I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3998 
To provide farm debt and program relief to African-American farmers who 
suffered discrimination in the administration of Department of Agri-
culture farm credit programs and other agriculture programs, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 6, 2005 
Ms. MCKINNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To provide farm debt and program relief to African-American 
farmers who suffered discrimination in the administra-
tion of Department of Agriculture farm credit programs 
and other agriculture programs, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 1998, the Secretary of Agriculture re-
ported to Congress that the majority of African- 
American farmers who applied to participate in the
farm credit programs administered by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture had been discriminated against. 
(2) As a consequence of the Secretary’s admis-
sion, section 741 of the Agriculture, Rural Develop-
ment, Food and Drug Administration, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (section 101(a) 
of Public Law 105–277; 112 Stat. 2681–30; 7 
U.S.C. 2279 note), waived the statute of limitations 
for civil actions brought by African-American farm-
ers in response to such discrimination. 
(3) In October 1998, the United States District 
Court for the District of Columbia certified a civil 
class consisting of all African-American farmers, and 
in April 1999, the plaintiffs, acting through their 
legal counsel, entered into a consent order with the 
Secretary of Agriculture providing for specific farm 
debt relief and certain minimum payments be made 
to the farmers. 
(4) In June 2002, the United States Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 
that the African-American farmers were the victims 
of virtual malpractice by their class counsel. 
(5) As a consequence of the class counsel’s ac-
tions, thousands of African-American farmers filed 
claims against the Judgement Fund of the United
States that were neither poorly or fraudulently proc-
essed to negative ends. 
SEC. 2. RELIEF FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN FARMERS. 
(a) DEBT FORGIVENESS.—In the case of each Afri-
can-American farmer described in subsection (c), the 
United States permanently forgives any indebtedness, re-
moves from collection, and relinquishes its rights to any 
payments, in connection with all farm operating loan pro-
gram debt agreements entered into between the farmer 
and the Department of Agriculture pursuant to the Con-
solidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
1921 et. seq). 
(b) PAYMENT OF MINIMAL RELIEF.—In the case of 
each African-American farmer described in subsection (c), 
the Secretary of Agriculture shall pay the minimum relief 
raised in the combined cases Pigford et al. v. Glickman, 
Civil Action No. 97–1978 D.D.C. (PLF) and Brewington 
et al. v. Glickman, Civil Action No. 98–1693 D.D.C. 
(PLF). 
(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for the relief pro-
vided by subsections (a) and (b), an African-American 
farmer shall present the Secretary with substantial evi-
dence that— 
(1) the farmer was an ‘‘actual farmer’’ during 
the period beginning on January 1, 1981, and ex-
tending through December 30, 1996, determined in 
the manner provided in section 311(a) of the Con-
solidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
U.S.C. 1941(a)); and 
(2) the farmer applied for, but failed to receive, 
any relief pursuant to section 741 of the Agri-
culture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Admin-
istration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
1999 or through the Black Farmer Settlement as 
authorized by the United States District Court in 
Pigford et al. v. Glickman and Brewington et al. v. 
Glickman. 
(d) TIME PERIOD COVERED BY RELIEF.—The relief 
provided by subsections (a) and (b) shall cover farm oper-
ating loan or debt agreements entered into during the pe-
riod specified in subsection (c)(1). 
(e) FUNDING.—There is hereby appropriated to the 
Secretary of Agriculture, out of amounts in the Treasury 
not otherwise appropriated, not less than $150,000,000 
to make the payments required by subsection (b). 
Æ