WASHINGTON (AP) - Would-be farmer Carl Eggleston has been waiting nearly a decade to refile his claim against the government for the discrimination he says he faced when he tried to start a hog farm on his Virginia property.
The African-American from Farmville said his application for a government loan was never even processed, and he ultimately turned to other work. Eggleston, 60, said he worked at a furniture store and a shoe company before eventually moving into the funeral home business, where he works today.
"I could never get it off the ground," he said of his venture to expand on the handful of hogs his father raised.
Eggleston is among thousands of African-Americans and American Indians who stand to gain if Congress wraps up a landmark bill this week resolving two major class-action lawsuits against the government. A House vote expected as early as Tuesday would complete congressional action and send the measure to President Barack Obama, whose administration brokered settlements over the past year.
The package would award some $1.2 billion to African-Americans who claim they tried to farm in recent decades but were denied loans and other assistance from the Agriculture Department. Another $3.4 billion would go to American Indians who have battled in court for nearly 15 years over claims they were cheated out of royalties overseen by the Interior Department for resources like oil, gas and timber.
The settlements have broad bipartisan support but had stalled on Capitol Hill over money until the Senate broke a stalemate earlier this month, approving the legislation without opposition. A similar version of the measure has easily cleared the House, and it is expected to pass again despite criticism from some Republicans such as Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota that the black farmers program is rife with fraud.
In a conference call with reporters Monday, Obama administration officials urged passage and said the settlements protect taxpayers while offering fair compensation for people who were mistreated.
"We'd like to put this chapter at USDA behind us," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
For the black farmers, it is the second round of funding from a class-action lawsuit originally settled in 1999 over allegations of widespread discrimination by local USDA offices.
The government already has paid out more than $1 billion to about 16,000 farmers, with most getting payments of about $50,000. The new money is intended for people such as Eggleston who were denied earlier payments because they missed deadlines for filing. Tens of thousands of new claims are expected, and the amount of money each would get depends on how many are successful.
The case is known as Pigford after Timothy Pigford, a black farmer from North Carolina who was an original plaintiff.
In the Indian case, at least 300,000 Native Americans claim they were swindled out of royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887. The plaintiffs originally said they were owed $100 billion, but signaled they were willing to settle for less as the case dragged on.
The case is known as Cobell after its lead plaintiff, Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Browning, Mont.
The bill also includes nearly $1 billion to resolve long-standing lawsuits over Indian water rights in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico that have been in litigation for decades.