Steve King

Steve King Digs In: Congress Will Investigate 'Reparations' Settlement For Black Farmers

Eric Kleefeld | December 30, 2010, 9:56AM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is continuing to blast the government's recent discrimination settlement with African-American farmers as "reparations" -- and even predicting that the new Republican-led House will investigate it.

In an interview with local western Iowa radio station KCIM, King discussed the oversight efforts that the new GOP House would undertake. First and foremost, he said, would be his pet cause of investigating ACORN -- which no longer exists as a national organization, but whose activists at the state level could be targeted.

"And there'll be other investigations looking into the Pigford farms issue," King added, "which I think is full of fraud, that's -- what it amounts to is paying reparations to black farmers in America. We don't do reparations in America."

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Topics: ACORN, Pigford settlement, Steve King

Pigford settlement

Obama Signs Settlements For Black Farmers, American Indians

Rachel Slajda | December 8, 2010, 6:05PM

President Obama this afternoon signed a law funding two major legal settlements for black farmers and American Indians who were discriminated against by the federal government.

The Pigford II settlement, worth $1.25 billion, will pay claims made by black farmers that they were discriminated against by the Department of Agriculture in the 1980s and 1990s, when the department denied them loans and other assistance. The Cobell settlement, worth $3.4 billion, is for American Indians whose land trusts and oil and gas rights were mismanaged by the federal government, which withheld royalties.

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Topics: Barack Obama, National Black Farmers Association, Pigford settlement, USDA

Eric Holder

Holder, Vilsack To Rep. King: We Will Indeed Combat Any Pigford Fraud

Ryan J. Reilly | December 8, 2010, 12:52PM

Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hit back at critics of the settlement reached between the government and African-American farmers who say they were discriminated against by the Agriculture Department. Conservatives said the legislation, which President Barack Obama is set to sign into law today, has the potential for fraud.

TPM asked at a news conference this morning what the government was doing to combat fraud in the Pigford settlement.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Eric Holder, FBI, Justice Department, National Black Farmers Association, Pigford settlement, Tom Vilsack, USDA

Pigford settlement

The Other Racist Thing Rep. King Said About Pigford (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | December 2, 2010, 12:11PM

A few days ago we told you about some of the things that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) had said on the House floor in opposition to a settlement that will benefit black farmers discriminated against by the USDA. Those things included that the claims amount to "slavery reparations" orchestrated by a "very, very urban president."

Well, we missed something, which MSNBC's Ed Schultz played last night:

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Topics: Anderson Cooper, Ed Schultz, John Boyd, MSNBC, National Black Farmers Association, Pigford settlement, Steve King, Tom Vilsack