"A $3.4 billion government settlement with hundreds of thousands of American Indians is tied up in a Senate filibuster over whether to extend unemployment benefits.

One has nothing to do with the other, but that's politics - and it shouldn't be.

The settlement, which passed the House in May, relates to claims that the Interior Department mismanaged the accounts of between 300,000 and 500,000 American Indians who have land held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Interior Department manages leases for the land it holds in trust and is supposed to deposit the revenue generated into the owners' Individual Indian Money trust accounts, or IIMs.

It's taken 14 years to craft the settlement - not because anyone claims the funds were managed properly, but because it's taken that long to puzzle out what went wrong. According to the Associated Press, the settlement agreement came after more than 3,600 court filings and 80 court decisions.

And 14 years is a brief span compared to the term of alleged mismanagement, which the plaintiffs claim continued for more than a century.

Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., the Blackfeet Indian woman who filed the lawsuit in 1996, said she is frustrated to have come so close to a resolution and then be thwarted by what appears to be an unrelated partisan fight."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Trust money (The Durango Herald 6/29)

American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act:
Press Release: Baucus, Levin To Release Joint Legislation To Create Jobs, Extend Tax Cuts for Families and Businesses, Support Americans Looking for Work | Background and More Information

Cobell Settlement Documents:
Agreement | Press Release | Q&A | Audio

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