Norman D. Dicks: “we are faced with a very tough problem and there are some who may not realize that this is already hurting all of the…”

“we are faced with a very tough problem and there are some who may not realize that this is already hurting all of the other tribes because this money comes out of the Interior budget and is not available for other programs. Now, Babbitt tried as hard as he could. I believe that Norton is trying as hard as she can. But you have litigants who are going after the people in the agency who are trying to do the work, forcing them to be recused and threatening them with civil liabilities. This is an outrageous act of legal activity aimed at trying to destroy the Department of Interior and its ability to function. In fact, people are being held personally liable under lawsuits because of their work in this particular matter. I just think that this is broken. We have got to fix it here. It is a possible way to move forward with a reasonable amount of money. We could spend a billion dollars and still not get the information because it is not there, the information pre-1985 is not there in any definable way. You cannot do this job. And if you just keep throwing money at it and say, do it, and they cannot do it, then we cannot get anything done. I am a very practical guy. At some point if it is broke, let us fix it. Let us come up with a settlement. Let us get the authorizers to do something and create a settlement here and pass it through the Congress that is fair and equitable. Listen to all the witnesses.…”