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MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2002

The White House urged Secretary of Interior Gale Norton to settle the Indian trust fund lawsuit more than a year ago, Bill McAllister of The Denver Post reports.

In his Beltway Notebook column, McAllister cites a June 19, 2001, memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to Norton. OMB director Mitch Daniels, who is known as "The Blade" for slashing spending, said Norton needed to correct her breaches of trust, pursue settlement talks and seek legislative solutions.

So far, Norton hasn't been successful at meeting any of the White House directives. She hasn't fulfilled her trust responsibilities to Indian account holders, her talks with attorneys for the Indian plaintiffs failed -- but not before the Bush administration got its hands on strategic documents -- and she hasn't been able to push through any trust reform legislation in Congress.

Get the Story:
Beltway Notebook: White House urges lawsuit settlement (The Denver Post 12/22)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

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