Rep. King Requests Meeting with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack on Allegations of Fraud in the Pigford Settlement
by PubliusCongressman Steve King (R-IA), a Member of the House Agriculture and House Judiciary Committees, has written Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to request a meeting next week to discuss allegations of serious fraud in the disbursement of Pigford v. Vilsack settlement money. Pigford v. Vilsack is the class action lawsuit initiated by black farmers who claimed to have been discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture. King’s request was mailed to Secretary Vilsack this afternoon.
“There is a growing firestorm over the allegations of massive fraud in the Pigford settlements,” said King. “According to sworn testimony by John Boyd, President of the National Black Farmers Association, there are 18,000 black farmers. They could not all have been victims of discrimination. To date, there have been over 94,000 claims made. These numbers speak to massive fraud, meaning that American taxpayers are on the hook for what Pigford judge Paul Friedman called ‘forty acres and a mule.’”
“It is common practice for Secretaries of Agriculture to sit down with members of the Agriculture Committee. It is uncommon for the topic of conversation to be as urgent and expensive as Pigford, with a price tag of $2.3 billion. Secretary Vilsack has an obligation to the American taxpayers to cooperate with an investigation of Pigford fraud.”
“The Senate may be poised to pass the Obama administration’s request for additional Pigford funding. Pigford payouts must be stopped until Congress and the USDA can conduct a thorough investigation.”
View press release here.
[At Breitbart.TV: Watch three prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus fail to respond to questioning when asked if there should be an investigation into credible reports of widespread fraud and corruption in the Pigford settlements.]
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76 Comments
Hmmmm…. I sense a Shirley Sherrod moment coming.
Sheeeeze – can't she just GO AWAY????? You'd think the Millions she already have would make a nice retirement, huh??
18,000 farmers, 94,000 claims… hmmm… seems like NObama math to me. What's wrong with that? (sarc)
Lots of wealth needs spreading around.
A veritable Pig(ford) in a Poke.
BUT, they're black!
I think I remember being a farmer down there. The government was very bad to me. Where's my Obama stash?
I just want to know where the line is. I am sure that I have been discriminated against, where can I pick up my check?? sarc/off :p
And did the little pig squeal "WEE WEE WEE" al the way to jail?
Just another way for Obama and his criminal crew to divide America even more. It IS what his real gameplan was from the very start wasn't it? Got to keep that vote on the demoKKKrat plantation and at the same time fester and foster rage from within white America. Investigations, trials and impeachment. To hell with the riots and looters. They deserve nothing for the they have earned nothing.
fraud ??? the entire settlement is a fraud 1.9 billion USC WTF is going on ???
Better late than never. I wonder why it took so long to get into this? What political advantage is being served instead of the public trust? When it takes a windbag politician years to decide his own committee is going to investigate its own excesses and its lack of oversight of the federal government, I start to wonder who didn't get their cut and is now squawking.
Bad boy. Bad. Bad…
good luck with that…
Corruptiuon in a Big Government/Progressive cash payout? What's this world coming to? Oh well.
May Rep King have the winds at his back on this. He'll need all the help he can get- and the cash cow continues to be milked, while the taxpayers continue to get bilked.
Nice…
John Kerry is right. We don't get it.
Yes! Yes! Get this woman in front of an adversarial legal proceeding and let the good times roll!
I like King he is like a Bulldog on a pigford.
And here you can see why the dems are really afraid of November. They've all got lifetime pensions secured. What they're really afraid of is being convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors.
When the republicans re-take Congress, I imagine a lot of time will be spent investigating these felons so they can get their "fair share of justice".
Max…..Maxwell! Huh? You're home….Oh, thanks Mrs. B….
maybe GEICO could do a better job…. oh, wait a minute…isn't GEICO an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company?
My bad….sorry.
This republican will have no teeth until the dem's are voted out in November. This will eventually blow up in obama's face.
Can't wait. Investigate, litigate and send the SOB's to jail.
Of the 94,000 claims there are probably 93,950 that are fraudulent and those that filed false claims should be fined and imprisoned.
Or: happier than a hog in a sweet tater patch. (sherrrod)
Must. Not. Type….reparations anyone?
Shirley might be back on the stage soon.
WIthout Affirmative Action she would have never worked for the Government…… how that woman got out of the Public Education System with a Diploma is a crime.
But can they farm?? This seems more like reparations to me…and for those long ago "dead"….
I would not lay any money on even 50% of them being of black ancestory.
Sounds like a good bumper sticker.
Investigate.
Litigate.
Incarcerate.
Shirley McLain MUCH????
.
I haven't yet read any counterargument from Dems that there isn't any fraud nor a chance for any fraud. One would think that at a minimum the elected class would either agree that investigations were warranted or refute the allegations to some degree. The fraud claims are not new. Perhaps the silence will be broken on November 3.
I, like it.
Ya' know what will come of this? Nothin' …. absolutely nothin', just as is the case with all the proposed investigations of democrat wrongdoings !! Can anyone say Sandy Burglar, et. al. !! D.C. is a nest of spineless self-serving character's !! Until we throw them ALL out, nothin' is gonna' change !!
LOL Maybe the reason there are so many false claims is that the same dead people that vote were farmers.
You know what's really sick? The amount of money being stolen in this slavery-reparations scam would have funded the entire (Obama-canceled) F-22 program with some left over.
“According to sworn testimony by John Boyd, President of the National Black Farmers Association, there are 18,000 black farmers. They could not all have been victims of discrimination. To date, there have been over 94,000 claims made. These numbers speak to massive fraud, meaning that American taxpayers are on the hook for what Pigford judge Paul Friedman called ‘forty acres and a mule.’”
Forty acres and a mule, eh?
Funny.
I said the same thing about an hour ago, two threads back.
It was the first thing that came to my mind.
THAT, is exactly what it amounts to.
No matter how they slice it, no matter how they color it, is is pure made in the USA fraud.
Reparations with a new name? Lipstick on a pig!
Ahem, I just said that.
You can never count out the Dukies!!
Drop the f***cking hammer.
Don't expect anything to happen while this administration is in power……
There should not have been a USDA in the first place.
The Gov't is too busy investigating Sheriff Arpaio, GMZ opposition, gun owners etc, to look into billions in fraud.
Do you agree or disagree with minimum quality and cleanliness standards for and federal inspections of food products?
OT, but same message:
Reparations and Redistribution: http://www.theobamafile.com/_politics/Reparations...
More $$$ On Welfare Than The Entire Iraq War During the entire administration of George W. Bush, the Iraq war cost a total of $622 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Obama’s welfare spending will reach $888 billion in a single fiscal year — 2010 — more than the Bush administration spent on war in Iraq from the first "shock and awe" attack in 2003 until Bush left office in January.
from: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54400
It is not an "either / or" proposition. Many would think that the setting of minimum quality and cleanliness standards would fall to state or local governments. You can suggest that there should be no federal agency without saying that what that agency is supposed to accomplish is completely outside the role of government.
I thought Shirley was going to file a defamation of character lawsuit against breitbart.com for posting the story? Maybe there just wasn't enough evidence.
I would feel better if Texas was inspecting my food.
I'm thinking these are more payouts to family & friends of the CBC!!
It's not practical for Texas to inspect every food processing plant around the USA and at every border location, which would be necessary because food purchased in Texas probably comes from every state in the union and from many foreign countries.
Inspection at the processing plant is necessary because food is often packaged and because that's where unclean practices can be found out. It's a lot harder to tell if food has been properly refrigerated or processed when it is wrapped in plastic and is sitting frozen in a grocery store.
See response below to LibertyWriter.
Texas would do a better job. Ever hear of the Texas Rangers?
While employees of the Texas may do a better job, they have no authority to inspect food processing plants in other states. It would be prohibitively expensive for every state to inspect every plant. That's why this is ONE function that is indeed a reasonable responsibility of the federal government.
Imagine if states had significantly different standards and inspection criteria – there would be trade wars between the states.
I'd like to see that whole pig sty exposed.
Thats why I asked you about The Texas Rangers and I dont mean the baseball team. We do have the authority.
But you are right Spanky. I was off base a little.
What do you want? Every recipient of largess to be a B school graduate? We little folks, who can't hatch such complicated plans, derivatives and the like, also should get our share of the loot. Main Street needs to support Wall Street and the ghetto and the barrio and the back acre. Fair is fair.
Like an onion, keep peeling the layers, you get tears in your eyes. I see nothing but jail time for some folks in the future, the mood of the people will settle for nothing less.
WOOOO HOOOO! Let the grilling of the chickens begin! Everyone bring your favorite BBQ sauce!
My daughter learned math with the most fuzzy-numbered, idiotic curriculum ever. What was it called? Chicago Math! Concidence? NOT!
Nuh-uh, I was a farmer there (in a previous life, just ask my psychic) before you were! So I get more than you!!!
Come on, now, tell us how you really feel!
AL sharpton and Jessie Jackson will scream and it will all go away….Mob Rules, you know…..
Wait 5 years when the Navy won't be able to defend it's Carriers and Fleet from the Chinese…..Obama is destroying America from within……TRAITOR……….
I saw a cow take a dump once. Do I get some $pinich?
Hey! I ate food from a farm there once. Where's mine?
Sherrod should contact Colbert's writers. She may need to put on one hell of show under oath someday soon.
There is no way 18,000 farmers here any more much less most of them negro.
The norm if it is welfare, food stamps to HUD, they always get away with the false claims and then want the rest of the USA to be just like them
I keep asking how come they never sue Spain for making them the slaves they all claim to be but instead michelle goes over there to kiss their ass and as the rumor is deposited 2 billion dollars in offshore banks she stole from us crackers.
King and Grassley are two reasons for an Iowa conservative (like me!) to feel proud!
I am a member of the USA it is not my fraud. I am not a member of the CBC nor the NAACP. Those 2 groups own this mess and just like the true Socialists they are they expect us to pay up and shut up every damn time. All we are good for is paying their damn bills. NOPE not again!!!
DING DING DING Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!
40 acres and a mule is total BS. When Sherman torched the south during the war of northern aggression he had to deal with the former slaves that followed him to Georgia. He signed Special Article 15 that gave an allotment to the former slaves so they would not become dependent on the government for subsistance. Unfortunately the land was mostly not suitable for farming and the settlements fragmented. SA 15 was signed during the war and was never a LAW.
As for this Pigford fraud it is just that,FRAUD.
I am waiting for a joint Pelosi and Vilsack press release quoting an economist stating how the Pigford settlement is a great way for our government (taxpayers) to stimulate the economy… "Just like unemployment benefits how can racist Republicans be against giving money to farmers that are victims of racism in the US? These are the exact kind of people that will quickly spend the money and put it right back into the economy." By that rationale who shouldn't get a bailout?
Looks like the "ONE" is willing to do whatever it takes to get "some" folks to keep voting for his corrupt party (a bit of vote buying). Heh.
Recall the egg recall? USDA workers are in those plants measuring eggs for "Grade A Large" or other labelling… the USDA was NOT there to make sure eggs were shipped without salmonella… the USDA is a false sense of security. Just like border security is a failure, so is the USDA.
Missed your comment but great minds often agree. Go Devils!
No. It was policy. Issued by Shermans General Order No.15:
"40 acres and a mule was a practice in 1865 of providing arable land to Black former slaves who became free as Union armies occupied areas of the Confederacy, especially in Sherman's March. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's January 16, 1865 Special Field Orders, No. 15[1] provided for the land, and some of the recipients received from the Army mules for use in plowing as well;[2] the combination was widely recognized as providing a sound start for a family farm.
Sherman's orders specifically allocated "the islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida".
After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his successor, Andrew Johnson, revoked Sherman's Orders. It is sometimes mistakenly claimed that Johnson also vetoed the enactment of the policy as a federal statute (introduced as U.S. Senate Bill 60). In fact, the Freedmen's Bureau Bill which he vetoed made no mention of grants of land or mules. (Another version of the Freedmen's bill, also without the land grants, was later passed after Johnson's second veto was overridden.) However, the Special Field Orders, also known as operational orders issued by Sherman were never intended to function as the official policy of the United States in application to all slaves, and were issued "throughout the campaign to assure the harmony of action in the area of operations".[3]
By June 1865, around 10,000 freed slaves were settled on 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) in Georgia and South Carolina. Soon after, President Andrew Johnson reversed the order and returned the land to its white former owners. Because of this, the phrase has come to represent the failure of Reconstruction and the general public to return to African Americans the fruit of their labors.
40 acres (16 hectares) is a standard size for rural land, being a sixteenth of a section (square mile), or a quarter quarter-section, under the Public Land Survey System used on land settled after 1785."
I'm not saying the USDA is perfect, but I do believe that a centralized inspection and certification service is far more workable than state-based services.
Do you really think that state-administered inspections of out-of-state production facilities is possible?
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