WASHINGTON — Lawmakers budgeted just $100 million for damages when they reopened the government’s discrimination settlement with black farmers. They probably should have handed over a blank check.
With more than 70,000 potential claimants, the liability could exceed $3 billion — three times what was paid out in the original 1999 agreement.
The settlement was reopened thanks to legislation added to the farm bill passed last month. Supporters acknowledge that the $100 million was an arbitrary amount that will not come close to covering the actual cost. Yet the measure ran into little opposition during the months-long debate on the farm bill, mainly because of the artificially low price tag.
“The reality is that we had to fix some dollar amount to this provision because that’s what the House rules require,” said Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., a lead sponsor of the proposal.
With a higher estimate, he said, lawmakers probably would have stripped the provision.
The decision to allow new claims comes almost 10 years after the Agriculture Department settled a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of black farmers. The farmers, mainly from rural areas in the South, alleged that local USDA offices routinely denied them loans, disaster assistance and other aid frequently given to whites — practices that often drove them out of business.
At that time, 22,500 farmers filed claims. Nearly two-thirds were awarded a total of $981 million in damages, including one Virginia farmer awarded $6.6 million.
But an estimated 73,000 others were denied payments because they missed the October 1999 deadline for seeking claims. Many said that the six-month filing period was too short and that they were unaware of the settlement until it was too late.
The farm bill provision gives another chance to anyone who filed late claims. Just days after it passed, more than 800 people sued in U.S. District Court in Washington. Lawyers working on the case say they expect tens of thousands more.
