U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

The United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is responsible for dealing with matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 1947, but in the latter year it was folded into the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. A new Indian Affairs Committee was created in 1977, initially as a Select Committee, as a result of the detachment of indigenous affairs from the new Committee on Energy and National Resources, which had succeeded the old Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. The committee was initially intended to be temporary, but was made permanent in 1984. The committee tends to attract Senators from Western states, who have more Indian constituents.

Members

The committee is chaired by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. The ranking Democrat is Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. The members of the Committee are:

John McCain (R-Arizona), chairman
Craig Thomas (R-Wyoming)
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma)
Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico)
Gordon Smith (R-Oregon)
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
Richard Burr (R-North Carolina)
Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), ranking minority member
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)
Maria Cantwell (D-Washington)
Chairmen
Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 1820-1947
David Holmes (R-MS) 1820-1821
Henry Johnson (R-LA) 1821-1823
Thomas Hart Benton (R/D-LA) 1823-1828
Hugh Lawson White (D-TN) 1828-1832
George M. Troup (D-GA) 1832-1833
Hugh Lawson White (W-TN) 1833-1840
Ambrose Sevier (D-AR) 1840-1841
James T. Morehead (W-KY) 1841-1842
Albert White (W-IN) 1842-1845
Ambrose Sevier (D-AR) 1845-1846
Arthur Bagby (D-AL) 1846-1847
David R. Atchison (D-MO) 1847-1853
William K. Sebastian (D-AR) 1853-1861
James Rood Doolittle (R-WI) 1861-1866
John B. Henderson (R-MO) 1866-1869
James Harlan (R-IA) 1869-1873
William Buckingham (R-CT) 1873-1875
William B. Allison (R-IA) 1875-1879
Richard Coke (D-TX) 1879-1881
Henry Dawes (R-MA) 1881-1893
James K. Jones (D-AR) 1893-1895
Richard Pettigrew (R-SD) 1895-1899
John M. Thurston (R-NE) 1899-1901
William Stewart (R-NV) 1901-1905
Moses E. Clapp (R-MN) 1905-1911
Robert J. Gamble (R-SD) 1911-1913
William J. Stone (D-MO) 1913-1914
Henry F. Ashurst (D-AZ) 1914-1919
Charles Curtius (R-KS) 1919-1921
Selden P. Spencer (R-MO) 1921-1923
John W. Harreld (R-OK) 1923-1927
Lynn J. Frazier (R-ND) 1927-1933
Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) 1933-1936
Elmer Thomas (D-OK) 1936-1945
Joseph O'Mahoney (D-WY) 1945-1947

from 1947 to 1977, Indian Affairs were the responsibility of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, which was superseded by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 1977.