From The Hill:
The Senate’s approval of a $1.15 billion settlement for black farmers meant to deal with decades of past discrimination capped a roller-coaster year on the issue for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack was in the legislative trenches for much of this year pushing for the settlement’s passage, which still must be approved by the House. With a vote expected to come up next week, passage by the lower chamber seems likely since the House has approved the settlement already this year.
In an interview with The Hill, the former Iowa governor said each and every question by senators had to be answered before the settlement funds could be passed.
“It was a matter of making sure that we had mollified any concerns that senators may have had about that process. That took some time,” Vilsack said. “We had to work through all those concerns and objections.”
The settlement, known as Pigford II, will provide money to thousands of black farmers who were denied aid and benefits provided to white farmers by the Agriculture Department (USDA). Vilsack said finalizing the legislation was important for USDA to move on from past allegations of racism.
Read the whole thing here. The settlement is called Pigford II, because thousands of black farmer have already received compensation for past discrimination. This new group of claimants came forward long-after the deadline for the first settlement had passed. There are certain to be some interesting devils in this new settlement’s details.
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