The Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) U.S. Indian Affairs is responsible for enhancing the quality of life, promoting economic opportunities, and carrying out the federal responsibilities entrusted to us to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians and Alaska Natives. We accomplish this by directly empowering Tribal governments through self-governance agreements.   It’s origins date back to1775 when the Continental Congress established a Committee on Indian Affairs lead by Benjamin Franklin.  For some time during the 19^th century it was in the Department of War before being transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1849, and receiving its current name on September 17, 1947.

Laws governing BIA can be found in Title 25 of the U.S. Code United States Code | Govinfo and regulations it administers are in Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations. eCFR :: Title 25 of the CFR — Indians. BIA regional offices include Alaska, Eastern, East-Oklahoma Region, Great Plains, Midwest, Navajo, Northwest, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southern Plains, Southwest, and Western BIA Agency and Field Offices Dashboard  An important component of BIA activities involves working with federally recognized tribes with there being 574 of these Federal Register :: Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as of January 8, 2024.  The Miami Indians of Oklahoma are federally recognized, however Indiana’s Miami Indians Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana are not federally recognized.  Congressional oversight of BIA is provided by the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior & Insular Affairs 

Indian and Insular Affairs | House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Home – Indian Affairs Committee,  Membership on these committees tends to be from western states.

BIA’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget is $1.8 billion and its full-time employees number 2,817 Fiscal Year 2027 Interior Budget in Brief, Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.