Daines in Senate Indian Affairs Committee: Finish Fort Belknap Water Rights Settlement

• May 20, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Assistant Secretary William Kirkland from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs about the importance of water infrastructure in Montana's tribal communities.

Watch the full exchange HERE.

Daines on settling water rights litigation for tribal communities:

Daines: Assistant Secretary Kirkland, thanks for your testimony earlier. Going back to your confirmation hearing, we discussed Montana's final Indian water settlement, the Northern Montana Water Security Act. You mentioned, in fact, memories of hauling water across the Navajo Nation with your grandmother. You understand the challenges and the necessity of securing water rights and access in Indian country. You also committed to working with Congress to ensure the federal government upholds its trust and treaty obligations, which includes protecting water rights, and I want to make sure we hold each other accountable to that. During President Trump's first term, his support was instrumental in enacting the Montana Water Rights Protection Act to settle the Confederate Salish and Kootenai tribes' water claims. These are century-long fights, as you well know. Some of the toughest fights are water fights, and some of the most interesting fights gets into treaty rights as well. They recently reached a major milestone. This is going back to the Salish Kootenai that the Trump administration, Trump 45, that the president signed. We finally got the Montana Water Court's final order approving that compact last week. This is a big win for our farmers, our ranchers, the tribe, and the federal government, and for President Trump. This action by Congress and the court now brings certainty to all water users in the region. There's a lot of false information spread up in that part of our state. It's just not true. And we're grateful, working with President Trump, we got this thing signed, and the court just affirmed it in Montana again last week. Had we not gotten this done, the alternative was almost unthinkable. Without a settlement, the majority of the water rights claims in Montana would have been litigated over several decades and that's thousands of water rights claims. And as we know, the courts are increasingly sympathetic to the treaty rights that oftentimes predate statehood. Nontribal water users would have faced unprecedented uncertainty and possibly seen diminished access and would have cost the federal government an untold amount of money. Now, the Fort Belknap, alongside the many farmers and ranchers who rely on the Milk River to make a living, want to bring the same certainty to their region. It's the last water compact to be settled in Montana history. Assistant Secretary Kirkland, do you support the idea of settling rather than litigating Indian water rights claims?

Kirkland: Senator, the department supports the idea of settling any and all water settlement claims that we can.

Daines urges a timely completion of water rights settlements:

Daines: It's a lot of legal fees. And then the uncertainty of losing those water rights if the litigation proceeds, the risk of losing water rights for our ag economy in a place like Montana is very real and it's significant. And there's a clear blueprint to getting this done. I want to work with the Trump administration to build off these past models of success. None of these are ever easy. I experienced that myself under Trump 45, like the Salish Kootenai CSKT compact, we call it. And to move forward, enact the Northern Montana Water Security Act. One thing that's sometimes lost in translation here in Washington, in a place that gets 41 inches of rain every year, I didn't realize what rain was all about. I know Senator Murkowski sees a lot of it in Alaska, and we envy her precipitation. But they get more rain here than in Seattle by a small amount. Because when it rains here, it rains an inch or two at a time, it seems. Where we are battling in this last water rights claim, in this last tribal rights, is an area of our state that gets 12 to 15 inches of rain a year. It's a semi-arid environment, and that's why water is so critical to keep things going. My distinguished colleague here from Oklahoma can nod his head because they know what it means to live in a state that doesn't get a whole lot of rain. Montana, similarly, is a state that doesn't get a whole lot of rain in most of it. Assistant Secretary Kirkland, time is of the essence on the issue. Can we work together and push to get this done this year?

Kirkland: Senator, I know you just recently spoke to the Secretary Bergum on this as well, and I'll echo him that we'll continue to work with you and the Committee on settling all active water rights.

Daines: We're going to name a town in Montana called "Burgumville" if we get this done …This is about water security for tribal and non-tribal water users. It's for infrastructure for Montana agriculture and certainty for future generations of Montana. These are legacy kind of decisions we can make and move forward and settle it and not put this on the backs of our children and grandchildren. The bill I have ensures long-term stability across the Hi-Line of Montana and upholds the federal government's trust responsibility.

###

Contact: