar...
ifpte.org
This week our @brookings.edu team released a report on how public data fails Tribes and Native American people. It comes as the federal government works to undermine confidence in public data. Here’s a thread on why you should care about high-quality data, and how to improve it for Native people 👇
Good data, stronger Tribes | Brookings
This analysis aims to identify the role that regional organizations can play in solving data challenges that exist for Native nations and Native American people.
brookings.edu
Great piece by Jourdan Bennett-Begaye at @ict-news.bsky.social on our new report about Native American data. We discussed how state and regional governments can help improve data for Tribes and Native American people in the wake of the federal government’s destructive actions toward public data.
'Historically and moving forward’: Federal government is not the place for data - ICT
A report from Brookings and the Southern California Association of Governments looks at how regional and state governments can step up in data work with Native people and tribes in southern California
ictnews.org
With the Trump Administration undermining federal data, Native American Tribes need new partners to access high-quality data about their lands and citizens. My new @brookings.edu report with @manannan.bsky.social and @hlstephens.bsky.social explores how states and regions can support Tribal data 👇
Good data, stronger Tribes | Brookings
This analysis aims to identify the role that regional organizations can play in solving data challenges that exist for Native nations and Native American people.
brookings.edu
Legally, tribal businesses operating on trust land do not have to pay local taxes. A town in southern Oklahoma is threatening to shut off the water and sewage to Delaware Nation’s casino unless the tribe pays city taxes. www.kosu.org/local-news/2...
EXTREMELY BAD NEWS for economic research, per former BLS Commissioner @ericagroshen.bsky.social on LinkedIn. BLS is suspending access to its restricted data "for the forseeable future." Applies to projects through the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers & onsite projects with BLS. #EconSky
What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)? Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...
From @hshierholz.bsky.social: Trump's firing of BLS commissioner is undemocratic and economically dangerous. Between illegal firings, starving data agencies of resources, and now political intimidation, the US looks set to run into the next economic downturn flying blind www.epi.org/press/trumps...
I know it’s a troll. I also know that this is an official government account sharing art that was designed to propagate Indigenous dispossession, cultural destruction, and conquest, and that whoever shared this surely knew it. It is right there in the painting.
socdoneleft@socdoneleft.bsky.social · last yr.Groyper Occupied Government
Can confirm that no Native people are clamoring for the Commanders to use their old name. However, if you’re wondering what Native people actually want from the Trump Admin, you can listen to my recent podcast ep with Allison Neswood of @nativerights.bsky.social: www.brookings.edu/articles/rob...
How federal funding cuts impact Tribal communities | Brookings
In this episode of Metro Blueprint, experts examine the challenges Indian Country is facing due to the disruption in federal funding. Robert Maxim, fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Allison Nes...
brookings.edu
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.The mad king demands the return of racist sports team names
DC voters keep voting to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, and the DC Council keeps voting to overturn the will of the people. Kind of kills their credibility when they call for voting rights for DC residents. If you want to support DC voting rights, try respecting DC voters.
Martin Austermuhle@maustermuhle.bsky.social · last yr.NEWS: Tomorrow D.C. Council will vote on repealing Initiative 82, which phases out the tipped minimum wage. Under proposal, base wage for tipped workers would be $8 (down from $10 now), but min. wage they’d earn would be $20. That’s more than $17.50 non-tipped workers make.
NEW: Two tribal nations are planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling that struck down a key tool for protecting minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Funding for Tribes has been under siege in Trump Administration. In this week’s @brookings.edu Metro Blueprint podcast, I spoke with Allison Neswood at @nativerights.bsky.social about how funding cuts are affecting Native people and undermining Tribal sovereignty www.brookings.edu/articles/rob...
How federal funding cuts impact Tribal communities | Brookings
In this episode of Metro Blueprint, experts examine the challenges Indian Country is facing due to the disruption in federal funding. Robert Maxim, fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Allison Nes...
brookings.edu
