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THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2003

"Shame on Bush administration officials and members of Congress trying to short-circuit a lawsuit over Indian trust accounts and bully a settlement," The Seattle Times says in an editorial.

The paper says a rider in the House version of the Department of Interior's appropriations bill is an "embarrassment." "The legislation would ignore all that and give the secretary of the interior a kind of "Take it or leave it, Buster" authority to settle hundreds of thousands of accounts," the paper says.

If Congress wants to settle the Indian trust fund accounts, it should do it in a "fair" and "equitable" way, the paper says. "Settle, but do it in any way that does not compound the grievance."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Don't bully Indian claims (The Seattle Times 7/10)

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
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust

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