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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2002

The following is a statement provided by House Resources Committee spokesperson Marnie Funk, reacting to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth's order preventing the release of a trust fund report to the committee. February 4, 2002.

"We are disappointed with the judge’s decision. We have several excellent reasons for requesting that report. This is not only a review of how these plaintiffs’ accounts have been managed; it’s a transaction-by-transaction accounting of their parents’ and grandparents’ accounts. It took two years to complete. It’s nearly 500,000 pages long. It’s simply the most detailed analysis in existence on how the federal government has managed these accounts over the past century.

"It can tell us what the federal government’s done wrong, what it’s done right and what it can do better in managing these funds. Those questions are at the very heart of this oversight hearing.

"We're not the only committee seeking this report. The House Appropriations Committee in November made a bipartisan request to the Interior Department for the same Ernest and Young report. That committee appropriated more than $20 million for this project. They made that funding contingent on getting a detailed report on the methods and costs of the project. Their access to this study is critical to assessing how this money was spent and whether it was spent well.

"We’re talking $20 million dollars for an accounting report. That's hard-earned taxpayer money. The public has an understandable interest in knowing how that money was spent. You can bet any time Congress appropriates that kind of money, Congress is going to want to know how it was spent."

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Judge rejects 'improper' request by Norton (2/6)