House Judiciary Committee Advances Reparations Bill, Although Final Passage Appears Unlikely

After a lengthy and often passionate debate that stretched late into last night, the House Judiciary Committee advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation that would create a commission to study the issue.

Although it’s the first time a House panel has acted on the legislation, the prospects for final passage remain poor in such a closely divided Congress as it would need 60 votes from Republicans in the evenly divided Senate, 50-50, to overcome a filibuster.

While the vote to advance the measure to the full House was 25-17, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee were unanimous in voting against the measure and the bill has no Republicans among its 176 co-sponsors.

According to CBS News, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he didn’t know when the bill, H.R. 40, would be scheduled for consideration on the House floor.

U.S. House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), the bill’s current sponsor, reportedly is optimistic that the full House could vote on it this summer.

The chairman of the committee, Rep Jerry Nadler (D-NY), said that he believes, “This legislation is long overdue.”

“H.R. 40 is intended to begin a national conversation about how to confront the brutal mistreatment of African Americans during chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation and the enduring structural racism that remains endemic to our society today,” Nadler insisted.

Earlier, we reported:

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has trashed and dashed U.S. Rep Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) hope for packing the U.S. Supreme court. In a recent story it is being reported that although Pelosi may not be ruling the idea of packing the SCOTU altogether, which is still a scary thought, the bill being pushed by Nadler and others appears to be dead on arrival.

Pelosi said Thursday she has “no plans” to bring a Democratic-led bill to expand the Supreme Court to the House floor for a vote. “No. I support the president’s commission to study such a proposal, but frankly I’m not — right now, we’re back, our members, our committees are working. We’re putting together the infrastructure bill and the rest,” opined Pelosi.

This legislation could be destined for the same result, despite Jackson Lee’s optimism, as it these sort of bills typically don’t get voted on if they have no chance of passing.

Republican candidate and America First supporter Jarome Bell, a candidate in Virginia’s 2nd District, shared his thoughts on how Democrats could best support reparations.

Bell asked, “Why don’t left-wing Hollywood activists like Chelsea Handler, Alyssa Milano, and Mark Ruffalo just start a reparations fund with their DNC CHECKS instead of waiting for government to do it?”

Why don’t left-wing Hollywood activists like Chelsea Handler, Alyssa Milano, and Mark Ruffalo just start a reparations fund with their DNC CHECKS instead of waiting for government to do it?

— Jarome Bell (@JaromeBellVA) April 15, 2021