Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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On Tuesday the U.S. House voted 256 to 152 to authorize $4.55 billion to settle unrelated and longstanding class action lawsuits against the U.S. Department Agriculture and Department of the Interior. And while one Iowa Republican celebrated the legislation, another decried it as “a modern day slavery reparations program.”
Moments after legislation to fund the Pigford II settlement passed in the House, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley praised the quick action of the other chamber. The bill, Claims Resolution Act of 2010, resolves claims against the government related to the Cobell class action lawsuit, the Pigford class action lawsuit, and tribal water rights claims for the White Mountain Apache, Crow, Taos Pueblo and Aamodt tribes.
“When I first started working on this issue, I had hoped to resolve these civil rights issues through the administrative process,” Grassley explained in a prepared statement. “I knew that if we had to pass legislation, it would take years. As we’ve seen, the legislative process did take years, but these farmers who were wronged by our own federal government agency will now, once President [Barack] Obama signs the bill, finally be able to plead their case in front of a neutral party and be judged on the merits.”
Grassley was speaking specifically about the Pigford II settlements, which sought fair treatment for African American farmers who were denied an opportunity have their case heard for the Pigford V. Glickman settlement that ended a discrimination lawsuit against the USDA. Grassley led the effort to ensure the farmers could have their grievances heard.
Approximately 75,000 black farmers filed claims of discrimination through the Pigford consent decree process past the deadline for their claims to be evaluated. As a result, thousands of victims of discrimination continued to be denied the opportunity even to have their claims heard. Grassley worked to put in place a process by which the farmers could seek justice by introducing legislation in 2007 and pressing for it to be included in the 2008 Farm Bill.
Prior to the House vote on the legislation, however, U.S. Rep. Steve King referred to the settlement as “slavery reparations.” Wednesday morning, King repeated the allegation and urged Congress in a press release to “make investigation of Pigford fraud a top priority.”
“The unaccountable lame duck Congress has irresponsibly voted to spend $1.15 billion on a Pigford settlement program that is severely compromised by fraud,” King said. “This means that people who have never farmed and people who have never been discriminated against by the USDA will be receiving tends of thousands of dollars in cash and debt relief simply for having filed a false claim.
“By ignoring Pigford fraud, Congress has allowed the program to change from one designated to address black farmers’ discrimination claims to one that now serves as a modern day slavery reparations program. The American people should be outraged by this vote and the new Congress should make an investigation of Pigford fraud a top priority.”
It is hardly the first time that King has spoken ill of the second round of Pigford settlements, which he previously said were driving a racial wedge between Americans as black farmers were pitched the lawsuit as the equivalent of their “40 acres and a mule,” referencing the Civil War era practice of providing essentials to some former slaves.
Grassley, however, has noted changes made within the settlement agreement that were placed specifically to debunk attempts of fraud.
“The Department of Agriculture has admitted that discrimination occurred,” Grassley said during an earlier floor statement in support of the Senate bill. “We are obligated to do our best in getting those who deserve it some relief. This is a chance for people who believe they were wronged to show their case before a neutral party and have it judged on the merits. It’s time to give justice to these claimants who were previously left out, and move forward into a new era of civil rights at the Department of Agriculture.”
A USDA spokesperson responded to King’s claims by point out that out of the 15,000 claims processed under Pigford I, the FBI determined that only three claims were fraudulent.
Both King and U.S. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Ames) voted against the legislation. Democratic U.S. Reps. Leonard Boswell, Dave Loebsack and Bruce Braley supported the measure.
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