A bipartisan group of 19 U.S. senators and 12 representatives has asked President Donald Trump to ensure that agencies will uphold federal trust and treaty responsibilities to Native American tribes when implementing provisions of the newly enacted COVID-19 spending package.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led the group on Wednesday in urging Trump to guide the many agencies tasked with implementation of the landmark Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act as tribes receive approximately $10 billion of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill signed into law on March 27.

Agencies within the U.S. Department of the Interior, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration, must respect the inherent sovereignty of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes while paying out critical funding and exercising their complicated new authorities, the lawmakers said in a letter to Trump.

"As the administration undertakes its work to implement this new law, we write to respectfully request that federal resources be deployed expeditiously to Indian Country in a manner consistent with the federal government's trust and treaty responsibilities, respect for tribal sovereignty and the principles of meaningful government-to-government consultation," the letter said.

Five Senate Republicans, 14 Senate Democrats, eight House Democrats and four House Republicans signed the letter.

The senators who signed, in addition to Udall and Hoeven, are Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kamala Harris; D-Calif., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Martha McSally, R-Ariz., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Patty Murray, D-Wash., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Tina Smith, D-Minn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Jon Tester, D-Mont., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The letter is also signed by U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., Paul Cook, R-Calif., Sharice Davids, D-Kan., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., Deb Haaland, D-N.M., David Joyce, R-Ohio, Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Betty McCollum, D-Minn., Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., and Don Young, R-Alaska.

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