2:38 PM (7 hours ago)Rep. King Requests Meeting with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack on Allegations of Fraud in the Pigford Settlementfrom Big Government 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.]
No comments:
Post a Comment