House Republicans Allege Fraud In Settlement With Black Farmers, Call For Investigation

House Republicans allege that a $1.25-billion settlement of discrimination claims with black farmers supported by the Obama administration is packed with fraud and have called for an investigation.

At a press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday, GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (Iowa), and Bob Goodlatte (Va.), said that many of the 94,000 black claimants in the Agriculture Department's settlement are not farmers.

Bachmann said she believed the process had been subject to "massive and widespread fraud and abuse," adding that black farmers who have filed legitimate claims have become, in effect, "double victims," because the process of compensation has become so tarnished.

At the press conference, Bachmann called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate all claims filed and read from a letter from former Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.

"I am concerned that the legislated validation process has now been overlooked and our Government has agreed to settle all claims without proper investigation of the potential fraud and abuse..." Schafer's letter reads. "The allegations of fraud and abuse must be addressed if we are going to assure our citizens that their government is pursuing equal justice for all."

King said that if Republicans take back the House in November, he will call for a full investigation.

In the 1997 class-action suit known as Pigford v. Glickman, black farmers charged that the USDA discriminated against them by withholding loans and grants they were qualified to receive.

Though the case was settled in 1999, tens of thousands of late filers did not receive their settlements. The new settlement, referred to as Pigford II, was reached in 2010 and would allow late filers to receive their settlements.

In a speech on Sept. 10, President Obama said that getting funding to black farmers a "priority."

"It is a fair settlement. It is a just settlement," Obama said. "We think it's important for Congress to fund that settlement."

Comments

[capercaper]

11:40 AM on 11/01/2010

Ah, yes, the same USDA for which Shirley Sherrod worked.

And the same program from which she was paid as a claimant herself.

[mauigrrl]

07:48 PM on 10/01/2010

What is wrong with you people??? A wrong was perpetrated and needs to be fixed. Get over it. Just because the farmers are black, many of you want to believe the claims are fraudulent. Sounding a little racist to me. If these were white farmers, no one would even blink. Unfortunately, that's the truth.

[bobby109]

09:24 PM on 09/30/2010

The Obama white house will do the "right" thing and throw them under the bus. They won't see a dime and the whole "controversy" will just be a convenient election season wedge issue.

Bachmann, King , and Goodlatte are demonizing blacks for absolutely nothing at all. Nice way to spend(waste) taxpayer money. Investigating money that hasn't and will not be payed out.

It stupid, but if it gets votes, why not?

[ShanaJuly]

06:49 PM on 09/30/2010

Once again republicans are trying to demonize black folks seeking to right a wrong. It really, really disgusting the way these farmers have been treated.

[ooooooooooooo]

05:38 PM on 09/30/2010

Q1: "how it is that over 94,000 black farmers have sought reparations for discrimination, when data show that there are only 33,000 black farmers in the United States?

Q2: And why, if the discrimination was so widespread, no USDA official was ever fired for it?

[DCSpeed10]

01:29 AM on 10/01/2010

1.The discrimination covered by the suits spans several decades and in that time, like many white farmers, black farmers have left their farms because they could not make a living. For what year(s) is your data a reflection of and where did it come from?

2. I'm not certain what if any disciplinary action was taken against USDA employees who contributed to the descrimination. A question for you is how do you know that no one was fired and what difference does it make with regard to the farmer's claims or to the settlement.

[roamer1996]

04:21 PM on 10/01/2010

Here is a quote from a story that might shed light on firings at the USDA:
"Bachman and King also questioned why, if there has been massive discrimination at USDA in the past, not a single USDA employee has been either fired or reprimanded. King said he raised this specific question when he met Tuesday with Vilsack “and his response was that he is not willing to re-litigate Pigford I, that there are new people in place to evaluate Pigford II, and that we can't go back to the 1980s, or this would include also the 1990s, and bring punishment against people that may have committed discrimination.”

[Tom Sito]

12:22 PM on 09/30/2010

As long as we're talking investigations, let's begin with investigating Bush & Cheney for lying Americans into dying in a war for nothing, and for Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and Cheney for defying Congressional subpoenas.

[Evol Syawla]

05:48 PM on 09/30/2010

"The allegations of fraud and abuse must be addressed if we are going to assure our citizens that their government is pursuing equal justice for all."

I totally agree with you Tom! I hole the President is taking note, that moving forward means going in reverser first. Lets begin the investigation starting with George Bush. We are looking forward my assp! He should have launched a full out investigation one after the other and let those Republicans keep backing up. Let them legally defend GW, his policies and their lies and deception leading us into two unfunded, illegal and unnecessary wars. let them show how great they are determining that the one war will cost 50 billion! Let them show how they planned to pay for it. He would have gotten a lot more corporation from the Republicans and would be riding on a 75% approval rating, with 70% excited about the November elections! I hope the President learns from the tactics used by the rethugs! Just put everything in simple terms with little or no explanation. Like the POS they call the Contract with no specifics and figure$. That way people will not have anything to ask questions about.

[Laws456]

11:23 AM on 09/30/2010

One can only wonder that if this settlement was owed to white farmers in Iowa would these same politicians be calling for an investigation?

[Evol Syawla]

05:50 PM on 09/30/2010

It would not have been the case at all. Those white farmers would not be in this situation. I hear what you are saying, no they would not be asking for any investigation. Did they ask for or allow any investigation into GW?

[FerrellGummitt]

10:52 AM on 09/30/2010

Call me a cynic, but the fact that liberals are behind this makes me wonder if the 18,000 black farmers injured number, is inflated as well. This is how liberalism works its game. It subsidizes and condones corruption. It turns Americans into thieves, with government acting as the muscle behind its institutionalized grand theft. There are people serving 10 to 15 in prison for stealing a whole lot less. The real thieves get sent back to Washington by voters to serve another 2 to 6 years in the minimum security wing called Congress.

[Laws456]

11:24 AM on 09/30/2010

Liberalism?? You can't be that blind can you?

[mick e]

09:02 AM on 09/30/2010

The right side of the aisle is still ticked off that there is a black President. The Rethugs are still trying to figure out how to revive slavery. Hey Rethugs...the laundry called and your sheets are ready

[iamnotthestupidone]

08:38 AM on 09/30/2010

This called for by the retard cacus King Bauchman and the redneck form Va wrapped up the the stars and bars Same rednecks same BS!

[Tanyars5]

07:27 AM on 09/30/2010

These republicans are fowl.

[reset button]

02:49 AM on 09/30/2010

I love it. By their logic, "Black guys don't have farms..." and apparently they're all on welfare after squandering that 40 acres and that mule that was shared by all the freed slaves back in 1869 after President Johnson vetoed everyone getting 40 acres apiece... They may as well listen to Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas and have all those "people on welfare" shipped to farms in place of future services rendered by the US Welfare system and maybe there will be some black people on farms... Even if you're white, this has to sound bad...

[ShanaJuly]

11:56 PM on 09/29/2010

I smell a republican

"It also claimed that the USDA failed to process the black farmers’ civil rights complaints for many years after the Reagan administration in 1983 disbanded the department’s Office of Civil Rights. That allegedly caused a backlog of discrimination complaints that were never investigated, or else were delayed until they became meaningless."

[ShanaJuly]

11:29 PM on 09/29/2010

One thing is for sure and that is the racists are alive and well from the comments I have seen around the internet regarding this matter or anything that has to do with black people in this country. It is a shame and a disgrace that in 2010 Jim Crow is alive and well in the good ol' USA.

[Laws456]

11:26 AM on 09/30/2010

Racism still alive, they just be concealin' it. - K. West

[ShanaJuly]

11:49 AM on 09/30/2010

I like the Bush one better. Unlike Velma Hart, who also had a national audience, Kanye rocked those republicans to the core. It was hilarious especially Mike Myers and Chris Tucker's faces. Classic. I just watched it again...

[ShanaJuly]

11:19 PM on 09/29/2010

Why is it always black folks that are subject to this kind of nonsense. Did republicans back in the day vilify the Japanese who received payment for their internment? Did they do this to the American Indians before they gave them land and rights to the casinos? Why do republicans hate black people?

Bachmann and King the Tea Party darlings ought to be ashamed but alas they have none at all because they have no moral compass, period. They are republicans.

[reset button]

02:29 AM on 09/30/2010

Shana, I think that contempt for "black" people comes from the whole "we used to own them" mentality. All other races "voulenteered" or were indentured servants while Africans were bought or captured for cheap (free) labor. I am of mixed descent and I still see how bigoted people in the US are against most of my heritage (Latin, Native & "Black") and my family comes in various shades from white to brown. We're considered sub human to them so in their minds it's ok. We owe them for everything we (don't) have and we've taken away their freedoms so we can have some. As far as they're concerned, all "minorities" have impinged on their rights as white people and none of us deserve them. It's a shame that you can progress technologically but your social and moral values stay in the past.

[ShanaJuly]

11:52 AM on 09/30/2010

This is 2010? The post racial age of Obama? I never bought into that meme and neither did a whole lot of other blacks because we know the mentality of the likes of the old timers like Buchanan and Lott, Barbour and the rest. The younger generation are the ones who will ultimately save this nation from imploding with hatred. Thx.

[Strateshooter]

06:45 PM on 09/30/2010

RESET BUTTON: You very acccurately- Yet succintly explained the hatred that many conservatives have towards black people. I am a black man, and I would be ignorant to say ALL white conserves are racist because it just isn't true!

Nevertheless, the vast majority of white conserves that I've dealt with were rotten to the core when it came black people and how EVERYTHING has been given to us!

[ooooooooooooo]

05:40 PM on 09/30/2010

Shana...answer these 2 questions...

Q1: "how it is that over 94,000 black farmers have sought reparations for discrimination, when data show that there are only 33,000 black farmers in the United States?

Q2: And why, if the discrimination was so widespread, no USDA official was ever fired for it?

[ShanaJuly]

06:43 PM on 09/30/2010

"The settlement was based on a partial admission by Washington that farmers who are Black had faced decades of racist discrimination. This contributed to driving them off their land in disproportionate numbers. In 1920 there were nearly 1 million African American farmers in the United States; one in seven farms was Black-owned, compared to 1 in 100 by 1998.

Boyd referred to a 2004 report by the NBFA and the Environmental Working Group that showed that 81,000 of the 94,000 farmers who sought restitution under Pigford were denied. Of that number, 71,800 were turned down for failing to meet deadlines imposed without adequate notification. Boyd urged support for the Pigford Claims Remedy Act, which was introduced in Congress February 7. “All participants denied justice should sign up to force the government to do what it promised in the original decision,” said Boyd. Similar legislation was presented last year in Congress but did not go anywhere."

http://www.blackfarmers.org/html/022607.html

As to the second question, read about it in the links I have provided. This did not just start January 20, 2009 and I am sick of people acting like everything wrong with this country started then. I know the trick republicans and haters always try to play when it comes to black folks in this country.

http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/07/the-real-story-of-racism-at-usda.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072206085.html