Congress approves bills dealing with Native federal aid and land for Alaska Native villages

Two bills sponsored by Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, have passed the U.S. Senate and are on the way to the desk of President Donald Trump.

The Senate passed House Resolution 42 and House Resolution 43 by voice vote on Wednesday. By phone Friday, Begich said he expects that Trump will sign both bills sometime in the next 30 days.

When signed into law, HR 42 would make it easier for disabled Alaska Natives to qualify for some federal aid programs. It states that certain income will not count against the federal eligibility limit for those programs.

HR 43 would give about 11,550 acres of land to Alaska Native village corporations by eliminating the requirement in federal law that the state hold some land in trust in case a new village corporation is created.

The Alaska Legislature requested the change in federal law last year.

Versions of HR 42 and 43 were proposed by Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and were passed on to Begich after he defeated Peltola in Alaska’s 2024 U.S. House election.

“These are only the ninth and 10th bills that originated in the House to actually be passed into law so far,” Begich said, adding that he thinks both are important.

“There’s an assumption that’s often made that villages have an abundance of land because they’re rural, but the reality is, many of these villages don’t have access to land holdings that would allow them to develop additional housing or additional local infrastructure, and so the Municipal Lands Act restores approximately 11,500 acres across hundreds of Alaskan villages,” he said.

“One of the challenges that I hear about on a regular basis from Native communities is the lack of housing, the lack of affordable housing, and the fact that in many communities, multiple generations of families are crammed together in housing units that are too small, unsafe or lack proper standards, and hopefully this bill will be a step toward alleviating that problem,” Begich said.

Begich credited Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for leading the bills through the Senate. Murkowski delivered remarks Wednesday on the Senate floor, noting that the Senate passed both bills last December but that the prior edition of the House failed to pass them before adjourning.

She thanked two of her Democratic colleagues, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, for arranging to have the bills pass by unanimous consent, without a physical vote.

The arrangement saw two Democratic-sponsored bills — one from Nevada and one from Massachusetts — pass unanimously alongside the Alaska bills.

“I’m proud to have been able to work on these important measures,” she said. “It’s been a multiyear effort to get them to the president’s desk. I don’t care really if we send an HR or an S(enate) bill to the president. We just want to get it accomplished. We just want to get some things done for Alaska.”