American Indian Services Blog and News

From Cobell v Salazar Website:

“A Settlement Agreement has been announced between IIM beneficiaries and the Secretary of the Interior, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior-Indian Affairs, and the Secretary of the Treasury in a long-running class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Salazar. The lawsuit claims that the federal government mismanaged individual Indians’ trust accounts. Under the terms of the Settlement, the federal government will create a $1.4 billion Accounting/Trust Administration Fund and a $2 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund. The Settlement also creates an Indian Education Scholarship fund of up to $60 million to improve access to higher education for Indians.”

Visit the Cobell v. Salazar website for details on individual benefits information.

From Madville Times blog:

“Linda McIntyre asked an interesting question a couple weeks ago. In our discussion of fiscal policy, I reminded Linda that South Dakota is a welfare state, and that even if we make the drastic cuts to the federal budget that seem to be her prescription for fixing what ails America, we South Dakotans have an obligation to pay back the government for all the services and subsidies and deficit spending from which we have benefited for the last several decades.

Replied Linda,

How much of that extra money from the feds goes to the reservations? I’d like to see a breakdown in that regard.

That got me thinking and Googling. Linda’s question suggests (and the comment section is open for those who will upbraid me for trying to read Linda’s mind) that Linda will contend that the amount our Lakota neighbors get shouldn’t count against us, since those darned Indians aren’t real South Dakotans. They’re not representative of us honest white folks who work hard and pay our way and then some for every road and cop and hydroelectric dam.”

Continue reading “South Dakota Survives on Federal Handouts — Blame the Indians?” by Cory Heidelberger.