[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3998 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3998

To provide farm debt and program relief to African-American farmers who 
    suffered discrimination in the administration of Department of 
 Agriculture farm credit programs and other agriculture programs, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 2005

 Ms. McKinney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide farm debt and program relief to African-American farmers who 
    suffered discrimination in the administration of Department of 
 Agriculture farm credit programs and other agriculture programs, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1998, the Secretary of Agriculture reported to 
        Congress that the majority of African-American farmers who 
        applied to participate in the farm credit programs administered 
        by the Department of Agriculture had been discriminated 
        against.
            (2) As a consequence of the Secretary's admission, section 
        741 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
        Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 
        (section 101(a) of Public Law 105-277; 112 Stat. 2681-30; 7 
        U.S.C. 2279 note), waived the statute of limitations for civil 
        actions brought by African-American farmers in response to such 
        discrimination.
            (3) In October 1998, the United States District Court for 
        the District of Columbia certified a civil class consisting of 
        all African-American farmers, and in April 1999, the 
        plaintiffs, acting through their legal counsel, entered into a 
        consent order with the Secretary of Agriculture providing for 
        specific farm debt relief and certain minimum payments be made 
        to the farmers.
            (4) In June 2002, the United States Court of Appeals for 
        the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the African-
        American farmers were the victims of virtual malpractice by 
        their class counsel.
            (5) As a consequence of the class counsel's actions, 
        thousands of African-American farmers filed claims against the 
        Judgement Fund of the United States that were neither poorly or 
        fraudulently processed to negative ends.

SEC. 2. RELIEF FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN FARMERS.

    (a) Debt Forgiveness.--In the case of each African-American farmer 
described in subsection (c), the United States permanently forgives any 
indebtedness, removes from collection, and relinquishes its rights to 
any payments, in connection with all farm operating loan program debt 
agreements entered into between the farmer and the Department of 
Agriculture pursuant to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1921 et. seq).
    (b) Payment of Minimal Relief.--In the case of each African-
American farmer described in subsection (c), the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall pay the minimum relief raised in the combined cases 
Pigford et al. v. Glickman, Civil Action No. 97-1978 D.D.C. (PLF) and 
Brewington et al. v. Glickman, Civil Action No. 98-1693 D.D.C. (PLF).
    (c) Eligibility.--To be eligible for the relief provided by 
subsections (a) and (b), an African-American farmer shall present the 
Secretary with substantial evidence that--
            (1) the farmer was an ``actual farmer'' during the period 
        beginning on January 1, 1981, and extending through December 
        30, 1996, determined in the manner provided in section 311(a) 
        of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
        1941(a)); and
            (2) the farmer applied for, but failed to receive, any 
        relief pursuant to section 741 of the Agriculture, Rural 
        Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
        Appropriations Act, 1999 or through the Black Farmer Settlement 
        as authorized by the United States District Court in Pigford et 
        al. v. Glickman and Brewington et al. v. Glickman.
    (d) Time Period Covered by Relief.--The relief provided by 
subsections (a) and (b) shall cover farm operating loan or debt 
agreements entered into during the period specified in subsection 
(c)(1).
    (e) Funding.--There is hereby appropriated to the Secretary of 
Agriculture, out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
not less than $150,000,000 to make the payments required by subsection 
(b).
                                 <all>