The FY2026 Federal Budget Proposes Eliminating All IMLS Funding, Threatening 173 Tribal Library Grants and Rural Digital Access Programs Nationwide

On March 14, 2025, an executive order directed the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to significantly reduce operations; all but 12 of its 75 staff were placed on administrative leave, active grants were terminated for evaluation, and the FY2026 budget request eliminates all IMLS funding entirely. IMLS distributed $5.9 million in grants to 173 Native American and Indigenous tribal libraries in 2024 alone, and more than 100 libraries on federally recognized tribal lands received termination notices. Why it matters: tribal and rural libraries that lack local tax bases lose their primary source of federal support, so programs providing free internet access, technology lending, and digital literacy training in communities with no alternatives are cut, so residents in these areas lose access to job skills training, educational materials, and civic information, so the digital divide between rural/tribal communities and urban areas widens further, so entire communities become increasingly isolated from economic opportunity and democratic participation. The structural root cause is that IMLS, as an independent federal agency with a relatively small budget (~$280 million annually), lacks the political constituency and institutional protection of larger agencies, making it a target for budget elimination despite serving communities that have no substitute funding sources.