Political Quotes

“the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act, S. 1973, represents the culmination of several years' worth of very difficult negotiations involving the Navajo and Hopi Tribes, Navajo families residing on Hopi Partitioned Lands, the U.S. Departments of Interior and Justice, the State of Arizona, and representatives of the tribes' non-Indian neighbors in Arizona. The bill, and the settlement agreement that it ratifies, are the result of good faith efforts by all parties. Taken together, they may well represent the last, best chance to resolve this land dispute with a minimum of pain and disruption to members of the Indian tribes. Still, this is not a perfect agreement, and I must say for the record that I am not entirely convinced that it will fully resolve the land dispute. The very basis of the settlement is the 75-year leases that the Hopi Tribe will offer to Navajo families who still reside on the HPL and who wish to remain there. By its own design, the settlement carries with it the prospect that the dispute will arise again in 75 years when those leases expire. The question is, what will happen if the Hopi Tribe does not extend the leases in 75 years, and our successors find that the problem not only remains, but that the number of Navajos in the area has increased significantly? Will the United States be asked to commit hundreds of millions more taxpayer dollars to another painful relocation program?”