Friends Committee on National Legislation Newsletter
After months of inaction, a promising legislative breakthrough happened
on potential trust fund reform. An important part of the legislation is
repayment or restitution to 500,000 individual Indians with land and
other tangible assets whose profits were mismanaged by the government.
During July, congressional leaders apparently reached some significant
agreements on settling the decade-long Cobell v. Kempthorne Indian trust
fund court case. Then, behind-the-scenes pressure or more reflection
and debate began to jeopardize passage of the legislation during this
session of Congress. The cycle of anticipation and dashed hopes is
creating great tensions for those who view this legislation as symbolic
of fair play.
While legislative delay is typical, the Indian trust scandal involving
the government’s fiduciary negligence and impropriety has persisted for
over a century. The Cobell case is one of the largest suits ever
brought against the federal government. Some U.S. senators and
representatives believe justice can be done more swiftly through
legislation than judicial rule. The federal government, which serves as
the custodian of royalties generated from Indian land, has been held by
federal courts to be in breach of trust.
In recent weeks, Sens. McCain (AZ) and Dorgan (ND) sponsors of the
Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005 (S. 1439) and Reps. Pombo (CA) and
Rahall (WV) sponsors of House companion bill H.R. 4322 seemed close to
finalizing a settlement figure of $8 billion for the historic
mismanagement of individual Indian trust accounts by the Department of
Interior. These legislators also met with the new Secretary of Interior
Dirk Kempthorne. Then, a scheduled “mark up” of the Senate bill was
postponed until August 2nd. This critical legislation for Indian
Country, usually ignored by the media, is now receiving the attention of
major media outlets such as the Congressional Quarterly.
To send an email or fax to your members of Congress on legislative
settlement, go to http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=7968506
for more information: click here
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