Rep. Steve Daines (R-Montana) at the Crow Native Days Parade on the Crow Reservation in Montana. June 27, 2014. Photo from Flickr

Rep. Steve Daines (R-Montana) is introduced a bill to give tribes control of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations.

The Indian Tribal Self-Determination in Land Consolidation Act authorizes tribes to enter into self-determination contracts and compacts with the Interior Department. They will be able to administer funds from the $1.9 billion land consolidation portion of the Cobell trust fund settlement.

“The Land Buy-Back Program, created through the Cobell Settlement, has provided Indian Country with a means to improve their future, but the Department of Interior’s implementation of the program isn’t working and the hope in Indian country is turning into frustration,” Daines said today in a press release. “The Indian Tribal Self-Determination in Land Consolidation Act will increase tribal participation in implementing the Land Buy-Back Program and help ensure its success.”

H.R.4783, the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, requires DOI to spend the land consolidation funds to be spent within 10 years. That puts the deadline at 2010.

The bill being introduced by Daines extends the deadline for another five years, to 2015. It also allows tribes to invest any funds they receive from the program, giving tribes more time and more money to consolidate fractionated interests.

"Run properly, the Buy-Back Program will begin to address the growing problem of fractionalization of Indian land ownership on reservations like ours by restoring our tribal land base," A.T. Stafne, the chairman of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, said in the press release.

"Allowing tribes to enter into contracts or compacts to implement the Indian Land Buy-Back program is more reflective of the tenets of tribal sovereignty and Indian self-determination,” added Llevando Fisher, the president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

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