The 1997 case, Pigford v. Glickman, was settled out of court 11 years ago, but due to the volume of claimants, "tens of thousands of farmers missed the filing deadline to submit claims." The case was reopened by a measure in the 2008 Farm Bill, known as Pigford II. The "$1.25 billion settlement is owed to the farmers after years of being denied government farm loans and support from federal programs because of the color of their skin."
In February, "the Department of Justice released a statement saying Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were announcing a resolution to Pigford II." Congress must appropriate the funds for the settlement and then "class members may pursue their individual claims through a non-judicial claims process in front of a neutral arbitrator."
The Senate has failed seven time to approve the funding for this settlement. In July, the House approved a war supplemental funding bill that included the settlement funding, but it failed in the Senate.
The head of the NBFA "slammed the sharply divided Senate for repeatedly stripping funding provisions for different bills."
For background on the Pigford settlement, click here and here to read past US Ag&Food Law and Policy Blog Posts on the subject.
To read the CNN story, click here.
Posted: 09/09/2010
