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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                      (Guatemala City, Guatemala)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     March 10, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

President Clinton today sent to the Congress a request for $15 million in FY 1999 supplemental funding for the Department of the Interior to support requirements of the Cobell v. Babbitt litigation. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of approximately 300,000 holders of individual Indian money accounts.

These additional funds will allow the Department to carry out critical activities, including court-ordered document production, needed this year in defense of the lawsuit. The request, together with $6.8 million in supplemental funding proposed in the FY 2000 Budget for Indian trust fund management improvements, will assist the Department of the Interior in fulfilling its requirements stemming from the Cobell v. Babbitt litigation and advancing the Department's trust fund reform initiative, on which it continues to make substantial progress.

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