Congress to miss Native American settlement deadline?

UPDATE: Cobell deadline extended again

It’s looking like Congress may miss what’s been billed as the final deadline in a $3.4 billlion settlement deal hashed out between the Obama administration and Indians suing the government:

Senate Democrats said Thursday evening they would not be able to pass an extenders bill with the Cobell v. Salazar settlement attached in time to meet a deadline agreed to by the Indian plaintiffs in the case.

In recent days, legislators attached the $3.4 billion settlement to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, a measure aimed at extending unemployment benefits, Medicare reimbursements, and several tax credits.

The White House supported the settlement as part of the legislation, although some Congress members wanted it to be voted on as a standalone measure.

Unable to come to an agreement on the overall bill due to cost concerns facing members in both chambers, Senate Democrats decided late Thursday to try to pass a short extension of unemployment benefits, rather than agree to a pared-down version of the larger bill the House had been working on.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate would work on passing the larger measure when senators return from Memorial Day recess June 7.

The problem with Reid’s timeline for the Cobell settlement is that congressional approval was needed by Friday for the deal to proceed. The agreement was initially finalized between Indian plaintiffs and the Obama administration in December, and has faced several setbacks.

May 28 was to be the last of four deadline dates that the plaintiffs and the administration had set for congressional action. There have already been three deadline extensions since December.

Dennis Gingold, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, previously said that if Congress did not meet the May 28 deadline, he would proceed anew with litigation. The case has already been ongoing since 1996.

Lawyers for both the Indian plaintiffs and the Justice Department, which is handling the case for the Obama administration, could not say Friday morning whether they might agree to another extension.

Gingold said Friday morning, “[W]e have no present plans to discuss an extension of the settlement agreement.”

Some observers have speculated that the plaintiffs should consider another deadline extension, since Congress seems close to approval. At the same time, there is no guarantee that legislators will move quickly after the Memorial Day recess.

A couple of Congress members have said they’d like to see another deadline extension, but it’s unclear if that will happen. Read more here.