Black farmers, due US$1.2 billion for a legacy of discrimination by the US Agriculture Department, suffered a new setback this week, despite the national spotlight provided by the firing of a black department worker.
The Senate refused again to pay the bill.
Opponents say it is a question of where the money would come from, and that is a major issue with an election nearing and voters up in arms about federal spending.
Late on Thursday, the Senate stripped US$1.2 billion for the claims from an emergency spending bill, along with US$3.4 billion in long-overdue funding for a settlement with Native Americans who say they were swindled out of royalties by the federal government.
Even the attention the Shirley Sherrod case brought to the issue of discrimination at the Agriculture Department could not bring lawmakers together on a deal. Instead, Republicans and Democrats alike proclaimed their support for the funding, appeasing important constituencies, while blaming the other side for not getting anything done.
The result: Thousands of black farmers and Native American landowners will keep waiting for checks that most lawmakers agree should have been written years ago.
Sherrod’s resignation under pressure from the Agriculture Department over her comments about race, and the subsequent White House apology, brought fresh attention to black farmers’ claims.
In explaining why he acted so hastily in asking her to resign, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he and the department were keenly sensitive to the issue of discrimination and race given the agency’s dismal track record on civil rights.
For decades, minority farmers have complained of being shut out by local Agriculture offices, well after the days of blatant segregation.
The department also has faced persistent complaints of racism and discrimination in its own hiring, and government audits going back two decades have found that complaints often sit for years without attention.
Vilsack says his department has acted far more aggressively than the administration of former US president George W. Bush to resolve minority settlements.
The blockade has come in Congress.
Leaders in both parties say they support the funding but things break down when they try to hash out how to pay.
The money for both the black farmers and Native American landowners was stripped from the Senate war-funding bill on Thursday after the House had passed it this month. Senate Republicans objected to a variety of other Democratic priorities as well, insisting they be paid for rather than adding to the federal deficit.
Democrats have offered a variety of proposals, including one package that included tax increases on oil companies and multinational companies. Republicans have objected, calling instead for spending cuts elsewhere.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS