Copyright © 2003 NLThomas
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WASHINGTON, DC (July 10, 2003) - Indian Country has delivered a united message to Congress: don't attempt to legislate an end to a lawsuit that soon could give Indians a full accounting of their trust accounts.

That was the message a wide array of Indian leaders gave members of the House Resources Committee Wednesday.

Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., responded with a promise that his committee will challenge an effort by members of the House Appropriations Committee to legislate an end to the lawsuit brought seven years ago by Elouise Cobell of Montana and four other Indians.

"If there is a legislative resolution of this problem, then it will be done in this committee and not in the appropriations committee," he promised the Indian leaders.

"I'm sorry that in the past Congress has not stepped up to the plate," he said, adding: "We're entering a different era."

Pombo's comments came as his committee delved into whether the litigation can be settled out of court. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, expressed a willingness to reopen talks with government lawyers.

A just-concluded 44-day trial of how to reform the long-troubled trust will give a better foundation for new talks, she told the committee.

Tex G. Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians, joined Cobell and others in denouncing the appropriations committee's measure. "It was a bad idea a year ago [when the House rejected a similar measure] and it's a bad idea today," said Hall.

David Lester, executive director of the Denver-based Council of Energy Resource Tribes, reminded the committee that Indians had no choice when the trust was created by Congress in 1887. "The Cobell litigation is not the problem," he said. "Cobell is symptomatic of the problem."

The bigger problem, Pombo and the Indian leaders seemed to agree, is that Congress has failed to resolve the many, long-standing problems with the trust including the government's inability to give trust beneficiaries the full accounting of their funds that every trust in the country is required to provide as a matter of law.

The tribal leaders and Pombo also agreed that any resolution of the Cobell litigation must be developed in concert with trust beneficiaries, tribal leaders and government officials.

James Cason, deputy associate Interior secretary, also agreed that his department cannot resolve the trust problems on its own. But he also said that the parties appear far apart on what constitutes a full and fair accounting and hinted that one solution might be to force trust beneficiaries to pay the cost of the accounting.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the ranking Democrat on the committee, said he would once again battle to remove the appropriations committee restrictions from the Interior Appropriations bill when it come to the floor later this month. Rahall express reservations about one provision that would allow the secretary of Interior to dictate the terms of any settlement.

"The alleged solution which would have the wolf guarding the hen house is not the answer," Rahall said.