Acknowledging the U.S. government’s “sad history” with Native American tribes, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced on Thursday that the Obama administration is settling hundreds of 25-year-old claims by tribes and their members against the government for almost $1 billion.
The proposed settlement ends the class-action lawsuit filed by 645 members regarding under-payment for contracts to manage educational, police, fire and other federal services on reservations.
The tribes maintained, and in 2012 the Supreme Court agreed, that the government did not allot enough money to pay the contracts in full.
“This landmark settlement represents another important step in the Obama administration’s efforts to turn the page on past challenges in our government-to-government relationship with tribes,” Jewell said. “Tribal self-determination and self-governance will continue to be our ‘North Star'” as the federal government works to assist tribes in running their own reservations and lands, Jewell said.
To avoid the funding mismatch that originally sparked the lawsuits in 1990, Obama proposed in his 2016 budget “mandatory, non-discretionary funding, beginning in fiscal year 2017, for contract support costs,” according to the Interior Department.
Congress would have to approve that measure, but no congressional action is required for the settlement to take effect or payments to be made.
The Justice and Interior departments filed the proposed settlement in District Court in New Mexico. The court must sign off on the deal before it can be made final. Plaintiffs could also appeal, but that seems unlikely given that the Justice and Interior departments negotiated with them to reach the proposed settlement.
The case signifies the Obama administration’s efforts “to address long-running litigation concerning federal policy in Indian Country, so that tribes and the federal government can enjoy a more fruitful and constructive relationship in the future,” the Justice and Interior departments stated in a joint release.
Since 2010, the departments have settled more than 80 similar lawsuits “alleging breach of trust for federal mismanagement of their financial assets and natural resources” for $2.5 billion, the departments stated.
