Political Quotes

“Madam President, the tax extenders bill includes a settlement that involves a class action lawsuit that is known as Cobell v. Salazar. The total cost of this settlement is about $3.4 billion. This settlement will affect hundreds of thousands of Indian people across the United States who are class members in this lawsuit. It was signed last December by the Obama administration with the lead plaintiffs and their attorneys. Part of the settlement provides $1.4 billion to individual Indians whose trust assets have been mismanaged by the Federal Government for over 100 years. Another $2 billion would be used by the Department of the Interior to consolidate Indian land ownership to prevent a repeat of these claims. On Wednesday, June 9, 2010, Attorney General Holder and Secretary Salazar sent letters to the Senate leaders opposing an amendment I filed on Tuesday, June 8. My amendment corrects serious flaws in the settlement. I am going to respond to their letter as well as explain my amendment. The Attorney General and the Secretary argue that the amendment makes material changes to the settlement that would render it void. To begin with, I must point out that the parties have changed their settlement in material ways several times--several times--since it was announced that the agreement had been reached. Whenever they deem fit, they change it. For the reasons I am about to go into, they should change it again. If they don't, then Congress should act.…”