Work on Native American priorities has long been one of the few bright spots of bipartisan cooperation in Congress, Republican and Democratic lawmakers say. That’s been particularly true on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, a panel that’s been largely insulated from the hyperpartisan start of the new Congress under President Donald Trump.
But after Trump made many campaign promises on Native issues, the Senate committee is likely to soon get much busier, testing its atypical competence.
“A lot of the issues that we work on in Indian Affairs are really not partisan issues,” said Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat who sits on the committee. “There are lots of parochial issues, lots of regional issues.”
An example of this is Congress’ recent efforts to recognize the Lumbee Tribe. At the start of his second term, Trump took steps to federally recognize the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina — a tribe with over 55,000 members — after the legislation passed the House and was referred to the committee in the Senate with bipartisan support.
But blocking out some of the politics may be difficult because of Trump and some of his administration’s priorities.
A Trump executive order challenging birthright citizenship sent tribal advocates into a tailspin, with fears that it would also affect the citizenship rights of Native Americans. The president revoked 18 Biden-era executive orders related to tribal affairs, including one meant to bolster tribal sovereignty, which drew backlash from tribal leaders. And the Department of the Interior closed a flurry of offices for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, prompting concern from tribes.
Still, lawmakers on the committee argue that in reality, Trump has little to do with their work.
“I feel very worried about the disposition of this president regarding native people generally,” Sen. Brian Schatz, ranking member on the Senate Indian Affairs committee, told NOTUS. “He’s already canceled tribal consultation executive orders, and he’s shown a hostility to Indian Country and native people across the country.”
But Schatz added that he feels “very good about the Republicans on the committee.”
Some lawmakers see Trump’s late-stage campaign push to gain support from Native American voters as a reason to hope he’ll be collaborative on Indian Affairs-related work.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt,” Smith said about his overtures to Native American voters.
Still, translating policy ambitions into actual legislation is always a hurdle, as one member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee laid out.
“We’ve got a little challenge, not with the president, but with the committee,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin. “The president has made it very clear that he really wants to strengthen self determination and government sovereignty, and so how to strengthen that? And what is needed?”
“So it’s just kind of like, how do we get past that?” he added.
Campaign surrogates promised that Trump would improve economic development and health care on tribal lands, in addition to strengthening tribal sovereignty. Now the Trump administration says it’s still planning to address related priorities.
An Interior spokesperson told NOTUS in a statement: “We remain committed to working with tribal governments and tribal members in the administration of employment and job training assistance; law enforcement and justice; agricultural and economic development; tribal governance; and natural resources management programs to enhance the quality of life in tribal communities.”
But at the start of Trump’s second term, some tribes and organizations were starting to signal their skepticism. As the Department of Government Efficiency has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, tribes have advocated to be treated as political entities with exemptions from hiring and funding freezes.
Another possible complication is Trump’s relationship with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. While other lawmakers have lauded her work, she has a long history of sparring with the president on key issues and voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial when he was last in office. Already in his second administration, Murkowski pushed back on Trump renaming Denali, North America’s tallest mountain, to Mount McKinley.
When asked if she’d heard from Trump on any particular legislative priorities, she said she has “not specifically from the president.”
Still, Murkowski was optimistic about the ability of this Congress to make progress, pointing to the committee moving forward with 25 bills at a recent committee markup.
And she added that she’s feeling good about her conversations with other administration members, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even if she hasn’t spoken directly with Trump.
“Secretary Burgum, that’s kind of his area, as well as Secretary Kennedy, through IHS, had good conversations with both of them,” Murkowski said, adding that her conversations with them included “making sure that the DEI initiative didn’t impact tribal programs.”
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who does not serve on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee but whose home state has 38 federally recognized tribes, told NOTUS “a lot of folks” are “very pleased with the direction of the Department of Interior.”
“They really like the secretary,” Lankford said. “He’s had good engagement, and most of the folks in leadership in Indian Country, the first thing they ask for is ‘Consult with us. Include us in the conversation.’ And they’re definitely doing that.”
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Ursula Perano is a reporter at NOTUS.