Does anyone remember back during the Clinton administration when it was discovered that the United States had defrauded billions of dollars of tribal money over the years?
This is a fraction of what I recall was missing. For thirteen years, though, the tribes have fought to recoup some of those stolen funds, and it seems a mere $3.4 billion is the best they are going to accomplish.
The best they could do. It would be bad for America, of course, to pay this debt in full. Or something like that.
America, America, God shed his grace on thee.
____________________
Notes:
Lee, Hiram. "Obama administration reaches $3.4 billion settlement with Native American landowners". World Socialist Web Site. December 14, 2009. WSWS.org. December 14, 2009. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/land-d14.shtml
The US government announced last week that it would settle a class action lawsuit brought against it on behalf of Elouise Cobell, former Treasurer of Montana’s Black Feet Tribe, and the owners of American Indian land trusts throughout the western United States.
The suit accuses the government, responsible for leasing the Native American lands for use by mining, lumber, oil and gas industries, of mishandling revenues generated by the extraction of natural resources located in the trusts. Many billions of dollars owed to the American Indian landowners were never paid out.
The suit, now known as Cobell vs. Salazar, has been in the court system for 13 years. The $3.4 billion awarded in the settlement is the largest amount ever won by American Indians in a suit against the government. The figure, however, does not begin to approach the amount the occupants and owners of the land trusts have been underpaid over the past century.
Under the conditions of the Cobell vs. Salazar settlement, $1.4 billion will be paid out to the members of the class action suit in the form of $1,000 checks to each member, a pittance considering the government’s massive abuse of trust funds. In addition to this, a $2 billion fund will be established to buy back any unprofitable lands that owners may wish to sell.
The settlement agreed to by the plaintiffs and the Obama administration will not become final, however, until Congress permits the allocation of funds for the settlement and the US District Court for the District of Columbia endorses the allocation.
(Lee)
The suit accuses the government, responsible for leasing the Native American lands for use by mining, lumber, oil and gas industries, of mishandling revenues generated by the extraction of natural resources located in the trusts. Many billions of dollars owed to the American Indian landowners were never paid out.
The suit, now known as Cobell vs. Salazar, has been in the court system for 13 years. The $3.4 billion awarded in the settlement is the largest amount ever won by American Indians in a suit against the government. The figure, however, does not begin to approach the amount the occupants and owners of the land trusts have been underpaid over the past century.
Under the conditions of the Cobell vs. Salazar settlement, $1.4 billion will be paid out to the members of the class action suit in the form of $1,000 checks to each member, a pittance considering the government’s massive abuse of trust funds. In addition to this, a $2 billion fund will be established to buy back any unprofitable lands that owners may wish to sell.
The settlement agreed to by the plaintiffs and the Obama administration will not become final, however, until Congress permits the allocation of funds for the settlement and the US District Court for the District of Columbia endorses the allocation.
(Lee)
This is a fraction of what I recall was missing. For thirteen years, though, the tribes have fought to recoup some of those stolen funds, and it seems a mere $3.4 billion is the best they are going to accomplish.
Comments made by Elouise Cobell after the settlement was announced have been more realistic. “We are compelled to settle,” she told the press, “by the sobering realization that our class grows smaller each day as our elders die and are forever prevented from receiving just compensation.”
Quoted in the Tulsa World, Ms. Cobell said, “Indians did not receive the full financial settlement they deserved but we achieved the best settlement we could. This is a bittersweet victory, at best, but it will mean a great deal to the tens of thousands of impoverished Indians entitled to share in its fruits.”
Quoted in the Tulsa World, Ms. Cobell said, “Indians did not receive the full financial settlement they deserved but we achieved the best settlement we could. This is a bittersweet victory, at best, but it will mean a great deal to the tens of thousands of impoverished Indians entitled to share in its fruits.”
The best they could do. It would be bad for America, of course, to pay this debt in full. Or something like that.
America, America, God shed his grace on thee.
____________________
Notes:
Lee, Hiram. "Obama administration reaches $3.4 billion settlement with Native American landowners". World Socialist Web Site. December 14, 2009. WSWS.org. December 14, 2009. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/land-d14.shtml