Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. It is, I think, something that even though it's been vetted fairly well, on those that are paying attention it hasn't been vetted very well by this Congress. And, from my standpoint, I am one of the people that's actually read the consent decree from Pigford I. I brought a copy of it to the floor. It starts out with these words, ``40 acres and a mule.'' Now, we know what that started out to be in the aftermath of the Civil War, a promise from the Federal Government that there would be 40 acres for African Americans, newly freed slaves, provided by the Federal Government, by either federally owned land or southern land that had been confiscated by the Union, and there would be a rented mule to go along with that, or a loaned mule. That has been the promise of slavery reparations. Of course, it didn't come to pass. In a few cases it did, but not many. But in truth we have here the modern-day version of reparations that are going on. Pigford I allowed for those who had a legitimate claim of discrimination to file that claim. Many who didn't have legitimate claims also filed claims. What I am seeing, information that comes to me, boxes, stacks of data, and people have been deployed to administer the first $1.05 billion, and they say to me they are sick to their stomach, they are heartsick because of all the fraud that they see. And the level, 75 percent, it's a low number.…”