Sen. Schatz Presses 15 Institutions to Return Native Remains
On June 17, 2026, Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, announced that he had sent letters to 15 universities and museums demanding that they comply with Public Law 101-601, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). NAGPRA requires institutions to return Native ancestral remains and sacred items to tribes.
Each institution received a letter asking it to provide a timeline for completing its NAGPRA compliance, explain why ancestral remains and items have not yet been returned, and detail what barriers, if any, stand in the way. “It shouldn’t take this long to return Native remains to their communities,” Sen. Schatz wrote. “Indigenous people have waited long enough.” NAGPRA was enacted in 1990, and many institutions remain out of compliance more than three decades later.
Senate Farm Bill Draft Fails to Include Self-Determination Pilot; Tribes Urge Restoration
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (AR) released a discussion draft of the Agricultural Act of 2026 (commonly referred to as the Farm Bill) on June 23, 2026. The Farm Bill is a massive piece of legislation that impacts critical policy areas like agriculture, food and nutrition programs, and rural development. The release of the discussion draft kicks off the Senate’s formal legislative process on the long-delayed Farm Bill reauthorization. Tribal nations and advocates are closely watching whether the Senate will restore a program omitted from the House version: the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) self-determination pilot.
Established under the 2018 Farm Bill, the FDPIR pilot allows tribes to purchase local, culturally relevant, and traditional foods for their FDPIR participants rather than relying solely on USDA warehouse commodities. Sixteen tribes and tribal organizations currently participate. Without reauthorization, new tribes will be unable to register for the program, and the entire project will phase out for current participants by 2028.
The House Farm Bill (H.R. 7567), passed in April 2026, did not include reauthorization or expansion of the pilot, largely due to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate projecting the cost of permanent authorization at over $380 million over ten years. Tribes dispute this figure. While the current discussion draft does not include the reauthorization of the program, the Senate could still include it during the markup and amendment stages.
The Native Farm Bill Coalition has urged the Senate to restore and expand the pilot, arguing it supports tribal food sovereignty and local agricultural economies. Bipartisan Senate support has emerged: Senators Tina Smith (MN) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) have each expressed support for including the pilot in the Senate bill. Rep. Tom Cole (OK-4), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, has separately written to the House Agriculture Committee urging an updated CBO review of the program’s costs.
Tohono O’odham Nation Sues to Block Border Wall on Tribal Land
The Tohono O’odham Nation filed a lawsuit on June 16, 2026, seeking to halt the federal government from constructing a border wall on their reservation across a 62-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border. The Nation has opposed the construction of a border wall since President Trump’s first term.
The tribe argues that only an act of Congress can alter reservation boundaries. The proposed wall would effectively close off tribal land from tribal members living in the 17 Tohono O’odham communities on the Mexican side of the border — home to thousands of tribal citizens. The Nation argues that the construction would unlawfully change the character of its reservation.
The tribe has long maintained its own border security infrastructure: it has hosted permanent federal installations since 1974, operates 160-foot Customs and Border Patrol surveillance towers at ten sites, has had vehicle barriers in place since 2006, and spends approximately $3 million per year on border security measures. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson acknowledged Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s citizenship in the Cherokee Nation and said the department remains committed to tribal consultation but did not indicate it would halt construction planning.
What We’re Reading
- Trump Wants to Unleash ‘America First’ Fishing. What’s He Really Doing? | Grist
- AMERICA 250: Tribal Nations and the Supreme Court | Indian Country Today
- Wounded Knee Descendants Vow to Keep Pressing for Medal Revocations as Senate Committee Seeks Info | South Dakota Searchlight
- Rebecca Nagle’s ‘First America’ Amplifies Native Voices Amid the Din of America 250 Celebrations | Native American Calling
