Congress did not appropriate money to fund a $1.15 billion discrimination settlement agreement with black farmers before leaving on Friday for a two-week recess.
The agreement was announced last month, contingent on Congress appropriating the money by a March 31 deadline, according to the principals. The settlement is now in jeopardy.
The settlement was intended to bring to an end lengthy litigation by black farmers who suffered discrimination at the hands of the Department of Agriculture in obtaining farm loans.
The money is to compensate farmers who missed filing deadlines and were left out of an original 1999 settlement, in which the government agreed to pay the black farmers for past discrimination in lending and other USDA programs.
“The president made a strong commitment to show leadership to get this done, and basically we haven’t seen him show that leadership,” John Boyd Jr., head of the National Black Farmers Association, told Reuters. “The president didn’t help us finish the job.”
The farmers’ group had urged President Barack Obama to declare the funds emergency spending, thus removing procedural hurdles that made quick congressional approval difficult.
Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told Main Justice that the majority leader is still committed to securing funds for the settlement as quickly as possible. A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Main Justice.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and other members of Congress held a news conference on Wednesday asking the Obama administration to help get the settlement through Congress. Conyers even called Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack from his cell phone during the news conference to set up a meeting later that day with the Obama administration official.
A USDA spokesman told The Hill on Wednesday that the agency was “actively working with Congress” to secure funds for the settlement.
A spokesman for Conyers on Friday didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
