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Strengthening Civil Rights Accountability At Usda

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 14, 2023
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to discuss why this body needs to pass the JUST Act of 2023. This bill will strengthen civil rights accountability at the United States Department of Agriculture.

Some may question why this bill is necessary. The USDA has a long and checkered history of racial policies and discrimination against Black and other minority farmers.

In the 20th century, the USDA farm lending programs undermined African-American farmers' ability to continue their operations, and the numbers don't lie.

At the beginning of the 1900s, there were more than 925,000 Black farm operators who owned more than 16 million acres of land.

The most recent numbers from 2017 paint a bleak picture. There are only 48,000 Black family farm operators left. So let's strengthen civil rights accountability at the USDA by passing the JUST Act.

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