---
kind: "section"
citation: "25 U.S.C. § 5601"
title: "25"
title_heading: "Indians"
number: "5601"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/25/5601"
units:
  - "Chapter 48 — Indian Trust Asset Reform"
  - "Subchapter I — Recognition of Trust Responsibility"
---

# §5601. Findings


Congress finds that—

- (1) there exists a unique relationship between the Government of the United States and the governments of [Indian tribes](/usc/25/81.md?p=a-2);
- (2) there exists a unique Federal responsibility to [Indians](/usc/25/1934.md);
- (3) through treaties, statutes, and historical relations with [Indian tribes](/usc/25/81.md?p=a-2), the United States has undertaken a unique trust responsibility to protect and support [Indian tribes](/usc/25/81.md?p=a-2) and [Indians](/usc/25/1934.md);
- (4) the fiduciary responsibilities of the United States to [Indians](/usc/25/1934.md) also are founded in part on specific commitments made through written treaties and agreements securing peace, in exchange for which [Indians](/usc/25/1934.md) have surrendered claims to vast tracts of land, which provided legal consideration for permanent, ongoing performance of Federal trust duties; and
- (5) the foregoing historic Federal-tribal relations and understandings have benefitted the people of the United States as a whole for centuries and have established enduring and enforceable Federal obligations to which the national honor has been committed.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 114–178, title I, § 101, June 22, 2016, 130 Stat. 432.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 114–178, § 1(a), June 22, 2016, 130 Stat. 432, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Indian Trust Asset Reform Act’.”

Pub. L. 114–178, title II, § 201, June 22, 2016, 130 Stat. 433, provided that: “This title [enacting subchapter II of this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Indian Trust Asset Management Demonstration Project Act of 2016’.”