DC-WASHINGTON Not all members of Congress agree with the Democratic resolution introduced on Wednesday, which calls for the federal government to pay possibly trillions of dollars in reparations to descendants of slaves and individuals of African origin.
Republican Rep. Kat Cammack said of the need for federal reparations, “I think that is just the woke ideology peeking and rearing its ugly head.” “In this country, you can do or be anything, and this culture of victimhood has absolutely gotten out of control.”
Rep. Cori Bush, who announced her intention to present the resolution on Wednesday, is demanding $14 trillion to address the racial wealth gap between black and white Americans.
“Black people in our country cannot wait any longer for our government to begin addressing each and every one of the extraordinary bits of harm — all of the harm — it has caused since the founding,” Bush said at a press conference on Wednesday with fellow Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Jamaal Bowman, and Rashida Tlaib.
However, Bush was vague about the source of the money for compensation.
“We’re still having those kinds of conversations,” the Missouri lawmaker told Fox News after the news conference.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, claimed that “the notion of reparations is so absurd, they don’t even merit a response.” Rep. Gary Palmer expressed concern about potential budgetary effects.
Adding to the national debt “would be problematic for the whole country and for our economy,” the Alabama Republican warned. The logic behind it is lacking.
Public support for reparations is low, according to surveys of American public opinion. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2021, only 31% of Americans believe that reparations should be made to the descendants of slaves. However, the same survey found that 77% of African-Americans favored reparations.
Is it true that the United States government supported slavery? Bowman, the New York lawmaker for the 16th district, stated Therefore, the federal government must enforce its own accountability. The harm done to African-Americans can be traced back to policies that have persisted throughout the United States’ history.
After the Reparations Task Force in California suggested cash payments, which may go as high as $1.2 million per victim, Bowman called the state “the real leader” in the reparations discussion.
As Cammack pointed out, slavery was never sanctioned by the state of California. “Even their own governor, Governor Newsom, has said that he doesn’t support this because he recognizes that it will break the bank,” Newsom remarked.