[imgbelt img=trustfund.jpg]
The Senate adjourned their session this week without taking action on a measure that includes settlements for the class action lawsuit filed by Eloise Cobell on behalf of American Indians whose Individual Trust Funds were mismanaged by the Department of the Interior and a discrimination lawsuit by African American farmers. Cobell released a statement yesterday,
“Our settlement agreement expires Oct. 15 and no decisions have been made as to whether we should continue to press for the Senate’s approval of our agreement in the lame-duck session (November 15) or return to court and resume our lawsuit.“
Although the National Black Farmers Association had sought to separate the settlement in the Pigford II case from the Cobell case, they lost out as well.