Booker Statement on House Committee Passage of Reparations Bill

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the following statement after H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, was advanced through the House Judiciary Committee late last night and sent to the House floor. Booker is the lead cosponsor of S. 40, the Senate companion.

“Our nation has not yet fully acknowledged and grappled with the painful legacy of slavery, white supremacy, and systemic racism that tainted this country’s founding and continues to persist in deep racial disparities and inequalities today. It’s important that we right the wrongs of our nation’s most discriminatory policies that halted the upward mobility of African-American communities for generations, and we cannot truly move forward without first fully documenting the extent of the harms of the past. This is a historic day. I am encouraged to see this critical piece of legislation move to the House floor and one step closer to becoming reality.”

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