Who?
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) — Enrolled Member, Cherokee Nation
LISTEN: Laslo & Mullin
Ask a Pol asks:
With Indian Health Service (IHS) being funded and federal workers promised back pay, does that kind of take the pressure off Congress just generally when it comes to this government shutdown?
Key Mullin:
“There is no pressure taken off of us. We’re in a shutdown,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin exclusively told Ask a Pol. “The thing is, like when are level heads going to prevail in the Democrat Party? That’s what we’re waiting on.”
ICYMI — Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo used this interview for National Native News
Caught our ear:
Do you fear this shutdown, like past ones, will disproportionately impact Native American tribes?
“If it goes on too long, it could,” Mullin tells us.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Markwayne Mullin (10-3-2025)
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches Sen. Markwayne Mullin as he’s exiting the US Capitol after voting…
Matt Laslo: “Hey. How you doing, sir?”
Markwayne Mullin: “He is a good man.”
ML: “Did you — have you heard from any of your tribes in Oklahoma about...?”
MM: “No. Nope.”*
*shutdown is talk of the town, so Mullin knows what Lasso’s going to ask...
ML: “Do you fear that the shutdown, like past ones, will disproportionately [impact tribes]? Yeah?”
MM: “If it goes on too long, it could. Right now nobody’s affected yet...”
ML: “Yeah?”
MM: “...because they’re dealing off reimbursements and a lot of their reimbursements come off Medicaid and Medicare, and, of course, that’s not affected by this.”
ML: “Yeah.”
MM: “Remember, Indian Healthcare Service (IHS) are last payer.”
ML: “Yeah.”
MM: “And so veteran pay, Medicare, Medicaid are the first payers, so the reimbursements in health care is their biggest concern.”
ML: “Is that kind of the feeling, like with this and then also making sure federal workers get back pay, that there’s not a real shutdown impact?”
MM: “The federal workers will get back pay. We’ve seen that in every shutdown, right?”
ML: “Yeah.”
MM: “But right now no one’s missing pay. They got full pay yesterday. Military got full pay on the first. So they won’t they won’t actually miss their first paycheck until the 15th or 16th, which, you know, that’s up to the [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer if he wants to reopen the government or not. I have a feeling they will reopen it next.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MM: “I have a feeling they’ll reopen it next Thursday or Friday because, you know, they got that swanky fundraiser that they’re doing with the DNC.”
ML: “But with that and like IHS being funded, does that kind of take the pressure off Congress just generally when it comes to this?”
MM: “There is no pressure taken off of us. We’re in a shutdown.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MM: “The thing is, like when are level heads going to prevail in the Democrat Party? That’s what we’re waiting on.”
ML: “Yup.”
