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After loss, Lincoln unsure White House will keep $1.5 billion promise
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11/19/10 11:08 AM ET
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) does not expect the White House to fulfill its promise to farmers in her home state in the wake of her failed bid for a third term.
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel pledged in July that the administration would find $1.5 billion within its budget to help farmers in Arkansas and elsewhere in the country affected by natural disasters.
Lincoln said the White House has already doled out more than $600 million in assistance to farmers in her state and others hit hard by weather events.
“We got almost half of that disaster assistance,” she said, adding that farmers started signing up for it “weeks ago.”
But Lincoln, who serves as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, does not think the White House will come through with the rest.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said.
She lost her bid for a third term to Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Emanuel has left the White House to run for mayor of Chicago.
Other interest groups are clamoring for money from President Obama’s administrative fund, especially now that Republicans — who vowed to crack down on government spending — will take control of the House next year.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) strongly objected earlier this year after Emanuel’s promise became public.
Six CBC lawmakers, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), wrote a stern letter to Obama, urging him not to let natural-disaster claims take precedence over African-American farmers.
“The current hardships experienced by other farmers should not trump hardships placed on African Americans and Native Americans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the past,” they wrote.
John W. Boyd, president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association, has approached the Obama administration for help in case funding for a settlement between the Department of Agriculture and black farmers fails to pass during the lame-duck session.
“That’s something I shared with the White House during the recess,” Boyd said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. “[If] we were unable to get a successful deal during the lame-duck, I hope the administration will reevaluate this thing and look what can be done administratively.”
Boyd’s group has asked for $1.2 billion to settle the discrimination claims of black farmers against the Department of Agriculture.
Boyd told reporters on Thursday that the Senate was close to reaching a unanimous consent agreement to pass legislation that would fund the black farmer’s settlement. He said the cost of the bill would be offset.
“From all indications I have, this is a pretty solid deal on the table,” he said, but cautioned that one senator could derail the deal by objecting.
A Senate Republican leadership aide, however, declined to confirm the existence of an agreement.
“There’s no agreement until an agreement has been announced,” the staffer said.
The White House did not comment for this article.
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