Schatz, Democrats secured $45 billion for Native communities over four years

During his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs from 2021-2025, US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led the passage of 26 Tribal-specific bills and helped secure over $45 billion. The funds are being used to make investments in health care, housing, education, languages, infrastructure, and public safety – to benefit Native communities.

“Together, Senate Democrats made historic progress over the past four years, helping pass dozens of bills and delivering significant funding for a wide range of Native priorities,” said Vice Chairman Schatz. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made over the past two congresses – but we still have a lot more work to remedy the generations of neglect and help Native communities determine their own futures.”

Highlights of his term as Chair include the following:

• Passed the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act in the Senate
• Advance Appropriations for the Indian Health Service for the first time ever, preventing potentially life-threatening service disruptions due to government shutdowns or funding lapses
• Billions more for Native housing to address historic underfunding in Native housing program
• Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization and a restoration of Tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes against Tribal officers and youth
• $3.5 billion for Indian Health Service sanitation projects to close the water divide on Tribal lands
• $3 billion for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, providing access to affordable high-speed internet
• More than $2.1 billion to address public safety needs, including the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People and fentanyl and opioid abuse in Native communities
• $2.5 billion to complete enacted Indian water rights settlements, and committee consideration of 12 Indian water rights settlement bills, totaling more than $12 billion in need
• Restored over 6,171 acres to Tribal homelands by enacting 11 bills
• Nearly $2 billion in climate funding for Native communities

A full review of funding and legislative achievements under Schatz’s leadership is available here.