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.”