JOHN YANG: Native American and indigenous people say the Trump administration's proposed cuts to health and education programs for their communities is a continuation of the federal government's historical failure to deliver on what it promised in land and peace agreements.

Edgar Villanueva is founder and CEO of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital, which channels philanthropic funding toward Native American and indigenous communities.

He's an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina.

Edgar, the cuts in the spending and tax bill that's in Congress now, what's the scope of these cuts to programs aimed directly at Native American communities and how would they affect the lives of Native Americans?

EDGAR VILLANUEVA, Founder and CEO, Deconolizing Wealth Project: You know, the new budget cuts seek to eliminate up to $1 billion on reservations.

This would impact education, health care, law enforcement.

You know, it is pretty much every aspect of our lives.

And these cuts to those services are catastrophic and super harmful for our community.

JOHN YANG: In addition, the cuts in programs, they're sort of broader programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

How would they affect Native Americans?

EDGAR VILLANUEVA: Any cuts to those programs would disproportionately impact Native communities because our communities experience the highest rates of poverty in the country.

We also see some of the highest rates of poor outcomes when it comes to health care, education, so forth and so on.

You know, the programs that are designated for Native communities only, like Indian Health Service, for example, has never really been adequately funded.

And so when we're slashing Native specific programs and we're also slashing other programs that are safety net, we are as sort of a double whammy of really gutting out all of these provisions that provide basic services that are really a human right for folks living in this country.

JOHN YANG: You say these programs have always been underfunded.

Has it ever been close to what you needed?

And it doesn't matter what party's in power.

EDGAR VILLANUEVA: You know, it's the provision of services for Native Americans has always been a not a party issue per se.

We've had administrations that were more friendly toward our causes in our communities than others.

But it's always been a struggle.

But it's really hard like, imagine being a member of the Navajo Nation, where families drive 100 miles for a single checkup, right?

And so when we're cutting out the opportunity to even have access to health care, we're seeing a lot of uncertainty in our communities.

JOHN YANG: You know, the Supreme Court recognizes the legal trust obligation that the federal government has from these agreements that you've talked about.

Can anything be done to try to enforce that?

EDGAR VILLANUEVA: As you said, our nation's founding documents and hundreds of treaties established a government to government relationship that historically it was supposed to be built on mutual respect and guaranteed services.

And so all of this, all of these cuts happening now in the name of policy tweaks or efficiency really are breaches of trust and law.

And so I do imagine that in time, we'll find ourselves experiencing more time in court pushing back on these decisions.

JOHN YANG: How does this make you feel about how the government and the federal government, maybe the majority, maybe look upon the Native Americans and think about Native Americans.

EDGAR VILLANUEVA: You know, it's really disheartening.

We are the first peoples of this country.

We have given so much, we have shared so much, and we have, since the start of this country, experienced oppression and harm.

And so we've always been in a place where we have felt invisible, not respected.

And of course, for me, it feels that these cuts are just reinforcing that distrust and that relationship where we have honored our part and we just want the federal government to honor their part.

JOHN YANG: Edgar Villanueva, thank you very much.

EDGAR VILLANUEVA: Thanks for having me, John.