[House Document 106-39]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - House Document 106-39
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REQUEST FOR FY 1999 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF
THE INTERIOR
__________
COMMUNICATION
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
TRANSMITTING
A REQUEST FOR AN FY 1999 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT
OF THE INTERIOR
March 11, 1999.--Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and
ordered to be printed
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
69-012 WASHINGTON : 1999
The White House,
Washington, March 10, 1999.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I ask the Congress to consider the enclosed request
for an FY 1999 supplemental appropriation for the Department of
the Interior. This $15 million supplemental request would fund
necessary actions required in the Cobell v. Babbitt litigation
concerning alleged past mismanagement of individual Indian
trust accounts by the Department of the Interior. The requested
funds will be used for court-ordered document production, the
work of a court-appointed Special Master, and statistical
sampling of trust accounts for use in expediting the resolution
of this case.
The additional resources requested will be derived by
transfer from other Department of the Interior programs. The FY
1999 budget totals would not be affected by these actions.
This request, together with the $6.8 million in
supplemental funding proposed in the FY 2000 Budget for Indian
trust fund management improvements, will assist the Department
of the Interior in adequately fulfilling its requirements
stemming from the Cobell v. Babbitt litigation and building on
its trust fund reform initiative.
The details of this request are set forth in the enclosed
letter from the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget. I concur with his comments and observations.
Sincerely,
William J. Clinton.
Enclosure.
[Estimate No. 11, 106th Congress, 1st Session]
Executive Office of the President,
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, DC, March 10, 1999.
The President,
The White House.
Submitted for your consideration is a request for an FY
1999 supplemental appropriation of $15 million for the
Department of the Interior (DOI). This request would fund
requirements of the Cobell v. Babbitt litigation. The
resolution of this case will assist the United States in
meeting its fiduciary responsibility to individual Indian
allottees.
The lawsuit, filed in June 1996 on behalf of approximately
300,000 allotees, alleges Federal mismanagement of their trust
accounts. In January 1999, a contempt trial was held on the
failure of the Departments of the Interior and the Treasury to
produce documents for the five lead plaintiffs pursuant to a
November 1996 court order. On February 22, 1999, a Federal
district court found Secretaries Babbitt and Rubin and the
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in civil contempt. The
funds requested would be used for court-ordered document
production, the work of a court-appointed Special Master, and
statistical sampling of trust accounts for use in a negotiated
settlement.
The funds requested for the Office of the Special Trustee
for American Indians would be derived by transfer from the
following DOI programs: the Mineral Management Service; the
Bureau of Land Management; the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service; the National Park Service; and, the United States
Geological Survey. Language is also included that would
increase the level of receipts retained in the Mineral
Management Service's Royalty and Offshore Minerals Management
account. In aggregate, the FY 1999 budget totals would not be
affected by these actions.
This proposal is in addition to the $6.8 million
supplemental proposal included in your FY 2000 Budget for DOI's
Indian trust fund management reform initiative, which includes
acquisition and implementation of a commercial system to
replace the Bureau of Indian Affairs' trust land management and
land records systems; extensive data clean-up; and, elimination
of land records and probate backlogs. Together, these
additional resources would assist DOI in resolving the Cobell
v. Babbitt litigation and advancing the trust fund reform
initiative, on which the Administration continues to make
substantial progress.
I have carefully reviewed this proposal and am satisfied
that it is necessary at this time. Therefore, I join the
Secretary of the Interior in recommending that you transmit the
proposal to the Congress.
Sincerely,
Jacob J. Lew, Director.
Enclosures.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
Federal Trust Programs
For an additional amount for ``Federal Trust Programs,''
$15,000,000, to remain available until expended, to support
litigation involving individual Indian trust accounts, of which
the following amounts shall be derived by transfer from amounts
provided in Public Law 105-277, as follows: from Minerals
Management Service, ``Royalty and Offshore Minerals
Management,'' $5,000,000; Bureau of Land Management, ``Wildland
Fire Management,'' $4,500,000; United States Geological Survey,
``Surveys, Investigations, and Research,'' $1,500,000; United
States Fish and Wildlife Service, ``Resource Management,''
$2,000,000; and National Park Service, ``Operation of the
National Park System,'' $2,000,000: Provided, That the amount
provided herein is available for transfer to Bureau of Indian
Affairs, ``Operation of Indian Programs''; Office of the
Solicitor, ``Salaries and Expenses''; Departmental Management,
``Salaries and Expenses''; Minerals Management Service,
``Royalty and Offshore Minerals Management''; and Bureau of
Land Management, ``Management of Lands and Resources''.
This supplemental request would provide resources to
support costs to the Government in defense of a lawsuit filed
on June 10, 1996, entitled Eloise Pepion Cobell et al. v. Bruce
Babbitt et al. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of approximately
300,000 holders of Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust
accounts. This suit alleges that the Secretary of the Interior
has breached his trust responsibility in the administration of
IIM accounts. The amount requested would support document
production, a court-appointed Special Master, and statistical
sampling of trust accounts to fulfill the Department's
obligations to produce an accounting and to provide a basis for
settlement.
The $15 million requested for the Office of the Special
Trustee for American Indians would be derived by transfer from
other Department of the Interior programs. In total, this
proposal will not increase FY 1999 outlays.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Royalty and Offshore Minerals Management
The appropriations language under this heading in Public
Law 105-277 is amended by deleting ``$100,000,000'' and
inserting ``$105,000,000''.
This proposal would raise the level of receipts retained in
the Royalty and Offshore Management account to offset costs of
administering the Minerals Management Service's outer
continental shelf (OCS) leasing and royalty collection program
by $5 million. This increase reflects higher estimates of
receipts for FY 1999 from OCS lease payments, as authorized by
Congress in 1993. This higher level of available offsetting
collections will enable $5 million of appropriated funds to be
transferred from the Royalty Offshore Minerals Management
account to the Office of the Special Trustee for American
Indians, as reflected in the accompanying supplemental request.