"American Indian tribes were swindled out of royalties for oil, gas, grazing and other leases."
"Wow, 3 billion just because you were born Indian. "
It's money that should have been paid out years ago. It took the government over 100 years to compensate the Blackfeet for the seizure of the Sweet Grass Hills. The Cobell case was filed in 1996 and the orignal estimate was around 176 billion so the case was settled cheaply.
At one point a judge issued a contempt of court against the federal government in general and Norton in particular for stone walling and not producing court ordered documents. The case was filed when the government failed to negotiate in good faith.
And yes, I'm a member of the Blackfeet tribe and Earl Old Person, one of the original plaintiffs is a relative.
It is a lot easier to have a knee jerk reaction than to bother to check some facts.