On December 17, 1821, the House established a standing Committee on Indian Affairs. For a time after 1885, the Committee on Indian Affairs was granted authority to report appropriations for the support of Government programs relating to Indians. In 1920, as part of a wider legislative and executive branch reorganization relating to Federal fiscal management, appropriations jurisdiction was once again consolidated in the Appropriations Committee.

U.S. House Committee on Indian Affairs (17th thru 69th Congress, 1821-1946) then was transferred to the House Committee on Public Lands. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, Public Law 601, 79th Congress, 60 Stat. 812) created the Committee on Public Lands which absorbed this and six other committees, Early in the 82nd Congress, the House voted to change the name of the Public Lands Committee to that of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.