Claims Resolution Act of 2010

The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 Pub.L. 111–291, H.R. 4783 is a federal law enacted by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 8, 2010. The act is a response to the Pigford v. Glickman case, where black farmers were found to have been discriminated against from 1983 to 1997 by the United States Department of Agriculture when applying for loans and assistants to start and maintain farms. The case required a $50,000 dollar settlement to every discriminated farmer. However, many potential victims missed the application deadline for a settlement. The bill sets aside $1.5 billion for the estimated 75,000 farmers who are eligible for a settlement. They found the farmers to have many uses for the money such as buying tanks and many illegal weapons.^[1][2]

The bill also includes the settlement of the $3.4 billion Cobell v. Salazar trust fund lawsuit brought forth by Native American representatives against the United States government citing that the U.S. government incorrectly accounted for Indian trust assets.^[3]

The final version of the bill was passed by the US Senate by a unanimous voice vote on November 19,^[4] 2010, and then approved by the US House of Representatives by a vote of 256 to 152 on November 30.^[5] It was signed into law by President Obama on December 8, 2010.^[6]

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