Senate Committee on Indian Affairs retains bipartisan leadership

Wednesday, January 9, 2019  

Tribal leaders and advocates will see familiar faces as the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, one of the busiest in Congress, gets back to work.

Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) is returning as chairman of the committee in the new 116th Congress. He first took the leadership role during the last session, when dozens of bills, hearings, listening sessions and roundtables took place on a wide range of tribal issues.

“It is a privilege to work on behalf of Indian Country as a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and a distinct honor to be re-elected to serve as Chairman of the Committee for the 116th Congress,” Hoeven said in a press release on Wednesday. “I will continue to advance the priorities of empowering tribal economic development as well as improving public safety, health care and education in tribal communities."

Also returning to a leadership position is Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico). He will be serving as vice chairman of the committee, which differs from most others in that its members usually act in a bipartisan fashion to advance tribal priorities.

“I have been honored to serve as vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee alongside Chairman Hoeven, carrying on the committee’s long tradition of bipartisanship and working across the aisle to get things done for Indian Country,” Udall said last month. “I am eager to continue all the important work the committee has done to expand opportunity for Native communities in New Mexico and across Indian Country, and to ensure that the United States is living up to its trust and treaty obligations to tribes."

The committee typically meets every week in Room 628 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building and occasionally travels to Indian Country for field hearings. During the 115th Congress, which ran from January 2017 through December 2018, its members held more than 60 meetings, hearings and other sessions.

The committee typically holds an organizational meeting after the start of a new session. A date for the first one of the 116th Congress has not been announced.

The membership of the committee is largely staying the same. The notable exception is the addition of Sen. Martha McSally (R-Arizona), who is a newly appointed member of the Senate and is following in the footsteps of both the late Sen. John McCain and former Sen. Jon Kyl in serving on the panel.

Republican members of the committee include:
• Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, Chairman
• Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
• Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma
• Sen. Steve Daines of Montana
• Sen. Michael Crapo of Idaho
• Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona
• Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas

Democratic members of the committee include:
• Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Vice Chairman
• Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington
• Sen. Jon Tester of Montana
• Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii
• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
• Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota