On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) announced that the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would issue $383,704,620 in payments to 10,907 eligible Alabama farmers, ranchers and landowners under the Inflation Reduction Act's Discrimination Financial Assistance Program.
The program aims to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination before January 2021.
"As the only member of the Alabama Delegation to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, I am thrilled that over $383 million in funding will address historic injustice faced by so many Alabama farmers," Sewell said in her announcement. "I would like to thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for their unwavering support of Alabama's rural communities! I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus for working so closely with me to ensure that this historic funding was included in the Inflation Reduction Act!"
The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2021, and amended and passed in the U.S. Senate on August 7, 2022. President Joe Biden signed it into law on August 16, 2022. Sewell was the only Alabama member of Congress who voted for the act.
The $383,704,620 million is distributed to the State of Alabama, which covers 10,907 recipients. This includes 4,413 recipients who had planned to become agricultural producers, but the reported discrimination in funding prevented them from doing so. Along with Mississippi, Alabama has received the lion's share of the funding.
According to the USDA Discrimination and Financial Assistance distribution page, Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act provided financial assistance for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who, before 2021, reported they experienced discrimination by the USDA in their farm lending programs. The USDA received more than 58,000 applications from throughout the United States and the District of Columbia during the application period of July 7, 2023, to January 17, 2024. The categories of eligible discrimination were race, color, national origin or ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, marital status, or disability, or in reprisal/retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
"For generations, many Alabama farmers experienced discrimination in farm loan programs," continued Sewell. "As a daughter of the Black Belt, I grew up knowing so many family members, friends, and neighbors who were denied loans because of their skin color. At this historic moment, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking meaningful action to address this injustice!"
The IRA was amended to circumvent any appearance of a solely social justice leaning. The two trillion of aid to black farmers embedded in the 2021 American Rescue Plan had been stalled due to white farmers suing the federal government for violation of their civil rights and black farmers countersuing.
The dribbling out of these funds has curious timing. The New York Times reported that black farmers' support of Biden had chilled because of the delay of the relief payments. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has become the presumptive Democrat nominee for president, it is surmised that getting black farmers back on board could help Harris.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
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