And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 10:05:24 EST To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: Babbitt promises better management of Indian funds Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit From Victor's pechanga.net Martha http://www.spokane.net/news-story.asp?date=030499&ID=s539814&cat=section .tribal_news Babbitt promises better management of Indian trust funds Tells Congress he needs bigger budget, new laws to do work Philip Brasher - Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, cited for contempt of court over his handling of $3 billion in Indian trust funds, promised lawmakers Wednesday he would ``do my best'' to resolve the matter. Key Senate Republicans were skeptical and said they did not believe the Interior Department could manage the money properly. Babbitt is the latest in a series of Interior secretaries to struggle with reconciling the funds, which were mismanaged for decades by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. ``There seems to be an institutional rot that does not go away,'' said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Last week, a federal judge found Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt of court over their delay in producing documents sought by Indian account holders suing the government. ``I am ready to accept responsibility for what's happened in the past,'' Babbitt said at a joint hearing of Campbell's committee and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Cleaning up the funds would be his ``highest priority,'' he said. There are 300,000 accounts held by individual Indians and 1,500 more tribal accounts worth $2.5 billion. The money includes lease revenue, royalties and court settlements. Thousands of records are missing; others were stored in a warehouse that was allegedly infected for a time with a deadly rodent-borne virus. The department has been unable to document $2.4 billion in transactions involving the tribal accounts over a 20-year period. Taxpayers likely will be asked to fund an eventual settlement with the account holders. Babbitt has asked Congress for $100 million next year to work on the funds, a 150 percent increase from this year. The Interior Department has straightened out about two-thirds of the accounts held by individuals, and a new accounting system will be in place by the end of the year, Babbitt said. But Campbell, R-Colo., said he may introduce legislation to take the funds out of Babbitt's control. Sen. Frank Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would fight Babbitt's budget request because he no longer trusts the department to manage the funds. ``I wouldn't want to give them 10 cents. You might get seven back,'' said Murkowski, R-Alaska. Babbitt has resisted proposals to give the money to a new government agency, and the idea also is controversial among tribal leaders. Part of the department's difficulty in managing the accounts stems from the way Indian lands and mineral rights are divided into progressively smaller pieces with each generation. Kevin Gover, assistant secretary for Indian affairs, receives 7 cents a year on a mineral interest that once belonged to his great-grandfather, a Pawnee Indian. The department says it costs $35 a year to handle such an account. Congress twice has passed laws to consolidate such small interests in the hands of tribes, but the Supreme Court struck down both laws as unconstitutional. Babbitt pressed the senators to pass another law to deal with the problem. Three tribes, including the Navajo Nation, simply have withdrawn their money from their government. Others have declined to do so for various reasons. For one thing, the department does not necessarily know how much the tribes are due, said Edward Thomas, president of the Tlingit and Haida tribes in Alaska. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
