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Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 21, 2025
Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025
This bill creates a trust account, funds the account, and establishes a distribution process to settle certain claims between the federal government and the Quapaw Nation (a tribe in Oklahoma).
Specifically, the bill establishes the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account and directs the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Trust Funds Administration to administer all funds appropriated to the trust account.
Interior must make payments to the tribe and individual members of the tribe in accordance with the January 2020 recommendation of the review panel of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The bill outlines the distribution process for the settlement funds in the trust account.
People & committees
Rep. Brecheen, Josh [R-OK-2] · R–OK
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Subcommittee Hearings Held
Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Oct 6, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-21 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025 would direct a $137.5 million federal settlement payment to the Quapaw Nation and specified parties and individual tribal members in a court case. The money would pass through an Interior Department account. Claimants would first seek agreement on dividing the money through mediation; if agreement fails, the Interior Secretary would determine the distribution under the bill’s procedures.
This Act may be cited as the Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 2025.
The term Claimant means each of— (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013); and (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
In accordance with the Report, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated. The Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer the single payment to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account established in subsection (b).
In the event the Claimants do not reach a mutually agreed upon distribution plan following mediation, then any Claimant, through written notification, may submit the matter to the Secretary who shall determine a final distribution plan allocating the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account in accordance with the Report based on the procedures in paragraph (2).
Eligibility would be limited to the Quapaw Nation and the parties and individual tribal members identified in specified court filings. The definition does not extend the payment to every tribal member automatically.
The term Claimant means each of— (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013); and (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
The bill would establish the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account within Interior’s Bureau of Trust Funds Administration. The Interior Secretary, acting through that bureau, would administer all funds appropriated to the account.
(b) Establishment There is established a Special Deposit Account in the Department of the Interior Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, to be known as the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account. (c) Administration The Secretary of the Interior by and through the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration shall administer all funds appropriated to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account.
The bill would authorize and require a $137.5 million payment from Treasury funds not already appropriated for another purpose. Treasury would transfer it to the settlement account as a single payment. Payment would have to follow a specified 2020 Court of Federal Claims review-panel report.
The term Report means the report of the Review Panel of the United States Court of Federal Claims in Congressional Reference Case No. 13–51X, Bear, et al. v. United States (Jan. 9, 2020), submitted to the House of Representatives on January 31, 2020.
(d) Authorization of payment In accordance with the Report, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated. The Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer the single payment to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account established in subsection (b). (e) Payment in accordance with report The payment under subsection (d) shall be made in accordance with the Report.
After transfer to the account, the money would be available for use and distribution according to a claimants’ distribution plan established under the bill’s payment requirements and dispute-resolution procedures.
After the settlement proceeds are transferred to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account specified under subsection (b), the settlement proceeds shall be available for use, allocation, and distribution in accordance with the Claimants’ distribution plan. The Claimants shall establish a distribution plan in accordance with subsection (d) and the procedures set forth in subsection (g).
Within 45 days after enactment, claimants would have to submit the division and distribution of the money to a mediator they mutually select. If they do not do so, any claimant could initiate the process for the Interior Secretary to decide the allocation.
(A) No more than forty-five (45) days following enactment of the Act, the Claimants shall submit the issues of the allocation and distribution of the settlement proceeds to a mutually agreed upon third-party mediator. (B) In the event the Claimants do not submit to a mutually agreed upon third-party mediation within forty-five (45) days pursuant to the preceding subparagraph, then any Claimant may initiate Secretarial Allocation procedures under paragraph (2) below.
Mediation would be confidential and would not bind claimants without their written consent. Statements and information exchanged there could not be admitted in later legal or dispute-resolution proceedings without that consent. The Quapaw Nation Business Committee could still consult the Nation’s Indian Council during mediation.
(C) Any mediation shall be confidential and non-binding on the Claimants without the written consent of the Claimants, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be interpreted to bar the Quapaw Nation Business Committee from consulting with the Quapaw Nation Indian Council during mediation. (D) No statements made or information exchanged during mediation shall be admissible in any future legal or dispute resolution proceedings without the written consent of the Claimants.
Claimants would agree on the mediation location. Each would pay its own costs and an equal share of the mediator’s and facilities’ costs. If successful mediation produces a mutually agreed plan that they submit to the Secretary, the Secretary would have to distribute the money under that plan.
(E) The Claimants shall mutually agree to conduct mediation at a specified location. Each Claimant shall pay its own costs, plus an equal share of the costs of the mediator and the mediation facilities. (F) Following successful completion of any mediation under this section, the Claimants may submit a mutually agreed upon distribution plan to the Secretary. (G) Upon submission of a mutually agreed upon distribution plan to the Secretary, the Secretary shall distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account to the Claimants in accordance with their mutually agreed upon distribution plan.
After unsuccessful mediation, any claimant could ask the Secretary to determine the final allocation. The Secretary would also have to begin that process if claimants have not agreed on an allocation plan within 18 months after enactment.
(A) Following an unsuccessful mediation pursuant to the procedures in paragraph (1), any Claimant may petition the Secretary to determine final allocations of settlement proceeds in accordance with subsection (d). (B) The Secretary shall commence the Secretarial Allocation process in accordance with this paragraph (2) if the Claimants do not reach a mutually agreed upon allocation plan within 18 months following enactment of the Act.
Within 30 days after receiving a petition following failed mediation, the Secretary or a designee would issue a schedule for a hearing and final decision. The hearing would occur at least 60 days after that scheduling order and would be presided over by the Secretary or a designee.
(i) Within thirty (30) days following the Secretary’s receipt of a petition to allocation settlement proceeds after failed mediation, the Secretary or the Secretary’s designee shall issue a scheduling order to establish a schedule for a hearing and the issuance of a final decision by the Secretary of a final distribution plan. (ii) The Secretary’s decision determining a final distribution plan in accordance with subsection (d) shall be made following a hearing to be presided over by the Secretary or the Secretary’s designee. The hearing shall occur no less than sixty (60) days following the issuance of the scheduling order.
At least 15 days before the hearing, each claimant would have to share its intended exhibits, a written argument, and a proposed decision and distribution plan with the Secretary and other claimants. Each claimant could submit another written argument within 14 days after the hearing closes.
(iii) At least fifteen (15) days prior to the hearing, each Claimant shall submit to the other Claimants and to the Secretary a copy of all exhibits on which such Claimant intends to rely at the hearing, a pre-hearing brief, and a proposed final decision by the Secretary. The proposed final decision shall include a proposed distribution plan to be submitted to the Secretary and shall be limited to proposed rulings and distributions for each Claimant. (iv) Within fourteen (14) days after the close of the hearing, each Claimant may submit a post-hearing brief to the Secretary.
Following the hearing and post-hearing written argument, the Secretary would have 60 calendar days to issue a final distribution decision under the bill’s payment requirements. Claimants could mutually agree to a binding plan at any time before that decision.
(v) Following the hearing and post-hearing brief, the Secretary shall issue a final decision determining a final distribution plan in accordance with subsection (d) within sixty (60) calendar days. The Claimants may mutually agree upon a binding distribution plan at any time before the Secretary’s decision is issued.
Claimants could provide implementation information within 20 calendar days after the final decision is sent to them. The Secretary would have to distribute the money within 60 days of the final decision. Claimants could unanimously agree to extend any deadline established in the section.
(vi) Within twenty (20) calendar days after transmittal of the Secretary’s final decision to the Claimants, the Claimants may submit to the Secretary any information necessary for the implementation of the final distribution plan. (vii) Within sixty (60) days of the Secretary’s final decision determining a final distribution plan, the Secretary shall distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account to the Claimants pursuant to the terms of the final distribution plan. (viii) Any deadlines established in this section may be extended by unanimous mutual agreement of the Claimants.
The Secretary could use the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service for technical support and dispute-resolution resources. Responsibility for approving and implementing an agreed or binding distribution plan would remain with the Secretary or a designee.
In discharging any duties under this Act, the Secretary is authorized to utilize the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service to provide technical support and dispute resolution resources, provided, however, that the Secretary or the Secretary’s designee is responsible for approving and implementing any mutually agreed-upon or binding distribution plan reached pursuant to this Act.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated October 6, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Natural Resources Committee on February 21, 2025; referral to the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee on April 23; and subcommittee hearings on April 30, 2025. These entries do not establish enactment.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-06T18:26:23Z. 2025-04-30: Subcommittee Hearings Held 2025-04-23: Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. 2025-02-21: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. 2025-02-21: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-21. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or separate policy rider was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion applies only to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
Findings to examine
The text contains recipient-specific directed spending. Formal congressional earmark classification cannot be established from the supplied evidence alone.
The proposed $137.5 million settlement payment is directed to the Quapaw Nation and specifically defined litigation claimants, rather than awarded through an open competition or a general program formula. This is a directed-spending finding, not a determination of formal earmark status.
The term Claimant means each of— (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013); and (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
In accordance with the Report, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The proposed settlement creates a narrowly defined financial benefit central to the bill’s purpose. This classification does not judge the settlement’s merits.
The settlement payment would benefit the Quapaw Nation and the particular parties and individual members identified in the referenced litigation filings. This beneficiary-specific payment is the bill’s main policy and is the same payment identified in the directed-spending review.
The term Claimant means each of— (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013); and (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13–51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
In accordance with the Report, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 6, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI