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Navajos oppose McCain bill on Navajo-Hopi settlement
Friday, July 15, 2005

Members of the Navajo Nation are opposing a bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) to settle the Navajo-Hopi land dispute.

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, introduced S.1003, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Amendments of 2005 last month. He said it was time to phase out the relocation of Navajo and Hopi families after spending over $440 million.

"At its inception, the relocation program was intended to be a temporary program that was established to fulfill a specific mission and we cannot continue to fund it with no end in sight," he said in Senate floor statement on May 11.

But Navajos on the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission say the bill is unfair to Navajos. The commission went to Washington, D.C., to propose a series of amendments.

The committee is holding a hearing on the bill on July 21. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. is expected to testify.

Get the Story:
Tribes lobby to end land dispute (The Farmington Daily Times 7/15)