Posted on 03/19/2021 8:25:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
This provision Democrats specifically wrote into the American Rescue Plan pushes a blurred vision of ‘social equity’ by providing relief for farmers based on the color of their skin.
Last week, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. The bill, comprised of $1.9 trillion in the name of “COVID relief,” received no support from Republicans in the House or Senate, and it’s not hard to see why.
The legislation includes carveouts for dozens of leftist priorities, including a bridge in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s New York and a tunnel in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Silicon Valley. These items clearly have nothing to do with pandemic relief for the millions of Americans out of work or the businesses shuttered by blue state governors’ harsh public health regulations. To the hardworking Americans everywhere, this bill should reek of the far-left’s desire to shove their ill-conceived policy priorities wherever they can stash them.
What most don’t know about this bill, however, is the small provision known as “Section 1005” that authorizes the secretary of agriculture to make payments of 100 to 120 percent of the “outstanding indebtedness of socially disadvantaged farmers.” Under this provision, those included in the socially disadvantaged category are American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asians, Blacks, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics.
Putting aside all of the Washington jargon that makes little sense outside of a committee hearing room, this provision—specifically written into the American Rescue Plan by Democrats—pushes a blurred vision of so-called “social equity” by providing relief for farmers based on the color of their skin. Rather than offering much needed relief to all farmers, Sec. 1005 prioritizes race, just as it would ethnicity, sex, or any other factor.
It bears repeating: Sec. 1005 focuses debt relief on farmers based on their race, not based on how harshly the pandemic has affected them—the very reason for relief in the first place. Ironically, this racial discrimination is the very focus of what officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have worked so hard to combat.
The 1999 Supreme Court case Pigford v. Glickman handled this very issue when a class-action discrimination suit against the USDA by black farmers found true discrimination on the basis of race that subsequently resulted in cash relief, debt relief, and tax payments. In the years since, the case has provided billions to claimants due to proven discrimination within the department.
With Section 1005, Democrats are playing the ultimate social justice warrior with needed relief, weaving their flawed narrative into legislation as a naked attempt to balance the scales in the name of racial justice. The American Rescue Plan should have been designed to help all of those affected by the pandemic, but this provision specifically avoids focused aid toward all farmers.
Furthermore, the provision does not require any proof of discrimination to receive debt relief, simply designating a certain group of farmers as “socially disadvantaged” based solely on skin color. Despite this being a marked change from what was required in earlier relief to minority farmers in Pigford, Democrats are intent on ensuring all pieces of legislation are somehow tied to race, even when it makes no sense at all.
What’s more, Section 1005 excludes women from the list of socially disadvantaged farmers. For a party that claims to care so much about women’s empowerment, the “socially disadvantaged” category seems to be nothing more than a misnomer, including only the individual groups tied to race instead. This although there are fewer women farmers than men and many have been disproportionately harmed by lockdowns over the last several months.
While the American Rescue Plan received no support from conservatives because of all the pork it contains, the Democrats will continue to rail against House Republicans for our lack of support for this ridiculous bill, knowing all the while all it did was show how the left wants to push its radical agenda that hurts the American people rather than fight for real relief.
In my district and across the state of Florida, farmers have been forced to disk crops that can’t be sold due to the pandemic. Real relief isn’t including social equity provisions when all farmers have been affected by COVID-19. While the Democrats continue to push leftist policies in the U.S. House, I’ll continue to fight for all farmers—just as Democrats should fight for all Americans.
Is there a better way to fight racism than with Democrat racism?
Zimbabwe is a good model to follow
I do rather like the Bob Marley song, but that's where it ends :)
Gates wants their land. He’s buying it up!
Force the farmers into bankruptcy and then the global god swoops in and seizes it.
“ I do rather like the Bob Marley song, but that’s where it ends :)”
I collect bills and coins from each country I travel to. I still have a Zimbabwe 2 dollar note
How is such legislation constitutional?
Only if you comply
It isn’t
How would we even know, I suppose we don't have standing or such.
Can you say ‘Kulak’??
How is this not wildly racist - blatantly discriminating against a specific race? This kind of thing is the very definition of racism!
This is illegal, wrong and unconstitutional. We already have reparations. Didn’t think it would happen? I knew it would. The USA is no better than zimbabwe or south africa.
I don’t feel any warm fuzzies that tell me that the USA is going to be great again.
This is blatantly illegal. Needs to be challenged in court.
Hardly anything the federal does these days is constitutional.
On the tax form, where I am supposed to checkmark or put an “X” in the box labeled:
“Are you a socially disadvantaged farmer?”
Does the Ministry of Truth and Votes, automatically confirm that under its regulation: “I am, because I say so.” (?)
Or, do I have to apply every year, for a certificate of approval from the:
- Palace Media?
- Department of the Interior Mood Swings?
And which do I choose:
- All of the above
- Some of the above
(NOTE: The category, “None of the above” has been CANCELED)
You can’t just put this on Uniparty (D) members. Without the 90+% support of the election night coup by elected DC Uniparty (R) members, the presidency, house and senate would be in Uniparty (R) hands. Talk to McConnell, McCarthy, Graham, Barr, Sasse, Portman, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. if you want to complain about anything their boy does. The Uniparty (R) signed on for all of this when they disenfranchised 80 million conservatives.
How is this not wildly racist - blatantly discriminating against a specific race? This kind of thing is the very definition of racism!
____________________
It’s straight from Marxism playbook, though.
Divide society into groups, take from the largest (majority) and dispense to the minority ones.
This has been playing out a long time by giving special protection, privileges, and perks to those not in the majority.
You will have to appear before the local office of the Federal Race Commission to have your One Drop blood test performed.
In the Chauvin pre-trial jury selection process, one prospective juror proclaimed “I identify as black.” If it’s good enough for jury selection, then it’s good enough to latch onto the federal grab bag of goodies. We can all “identify as black” and tell them where to send the loot.
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