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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2002

The following column is being distributed to tribal leaders and Indian Country by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D). Copies were handed out at the National Congress of American Indians this week.

Mr. Daschle, Senate Majority Leader, is being honored at an NCAI banquet tonight.

Finding a Solution to the Mismanagement of the Indian Trust Fund
February, 2002
Indian Country has faced many challenges over the years. Few, however, have been more important then the current debate in Washington over how to resolve mismanagement of the Indian trust fund.

For over a hundred years, the Department of Interior has managed a trust fund for the benefit of Indian people. Many enrolled members of the nine South Dakota tribes have trust accounts. Funded from the leasing of oil, gas, land and mineral rights, the trust fund may owe as much as $10 billion to as many as 500,000 Indians.

Secretary Gale Norton, in testimony before the U.S. District Court, recently said, "We undoubtedly do have some missing data -- and we are all going to have to find a way to deal with the fact that some information no longer exists." In an attempt to avoid being held in contempt of court, Secretary Norton has proposed a reorganization of the Department of Interior, including the BIA, and the creation of a new Bureau of Indian Trust Asset Management (BITAM). The Secretary’s reorganization proposal would, in short, strip the BIA of its trust functions and place them under the newly created BITAM.

The Secretary’s controversial reorganization proposal was presented to the court with minimal consultation with the tribes or Indian people. The immediate goal, therefore, is to put the Secretary’s reorganization proposal on “hold” until there is adequate consultation with Indian people, tribal leadership, and Congress.

Working with Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI), progress is being made. Most significantly, Congress has stopped Secretary Norton’s proposal to "reprogram" money from within the Department of Interior to fund the BITAM reorganization proposal.

Also, the Secretary has initiated a series of consultation sessions, including one in Rapid City, to hear the concerns about the Department’s reorganization plan expressed by so many in Indian country. The Secretary is to be commended for conducting these sessions and for establishing a task force to advise her on the trust fund issue. I am pleased that one representative from South Dakota, Lower Brule Chairman Mike Jandreau, was elected to the task force. Mike adds valuable perspective and wisdom to its deliberations.

It is important that the consultation process be real, and the proof will be whether, in the end, the Department and the tribes are able to agree on how to fix the current problem. I believe strongly that not only must Indian people be consulted, their opinion should be given great weight and deference in the eventual resolution of the trust fund problem.

The Secretary’s reorganization proposal, and the other reorganization proposals it has stimulated, raise significant policy questions:

• How will the proposed reorganization plan facilitate a solution to the trust fund issue?
• How would the proposed reorganization plan affect the remaining programs of the BIA and, indeed, the existence of the BIA?
• How are tribal governments affected by any proposed solution to the individual Indian money (IIM) account?

Senator Tim Johnson and I have posed these questions to Secretary Norton. We believe they must be answered to the tribes’ satisfaction before any reorganization plan moves forward.

The issues presented here are both legal and moral. Many Indians rely upon their IIM accounts for basic necessities. The Congress must do everything it can to protect treaty rights, respect the sovereignty of the tribes and solve these important issues to the satisfaction of those directly affected, the Indian people of South Dakota and elsewhere.

Relevant Links:
Sen. Tom Daschle - http://daschle.senate.gov
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://130.94.214.68/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp