Opinion: Congress is the wrong venue if America is really going to move forward with a reparations study
For all the attention the congressional hearing got this week, Congress is the wrong venue if America is really going to move forward with a reparations study. It’s highly unlikely such a contentious measure would ever make it through the House or the Senate, assuming either would even put it to a vote. Instead, the push is going to have to come from the White House.
On a controversial issue like reparations, it should be the president who steps up to the plate and commissions a study because state actions like making official apologies and reparations should ultimately be led by heads of state. In particular, the study can drill into some of the most controversial parts of the reparations debate: its focus on cash payments and its narrative framing that pits citizens against one another. Figures from economists on the cost of a reparations package range as high as $8 trillion to $14 trillion, making the $500 million proposed by presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, the only candidate to explicitly argue for direct cash payments, seem paltry.
Because of the ease with which presidential commissions are created and the number of them presidents establish, they are sometimes cast as ineffective, low-cost tools to satisfy political demands without actually delivering policy solutions or reform.
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