The Indians in the lawsuit accuse the Interior Department of cheating them out of more than $100 billion by mismanaging oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties from their lands dating back to 1887.

In an effort to resolve the lawsuit, McCain filed a bill July 20 with Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., which would create a settlement fund and overhaul the Indian trust asset-management system.

A hearing on the bill Tuesday was the beginning of what likely will be a series of meetings and negotiations on several of the terms - particularly the settlement amount - which has not been determined.

But McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and Dorgan warned the Indian plaintiffs that both sides have to be willing to work together.

''We have an opportunity to try to make some genuine progress on the issues that are addressed in [the bill],'' McCain said. ''Leave the rhetoric to others. You won't have this opportunity again any time soon.''

The Indians criticized McCain's bill the day after it was filed, saying it was far from what they had hoped it would be.

Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff and a Blackfeet Indian, was quoted in the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal as saying the bill reminded her ''of the Baker Massacre at Blackfeet.

The 1870 attack has been described as one of the greatest slaughters of Indians ever by U.S. troops.

McCain sternly told Cobell and others that although they have won victories in the U.S. District Court, the Court of Appeals has not been as friendly. It's in the interest of both sides to negotiate a legislative solution, he said.

''This bill embodies a series of proposals,'' he said. ''It cannot credibly be compared to a massacre even in a figure of speech.''

Cobell later apologized.