The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is moving quickly to advance Indian Country legislation amid a dramatically changed political environment.

At a business meeting that lasted just a few minutes on Wednesday, the panel approved 25 bills. The number is believed to be a record for the committee with jurisdiction over Indian issues.

“We’re moving as quickly as we can to get these out of the committee, so we can get the full Senate to pass them and hopefully see them enacted into law,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chair of the committee.

“These bills cover important issues for Native people: public health and safety, forestry, the legacy of federal Indian boarding school policy, restoration of tribal lands and water issues,” Murkwoski added.

The bills include some big-ticket items, Murkowski noted. She said that 10 are water rights settlements, meaning that the United States, in carrying out its trust and treaty responsibilities to tribes and their communities, would have to contribute potentially billions of dollars.

“These water rights settlements are the way that we help tribal nations obtain safe, reliable water supplies that in turn improve public health and enable economic growth,” Murkowski said. “These water settlements end decades of controversy and provide certainty to tribes and to surrounding communities regarding access to water resources, which of course is paramount across the West.”

“But that said, Indian water rights settlements are expensive,” Murkowski continued, “and that’s largely because it costs a lot to build a new infrastructure to physically access and develop water rights so that there is actual wet water for tribal citizens.”

With President Donald Trump looking anywhere and everywhere to reduce the size of the U.S. government, federal funding would appear to be just as scarce as the water needed by tribal citizens. Murkowski admitted to being concerned about finding the money for the settlements.

“I do worry this approach for settlements may be difficult to see through,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski raised similar concerns about cost during the last session of Congress, when the tribal water settlement were considered by the committee at a series of hearings. In fact, every other other bill approved on Wednesday already has seen significant work, as Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) pointed out.

“All of them have received due consideration,” said Schatz, who began serving as vice chair of the committee at the start of the 119th Congress in January 2025. “Each was voted favorably out the committee, or passed the full Senate.”

But while the committee has long been productive, the same cannot always be said for everyone else on Capitol Hill. During the 118th Congress, when Schatz served as chair, the panel approved 18 Indian Country bills — yet few actually made it over the finish line before the end of 2024.

According to a summary released by Schatz in January, 16 of those Indian Country bills passed the U.S. Senate, which at the time was in Democratic hands. The chamber is now controlled by Republicans, whose leadership installed Murkowski as chair of the committee.

But most of the Indian Country measures passed by the Senate failed to clear the U.S. House of Representatives, which was in Republican hands during the prior legislative session. According to Schatz’s summary, only four stand-alone bills benefiting tribes and their communities managed to clear both chambers of Congress and become law.

So the committee is starting anew in the 119th Congress, with both the Senate and the House under GOP control. But the Indian Country bills being advanced are far from partisan pieces of legislation — all are supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.

“I appreciate all the hard work my colleagues and the committee have put into these bipartisan bills,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) at the meeting on Wednesday. “For too long we have been addressing a number of these issues in Indian Country and I’m so pleased we were able to move these bills again in a bipartisan way today.”

“Let’s get ’em all done,” Murkowski said at the meeting.

The 25 bills approved en bloc by the committee follow:

H.R.165, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act. A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary for certain lands to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes.

S.105, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act. A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary for certain lands to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes.

S.240, the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025. A bill to amend the Crow Tribal Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes

S.241, the Northern Montana Water Security Act of 2025. A bill to provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and for other purposes.

S.390, the BADGES for Native Communities Act, or the Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety for Native Communities Act. A bill to require Federal law enforcement agencies to report on cases of missing or murdered Indians, and for other purposes.

S.546, the Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make a technical correction to the water rights settlement for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, and for other purposes.

S.550, a bill to provide for the equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois, and for other purposes.

S.562, the Rio San José and Rio Jemez Water Settlements Act of 2025, A bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna in the Rio San José Stream System and the Pueblos of Jemez and Zia in the Rio Jemez Stream System in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.

S.563, the Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of Ohkay Owingeh in the Rio Chama Stream System, to restore the Bosque on Pueblo Land in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.

S.564, the Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Zuni Indian Tribe in the Zuni River Stream System in the State of New Mexico, to protect the Zuni Salt Lake, and for other purposes.

S.565, the Navajo Nation Rio San José Stream System Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Navajo Nation in the Rio San José Stream System in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.

S.612, a bill to amend the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize grants to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations, and for other purposes.

S.620, a bill to provide public health veterinary services to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations for rabies prevention and other purposes.

S.621, the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Amendments Act of 2025. A bill to accept the request to revoke the charter of incorporation of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota at the request of that Community, and for other purposes.

S.622, a bill to amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act to provide for the transfer of additional Federal land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and for other purposes

S.632, the IHS Workforce Parity Act of 2025. A bill to amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to allow Indian Health Service scholarship and loan recipients to fulfill service obligations through half time clinical practice, and for other purposes.

S.637, the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025. A bill to amend the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes.

S.640, the the Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act. Abill to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make a technical correction to the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund, to amend the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 to make technical corrections to the Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund and Aamodt Settlement Pueblos’ Fund, and for other purposes.

S.642, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for the taking without just compensation of land by the United States inside the exterior boundaries of the L’Anse Indian Reservation that were guaranteed to the Community under a treaty signed in 1854, and for other purposes.

S.673, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act. A bill to amend the Miccosukee Reserved Area Act to authorize the expansion of the Miccosukee Reserved Area and to carry out activities to protect structures within the Osceola Camp from flooding, and for other purposes.

S.689, a bill to approve the settlement of the water right claims of the Tule River Tribe, and for other purposes.

S.719, the Tule River Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. A bill to amend the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 to improve that Act, and for other purposes.

S.723, the Tribal Trust Land Homeownership Act of 2025. A bill to require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes.

S.748, a bill to reaffirm the applicability of the Indian Reorganization Act to the Lytton Rancheria of California, and for other purposes.

S.761, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2025. A bill to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, and for other purposes.