President Obama writes another check
The Obama administration is proposing to spend over $3 billion to settle claims dating back more than a century that American Indian tribes were swindled out of from royalties for oil, gas, grazing, and other leases. The Interior Department would distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 Indian tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims. The government also would spend $2 billion to buy back and consolidate tribal land broken up in previous generations. The program would allow individual tribe members to obtain cash payments for land interests divided among numerous family members and return the land to tribal control. If that was not enough hand when is it ever we the taxpayers would also create a scholarship account of up to $60 million for tribal members to attend college or vocational school. It was only last year a federal judge ruled that the Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million; the suit was for $47 billion for leases that have been overseen by the Interior Department since 1887. We understands this is 13 year old suit we understand it is 122 years in the making, but really we are going to give Indians living on untaxed land, with casino revenue streaming in $3 billion to spread over 300,000 people while we have 10% unemployment and a national debt of 12,087,444,121,549.05. We have our issues with President Obama but this constant need to make America pay, we are always the bad guy is getting bothersome and expensive.