Obviously, well on the way to the 2012 elections - IMPLODE!

What? Exaggerate much? My whole family voted for - Obama -and will NEVER happen again.nm

This has been ongoing for a while. - Backwards Typist

The government has been dragging their feet on both the black farmers and the Indian LAWSUITS. It's about time. Kyl did what any half decent representative would do. If this was the only way the settlement money could be paid out, then so be it. I have nothing against black farmers or the Indians. I'm happy they will finally get what they deserve.

When slavery ended, Philip Haynie says his great-grandfather was the first black to purchase land in Northumberland County, Virginia.

Farming became the family profession, and today, Haynie, 56, and his son represent the fourth and fifth generations of farmers in the family.

But between Haynie and his son, most of the 800 to 900 acres they use to grow soy beans and wheat is leased. That's because they can't afford the $6,000 per acre it now costs to purchase land. When Haynie first started farming in the 1970s and land was selling for $500 per acre, he couldn't access the same low-cost government loans and financing that were being extended to white farmers:

"My great-grandfather was doing better than I was and he was coming out of slavery. I feel like I've been in economic slavery or prison for a crime that I did not commit," Haynie told Aol. Black Voices in an interview.

"We can't buy the land here, and that's the real problem. I should have been buying land back then and my wealth would be growing now, but because I missed that opportunity, I'll only be able to afford to lease land."

That's the story that thousands of other black farmers tell and the reason that black farmers like Haynie brought a successful lawsuit against the government for years of discrimination. The USDA slowed black farmers' loans, making them miss planting opportunities, and denied them equipment grants and other subsidies that were readily available to white farmers.

A 2007 study found that black farmers only received between one-third and one-sixth the crop subsidies allocated to white farmers.

In February, President Barack Obama, who also introduced legislation when he was a senator, announced the settlement.

But since then, the U.S. Senate has failed to fund the $1.25 billion settlement, stripping it from the confines of other bills on three different occasions, even though it has passed twice in the House.

Well, Obama PROMISED during his campaign to ban earmarks and... - sam

The 'pubs PROMISED THREE days ago. - Good memories