Senate Approves $4.6B for Black Farmers, Indians

The Senate has approved almost $4.6 billion to settle long-standing claims brought by American Indians and black farmers against the government.

The money has been held up for months in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to pay for it. The two class action lawsuits were filed over a decade ago.

The settlements include almost $1.2 billion for black farmers and $3.4 billion would go to Indian landowners. The legislation was approved in the Senate by voice vote Friday and sent to the House.

The farmers sued after decades of discrimination by the agriculture department in providing loans and other support, reports CBS News' Bob Fuss, while the Native Americans had been cheated by the Interior Department over royalties from income from tribal lands.

"The passage of this bill is long overdue," said John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association. "Twenty-six years justice is in sight for our nation's black farmers."

Lawmakers from both parties have said they support resolving the long-standing claims of discrimination and mistreatment by federal agencies. But the funding has been caught up in a fight over spending and deficits. Republicans repeatedly objected to the settlements when they were added on to larger pieces of legislation. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., satisfied conservative complaints by finding spending offsets to cover the cost.

The legislation also includes a one-year extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which gives grants to states to provide cash assistance and other services to the poor, and several American Indian water rights settlements sought by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

In the Indian case, at least 300,000 Native Americans claim they were swindled out of royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887 for things like oil, gas, grazing and timber. They would share the settlement in a class-action lawsuit originally filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Browning, Mont.

For the black farmers, it is the second round of funding from a class-action lawsuit originally settled in 1999 over allegations of widespread discrimination by local Agriculture Department offices in awarding loans and other aid. It is known as the Pigford case, named after Timothy Pigford, a black farmer from North Carolina who was an original plaintiff.

The government already has paid out more than $1 billion to about 16,000 farmers, with most getting payments of about $50,000. The new money is intended for people - some estimates say 70,000 or 80,000 - who were denied earlier payments because they missed deadlines for filing. The amount of money each would get depends on how many claims are successfully filed.

The bill would be partially paid for by diverting dollars from a surplus in nutrition programs for women and children and by extending customs user fees.