The Senate on Thursday blocked a bill that would give federal recognition to the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, delaying what some considered the best effort made so far on behalf of its 6,000 members.

The bill needs to be passed by the end of the year or it dies, or it will have to be reintroduced for the next Congress, a spokesman for Montana's Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said.

Tester said the legislation was set to pass until Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, leading a "partisan blockade," prevented the bill from receiving a Senate vote.

“Tribal recognition is a very serious matter,” Lee said on the Senate floor. “It’s not one to be undertaken lightly. Given the sacred nature of tribal recognition and the significant impact it has both for the tribe in question and U.S. government as well as surrounding communities, we have an orderly process in which this needs to be done.”

He said the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2009 said the Little Shell failed to meet three of seven categories typically considered to meet tribal recognition.

Lee said he was not aware of any flawed legal analysis by the BIA.

Tester said he demanded Lee lift his objection.

“The Little Shell have fought for generations to secure what is rightfully theirs,” Tester said. “Now just one man stands in the way and it is time for him and his political party to quit the political shenanigans and allow this long-overdue vote to take place.”

The bill was on a consent agenda in which it would have passed without debate under the rules of unanimous consent But an objection from a single senator can “block” its passage.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said he was “disappointed that, once again, Congress has failed to give the recognition to Little Shell Tribe that they so greatly deserve.”

"The Little Shell Tribe has waited far too long and jumped through too many bureaucratic hoops to secure federal recognition. I won’t stop fighting until we get this done.”

Gerald Gray, chair of the Great Falls-based Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, did not return a call seeking comment.

In November the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Greg Gianforte’s bill to give federal recognition, marking the first time ever such a bill had passed the House or Senate.

The bill would have allowed the Tribe to buy 200 acres to serve as its reservation. It would make the Little Shell Tribe’s members eligible for federal resources for economic development, health and education.

The main area of the tribe is considered to be in Blaine, Cascade, Glacier and Hill counties.

The tribe petitioned the federal government in the 1930s and 1940s for a formal reservation and to be allowed to organize under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The tribe has been without a recognized homeland since the late 1800s, when Chief Little Shell and his followers in North Dakota broke off treaty negotiations with the U.S. government, according to news reports.

Tribal members later settled in Montana and Canada and are now scattered across the U.S. Northern Plains states and central Canada. Most live in Montana.

The Interior Department gave preliminary approval to recognizing the Little Shell in 2000 but rescinded the move in 2009. The agency denied recognition for the Little Shell again in 2013, according to the Associated Press.

The state of Montana recognized the tribe in 2000. Montana is home to seven Indian reservations and the state-recognized Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Tester said he first introduced legislation to federally recognize the Little Shell Tribe in 2007. It was the first bill he ever introduced as a United States senator.

Reach Phil Drake at 406-422-0772 or at pdrake@greatfallstribune.com