The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has tentatively scheduled a hearing on July 26 on legislation to settle the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit and reform the broken Indian trust.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the chairman of the committee, is expected to introduced a settlement/reform bill this week or next week. He has already held one hearing on the trust.

McCain addressed the lawsuit yesterday, the Associated Press reported. He said that a $27.5 billion settlement proposed by the plaintiffs and a group of tribal leaders was too high.

''That number is just way out of sight,'' he was quoted as saying. ''We would never get the Congress to support that kind of money.''

Get the Story:
Indians, feds still worlds apart on settlement amount (AP 7/14)
U.S. Berated Over Indians' Treatment (The Washington Post 7/13)
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Judge rips Interior Department as a callous, clueless (AP 7/13)

Relevant Documents:
Trust Reform and Cobell Settlement Workgroup Principles for Legislation (June 2005)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org
Intertribal Trust Fund Monitoring Association - http://www.itmatrustfunds.org

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