Indian beneficiaries in Oklahoma demand release of Cobell settlement funds at this protest last year. Photo from Katherine Ware-Perosi / Change.Org
'Fix Cobell at once’ lawmakers say
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor WASHINGTON—Senator John Walsh (D-MT) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced a bill last week that would streamline the Cobell Land Buy-Back program and the payment of the second and long awaited Cobell settlement payments to plaintiffs. Members of congress have recently begun speaking out about their displeasure with the continued delays preventing tens of thousands of Native Americans from receiving their share of the Cobell settlement funds. “The delay is a disservice to our tribal nations and we need to ensure these payments are being processed in a timely manner,” said Sen. Walsh “I am outraged at the lack of urgency the federal government has shown our tribal nations, and it is time we fix this wrong that has been more than a century in the making.” The proposed bill would amend the Claims Resettlement Act of 2010 that both approved payment of funds to individual Native American plaintiffs and also ordered the Department of the Interior to use $1.5 billion of the $3.4 billion awarded to distribute money to Settlement class members. It also created the $1.9 billion dollar fund used to finance the Land Buy-Back program. “For over a century the federal government mismanaged the accounts of individual Indians. The Cobell Settlement was supposed to compensate the account holders for these historic wrongs and to help ensure that tribes can consolidate land to benefit their communities. Our legislation makes simple changes to cut the red tape and streamline processes that interfere with the Department of Interior’s ability to honor the settlement,” said DeFazio. In a release from the two lawmakers they claim that the changes came about after hearing what witnesses testified to in front of the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs on April 3. During the hearing titled, “Implementing the Cobell Settlement: Missed Opportunities and Lessons Learned” lawmakers not only heard from tribal leaders fed up with the Cobell process but representatives from the Garden City Group who is the administrator of the Cobell payments who claimed that delays have been caused by appeals filed by those who feel they should be part of the settlement. If passed the amendment would allow for tribes to administer the Land Buy-Back Program and Allow for the Department of Interior to reinvest the interest collected on dollars in the Trust Land Consolidation Fund back in to the program. The bill also contains language that would guarantee that all money awarded in the suit be used for its intended purpose. Currently all money left over in the land consolidation trust fund is set to revert back to the treasury if not used within 10 years. For many tribal members however the main concern has been the removal of the roadblocks that have prevented them from receiving money due to them. The bill seeks to address those concerns by clarifying the Secretary of Interior’s “responsibility in making the second round of payments from the Settlement” and by creating a timeline for when they are to be distributed. “One round of individual payments have already been made due to the Cobell Settlement, but class members have not yet received the second half of the payment they are owed. This bill clarifies the Departments responsibility to ensure the payments are made and provides a concrete timeline for doing so,” said the release. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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