[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 23 (Wednesday, March 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H704-H705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ENCOURAGING THE NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT OF TRIBAL CLAIMS

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 1857) to encourage the negotiated settlement of tribal 
claims.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 1857

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SETTLEMENT OF TRIBAL CLAIMS.

       (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, for purposes of determining the date on which an Indian 
     tribe received a reconciliation report for purposes of 
     applying a statute of limitations, any such report provided 
     to or received by an Indian tribe in response to section 304 
     of the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 
     1994 (25 U.S.C. 4044) shall be deemed to have been received 
     by the Indian tribe on December 31, 1999.
       (b) Statement of Purpose.--Subsection (a) is solely 
     intended to provide recipients of reconciliation reports with 
     the opportunity to postpone the filing of claims, or to 
     facilitate the voluntary dismissal of claims, to encourage 
     settlement negotiations with the United States.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is a bill to encourage the negotiated 
settlement of tribal claims. S. 1857 allows Indian tribes to postpone 
the filing of lawsuits against the United States for either the loss of 
money held in trust for the tribe or the mismanagement of those funds, 
such as the loss of interest income or the crediting of the wrong 
tribal trust fund account.
  Under present law, the statute of limitations does not run against 
such claims until each tribal account holder receives an accounting 
``from which the beneficiary can determine whether there has been a 
loss.'' Although the United States began to provide Indian tribes with 
reconciliation reports in early 1996, no one knows for sure whether 
these reports commenced the running of the statute of limitations.
  The Government Accounting Office has given Congress real reason to 
doubt that these reports constitute a sufficient accounting to satisfy 
the Federal Government trust obligation. However, if, as many Indian 
tribes fear, the report serves to trigger the statute of limitations, a 
tribe may feel obligated to file a lawsuit to protect its interests. S. 
1857 will help prevent a flood of litigation and the costs it will 
incur.
  I commend my friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), for 
introducing a House companion bill, H.R. 3815, of which I am an 
original cosponsor. As we have learned from the ongoing class action 
lawsuits that began as Cobell v. Babbitt in 1996, we will all be best 
served if there are as many of these trust fund accounting claims as 
possible settled through negotiation without litigation.
  S. 1857 will give the Federal Government until December 31, 2005, to 
create a process for settling these claims. I applaud the 
administration for its foresight in assisting with these efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the mismanagement of the Indian trust funds is truly one 
of the worse embarrassments of this Nation. Sadly, we have become the 
United States of broken promises to many of our first Americans.
  Today, as we consider S. 1857, there is a multi-billion dollar 
lawsuit pending where the court has already ruled that the Interior 
Department is in breach of its trust responsibility to Indian account 
holders. Two cabinet Secretaries have already been held in contempt of 
court, and a third may also be found in contempt at any time.
  The Federal Government has held monies in trust for the American 
Indians since 1820, and almost immediately the criticism started on how 
funds intended for the benefit of Indians were handled. In 1828, Henry 
Rowe Schoolcraft, a noted negotiator of several Indian treaties, wrote, 
``The derangements in the fiscal affairs of the Indian department are 
in the extreme. One would think that appropriations had been handled 
with a pitchfork.''
  In 1834, the House Committee on Indian Affairs filed a report which 
characterized the administration of Indian Affairs as being 
``expensive, inefficient, and irresponsible.''
  Were these warnings heeded? No. Let us fast forward almost 160 years 
to 1992, when the House Committee on Government Operations released a 
report on the mismanagement of Indian trust funds. The report detailed 
numerous basic problems, including the inability of the Department of 
the Interior to give account holders proper account balances, the lack 
of uniform written policies governing how accounts are to be managed, 
the insufficient training of personnel needed to carry out the duties 
required, and the inadequate automated and recordkeeping systems.
  Some of us remember our response to that 1992 report. We sat down 
with tribal and individual Indian account holders, the Department of 
the Interior, banking and trust management experts, and the computer 
experts and together developed legislation to address these problems.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate but true that even after that 
legislation was signed into law and sent to the Department of the 
Interior for implementation, as of today the four basic problems I just 
outlined still exist. Indeed, there are no written uniform 
policies. Personnel charged with such an important job are not given 
sufficient training. The promise of a greater computer system has 
become a multi-million dollar disaster, and the Department cannot 
provide account holders with a full and complete accounting of their 
funds.

  This last point brings me to the issues raised by the pending 
legislation, S. 1857. Congress appropriated $20 million, which was 
contracted to Arthur Andersen to provide each Indian tribe with an 
accounting of their federally held trust fund accounts. It was clear 
when these reports were sent to Indian tribes in 1996 that they were 
not a full and accurate reconciling of the tribal accounts.
  Now, 6 years later, Indian tribes fear that a statute of limitations 
could run out on them and they could be precluded from challenging the 
accuracy of those Arthur Andersen reports.
  While I think it is unlikely any court would find in favor of the 
government in any such case, we need to allay the concerns and put off 
this deadline. S. 1857 would extend the statute of limitations for 
another 3 years in order to give an extension of time for negotiations 
between Indian tribes and the Federal Government over trust fund 
account balances.
  I am an original cosponsor of the companion legislation in the House, 
and I urge my colleagues to support this bill and head off dozens of 
additional lawsuits filed against Secretary Norton.
  This is an important step to take, but it is only a temporary one. We 
must settle the issue of all Indian trust fund account balances, and we 
must set up a system where future Congresses are not quoting us when 
describing a still-continuing problem.
  Let me be clear: the Federal Government cannot give a full and 
accurate historical accounting of Indian trust funds to the account 
holders. Members do not have to take my word for it. Numerous reports 
exist detailing trust fund documentation that are too damaged to read 
or are lost entirely. Members can read testimony from BIA employees of 
storing documents in a barn in Oklahoma, only to toss them out to make 
room for new documents. Members can ask Secretary Gale Norton, who 
admitted as much before the House Committee on Resources just last 
month.
  Just this past November, Secretary Norton announced the establishment 
of a new agency within the Department of the Interior to handle Indian 
trust activities. She made a dreadful mistake by not working with the 
account holders before bursting forth with this proposal. I know she 
realizes that now, but not after precious time has slipped by.

[[Page H705]]

  I do not claim to have all the answers; but I do know that the answer 
will come only when we all stand up and face our responsibility, admit 
the mistakes, and work openly and honestly with Indian country.
  I urge passage of the pending legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), a gentlemen, I might add, who has 
been very much on the forefront on this and other Indian issues, and a 
valued member of our Committee on Resources.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, as co-chairman of the congressional Native 
American Caucus, I rise today in strong support of S. 1857, a bill to 
encourage the negotiated settlement of tribal claims.
  I introduced the House companion bill, H.R. 3851. I want to thank my 
colleagues, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen), the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Hayworth), and the gentleman from California (Mr. Gallegly), for 
agreeing to be original cosponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill has deep bipartisan support and the support of 
the administration. I want to commend my colleagues in the Senate for 
their swift action to address the issue of tolling the statute of 
limitations on legal claims Indian tribes may assert against the United 
States relating to the management of tribal trust funds.
  This issue is certainly not new to Congress. Since 1991, Congress has 
approved language in the Department of the Interior's appropriations 
acts to toll the statute of limitations until the tribal account 
holders have been provided an accounting of such funds.
  In addition, since 1987, Congress has required the Department of the 
Interior to reconcile tribal trust fund accounts. By providing an 
accounting of these funds, Indian tribes will have the opportunity to 
determine whether there has been a mismanagement of trust funds. These 
requirements were included in the President's budget request for fiscal 
year 2003.
  The problem this bill seeks to address relates directly to the 
reconciliation reports that the Department of the Interior provided to 
tribal account holders in 1996. Several Indian tribes believe that the 
reconciliation reports do not constitute an accounting.
  Since the statute of limitations for filing legal claims is 6 years, 
the tribe's concern is that the Department may claim that the 1996 
reconciliation reports commence the running of a statute that would 
expire this year. In an attempt to preserve their legal claims against 
the United States, many tribes have already filed claims in Federal 
courts across the country.
  This bill does not address the legal issues involved in those 
lawsuits. This bill, however, will facilitate the voluntary dismissal 
of these legal claims. Also, it provides the tribal account holders an 
opportunity to postpone the filing of claims from 2002 to 2005 and 
encourage negotiations for the settlement of tribal accounting or 
resource management claims.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone), another very valuable leader and friend of Indian 
country.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our chairman and our 
ranking member, and also the chairman of our Native American Caucus, 
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), for their work on this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bill, S. 1857. 
This bill gives tribal trust fund account holders the opportunity to 
postpone filing legal claims until 2005. Technically, the bill tolls 
the statute of limitations on legal claims that Indian tribes may 
assert against the U.S. relating to the management of tribal trust 
funds.
  The bill is necessary, as I know my colleagues have already said, 
because many tribes believe their legal claims may be time-barred 
because the statute of limitations expires as early as this year.
  I really wanted, though, to talk about the larger issue, that the BIA 
has grossly mismanaged the remaining tribal lands and has squandered 
billions of dollars worth of resources that should have gone to the 
benefit of often-impoverished American Indians.

                              {time}  1300

  Today, the Secretary of the Interior is faced by a mandate of 
Congress to clean up the accounting and management of Indian trust 
funds, and by a lawsuit alleging a great failure of the Secretary's 
trust responsibility for Indian lands. In response, the Secretary has 
proposed a plan to create a new Bureau of Indian Trust Asset Management 
and remove the trust functions from the Bureau of Indian affairs.
  I am very much opposed to this proposal. I am greatly concerned that 
this plan is repeating the failures of the many past trust reform 
efforts. Recently, 193 Indian tribes unanimously adopted a resolution 
opposing this reorganization and the transfer of the responsibilities 
to the BIA. I strongly believe that this reorganization effort cannot 
go forward until the Department consults with Indian tribes in the 
development of a business processes plan for trust reform, a clear plan 
for performing the basic trust functions of accounting, collections, 
record keeping, inspections, enforcement and resource management. The 
plan has to include policies, procedures and control.
  I know the Secretary is now saying she is doing this, but she is 
consulting with the tribes after the fact. The fact is many of them do 
not feel they are still being properly consulted even today. This 
criticism, as my colleagues know, came up at the hearing that we held 
on the issue in the Committee on Resources.
  It is notable that this criticism, a lack of structural foundation, 
is exactly the same as has been leveled against the Department's 
development of the Trust Asset and Accounting Management System, TAAMS. 
All tribal leaders strongly support trust reform and want to work 
constructively with the Department and with Congress to ensure strong 
management of tribal assets. In fact, it is the tribes that have the 
greatest interest in ensuring that tribal assets and resources are 
properly managed.
  Given such BIA and TAAMS mismanagement practices, the passage of this 
bill will give tribal trust fund account holders the opportunity to 
postpone filing legal claims until 2005. Such time is necessary in 
order for the tribal trust funds account holder to unravel the 
financial accounting mess that the BIA and TAAMS have put them in.
  I think, obviously, this is the right thing to do. We have to support 
the bill, but I know we also have to look at the larger issue of trust 
reform and make sure it goes forward only with consultation with the 
tribes. I know my colleagues that are here all believe very strongly in 
that.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1857.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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