RCED-99-38 U.S. Department of Agriculture: Problems Continue to Hinder the Timely Processing of Discrimination Complaints

Civil rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has long been a troubled area. Over the years, internal and external reports have described problems in USDA'S delivery of services to program beneficiaries-such as minority farmers-and in its treatment of minority employees. These studies have also cited weaknesses in the Department's overall management of its civil rights programs. In February 1997, the Civil Rights Action Team, composed of senior USDA officials appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, reported on its review of civil rights issues throughout the Department. Among other things, the team found that (1) USDA lacked an organizational structure to support an effective civil rights program, (2) USDA'S process for resolving discrimination complaints about the delivery of program benefits and services (program complaints) was a failure, and (3) USDA'S system for addressing complaints of employment discrimination (employment complaints) was untimely and unresponsive. The team made numerous recommendations to resolve these problems, one of which was to combine the Department's civil rights functions in one office that reports directly to the Assistant Secretary for Administration- USDA's top civil rights official. This was done in March 1997.

For decades, there have been allegations of discrimination in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and workforce. Reports and congressional testimony by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a former Secretary of Agriculture, USDA's Office of Inspector General, GAO, and others have described weaknesses in USDA's programs-in particular, in resolving complaints of discrimination and in providing minorities access to programs. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 authorized the creation of the position of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR), giving USDA an executive that could provide leadership for resolving these long-standing problems. This testimony focuses on USDA's efforts to (1) resolve discrimination complaints, (2) report on minority participation in USDA programs, and (3) strategically plan its efforts. This testimony is based on new and prior work, including analysis of ASCR's strategic plan; discrimination complaint management; and about 120 interviews with officials of USDA and other federal agencies, as well as 20 USDA stakeholder groups. USDA officials reviewed the facts upon which this statement is based, and we incorporated their additions and clarifications as appropriate. GAO plans a future report with recommendations.

Discrimination complaints by minority farmers including African-Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians who were denied benefits under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) farm assistance programs have been a long-standing issue. Compounding this concern has been USDA's inability to address discrimination complaints through its administrative processes in a timely manner. These issues came to a head in 1997 when a group of African-American farmers consolidated their claims of racial discrimination in farm lending and benefit programs into one class action suit against USDA Pigford v. Glickman. On April 14, 1999, a federal District Court approved a consent decree between the parties for settling the suit that included a framework for resolving the individual claims. USDA continues to operate its internal administrative process for resolving discrimination complaints that are outside the class action settlement. Concerned about certain aspects of the class action settlement and about USDA s administrative process for resolving program-related discrimination complaints, you asked us to examine (1) the status of claims under the class action settlement and (2) the results of the Department's efforts to resolve discrimination complaints by minority farmers through its administrative processes.