- Details
- By Neely Bardwell
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) now leads the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs as its chair, with former chairman Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) serving as vice chair following committee leadership appointments on Jan. 7.
The role reversal follows one of the committee’s most productive periods, with more than two dozen bills passed into law from 2021-2025. In 2024 alone, the committee secured $1.3 billion for Native housing and more than $7 billion for Native health programs, while passing 16 bills. Four bills became law, including three land-into-trust measures benefiting the Puyallup, Winnebago, and Jamul tribes.
“The Indian Affairs Committee continues to show that through good, bipartisan work we can continue to address the priorities that matter most to Indigenous communities," Murkowski said in a December 2024 release following the Senate passage of H.R. 663, Native American Child Protection Act, which signed into law just before Christmas.
The committee oversees legislation affecting American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Natives. It has jurisdiction over all Senate bills specifically related to these communities.
Committee members for the 119th Congress includes:
Chairman - Lisa Murkowski
Murkowski has been a member of the Committee since first joining the Senate in 2003 and previously served as Vice Chairman from 2007 to 2009 and 2021 to 2025. During that tenure as Vice Chairman, she was able to secure the first reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act in over a decade, as well as shepherd the Tribal Law and Order Act through the Senate.
Vice Chairman - Brian Schatz
Previously serving as Chairman of the committee while Democrats held the majority, Schatz has been a proven servant to Native nations. In December 2024, he called for the pardoning of wrongly imprisoned AIM activist Leonard Peltier. In February 2024, he called on the Senate floor for institutions to return Native remains and artifacts to the rightful Native nations. Schatz was also pivotal in the passage of sixteen bills that invested more than $15 billion into Indian Country.
Republican Members:
John Hoeven (R-N.D.): A former chairman of the committee, Hoeven sponsored the PROGRESS for Indian Tribes Act and the Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act and led passage of Savanna’s Act addressing missing and murdered Native Americans.
Steve Daines (R-Mont.): In May 2024, Daines put a procedural block on Biden’s federal district judge nominee for eastern Montana, Danna Jackson, a Kootenai descendant who grew up in Montana on the Flathead Reservation, claiming the White House never asked for his input. A White House spokesperson said that Daines refused to meet with her. During Deb Haaland’s (Laguna Pueblo) confirmation to become the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Daines was a fierce opponent of her nomination, calling her “radical.”
Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.): Mullin is a tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is the only Native American Sen. Previously he worked with former Rep. Mary Peltola (Yupik) introduced the Senate companion bill to the bipartisan Tribal Firearms Access Act which would make it easier for Native Americans living on tribal lands to buy firearms.
Mike Rounds (R-S.D.): Rounds previously worked with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D.-Nev.) to introduce the bipartisan Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act that would provide Tribal courts the same access as their non-Tribal counterparts to electronic evidence—such as emails, social media messages, and other online communications—for criminal investigations.
Jerry Moran (R-KS): Moran last served on this committee during the 117th Congress after several terms on the committee. He rejoins after introducing legislation with Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) that would remove Haskell Indian Nations University from Bureau of Indian Education control. The bill would transfer governance to an independent Board of Regents nominated by tribal communities. The reform effort has support from tribal leadership, with Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick endorsing the legislation.
Democratic Members:
Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.): Cantwell has been involved with many important bills including drafting The Opioid Overdose Data Collection Enhancement Act, which would help communities adopt and implement the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program launched in 2017. She also introduced the Puyallup Tribe of Indians Land Into Trust Confirmation Act of 2023 which takes over 17 acres of land in Pierce County, Washington into trust for the benefit of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to expand its reservation.
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev): Most recently, Cortez Masto introduced the BADGES for Native Communities Act which revises federal policies and procedures related to information sharing, reporting, and investigating cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) and shortages of BIA law enforcement officers.
Tina Smith (D-Minn.): In December 2024, a bill co-sponsored by Smith and introduced by Murkowski, the Enhancing Native Elders’ Longevity, Dignity, Empowerment, and Respect (Native ELDER) Act, passed the Senate.
Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Ray Luján played a pivotal role in securing the additional funding for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project in the American Relief Act passed in December 2024. He was also part of a resolution celebrating National Native American Heritage Month.
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