[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 156 (Thursday, December 2, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2058-E2059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CLAIMS RESOLUTION ACT OF 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 30, 2010

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 
4783, Claims Resolution Act, as amended by the Senate to resolve claims 
against the United States government

[[Page E2059]]

related to the Pigford class action lawsuit, and the Cobell class 
action lawsuit. The Claims Resolution Act included several provisions 
addressing a long-delayed justice for tens of thousands of African-
Americans and hundreds of thousands of Native Americans.
  In 1999, a federal judge approved a settlement agreement in a class 
action lawsuit (Pigford v. Glickman) filed by African-Americans farmers 
against the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, for denying 
them federal loans, disaster assistance, and other services. Under this 
agreement, black farmers, who were eligible and filed a complaint 
against the USDA by July 1, 1997, were to receive compensation 
resulting from discrimination practices. However, tens of thousands of 
black farmers filed after the cutoff date because they reported not 
receiving or being notified of any information regarding a filing 
deadline. Therefore, they were not included in this class action to 
receive compensation. As a result, black farmers and the federal 
government have been fighting over this issue for years.
  H.R. 4783 is a bill that contained a provision to provide some relief 
to those that were left out of the original class action. This 
legislative measure provides an estimated $1.15 billion to resolve the 
longstanding Pigford case. In addition, other legislative language was 
included in H.R. 4783 to address an injustice against the Native 
Americans regarding a long-running class action lawsuit (Cobell v. 
Salazar).
  The Cobell class action lawsuit alleged that the Interior Department 
mismanaged billions of dollars in grazing land, gas, oil and other 
royalties owed to hundreds of thousands of American Indians. H.R. 4783 
resolves claims against the government regarding the government's 
management and accounting for over 500,000 individual Indians' trust 
accounts. This provision is estimated to cost $3.412 billion.
  H.R. 4783 is a bill that is long overdue to address past failures and 
misjudgments of the United States Department of Agriculture and 
Department of the Interior toward African-American farmers and Native 
Americans. Moving forward as a Nation, we hope that we can build on the 
existence of our past to learn from our failures and to move forward 
without any racial, gender, and religious malice.

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