Providing For Consideration Of Senate Amendments To H.R. 4783, Claims Resolution Act Of 2010
Floor Speech
Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1736 and ask for its immediate consideration.
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Mr. PERLMUTTER. I also ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 1736.
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Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, House Resolution 1736 provides for the consideration of the bill H.R. 4783, the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. It makes in order a motion to concur in the Senate amendment thereon by the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources. It provides 1 hour of debate, with 50 minutes of debate controlled by the Natural Resources Committee and 10 minutes controlled by the Ways and Means Committee.
The bill contains a number of important provisions, many of which have already passed the House. It approves settlements in the class action lawsuits brought against the United States Department of Agriculture by African American farmers and against the Interior Department by Native Americans.
The bill will fully fund America's obligations in these cases and settles both the Cobell and Pigford class action lawsuits. Both of these have been in the courts and settlement talks for years and years.
In Cobell, the Interior Department was ruled at fault for mismanaging billions of dollars in grazing land, gas, and other royalties owed to thousands of American Indians. This settlement will pay off roughly 500,000 plaintiffs in the case. In Pigford, the Agriculture Department discriminated against thousands of African American farmers who applied for loans and other assistance during the 1980s and 1990s.
The plaintiffs in these cases have waited decades for resolution of this matter. Justice must not be delayed any further. Passing this measure will bring closure for hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been mistreated or had their rights violated by the government.
Passage will also approve four water rights settlements with American Indian tribes, providing the tribes with funding to rehabilitate and build new reservoirs, irrigation and water distribution systems. The House has already approved three out of four of these settlements.
Another critical provision in this bill is the extension of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, also known as TANF. This comes at a time when so many Americans are struggling financially and are due to lose the support of this program if the House does not act. While the Senate amendments we are considering today incur more costs in the short term, over 10 years this bill will actually save money and reduce the deficit.
On November 19, the Senate took up the bill, adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and passed the bill, all by unanimous consent. The House must pass these measures without any further delay. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the rule and the underlying bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. PERLMUTTER. In response to my friend from North Carolina, I would say that the Republicans in the United States Senate are the ones who have been holding up legislation just as this until they get what they want. They put all these things together, and send it back to the House.
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Mr. PERLMUTTER. I would just say to my friend from Iowa that the settlement now applies to all African American farmers who were discriminated against, not just those that filed their claim by 1997, and as a consequence, it's a much broader class that is being settled with. We just can't have this kind of discrimination going on in this country, and America needs to pay its debts and not allow this kind of discrimination to go forward.
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