Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to discuss two amendments, one of which I have filed and one of which I will file shortly. Before I do that, I have spoken with Senator Inouye, Senator Feinstein, and some others about something that is very important. It is the settlement of the Cobell lawsuit. The Cobell lawsuit has been in the Federal courts for 13 years. After a long period of negotiation between the Secretary of the Interior, other parts of our Federal Government, and the plaintiffs in lawsuit, there is finally an agreement that has been reached. The agreement would provide $3.4 billion to settle outstanding claims and address issues going back well over 100 years in which the Federal Government was supposed to be taking care of the trust accounts of American Indians. Some of those trust accounts were fleeced, stolen, and mismanaged. This lawsuit has been going on for a long period. The agreement settles the claims of American Indians who lost their money, lost their assets, and lost their income. Many American Indians have died during the process of this lawsuit. Now that a settlement has been reached, there is an April 16 deadline. The parties to the settlement agreement set an end date by which the Congress must act, or the parties may return to litigation. My hope is that the Congress will be able to meet that deadline. We really do need to put this issue behind us. It is a sorry chapter in this country's history.…”