Thomas Daschle: “Today I once again join with Senators John McCain and Tim Johnson in introducing legislation that addresses the…”

“Today I once again join with Senators John McCain and Tim Johnson in introducing legislation that addresses the longstanding problem of mismanagement of assets held by the United States in trust for federally recognized Indian tribes and individual American Indians. Indian country has faced many challenges over the years. Few, however, have had more far-ranging ramifications on the lives of individual Native Americans, or been more vexing, than that of restoring integrity to trust fund management. For over 100 years, the Department of the Interior has administered a trust fund containing the proceeds of leasing of oil, gas, land and mineral rights on Indian land for the benefit of Indian people. Today, that trust fund may owe as much as $10 billion to as many as 500,000 Indians. To provide some perspective, the 16 tribes of the Great Plains in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska hold 10 million acres of trust lands representing over one-third of the tribal trust assets. Many enrolled members of the nine South Dakota tribes have individual trust accounts. There is little disagreement that current government administration of the trust fund is a failure. However, there is no consensus on how to reform it. Senators McCain, Johnson, and I believe that Congress should be more assertive in promoting a solution to the trust management problem and in ensuring that tribes and individual Indian account holders have a true voice in shaping that solution.”