The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has long been accused of unlawfully discriminating against minority and female farmers in the management of its various programs, particularly in its Farm Service Agency loan programs. While USDA has taken concrete steps to address these allegations of discrimination, the results of these efforts have been criticized by some, and in 2008 and 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued reports that documented managerial and procedural failures, especially in USDA's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Meanwhile, some minority and female farmers who have alleged discrimination by USDA have filed various lawsuits under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Pigford v. Glickman , filed on behalf of African-American farmers, is probably the most widely known, although Native American and female farmers also filed suit in Keepseagle v. Vilsack and Love v. Vilsack , respectively. In addition, a group of Hispanic farmers filed a similar lawsuit against USDA in October 2000. The case, Garcia v. Vilsack , involved allegations that USDA unlawfully discriminated against all similarly situated Hispanic farmers with respect to credit transactions and disaster benefits in violation of the ECOA, which prohibits discrimination against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or source of income. The suit further claimed that USDA violated the ECOA and the APA by systematically failing to investigate complaints of discrimination, as required by USDA regulations. After nearly a decade of litigation and numerous rulings on procedural and substantive issues, the Garcia plaintiffs exhausted their final avenue of appeal to have their claims heard as a class action. As a result, the Garcia plaintiffs who wish to pursue their available claims in court must do so individually, or they and other eligible Hispanic farmers may participate in a settlement process established by USDA. A detailed analysis of the legal rulings and settlement process in Garcia is set forth below, following a section that provides background information on some of the policy issues surrounding the litigation. This report also contains a brief discussion of some of the other discrimination cases that have been filed against USDA, as well as a section describing some possible options for Congress to consider if it wishes to respond to the Garcia dispute or provide additional assistance that goes beyond the current settlement. This section provides background information on some of the policy issues raised by the Garcia litigation, including a discussion of the history of civil rights issues at USDA and a description of the Farm Service Agency, the USDA agency whose actions are at issue in Garcia . Allegations of unlawful discrimination against minority farmers in the management of USDA programs have been long-standing and well-documented at USDA, which was one of the last federal agencies to racially integrate and one of the last to include women and minorities in leadership roles. In 1965, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found evidence of discrimination in USDA program delivery and in its treatment of minority employees. In the early 1970s, USDA was also regarded by some observers as an agency deliberately working to force minority and socially disadvantaged farmers off their land through its loan practices. A 1982 Civil Rights Commission report stated that the Farmers Home Administration "may be involved in the very kind of racial discrimination that it should be seeking to correct." Despite this evidence of discrimination and a history of class action suits and court orders, such practices continued within the agency and its large field office network. In 1994, the USDA commissioned D. J. Miller & Associates, a consulting firm, to analyze the treatment of minorities and women in the Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs and payments. The study examined conditions from 1990 to 1995 and looked primarily at crop support payments, disaster payments, and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) crop loans. The final report found that from 1990 to 1995, minority participation in FSA programs was very low and minorities received less than their fair share of USDA money. According to the commissioned study, few appeals were made by minority complainants because of the slowness of the process, the lack of confidence in the decision makers, the lack of knowledge about the rules, and the significant bureaucracy involved in the process. In December 1996, Secretary of Agriculture Daniel R. Glickman suspended government farm foreclosures across the country pending the outcome of an investigation into racial discrimination in the agency's loan program. He subsequently appointed a civil rights commission in USDA's Office of Civil Rights to examine USDA's loan-making process and to make recommendations for ending the alleged discriminatory practices by the USDA and its field office network, most notably the local county committees that provide access to FSA. Through 12 listening sessions across the country, the Civil Rights Action Team documented a long history of USDA's attitudes and practices toward minority and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including women, Native Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans. In October 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on USDA's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights stating that the efforts overseen by the office are marked by "significant deficiencies" and recommended new accountability measures to address the ongoing failures. According to GAO, USDA officials delayed providing information and, in at least some cases, instructed USDA employees not to comply with GAO's investigation. Among its conclusions, the GAO investigative report found that the office had failed to achieve its goal of preventing a backlog of pending civil rights cases and that the office's progress report regarding the extent of resolving complaints was inconsistent. The GAO investigation also found that the reports published by the office regarding minority participation in USDA programs were unreliable and of limited usefulness in large part because of the low reliability of the data collected by USDA. To improve the office's progress, GAO recommended (1) the creation of a statutory performance agreement with measurable goals and expectations; (2) an independent civil rights oversight board responsible for approving and evaluating USDA's civil rights activities; and (3) an ombudsperson capable of conducting "meaningful investigations of USDA actions." Because allegations of discrimination by USDA's FSA are the focus of the Garcia litigation, it is important to understand the agency's role at USDA. The FSA makes loans to farmers on family-sized farms who are unable to obtain credit from commercial banks or other lenders. FSA is the lender of last resort, meaning that a borrower must be denied credit by a commercial lender to eligible for an FSA loan. For FSA borrowers who become 90 days or more delinquent due to financial difficulties, FSA is required to offer the borrower modified loan servicing options designed to keep the farm viable. Locally elected FSA county committees decide who receives a farm operating loan or a disaster loan from USDA and the terms of the loan. Because of their authority to make decisions regarding the extension or denial of credit, it is possible for loan officers at county committees to reduce competition for favored groups and individuals. Thus, to favor certain groups and deny other individuals on the basis of group attributes, county committees could, over time, indirectly dispossess minority and other disfavored farmers of their land and equipment. FSA state, county, and community committees were authorized by Section 8(b)(5)(a) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1935. Community committees were dropped from the official structure of the county committee system by the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994. Area committees came into being more recently when some county offices were closed and consolidated with other county offices into an "area" office. State, county, and area committees share responsibility and work together to administer FSA programs. Nationwide, more than 8,000 county committee members serve more than 2,400 FSA offices. The 1997 USDA Civil Rights report observed that these committees are disproportionately comprised of white men, noting that, in 1994, 94% of the county farm loan committees included no women or minorities. Committees are responsible for agricultural conservation programs, the production adjustment and price support programs, livestock programs, and other programs as assigned. Their duties consist of selecting the county executive director; reviewing, approving, and certifying applications, forms, reports, and documents; recommending and reviewing local administrative area boundaries; informing farmers and the public about FSA programs; providing committee data to other government agencies upon request; informing state committees and others in FSA about suggestions to programs made by farmers; and conducting hearings as directed by state committees. Congress addressed the composition of FSA county, area, and local committees in the past two omnibus farm bills. In the 2002 farm bill ( P.L. 107-171 ), Section 10708(b) requires that the composition of committees be "representative of the agricultural producers within the area covered by the county, area, or local committee." In making nominations for election to these committees, the provision also requires the solicitation and acceptance of nominations from organizations representing the interests of socially disadvantaged groups. With increasing consolidation of some FSA offices, the 2008 farm bill ( P.L. 110-246 , Section 1615) requires consolidating county or area committees to develop procedures to maintain representation of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers on combined or consolidated committees. As noted above, the Garcia v. Vilsack lawsuit involved allegations that USDA unlawfully discriminated against Hispanic farmers. Specifically, the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2000 on behalf of all similarly situated Hispanic farmers across the country, alleged that USDA discriminated against the plaintiffs with respect to credit transactions and disaster benefits in violation of the ECOA, which prohibits discrimination against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or source of income. The suit further claimed that USDA violated the ECOA and the APA by systematically failing to investigate complaints of discrimination, as required by USDA regulations. During the lengthy course of litigation in the Garcia case, there have been numerous rulings on procedural and substantive issues.