The March 2011 Bill, offered by Senator Barrasso of Wyoming, would amend the Long-Term Leasing Act and expand the Navajo Leasing Act of 2000 to encompass all federally-recognized tribes. The reform of this law would give tribes more power over their own interests and give them the ability to enact tribal-leasing regulations on sovereign land without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The current system only proves to be a lengthy process which often hinders housing, infrastructure, economic growth and tribal self-determination.

This Senate Bill would reform that policy which continues to obstruct Indian nations who have the authority to enact leasing regulations and negotiate and enter into leases without bureaucratic entanglements and the prolonged acceptance process of the Secretary. In recent decades, as tribes have expanded their economic standing and self-governance, this outdated system stands in the way of the Cherokee Nation and other tribes. The Cherokee Nation has demonstrated our right and full capacity to manage our own land and economic policy, therefore the need for a bureaucratic intermediary must cease for those that exude the ability to self-govern.