Steve King Says Congress will Investigate "Reparations"

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Republicans

(Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

President Obama earlier this month signed into law a measure to pay American Indians and black farmers a total of $4.6 billion to cover decades of government mistreatment. Now, a Republican congressman says the GOP-controlled House next year will hold hearings to investigate the settlement, which he says amounts to "reparations."

Conservative Rep. Steve King of Iowa told local radio station KCIM that the Pigford settlement, which was part of the legislation, "is full of fraud" and "amounts to paying reparations to black farmers in America. We don't do reparations in America."

King said he expects Republicans to examine this issue and other issues Democrats may be hesitant to investigate, such as the re-organization of the defunct group ACORN. This isn't the first time King has criticized the settlement, Talking Points Memo points out.

The Pigford class-action lawsuit (named for Timothy Pigford, a black farmer from North Carolina who was an original plaintiff) alleged that local offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture practiced widespread discrimination against black farmers when awarding loans and other aid.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last month defended the settlement on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged", disputing suggestions that the suit is "full of fraud." Of the 17,000 or 18,000 cases that were adjudicated in the first Pigford settlement, only three were found to be marginally questionable, Vilsack said.

"It's a fair indication there were problems that needed to be addressed," he said. "We're going to try to turn this page and move onto a more positive chapter in civil rights in the USDA."

As the USDA adjudicates the new round of cases, it is also examining the way the department currently distributes loans, according to Vilsack. The USDA has hired an outside consultant to review its operation in the 16 states that led to these claims and will implement any necessary changes next year.

Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by cassandrayp January 2, 2011 10:52 PM EST: The Black farmers sued over an injustice and won just like many Americans do when they take an issue to court. They won their court case and was awarded money. The Black farmers sued for their rights and won. Peter King should be ashamed of his comments. The people who wronged them is the issue.; Reply to this comment


by Calendular January 2, 2011 7:21 PM EST: It is important for Congress in a very deficit burdened economy to take steps to eliminate as much "waste" as possible from the budget; federal deficits have adversely impacted state and local governments in many parts of the country. No interest group or political issue can remain politically untouchable in that type of environment. i.e. Congress must also soon examine its own wasteful spending on perquisites such as taxpayer funded gymnasiums and eating facilities, and on very high levels of compensation.; Reply to this comment


by flsunjnky January 1, 2011 5:29 PM EST: What a novel way to win and influence new friends, wow!; Reply to this comment


by u-tarz January 1, 2011 1:54 PM EST: Conservatism did not build the country, nor did progressives or liberals. America was bult by people who had faith in the ideas and value of differing views. They were people who often disagreed, but with respect for one another's thoughts. They were of every politcal stripe,and they had little time or tolerance for those who could use only groundless propaganda to bolster a position.; Reply to this comment


by cockroachcrusher January 1, 2011 10:17 AM EST: "We don't do reparations in America," Mr. con Republican Steve King?

How about the continuous reparations and welfare given to corporate America like the oil and insurance companies, America's true welfare queens?; Reply to this comment


by oldbasicgal December 31, 2010 7:32 PM EST: Well, guess everyone is too busy preparing for a New Year's Celebration to worry about the economy, healthcare or reparations tonight.

I'll celebrate the same way tonight that I have for the last 10 years...go to bed at 10:15 after the news, wake up at 12:00 to the sound of fireworks, turn over and go back to sleep.

Christmas and New Years and Birthdays and Easter and Valetine's Day and Halloween are for the young. I've celebrated enough, and now I like to stay home and sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE.; Reply to this comment

by oldbasicgal December 31, 2010 2:25 PM EST

akwriter December 31, 2010 7:48 AM EST
It's a fact that our country abused the civil rights of non-caucasian citizens. We did it to the Native Americans, the Chinese during the California Gold Rush, the Japanese during WWII, and the blacks up until the 1950s. For the African-Americans, the abuse included slavery from the beginnings of our country to the Civil War, then linchings and intimidation thereafter. Yet, there are some in this country, like Rep. King, who believe that whatever happened was in the past and that the present owes nothing for the sins of the parents. Of course he believes this....he's a white guy. He never suffered indignation for being the wrong color, or having the wrong accent, or religion. Rep. King is the ultimate bigot, one that uses his power to continue the sins of the past. In this case, it was the financial slavery that was imposed on "people of color" by the white society when black farmers were denied equal rights to the same subsidies that white farmers were given. You can't brush this under the table by saying "we don't pay reparations." You can do the right thing and give the black farmers what they were due, or take away from the white farmers what they were not due. Anything else just keeps the status quo...and that is America says one thing and does another.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey akwriter, you left off many types of civil rights abuse. If one is to have compensation, it is civil rights discrimination to provide it to others.

Poor white children in the 50' and 60's were denied school lunches because they couldn't pay. I was one of them. I left home many days to go to school and didn't get a bite to eat until I returned home on a cold, slow bus that traveled 30 miles out of the way before it got me home. I think I'll file a class action lawsuit.

Poor white farmers where also denied loans by the Dept. of Agriculture. They just don't have the NAACP behind them like the poor blacks do. I wonder why the NAACP didn't include them?

You never mentioned that the Spanish were run out of Texas and the South west. We should give them back what we took from them. Think the NAACP will bite into this pie?

All over the country, there were small landowners, black, white, and other races, who had land taken away from them BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF THOSE AREAS because they couldn't pay the land taxes because of drought, or storms, or some other act of nature destroying their income. The banks sold their land to wealthy landowners. We should go back and look into these cases also. The government stole their land. Think the NAACP will look into these cases?

I could go on and on about civil rights cases in the past 500 or so years since Columbus first landed here, but everyone knows that the only ones that get any attention from the Federal Government is the ones that involve blacks.

Your words "he never suffered indignation for being the wrong color" - what color is the - your quote, "wrong color"? I never thought that Bill Cosby was the "wrong color". I loved his shows. And Flip Wilson, and Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lionel Richie, and Percy Sledge, and JJ's family, and all those other entertainers and jazzmen and women, and movie stars, and football players, and my next door neighbor for years, and my co-worker for years, and a lot more people who didn't let "color" get in their way, and didn't blame see being black as a "indignation" or the "wrong color"

Why don't you look in the mirror and see farther into yourself than your skin color?

Reply to this comment


by oldbasicgal December 31, 2010 4:53 PM EST: typo in first sentence: NOT to provide it to others.


by frankie2fing December 31, 2010 7:24 PM EST: Not too many poor white farmers or kids where hung from a tree because they were white. Kinda left out THAT part. Sorry you were hungery, but at least you were left BREATHING...

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by oldbasicgal December 31, 2010 1:57 PM EST: Hey CBS, why did you take my posts off this comment board? I see many more posts that are/were just as off-topic, offensive, and all your other rule-breaking stuff.

Is it because I posted proof that there were black slaveowners during the 1800's, many of whom were freed slaves themselves, and many who abused their slaves, their own people? How is that more off-topic than many of these posts?; Reply to this comment

by akwriter December 31, 2010 7:48 AM EST

It's a fact that our country abused the civil rights of non-caucasian citizens. We did it to the Native Americans, the Chinese during the California Gold Rush, the Japanese during WWII, and the blacks up until the 1950s. For the African-Americans, the abuse included slavery from the beginnings of our country to the Civil War, then linchings and intimidation thereafter. Yet, there are some in this country, like Rep. King, who believe that whatever happened was in the past and that the present owes nothing for the sins of the parents. Of course he believes this....he's a white guy. He never suffered indignation for being the wrong color, or having the wrong accent, or religion. Rep. King is the ultimate bigot, one that uses his power to continue the sins of the past. In this case, it was the financial slavery that was imposed on "people of color" by the white society when black farmers were denied equal rights to the same subsidies that white farmers were given. You can't brush this under the table by saying "we don't pay reparations." You can do the right thing and give the black farmers what they were due, or take away from the white farmers what they were not due. Anything else just keeps the status quo...and that is America says one thing and does another.

Reply to this comment


by buccos December 31, 2010 8:16 AM EST: I was abused also. I had to buy my own cell phone, flat screen TV, and sneakers not to mention where is my government job?


by RepubsSuck December 31, 2010 8:44 AM EST: by buccos December 31, 2010 8:16 AM EST
I was abused also. I had to buy my own cell phone, flat screen TV, and sneakers not to mention where is my government job?

Given your Italian name, you were an abuser, and not abused so get over it you racist moron!

by pasha128 December 31, 2010 5:21 AM EST

The liars that started these fabrications (and death panels such as those they REALLY created in Alaska and Arizona) what to waste US TAX DOLLARS to create propaganda to justify their lies. The Republican Party continues to pursue the blatantly bigoted policies and propaganda of totalitarian regimes like the Fascists at the start of the Second World War or the obvious propaganda of the communists during the cold war by now claiming to wrap (THEIR CONSERVATIVE) PROPAGANDA in in the cloak of US patriotism.

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by catmomtx December 31, 2010 2:05 PM EST: And the sad thing about it judging from the racists post on all of the various blogs, there are a lot of people who are all for this. But, hey be careful for what you wish for. I mean Republicans can't help it, they will use these people and just like the religious right, discard them when they are no longer needed.