Navajo Nation Council weighs control of pandemic relief funds before deadline

The 25th Navajo Nation Council opened its Spring Session in Window Rock with a high-stakes vote over who controls the last stretch of pandemic relief money. Council delegates were weighing an override of President Buu Nygren’s veto of Resolution No. CMA-16-26, a fight that could move oversight of Navajo Nation Fiscal Recovery Fund projects away from the Division of Community Development and into the Office of the Controller and the NNFRF Office.

At stake was more than paperwork. The Navajo Nation still had $347.544 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds unspent, according to Controller Sean McCabe, and every dollar had to be fully spent by Dec. 31, 2026 or revert to the federal government. The Nation had already received $1,861,554,458.43 from the U.S. Treasury, then another $217,907,006.50 on Aug. 16, 2021, for a total of $2,079,461,464.93 in Fiscal Recovery Funds. Under emergency Legislation No. 0264-24, passed in December 2024, those funds were supposed to be obligated by Dec. 31, 2024 and expended by the end of 2026.

McCabe told delegates in January that payroll errors and unpaid vendor invoices were adding pressure as the deadline approached, and he warned that the Nation would need to spend tens of millions of dollars a month to stay on track. The Office of the Controller also identified more than $5.6 million in remaining ARPA funds for an expanded 2026 Hardship Assistance Program, showing how much of the remaining pool was still being routed to immediate household needs. For communities in and around San Juan County, New Mexico, the money could still affect housing work, water projects, road improvements and other infrastructure tied to Navajo chapters that rely on federal recovery dollars.

CMA-16-26, vetoed by Nygren on March 22, would not have stripped the president of contract authority, but it would have removed the Division of Community Development as the administrative oversight entity for NNFRF projects. A March 2026 council document said sponsor Delegate Shawna Ann Claw argued the change would improve accountability, consistency and efficiency. The issue also sat inside a broader budget debate over payment backlogs and financial modernization, even as the council’s agenda included the State of the Navajo Nation address, committee reports and other bills. In June 2024, the Council had already directed $521.8 million of ARPA funding into a Revenue Replacement Reserve for infrastructure, underscoring how much of the original federal package had been pushed into long-term projects.