Settlement funds are not appropriations nor are they handouts. They are necessary compensation to resolve a legal dispute.

I want to express my concern with some of the rhetoric associated with the Cobell Settlement.

I think it wise for Congress to check on their progress now and I think we should be open to doing whatever we need to do to help them implement the Buy-Back Program in a way that will benefit tribes as it is intended.

I applaud your leadership in holding this hearing.

For more than a century, the Federal Government has been the trustee of funds for individual Indians.

And I just would like to share with everyone that whenever I have asked for a meeting with you on those issues, you have always been more than willing to be there.

I have been always a fierce advocate of the Obama administration's rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.

But then I hope I say the most important thing.

What is the current budgetary situation for the Councils and how do you see this affecting your operations?

If this is the goal, then management decisions should reflect the actual status of the fish stock, based on adequate data and accurate scientific models.

So I don't understand what you just said. What do you mean by they will not be binding?