On the recordAugust 5, 2010
earlier today we had some suggestion on the floor of the Senate about the Cobell case--that is the settlement of the Cobell case--the Federal court case Cobell, et al. v. Salazar. A negotiation ensued late last year with an agreement in December of last year that would settle at last--at long, long last--a 15-year litigation in Federal court dealing with American Indians and the mismanagement of their trust accounts--literally stealing and looting trust accounts over the years and, in addition to that, a substantial amount of incompetence along the way. I described today people who have had oil wells on their land and who have lived in poverty because somebody else got the money from their oil wells. They didn't get it, despite the fact that the government held their land in trust and promised to provide them their income from that land, whether it was from minerals, oil, grazing, agriculture, or another activity. For 140 years, American Indians have too often been cheated. Well, a court case that has existed now for 15 years determined that the Federal Government had a responsibility and liability.
