[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. ____________________