Congress should consider a legal settlement proposed recently by prominent American Indian leaders. For 118 years, Uncle Sam has mismanaged Indian assets such as oil royalties and grazing leases. But for nearly a decade, the government has fought the Indians’ quest to get a proper accounting of their assets. Given the complexity of fully auditing all the accounts – there are at least 300,000 and perhaps 500,000 of them – a negotiated settlement is the best way to fix the mess.
Legislation that could speed a settlement is being drafted by U.S. Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, and Byron Dorgan, the panel’s senior Democrat. Colorado’s senators, Republican Wayne Allard and Democrat Ken Salazar, should consider co-sponsoring the measure.
The trouble dates to 1887, when Congress broke 90 million acres of Indian reservations into 160-acre allotments. The government was supposed to manage the allotments in trust for individual Indians, but there was trouble from the get-go – and the Interior Department has proved unable (or unwilling) to solve the problems. In 1996, the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund and former Denver lawyer Dennis Gingold sued the government on behalf of Indians whose assets were at stake.
The feds deserved to get sued. Interior’s mishandling of the Indian trust fund “sets the gold standard for mismanagement by the government,” the judge hearing the case, Royce Lamberth, said.
A top Interior official publicly admitted that a settlement likely would need to be negotiated, because the government lost so many key records that a full accounting might be impossible. By Interior’s own admission, a full accounting could cost at least $12 billion and take years. That’s unacceptable both to the Indians and taxpayers. If the government spends more money on the case, the funds should go toward paying the Indians what they’re owed, not on endless litigation expenses. Yet bizarrely, Interior has dragged its feet in settlement talks.
In March, McCain asked the Indians to come up with a dollar figure and other terms. If they did, he indicated he’d introduce legislation.
Last week, the Indians unveiled their proposal: some $27.5 billion in payments, plus terms to keep problems from recurring in the accounts. Whether McCain will adopt the dollar figure or develop one of his own is unclear – the amount the Indians reportedly are due has varied wildly from $10 billion to $176 billion. What’s most important is that a resolution be reached.
